There is a graveyard in Manteca
Where some
of my ancestors sleep.
Pioneers.
When I
was in school, learning about "manifest destiny"
And
Indian wars and mountain men
And
heard about the wagon trains
I
wondered if that was how
Our
family came out west.
So, I
asked my father,
"Did
the Litchfields come west in a wagon train?"
I can
see him sitting in his kitchen chair, laughing, holding a cigarette that he was
smoking,
Still
laughing, he said
"No,
they waited until the railroad was built,
And
then they came out west."
Oh.
So the
Litchfields waited until it was easy.
I was
disappointed.
I have
since learned that my father’s narrative was not wholly accurate
There
were some Litchfields who came out west
Before
the railroad did
And
they settled around Manteca, California, where they were farmers.
Later, more Litchfields did come west on the train
They were coming to join their relatives who were already living in the promised land of California
Farming in the fertile soil of the northern San Joaquin Valley
At that time, the railroad across the country had only recently been linked,
East to
west, with the driving of the Golden Spike
A
Litchfield family - mom, dad, and children
Boarded
a train from their home in the Midwest to go to their family members, and a
new life, in California.
People rode in one of three classes of passenger cars:
First
class were the Pullman passenger cars
Third
class were cheaper, for immigrants/emigrants
Sometimes,
not usually, people rode in boxcars.
According
to a family history, that’s where those Litchfields rode
But
they were going across the country on a train in a few days
Instead
of spending months in a wagon train, with all its hardships, illnesses, and
deaths
So that
must have been an improvement, don't you think?
Except
On the
way
One of
the children became ill
And
died.
When
the family finally arrived in Manteca
They
were greeted by their family members
And
they were able to lay their child to rest.
I
suppose it was good to have a grave to visit,
Instead
of leaving his remains under a mound of dirt somewhere on the prairie
So
yeah, that was better than going by wagon train.
It is
common knowledge that many children died all through history,
From
various causes
Go to a
nineteenth century graveyard, where you will find the graves of multiple
children from the same family
And the
mold was killing bacteria
So he
fooled around with it, named it penicillin, but abandoned the project in 1929.
Then
In the
late 1930s
Two
scientists at Oxford University, Howard Florey and Ernst Chain, began working
with penicillin again
And had
production of the drug figured out by 1943
After
which it saved the lives of thousands of soldiers who would have died without
it
A miracle drug!
Before
penicillin it was not uncommon for children to die
Happened
all the time,
Just
like women died in childbirth all the time
Death was a common part of life
Maybe
you didn’t expect all your children to make it to adulthood
Or yourself to make it through pregnancy and birth.
But I
put it to you that the people left behind never became insensible to their
losses
They
grieved as profoundly as we do
When
someone they loved died.
A
child, a spouse, a sibling, a cousin, a best friend
Grief made
them wail a howl that began in their bellies
And
consumed their whole being.
Just
like you and me.
More
children grow to adulthood now,
Fewer
women die in childbirth
At least in some places
But
death, after all, is what we all have in common
And if
you live long enough
You
will see a lot of it
And
lose a lot of people who were the landscape,
the
environment,
even
the furniture
Of your
life.
So yes
S0me of
the Litchfields came west on the train
They
had it easy compared to the people who traveled
By
horseback or wagon or on foot
Right?
