This tale is mostly true:
My great-grandmother crossed the plains going to the promised land of California in a covered wagon. The year was 1866. She left St. Louis, Missouri, eight months after the end of the Civil War.
Her name was Rebecca Joyce. Her husband, Jeremiah, drove the wagon as Rebecca walked alongside—there was no room for riding. The wagon carried the things needed to start a new life. Rebecca walked the entire two thousand miles.
I know this because my family still has her diary. It recounts the harrowing trek across an unexplored land.
One hundred and sixty-six men, women, and children left on that fateful journey. One hundred and fifteen lived to see California—fifty-one souls did not.
Forty-two days after leaving Missouri, Rebecca reloaded her husband’s long gun as he fought off Indians from under their wagon. Twelve people were killed in that encounter. When they crossed the Green River, six of their party drowned. On the high plains, cholera hit, thirty-three died over a two-day period.
I tell you of these things for a reason. You younger folks of today have it easy, but still you complain. Well, what do you think of this? Rebecca crossed a continent—an untamed continent—with an iPhone 1 and only 2G service! And no video camera! Can you imagine the hardship? Can you picture what that poor woman had to go through to keep up with the goings-on of the Kardashian clan and what was trending on Twitter? The horror!
The next time your phone takes all of 0.0002 seconds to connect to Facebook and you think that’s an eternity, please remember Rebecca Joyce fighting off disease and Indians—worse still, she was in the dark on the latest news concerning Kim’s butt.
Thank you,
Andrew Joyce
Christmas Day, 2015
You should write a book about Rebecca’s journey based on her diary. I’ll bet it would be a best seller! Have a wonderful Christmas and all the best in 2016!
I have incorporated her story in the first third of an as yet unpublished book, entitled “YELLOW HAIR.” (142,000 words! I have a lot of editing down to do). Thanks for reading my stuff.
My pleasure!
Yellow hair was a fantastic read, from the excerpts i’d read a long time back on the poetry site Bill… A no. One bestie in my eyes…
I was thinking the same… a biographical story based on her diary. Really love reading real stories like this. 2000 miles on feet and 1 in 3 did not make it, this is hard stuff. Great for us that some wrote diaries… Merry Christmas, Billy ☺ And please say hello to Danny for me ?
Andrew — You ought to edit granny’s diary and make a book of it. I bet you could find a publisher PDQ.
Deke
Please see response (below) to mysm2000. I wrote it five years ago. Will take it down, dust it off, and work on it once finished with current project.
Yep! Good on ya granny Joyce… Great Christmas day reminder on priorities and perspective, keep up the writing Billy…
Thanks, Pete.
Just looking back on appraisal’s that were well deserved Bill… Especially Yellow Hair…