Children’s Book – James Hagerdon and the Oregon Trail

I had a wild idea (I have those sometimes) and thought it might be fun to put together a couple of little, short stories for some of the youngsters in the family and tell them some of the stories about their ancestors.

One that was easy and relevant to places the kids knew was the story of an ancestor who left Green Bay, Wisconsin in 1853 and headed to Placerville, CA. James Hagerdon was roughly 11 years old when his family went across country on the Oregon trail. He later came back to Iowa where he raised his family and is buried in Woodbury County, Iowa.

Thanks to the writings of James’s oldest sister Emily we have some notes on their journey. Thanks also to Ellen Osborne who compiled a book detailing information on the family. Both of those helped my story immensely.

This was a fun process and a nice way to share some of these family histories with the next generation. I hope the kids enjoy the book, and we’ll see what story I tell next. There are so many good family stories.