village. There he built a home, acquired wealth, and took an active
part in the development of the country round about.

Twice had he been married, and twice bereft by death when he met my
mother, Tamsen Eustis Dozier, then a widow, whom he married May 24,
1839. She was a native of Newburyport, Massachusetts. She was cultured,
and had been a successful teacher and writer. Their home became the
local literary centre after she was installed as its mistress.

My father had two sons and eight daughters when she became his wife;
but their immediate family circle consisted only of his aged parents,
and Elitha and Leanna, young daughters of his second marriage, until
July 8, 1840, when blue-eyed Frances Eustis was born to them. On the
fourth of December, 1841, brown-eyed Georgia Ann was added to the
number; and on the eighth of March, 1843, I came into this world.

I grew to be a healthy, self-reliant child, a staff to my sister
Georgia, who, on account of a painful accident and long illness during
her first year, did not learn to walk steadily until after I was strong
enough to help her to rise, and lead her to a sand pile near the
orchard, where we played away the bright days of two uneventful years.

With the approaching Winter of 1845 popular interest in the great
territory to the west of us spread to our community. Maps and reports
were eagerly studied. The few old letters which had been received from
traders and trappers along the Pacific coast were brought forth for
general perusal. The course of the reading society which met weekly at
our home was changed, in order that my mother might read to those
assembled the publications which had kindled in my father and uncle
the desire to migrate to the land so alluringly described. Prominent
among these works were "Travels Among the Rocky Mountains, Through
Oregon and California," by Lansford W. Hastings, and also the
"Topographical Report, with Maps Attached," by Captain Fremont, which
has been already mentioned.

_The Springfield Journal_, published by Mr. Allen Francis, appeared
with glowing editorials, strongly advocating emigration to the Pacific
coast, and its columns contained notices of companies forming in
Southern and Southwestern States, each striving to be ready to join the
"Great Overland Caravan," scheduled to leave Independence, Missouri,
for Oregon, early in May, 1846.

Mr. James F. Reed, a well-known resident of Springfield, was among
those who urged the