By Nigel Watt
On
Saturday 9th April 1853, Amelia Stewart Knight started the biggest
journey of her life. In her diary she
wrote:
“Started for home about 11
o’clock and travelled eight miles and camped in an old house; night cold and
frosty.”
Amelia was
not alone. She was with her English born
husband, Joel, who she married in Boston in 1834. She had her children: her sons: Plutarch, aged
seventeen; Seneca, aged fifteen; Jefferson, aged eleven; Chatfield, a two-year-old. And then there were the daughters: Frances, thirteen
years of age; Lucy, an eight-year-old, and Almira, just five. A bit of a handful you might think, given how
young some of them were, but Plutarch and Seneca would certainly be strong enough
to help with the physical demands of the journey, and husband Joel was a doctor,
invaluable expertise for a large family about to embark on a 2000 mile trek lasting
the best part of five months.
