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Nancy Ann Marks Wimberly (pictured with an unidentified child)

 

Read more below the photograph.

 

 

     "Nancy Ann Marks, granddaughter of Jane Beatty and William Kays, was only 19 months old when her father died from the measles in Knox County, Illinois.  When Nancy was 14 years old, her mother, Elizabeth Parker Kays Marks, decided to go west, as the doctors had advised  her that the climate might be of benefit to Nancy's 19-year old brother, John Bluford, who was in poor health.  So in the fall of 1852, the widow Elizabeth and her children joined a 50-wagon train heading for Oregon.  They spent the winter of 1852 at Council Bluffs, Iowa, fixing wagons, shoeing oxen and horses, and making the necessary preparations for the long trek.

 

     "Nancy's brother-in-law, Andrew Johnson Chapman, was wagonmaster, and her brother, William Henry Marks, managed the Marks' wagons.  The family wagons consisted of two ox drawn wagons and one light wagon drawn by two horses. The light wagon was driven by 18-year old Mary Elizabeth Marks, and the sickly John Bluford rode in this wagon.  William, his wife Mary Ann, and their baby Genevry had their own wagon, which William drove.  Elizabeth and Nancy, her youngest child, rode in another wagon which was driven by a hired teamster.  Nancy found the going so rough, she walked most of the way to Oregon.

 

     "The wagon train arrived in Oregon in the fall of 1853.  All of the women in the train went from The Dalles to Oregon City by boat, except for Mary Elizabeth Marks who stayed with her team and wagon.  John Bluford went with the women and children.  Mary Elizabeth drove her team and wagon over the Barlow Road to Oregon City.  This road was very dangerous and in some places there was no road at all.  At times, the wagons had to be let down steep places with ropes and chains.

 

     "The winter of 1853-54 was spent near Salem, Oregon.  It was there that Nancy's sister, Mary Elizabeth, married Roswell Diton Johnson on March 19, 1854.  Just 2 days later, on March 21, 1854, their brother, John Bluford, died.  He lived just a short time after they had made this long, difficult trip for the benefit of his health.  Nancy Marks and her mother remained in Oregon City in the Willamette Valley for a time, later moving to the area near Glide in Douglas County, Oregon.  It was here that Nancy Ann Marks wed Enoch Wimberly.  The marriage was performed in the log cabin home of Jane and Andrew Chapman on the East Umpqua River by Fletcher Royal, Minister of the Methodist Church at Wilbur, Oregon.

 

     "Nancy Ann was often called upon in times of need because of her knowledge of home remedies and care for the sick.  In addition to her other household duties, she helped shear the sheep, carded the wool and made the material for clothes, and knitted all the socks for her family.  She was known for her ability to sew leather into chaps, trousers, shirts and gloves.  She obtained many of the hides from the Indians.  At times she made, traded and/or sold 3-4 dozen pairs of gloves at once.  She traded them to the Indians for more hides and traded them at the store for flour, eggs or sugar.  Many times she sold them outright for cash, as much as $1.00 a pair."