Transcript
Transcript for Crockett, Rachel Maretta Homer, Homer Family History (1942), 28-29
Father, as captain, led the train with a light spring wagon and a team of horses. Four women rode with him. Edmund drove oxen on wagons loaded with goods. On this trip, father brought more supplies for his family, including a large full-sized mirror, some silk for mother, Nancy, Anna, and Lovisa each a dress, together with some lace window curtains, fine linen table-cloths, a china dinner set, some sugar, a five-pound caddy of tea, and a beautiful Brussels carpet.
All of these things were certainly rare luxuries for that time and place, and mother Homer always took great pride in them.
These Scandinavian immigrants were earnest, hardy, and industrious people. They earned father’s everlasting respect for the way they bore their burdens and hardships on this journey. He always said that he did not know of any people who had the actual physical endurance of some of the Scandinavians he knew.
Among those who set out to walk was a young woman who was not well. She had a hard time keeping up all the way. Her husband was a teamster, so was too busy to give her much attention, but her father helped her along and kept up her morale, until one morning she was taken severely ill just as all was in readiness for starting. The whole company was held up while she gave birth to a child. No provision had been made for her to ride, and the teamsters were uneasy to get on the way. Father fixed her a bed in one of his wagons on top of some kegs of nails, where she was permitted to ride until someone else needed it worse. She jolted along there for a week when another member of the company needed the place. She said she could walk if she did not have to carry the baby. Father took the tools out of the jockey box, built a little extension on it, and put the baby in it, where it jolted along in perfect safety. When they were stopping over one Sunday, the young woman said, “Captain Homer, I know I can never repay you for what you have done for me and my baby, but I would like you to name the baby for me.” There was nothing father would rather do than name a baby, so he replied, “I would consider it an honor and a pleasure. We will just name the baby after her mother.” Dortea was her name.