BYU Library - Special Collections

Scope and Contents

Handwritten diaries in pencil with a typescript of the items. Day writes about his activities and experiences while emigrating to California using wagons pulled by oxen.

Scope and Contents Handwritten diaries with a typed copy of one volume. Martin kept diaries apparently in three volumes. The second and third volumes covering the time from 1854 to 1857 are found with the collection. A typed copy of the first diary covering the years from 1853 to 1854 is also included. Martin writes about his work as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in England. He returned to the United States in 1857 and traveled by rail to Iowa City, Iowa. Martin writes in...

Scope and Contents

Handwritten journal of Powel's overland journey from Illinois to Linn County, Oregon in 1851. Includes daybook of receipts and expenses and a record of marriages performed by Powel. Daily diary entries mostly deal with traveling conditions and the geography of the trail. Early entries mention passing through a Mormon settlement. Powel also briefly notes the death of his daughter, Therissa, from complications related to childbirth.

Scope and Contents Handwritten correspondence from John Purdy to his brother, James, about his overland journey by ox team from Columbus, Ohio, to California in 1849. Purdy is an intelligent and detailed writer. He describes various companies' rules and regulations and his attempts to join a suitable group traveling to California. Purdy's company encountered Native Americans and two of his party were killed. He also mentions his visit to Salt Lake City and how the company made their own road to Los Angeles,...

Scope and Contents

Handwritten diary by an unknown person. The item tells of the author's overland journey with the Anknin Company from St. Joseph, Missouri to Fort Kearny, Nebraska in 1849 by mule train. The author gives detailed information about the rigors of camp life, and entries in general are long and descriptive. The Anknin Company explored an abandoned Pawnee village and was also visited by a war party of 300 Dakota Indians, with whom they traded food for moccasins and buffalo robes.