There were two families Richey, as well as an Akin and an Ingram, who had been neighbors and friends for years. The families intermarried. A fourth family appears when Alice Booth married a Richey in 1843 in Henry Co., Iowa. In 1852 the families decided to move to Oregon in wagons on the emigrant trail. This is a diary recorded by 19-year- old James Akin, Jr., the eldest of the children.

With numbers swelled by Oregon-bound settlers as well as hordes of gold-seekers destined for California, the 1852 overland migration was the largest on record in a year taking a terrible toll in lives mainly due to deadly cholera. Included here are firsthand accounts of this fateful year, including the words and thoughts of a young married couple, Mary Ann and Willis Boatman, released for the first time in book-length form. In its immediacy, Surviving the Oregon Trail, 1852 opens a window to the travails of the overland journeyers--their stark camps, treacherous river fordings, and dishonest countrymen; the shimmering plains and mountain vastnesses; trepidation at crossing ancient Indian lands; and the dark angel of death hovering over the wagon columns. But also found here are acts of valor, compassion, and kindness, and the hope for a new life in a new land at the end of the trail.

In the years after the discovery of gold in California, thousands of fortune seekers made their way west, joining the greatest mass migration in American history. The gold fields were only one destination, as emigrants pushed across the Great Plains, Great Basin, and Oregon Territory in unprecedented numbers, following the Oregon, California, and Mormon Trails to the verdant Willamette Valley or Mormon settlements in the Salt Lake Valley. “Seeing the Elephant” they often called the journey, referring to the wondrous sights and endless adventures met along the way. The firsthand accounts of those who made the trip between 1850 and 1855 that are collected in this third volume in a four-part series speak of wonders and adventures, but also of disaster and deprivation. Traversing the ever-changing landscape, these pioneers braved flooded rivers, endured cholera and hunger, and had encounters with Indians that were often friendly and sometimes troubled. Rich in detail and diverse in the experiences they relate, these letters, diary excerpts, recollections, and reports capture the voices of women and men of all ages and circumstances, hailing from states far and wide, and heading west in hope and desperation. Their words allow us to see the grit and glory of the American West as it once appeared to those who witnessed its transformation. Michael L. Tate begins the volume with an introduction to this middle phase of the trails’ history. A headnote and annotations for each document sketch the author’s background and reasons for undertaking the trip and correct and clarify information in the original manuscript. The extensive bibliography identifies sources and suggests further reading.

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"In the spring of 1852 a small party started from south-eastern Iowa to journey overland to Oregon. The little group consisted of four families ... With the party was a young man about eighteen years of age, James Akin Jr., who kept a brief journal of the trip in which he recorded the daily happenings"--Page 3.