DIARY OF LAURA LADELL MERRILL
Laura is a sister of Lucretia Lue Merrill Rennick,
Lucretia is Vhelmae Rennick Troudt and Hazel Rennick Klugherz Mother.
Copied by Laura’s grandson, Robert E. Hedgcock, Colonel US Army Retired, 15 Feb. 97. Thanks to him!!
“Laura Ladell Merrill, daughter of Hiram Henry Merrill and Margaret Maria Gordon, made a trip by covered wagon with her family when she was a child. Shortly before she died she wrote down what she remembered about her trip from Illinois to Nebraska in 1880 as follows:
In 1880 my family was living in Broadwell, Illinois. The family consisted of a sick father, Mother and three girls -- Ladell - 8, Lucretia - 6, and Burnice - less than a year old.
The climate was damp and Father was always sick with the ague. After six years of suffering our family doctor, Dr. Perry, recommended a change of climate. Mother, being a courageous woman, was willing to undertake anything for his relief. Early in the spring he became worse and Dr. Perry came one morning and to our surprise said you must leave this climate as soon as you can get away. So Mother never thought but what we would go by train, but where?
A few years before this, a bachelor and his mother had gone to Nelson, Nebraska, so that seemed our only hope. We had a letter from them that Mother had saved and there was their address, so Mother wrote them. An answer came back by return mail inviting us to come and live with them until we could build a house. Mother showed the letter to Dr. Perry and he said you couldn’t find a healthier climate, but how are you going to get there, but you let me figure that out, and he did.
The next morning he came to the house bright and early and announced his decision and this is what it was: You must go by covered wagon! This looked like a big undertaking but Mother was equal to anything. She told the neighbors about our new adventure and all were anxious to help. So preparations began.
One man brought a wagon and fixed the bows and covered them with a water proof covering, another brought three gentle horses, two white and one roan.
Father could finance all this but was not able to direct it, but with neighbors such as these, everything was put in order.
Those men made a table and a cupboard that swung under the wagon with four small chairs that swung to the side. We had a small oil stove with an oven and Mother often made biscuits for breakfast. She baked loaves of bread twice every week for then on [we] couldn’t buy breads.
All was hustle and bustle in the home, for all the furniture had to be sold and clothing for five had to be put in order. We had to take plenty of bedding for Father was always cold. We took two feather beds for he slept on one with another over him.
At last the day came to leave friends and neighbors. I remember so well that morning. Father, who weighed 93 pounds, was too exhausted to drive, so Mother drove the horses beside taking the responsibility of caring for three children and a sick husband as well as preparing three meals each day. The horses had to be unhitched from the wagon every night, the harness taken off, the horses fed and then turned out to graze awhile. Now it was time to prepare the evening meal and put the baby to bed. Father had to go to bed while it was still light or as soon as he had finished supper.
The towns were far apart and neighbors were miles apart. There were no good roads and when we came to the end of the road we would start across the prairie making our own road.
The horses were tired when night came and ready to rest. Often they would lie down and lie so still you would think they were dead.
On a clear, moonlit night it’s surprising to find a big, friendly tree standing alone on the prairie. Often we would find other children to play with. Sometimes the men would get in our wagon and talk to Father. The next morning we would all start out together, all headed for a different place, and sometimes we would travel together for two or three days. Some were going to Western Nebraska, others to Kansas, and others didn’t know where they were going, but all were sure of finding land and a home. There were plenty of homesteads to be had in Western Nebraska and Colorado.
After we crossed Illinois and got away from that damp climate we came to the dry, invigorating climate of Iowa and Father was able to sit up a short while each day. He finally announced he was feeling better, so Mother wrote Dr. Perry telling of Father’s improvement.
When we reached Iowa we came into the storm area. How we dreaded those hail storms, for the ground would be covered with hail the size of marbles and often larger. The horses seemed to know when such a storm was coming. We could get inside the wagon but the horses had to take some. Their bodies were covered with welts, and [they would] try to get away and sometimes they did and then [we had] to try and catch them in the middle of a dark night with only a lantern. A high wind always accompanied such storms.
The hail would strip the corn fields, for July and August corn was at its best. There was no place to drive in, for barns were all small and, in case of a storm, were full of their own livestock.
One night we noticed this black cloud in the southwest and hurried to the nearest farm house where we hoped we could find shelter for the horses. It was about nine o’clock when Mother knocked on the farm house door and told the farmer what we wanted. He told us to drive into the shed but said, remember, no light. Now you can imagine what a task it was to unharness and feed the horses, feed five people, make a sick man comfortable for the night, feed the baby and everything depended on Mother. Her hair turned perfectly white when she was twenty-eight years old. But with all her responsibility she had a keen sense of humor and enjoyed a good clean joke.
We left Broadwell, not far from Lincoln, Illinois, about the middle of July and after six weeks of traveling in that covered wagon we reached the home of Abe Chenoweth and his mother. They were splendid people and made us feel very much at home.
After reaching Nebraska we lived with the Chenoweths one year or [so] until Father was strong enough to supervise building a home. Our first was a dugout built in the side of the bank. It was a one room affair nicely boarded up and divided with curtains around the beds. We children were happy, for Mother made us so. Father was improving and Mother was a good seamstress, so the neighbors had plenty of sewing to be done. She had the only sewing machine in the County. She also quilted quilts for the neighbors on the frames Father made.
Pork chops were three pounds for 25 cents and the butcher gave the liver away. Father bought a cow and I learned to milk. Next was some young pigs which we raised until they were grown hogs. This gave us meat for the next winter.
Beef was a luxury but Mother Chenoweth would often send us a chicken for our Sunday dinner. One spring she gave us several dozen little chickens, so that was the beginning of our flock.
Mother’s mother, Mrs. John Gordon was very thrifty and there was never anything wasted. She taught her six daughters and four sons to be the same. Mother wanted to make bread but had no yeast, so she wrote her mother about it. [She told Mother how and] She went to the woods and gathered hops so Mother made her own yeast and enough for the neighbors. She used to make a flour sack full at a time, and I can see that sack hanging behind the kitchen stove to dry.
After a few years we bought 80 acres of land out on the prairie near Nora, Nebraska and built a three-room house and to us that was wonderful to have real partitions and doors. We paid 85 cents an acre for the land, then a few years later we bought another 80 acres for $2.50 per acre. Father was improving fast, the climate was wonderful and everybody was in high spirits.
We had bored a well and it wasn’t deep enough for we were getting a new windmill and by now the farm was well-stocked with horses, cows and hogs so Father had the well sunk to from 88 to 135 feet and that gave us a good supply of water.”
Notes: Laura Ladell Merrill’s sick father was Hiram Henry Merrill and her mother was Margaret Maria Gordon. Laura went by the name Della Merrill Hedgcock after she married George Grant Hedgcock 29 June 1892 in Nora Nebraska.
Shortly after their arrival in Nebraska it was determined that Hiram Henry Merrill had Malaria. It was treated and he rapidly recovered.
