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Across the Plains in 1845 – Betsy Bayley
An excerpt from:
Covered Wagon Women, Diaries & Letters from the Western Trails, 1840-1849
Edited and compiled by Kenneth L. Holmes
Introduction by Anne M. Butler
Reprinted with permission.
Archived Stories from the Closet:
Alice Estella (Orser) Munson & Paul
Aunt Ella's Travels

INTRODUCTION

Her maiden name had been Elizabeth Munson, nicknamed “Betsey.” She and Daniel Dodge Bayley were married in Madison County, Ohio, on February 14, 1824. Se was born in Hartford, Connecticut, on February 29, 18041 a leap-year baby. Daniel was a native of Grafton County, New Hampshire, born July 8, 1801.2 He was listed in the 1850 Federal Census of Oregon as a farmer. There are other sources that designate him as a shoemaker and a merchant. He served as postmaster both of Chelhalem, and of Garibaldi, Oregon, the latter town which he is supposed to have named for the great Italian patriot, who was a Bayley hero.3

When the Bayleys crossed the Plains in 1845, there were seven children. They, too, were listed in the 1850 census as Timothy, 20 years; Caroline, 18; Mianda, 16; Bishop Asbury, 11; Zernai, 9; Iola, 7, and Delphine, 4 years old. All of the children were born in Springfield, Clark County, Ohio, except the last-named who was born in Missouri.4

The Bayley family had moved from Ohio to the area of Savannah, Missouri, near St. Joseph, in 1841. Even at that time they had ideas of farming much farther west, looking forward to taking the long trek to Oregon sometime in the future. Daniel proceeded to prepare the wood and to plan for the construction of two wagons of light, tough wood. A granddaughter told many years later of the family tradition about his preparations: “He had seasoned this wood two years, boiled in oil, chosen every piece himself, and like the great Temple of Solomon there was no unworthy piece found therein. Strong and tough but light. The yokes for his oxen were light too. Every ounce considered on such a trip.”5

In the organization of the “Savannah Oregon Emigrating Society” Daniel Bayley acted as chairman at the April 28, 1843, meeting at the encampment at Missouri Bottom. There he was chosen as a member of the “executive council.” This was a well-organized company, with a well-thought-out constitution. There are several extant versions of this document, but the most interesting one is that which was published in the Weston, Missouri, Journal, on March 15, 1845.6

Betsey Bayley’s reminiscent letter written in 1849 is a record of their journey to Oregon and of conditions after arriving there. It is especially good in recording the story of the days they wandered on the east side of the Cascade range, having been led astray by the ex-mountain man Stephen Meek.

There is on fascinating episode that took place on the overland journey that is described in Betsey Bayley’s letter:
    At Fort Hall the Indians came to our camp and said they wanted to trade. They trade horses for wives. Mr. Bayley joked with them, and asked a young Indian ho many horses he would give for Caroline. The Indian said “three.” Mr. Bayley said, “give me six horses and you can have her,” all in a joke. The next day he came after her, and had the six horses, and seemed determined to have her. He followed our wagons for several days, and we were glad to get rid of him without any trouble.
This is an example of one of those tales that manage to grow with telling over a long period of time. It became a part of Oregon folklore. The numbers of horses grew from three and six to thirty and sixty, and the trade is supposed to have actually taken place with the dubious climax that the men of the expedition raided the Indian camp later and rescued the girl.7 This contemporary document is a corrective for the tall tale of later years.

By selling one wagon and a yoke of oxen at The Dalles, the Bayleys were able to continue down the Columbia to the Willamette River and to the area where Portland had just been founded and named in 1844. Daniel Bayley there heard of a man named Sidney Smith who was seeking new settlers to take up land in his neighborhood in the fertile Chehalem Valley, where Smith had already pioneered as a settler. It must have been quite a surprise to this bachelor to have a family with seven children to move in on him in his log cabin, but that is what happened. Naturally this brought Sidney Smith and the Bayley girls into such proximity that the next step was predictable. In 1846 17-year-old Mianda became his wife.

Another contemporary document that is strangely poetic in its legal language is the official description of the Bayley claim in the Chehalem Valley in the Oregon Provisional Government land records:
    Daniel F. Bayley claims 640 acres of land in Yam Hill County situated as follows, To Wit: Commencing at a tree marked on the West bank of the North Fork of the Yam Hill river, being the northerly corner of Frederick Pauls claim. Thence northerly along said north fork crossing the same at the mouth of a small creek two miles – Thence westerly half a mile to a tree marked: Thence southerly two miles to a tree marked on David Pauls north line: Thence along said linme to the place of beginning, which he holds by personal occupancy, Dated Oregon City, 4th June 1846.8
Notice that the wife is not even mentioned in this transaction by which the family settled on a donation claim a full square mile in extent as was allowed by the Oregon Provisional Government. In reality the husband would have been able only to obtain one-half a square mile without having Betsey as a wife.

Betsey Bayley lived ten years in Oregon. She died on her 31st wedding anniversary, February 14, 1855.9

As with all pioneer families, death was a near neighbor. A little more than a year later the following story appeared in the pioneer newspaper, the Oregon Statesman of Salem, in its issue of May 20, 1856:
    SUICIDE. – Tim Bailey, [a common misspelling] of Yamhill, a young man, and son of Daniel D. Bailey, of Chehalem, in that county, recently committed suicide by taking poison. We are told that five or six years ago he had about $6,000, and said he was going to live on that as long as it lasted, and when it was gone kill himself. He spent it, drinking pretty freely, and with the last bought the poison with which he put an end to his existence.10
One happy aspect of the Bayley story that got the attention of the public over many years was the longevity of the five sisters who came over the Oregon Trail in 1845. All lived long rich lives, and this was duly noted in the newspapers of the day. On June 3, 1899, and again on May 20, 1911, the Portland Oregonian published extensive stories about the five Bayley sisters, all “Pioneers of Oregon.”

It is an anachronism that the letter as it is reproduced here is taken from a handwritten copy of a newspaper story in the Sabina, Ohio News, and reprinted in the Oregonian. All searching through the files of the latter newspaper has so-far been fruitless. The original has not been located. The manuscript copy is in the library of the Oregon Historical Society, Portland.

THE LETTER OF BETSEY BAYLEY

Chehalem Valley, Yamhill County, Oregon
Sep 20, 1849br> Mrs. Lucy P. Griffith, South Charleston, Ohio

My Dear Sister:

It is a long time since I have seen or heard from you, and I don’t know whether I am writing to the dead or the living. There is a vast distance between us; the Rocky mountains separate us. We left Missouri in the year 1845, and started on our pilgrimage to Oregon territory. The fore part of our journey was pleasant. The company we started in consisted of sixty-four wagons. We had splendid times until we took what is called “Meek’s cut off”. You have no doubt heard of the terrible suffering the people endured on that road. We followed this road until it was impossible to go further. We camped at a spring which we gave the name of “The Lost Hollow,” because there was very little water there. We had men out in every direction in search of water, but found none. You cannot imagine how we all felt. Go back we could not, and we knew not what was before us. Our provisions were failing us. There was sorrow and dismay depicted on every countenance. We were like mariners lost at sea, and in this mountainous wilderness we had to remain for five days. At last we concluded to take a north-westerly direction, and soon the joyful news sounded through the caravan that the advance guard had come to water. The mountains looked like volcanoes and the appearance that one day there had been an awful thundering of volcanoes and a burning world. The valleys were all covered with a white crust and looked like saleratus. Some of the company used it to raise their bread. After we got in the right direction people began to get sick; the water drank was wholesome. I think the health of my family was preserved by accident. At the Lost Hollow I filled all the vessels that would hold water, and among the number was a tar key, so when the good water failed we were supplied from the tar keg; anyhow, we never got sick. I saw a great many curiosities on the journey; the buffalo and hot springs where water boiled up hot enough to scald hogs, the natural clay houses, a great many Indians of different tribes. Some of these go stark; this tribe they call the Digger Indians; their food consists of bugs, crickets, ants and worms. In winter they live in the ground and in summer they wander from place to place. We had no difficulty with the Indians but once. At Fort Hall the Indians came to our camp and said they wanted to trade. They trade horses for wives. Mr. Bayley joked with them, and asked a young Indian ho many horses he would give for Caroline. The Indian said “three.” Mr. Bayley said, “give me six horses and you can have her,” all in a joke. The next day he came after her, and had the six horses, and seemed determined to have her. He followed our wagons for several days, and we were glad to get rid of him without any trouble. The Indians never joke, and Mr. Bayley took good care ever after not to joke with them.

We left Missouri on the 22d of April and arrived in Chehalem Valley on the 13th of December, all well and hearty, and have been so ever since. Oregon is the healthiest country I ever lived in; there is no prevailing disease, and many people come here for health. The climate is mild and pleasant, and the air pure and bracing. I have kept fresh meat for three weeks, good and fresh without salt. Chehalem Valley is a most beautiful place. It is surrounded with hills, mountains and beautiful groves. We live in full view of Mount Hood, the top of which is covered with eternal snow. The country abounds in almost all kinds of vegetation. It is one of the best wheat countries in the world. You can sow wheat any time of the year, and you are sure of a good crop. Vegetables do well; cabbage will grow all winter. I have seen heads of cabbage branch out from an old stalk that was three years old. The country produces almost all kinds of fruit – whortleberries, blackberries, thimbleberries, strawberries, etc. The first year we came here strawberries bloomed all winter, but in 1847 we had a hard winter; the snow laid on the ground for three weeks, but I did not think this a hard winter, compared with Missouri or Ohio. In this country it scarcely ever snows, and if any snow falls at all it melts quickly. Men can work in thin shirtsleeves all winter. Oregon is settling very rapidly. People are flocking here from all parts of the world. The population of Oregon at present is about 9000. Every thing was prosperous until the breaking out of the gold fever in California, when the men, most of them left plow and ax in search of the glittering dust. Two millions of dollars have been brought in less than a year and a half, and somebody coming every day. We live in a very pleasant part of the country, and are now doing better than at any time during our lives. We have a farm of 160 acres under fence, and fine young orchard coming on, and I hope to reap the benefit thereof and have a long life of happiness under the “vine and fig tree” of my own planting, for happiness consists in a contented mind. It took us seven months and twenty-one days to reach Oregon from Missouri. This was a long time to live in a wagon, and it seems, now that we are here, that I am in a foreign land but in my imagination I often visit the old cottage where we have spent many happy days together with our dear parents, and I shall never forget the good instructions received from the lips of one of the dearest of mothers, and often pray that we may be as good as she was. Give my love to your little ones, and to my brothers and sisters. If you receive this write me. I remain yours, in the bonds of love and sisterly affection, Betsey Bayley.

1 Myron A. Munson, The Munson Record, 2 vols. (New Haven, 1895), I:503-07
2 Donna M. Wojcik, The Brazen Overlanders of 1845 (Portland, 1976), p. 384-
3 Lewis A. McArthur, Oregon Geographic Names, 4th Ed. (Portland, 1974), pp. 147, 302-3
4 Elsie Youngberg, Oregon Territory, 1850 Census (Lebanon, Oregon, 1970), p. 301; Wojcik, op. cit., pp. 384-85.
5 “Calbreath Document,” in author’s possession. Copied from original loaned by Mrs. Evelene Calbreath, Portland, Oregon.
6 Quarterly of the Oregon Hist. Soc., IV, no 3 (Sept. 1903), “Oregon Material Taken from a File of an Independence (Mo.) and Weston (Mo.) Paper for 1844 and 1845,” pp. 278-90; also XXV, no. 4 (Dec. 1924), Fred Lockley, “The McNemees and Tetherows with the Migration of 1845, Organization Documents of That Migration,” pp. 353-77
7 “Kidnaped by Indians, A Pioneer’s Story,” Portland Oregonian, May 20, 1911
8 Oregon State Arch., Provisional Land Records, Vol. 2, p44.
9 Wojcik, op. cit., 384-
10 Page 3, column 2.

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