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From: "Carole Hammond" <>
Subject: [GFO] Lewis and Clark and your family
Date: Wed, 7 Jan 2004 17:52:56 -0800


Do you know where YOUR family was when Lewis and Clark headed up the Missouri River in 1804? A bad case of "cabin fever" got me thinking about it today....I never really had before. Do you think that your ancestors even knew about their expedition....and did they even care?

My Brown, Earle and Hooker families in Worcester Co., MA would have known about it and discussed it. My Vance, Howard and Miller families in SW Virginia were busy raising their families on the frontier and I doubt that they ever learned of it because they were isolated and they couldn't read or write....like so many people of that time.

My French Canadian ancestors in Quebec probably knew about it....there was a lot of traffic and news on the St. Lawrence River. They may not have had newspapers where they lived but if they did, they could have read them. They were aware that the US was trying to claim what the Canadians thought belonged to them.

The Quaker Peggs, Mills and Cooks were thinking about moving from Guilford Co., NC to Indiana and they definitely would have followed the news of the explorers as it became available.

Jirah Smith, a Bristol Co., MA Quaker, made it to NY and married his Covell bride from CT by 1800. Since most of the Quakers of this time period were well educated they no doubt also knew about the great exploration and discussed it with their family and friends.

Another Quaker ancestor, Stephen Mendenhall, was born the year Lewis and Clark left on their journey. His wife, Sarah Albertson was born the year that the explorers got to the Pacific Ocean. Their one-day in-laws, the Streets, wealthy Quakers of Salem, NJ and Salem, OH, would also have been very interested in what Lewis and Clark found.....they were surveyors and would follow in their steps. My Gilberts and Nixons of Pasquotank and Guilford counties, NC, more old Quaker families, would have also been on the move to Indiana and places West.

You can't help but wonder how much the imaginations of our ancestors were stimulated by Lewis and Clark and the wonders that they saw. Do you know where YOUR ancestors were in 1804?

Carole

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