For almost ten years Robert Fleming Campbell
(I will put GGG...Grandparents in italics)
had raised his six children as a single father.
His wife Jane had died eight days after
giving birth to Archibald David. But on
June 19, 1850 he married Mary Ann Hoffer
and the children went home to a new mother.
Just after Christmas and New Years
they welcomed a seventh child;
on January 2, 1851 Henry was born.
The family had hopes for a better year after
flooding destroyed many crops in 1850.
However, it was another difficult year
with crop failure from hail.
In late spring of 1852 Robert Fleming
decided to move his family to Texas.
There was much to prepare.
(I will put GGG...Grandparents in italics)
had raised his six children as a single father.
His wife Jane had died eight days after
giving birth to Archibald David. But on
June 19, 1850 he married Mary Ann Hoffer
and the children went home to a new mother.
Just after Christmas and New Years
they welcomed a seventh child;
on January 2, 1851 Henry was born.
The family had hopes for a better year after
flooding destroyed many crops in 1850.
However, it was another difficult year
with crop failure from hail.
In late spring of 1852 Robert Fleming
decided to move his family to Texas.
There was much to prepare.
 |
The family wagons would be transformed into
Prairie Schooners. Pre-formed bows were added to the wagon base as we see here, then a cover would be wrapped over the bows. |
How would your family decide
what to take?
Families could not take all of
their belongings with them
on their covered wagons -- even if they had six or seven.
their belongings with them
on their covered wagons -- even if they had six or seven.
What special things would you ask to take?
What would you take to help you sleep outside?
What supplies would be needed for meals?
Why do you think these items would be necessary?
candle molds; lanterns; firearms;
sewing supplies; bandages and liniments.
In the autumn of 1852 it was time for final decisions to be made. William, the oldest son and now 18, would stay with the farm in Tennessee.
Why do you think these items would be necessary?
candle molds; lanterns; firearms;
sewing supplies; bandages and liniments.
Why Texas? Consideration was given to locations where other Campbell relatives lived. But westward thoughts appealed to people all across the United States since the 1849 California Gold Rush and scores of wagon trains taking the already famous Oregon Trail. And Sam Houston had recently made a famous speech in Tennessee and encouraged people to move to Texas. It was Jacob Routh, a farmer from the other side of the French Broad River, who helped make the final decision. Jacob had recently returned from Texas where he worked for two years on a cousin's farm near Dallas and then purchased 640 acres in the same area. Years later cousin Clara Routh wrote, "his description was so glowing the Campbell family decided to join the party for Texas."
In the autumn of 1852 it was time for final decisions to be made. William, the oldest son and now 18, would stay with the farm in Tennessee.
The other children, Lodemia 17, Serepta 14, James 13, Margaret 11, and Archibald David 9, began to decide what favorite belongings they wished to take with them to their new home.
On the morning of October 2, 1851 the Campbell and Routh families set out for Texas. The carriage and wagons that had been transformed into Prairie Schooners were carefully packed and the animals prepared for travel.
Most, including Archibald David and the other children, would walk much of the way. (I have often wondered about the discomfort of riding in a wagon with wooden wheels and wondered if walking might not be preferable most of the time.) With good weather it was pleasant to sleep under the stars. An evening meal was cooked over campfire: perhaps cornbread or biscuits with any rabbit or fish they might catch.
The Campbell-Routh
Wagon Train Procession
Wagon Train Procession
Campbell family closed carriage
their two 2-horse schooners
and two 4 horse schooners
three Routh family schooners
Extra horses and mules followed
with Robert Fleming’s fox hounds
and iron grey hunting horse.
(Do you think he would
be able to fox hunt in Texas?)
be able to fox hunt in Texas?)
The baby? Rode with mom and
eldest women in the closed carriage.
eldest women in the closed carriage.
The children? Most walked
The family dogs -- ran alongside.
The family dogs -- ran alongside.
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| Routh Travel Journal detail |
The early part of their journey followed one of the roads built by the military to accommodate such pioneer processions of heavily laden wagons: the Nashville Road had become the primary east-west route through Tennessee with terrain significantly less difficult than earlier roads. We can trace this on the detail from one of the Tanner or Colton maps commissioned by the United States government as westward expansion grew. It identifies various cities, towns, forts, rivers, rapids, fords, and mountain ranges and can help as we imagine what adventures each day might bring.
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Detail from Henry Schenck Tanner’s hand colored 1834 U.S. map (full map below)
|
Route (Above): Begin in Dandridge;find a route westward to Knoxville, Kingston,
and Crab Orchard find a gap amidst the
Crab Orchard Mountains?) and on to Sparta.
and Crab Orchard find a gap amidst the
Crab Orchard Mountains?) and on to Sparta.
The military had considerably improved road conditions by 1850 and the newer lighter weight Pairie Schooners also eased travel.
There are several rivers we can find on the map that the family would have had to cross. Sometimes there were ferries. Other times wagons were driven across the riverbed while the dogs and horses swam.
From Sparta the group traveled to Waynesboro, then to Memphis: and it is here that we find a mystery.
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| From Waynesboro to Memphis, detail of Tanner's map |
Which route would you choose from Waynesboro to Memphis? The road due west? It seems the quickest and most direct. Instead, they traveled miles out of the way in a sort of triangle: up to Lexington, down through Jackson to Somerville, and then on to Memphis. Why might this have been? Were mountains the problem? Rivers? The Tennessee River would have to be crossed on either road. At that time might it have been safer to cross at one location than another?
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| Henry Schenck Tanner’s hand colored 1834 U.S. map |
Was there news of some contagious disease in towns along this road? Something else? It was a friend who wondered about disease. Here's what we discovered:
1849-1855 Cholera Epidemic
Cholera rapidly spread across
Asia, Europe, and the United States
Asia, Europe, and the United States
Wagon Trains on
Oregon Trail and California Trail
reported up to 10,000 cholera deaths
Oregon Trail and California Trail
reported up to 10,000 cholera deaths
University of Nashville closed campus
and finally hoped cholera was easing
when deaths fell to
“three to six to eight deaths a day”
and finally hoped cholera was easing
when deaths fell to
“three to six to eight deaths a day”
We don't know the answer to this mystery. But it does remind us of the many challenges and adventures that would have been faced along such a journey.
In any case, it must have been exciting for everyone as they neared the city of Memphis. They would replenish supplies and then cross the Mississippi River into Arkansas -- and be about half of the way to their new home. After supplies were restocked the caravan boarded the Mississippi River ferry with their covered wagons, carriage, extra horses and dogs. By this time the wagon train had traversed many different waterways. Without bridges (and usually without a ferry either) the horses, dogs, and even the carriage and wagons pulled by their horse-teams, had forded streams and had swum across relatively shallow rivers. Now a much larger ferry would take them across the mighty Mississippi River, the largest river in the United States.
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Memphis, Tennessee was a busy city by 1851
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After safely arriving on the Arkansas side, what do you think happened? One of the horses fell into the river and drowned! Years later a reporter wrote: The 500-mile trip, crossing the Tennessee River twice, the Cumberland Mountains, Bays Mountains, and numerous smaller streams, was just too much for the horse. The horse was replaced before the caravan continued along its way into Arkansas. And this was not the only thing that transpired. One of the Campbell family dogs was lost. It is interesting to reflect on how the family might have searched for the dog.
About a week after leaving Memphis the caravan camped at Hot Springs, Arkansas with its warm healing waters. While traveling through Arkansas, the green hills, forests and rivers were much like those of Tennessee. But the Red River was crossed and the prairies of west Texas were reached, some in the group might well have longed for the hills of their birth home. In 1851 Texas was still a raw frontier. What a stark contrast memories of Tennessee surely made with this black soil and prairie grasses that stretched for miles and miles and miles. In November of 1851 this wide open space was still land that was largely empty save for waving grass. Traveling southwest they passed a few farms that would become the railroad town of Plano, and a handful of huts already was called McKinney.
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| I have always loved the wide-open sky in this family painting of nearby Lubbock, Texas |
Some gave evocative nicknames for the distinctive rich soil; artists were inspired by the spacious splendor. Empty prairies that ran into infinity is perhaps my favorite poetic description of open skies seen across the prairies. Once the plains were reached this long journey westward was almost over. Along these forty-four days, three states, and some 900 miles one might imagine all manner of conversations, situations, incidents, and relationships that developed. How I wish we could hear the personal stories and tales that were told, the hopes and dreams that were shared, the disagreements faced, losses grieved, songs sung, and the jokes and pranks that some surely played. We do know that Jacob Routh and Lodemia Campbell, Archibald David’s eldest sister, fell in love. In time, their marriage would further unite the Routh and Campbell families.
On Monday, the 14th of November in 1851 the wagon train arrived at their destination on Spring Creek. Finally! How glad they must have been. Jacob Routh had paid $2 an acre for a section of land that straddled the Collin and Dallas County lines on Spring Creek, and he had arranged for a cabin to be built there. But what about the Campbell family? They had no land. And they had no home. More adventures: they would camp out that first winter.
The Robert Fleming Campbell family was in Texas, their new home.
Routh Travel Journal
© 2017 Copyright by Ginny Bettendorf, All Rights Reserved
