Pioneer Families and Moving Day

Pioneer Life on the Westward Trail

• The journey westward was fraught with dangers, including freezing conditions and limited food sources.
• Young children and mothers typically rode in wagons, while older children walked alongside, often seeing endless stretches of prairie grass.

Children's Responsibilities

• Pioneer children had daily tasks to keep them occupied, including working as teamsters, driving oxen, and gathering firewood and buffalo chips (dung) for fuel.
• Children like Robert Sweeten, who was only six, took on significant responsibilities, such as driving oxen and walking long distances.

Gathering Resources

• Children gathered resources like firewood and buffalo chips, which were used as fuel for campfires.
• Rachel Emma Woolley, a 12-year-old, recalled collecting buffalo chips and encountering a rattlesnake during her task.

Daily Life and Chores

• Setting up camp required adults to prepare the area and tend to the animals' needs, while children fetched water, chopped wood, washed clothes, and watched younger siblings.
• Children also helped with cooking and hunting, and mothers sometimes taught school subjects to their children during downtime.

Education on the Trail

• William M. Colvig's mother expected him to study as well as work, using a limited library of books, including a hymn book, Pilgrim's Progress, and Webster's Elementary Spelling Book.
• William was able to read in the Second Reader by the end of the six-month journey.

Leisure Activities

• In their free time, pioneer children played games like tag, hopscotch, and hide-and-seek, and created their own toys, such as cornhusk dolls and handmade checkers.

The Challenges of Moving West

• Moving westward in the 1800s meant leaving behind family and friends, possibly forever, and venturing into unfamiliar territory.
• Families had to sell many possessions to raise money for the trip and could only bring essentials like farming and hunting tools, seeds, utensils, and clothing.