Humboldt County, CA and Trinity County, CA Biographies Pioneer days in California: (1891) By: Carr, John, 1827-1896 Humboldt County (Calif.) - Biography; Trinity County (Calif.) - Biography Publisher: Eureka, Cal., Times publishing company CHAPTER XLVII. BIOGRAPHY. Transcribed by Peggy Hooper This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm ROBERTS, WILLIAM AND SUSAN� William Roberts was a native of Vermont, and Susan, his wife, a native of Missouri; came across the plains in 1849. I" conversation with the old lady, Mrs. Roberts, a short time since about the early pioneers of California, she gave me a short account of their trip across the plains in the year 1849, which is well worth recording in the pages of the " Pioneer Days in California." I will relate it as she told it to me, as nearly as I can in her own words. She is now in her eighty-fifth year; her memory is remarkable for a person of her age. She said: " We started with quite a large train of emigrants to California on the 22d day of February, 1849. My husband was chosen Captain of the train; all went well with us the greater part of the way across the plains. We came the northern or Fort Hall route, and took what was called the Lassen cut-off; all went smoothly for a while. The company elected another Captain, who knew very little of the plains or the Indians. One night while camped on the Sierra Nevada Mountains, from our camp we could see fires and smoke starting up from different points of the mount- ains surrounding us. My husband advised the new Captain to guard the stock until the cattle were filled, and then to corral them for the night. � For,' said he, 'those are signal fires, and we are in danger from the Indians.' The Captain laughed at his fears, and said, ' We are past all danger.' We were then on the California side of the Sierras. My hus- band got up his cattle and corralled them, saying he would take no chances. Next morning the most of the cattle were gone, having been stolen by the Indians; not a whole team left, except ours, in the train. Here we were in the mountains and late in the season, short of teams to take us through. There was but one thing to be done, and that was to lighten up the wagons, and proceed as best we might. All surplus goods and provisions were thrown from the wagons, in order to lighten them for the reduced teams. We then got on very slowly. As we all feared, the storms commenced, and caught us in the mountains in November, very poorly prepared for a hard winter. We kept traveling as well as we could, though it kept snowing all the time. On the 17th day of November the United States relief train met us. The train was under the command of Captain Peeples of the United States army, and had been sent out by the Government to help the late emigrants through. It was snowing hard at the time we met the train of about forty mules. The Captain told us the only thing for us to do was for us to leave our teams and everything we had, and he would take us through with his mules as he was short of provisions, and they must make the settlement as soon as possible. My husband refused to leave his team, and I refused to leave my husband, preferring to take my chances with him. R. R. Roberts, our son, and his wife left with the Government train, as his wife was very near her confinement, and they hoped to reach the settlements before her sickness would take place. They started, leaving us in the mount- ains, the snow still falling. They traveled for two days with the relief train, and the third night after being with the train the party camped for the night. The next morning the snow was between two and three feet deep, and all the mules but three had perished of cold and hunger. Cap- tain Peeples then found himself in desperate straits. Here he was with a company whom he was sent to assist, with a number of women and children, snowed in in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, without provisions or transportation for them. All he had left of his forty mules was but three, and they hardly able to travel. The nearest settlement was forty miles distant. They made sacks, into which they put the children, and slung them on each side of the mules. They had one old ox, which they killed before starting, but left part of the ox with the party staying behind. There were ten women in the party; they with the rest had to go on foot through the snow, over two feet deep, and with very little to eat. They reached the settlement in two days, without loss of life, which set- tlement was then known as Lassen's Ranch, and was about one hundred and twenty-five miles above Sacramento City. In the meantime William Roberts and wife had overtaken the Government train in camp where the mules had perished. Young Mrs. Roberts being unable to travel, the Roberts family had to remain there with two sick men who had the scurvy. One of the men died the second night in camp, and the other got well. The names of the party that remained in camp were William Roberts, Susan Roberts, his wife, R. R. Roberts and his wife, who was about to be confined, J. J. Roberts and Mr. Cliff, the teamster, with the two sick men. In a day or two Mrs. Roberts was confined in the wagon, and a boy was born � the first white child born in a snowstorm in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, of whom we have any account. The child grew to manhood in Humboldt county, and was known as John V. C. Roberts. In the meantime, after the baby was born, they moved down the mount- ains about four miles and built a cabin, intending to have shelter until the storm was over. The first night they moved into their cabin they turned out their famished oxen, sixteen in number, to browse. The next morning it was discovered that they had all been stolen by the Indians, and nothing was left but one Indian pony. After completing the cabin, Mr. William Roberts started for the settlement in search of provisions for the family. When he left the cabin they had one very poor deer which they had killed, and very poor venison it made. Mr. Roberts was gone four days when he returned, bringing a few provisions. During these four days the infant subsisted on kennaknick berries they found under the snow, and picked and then pressed; the juice was given to the infant, which thrived well on such nourishment. The pulp of these berries was made into bread and eaten by the adults. After Mr. Roberts returned to camp, R. R. Roberts, John J. Roberts and Mr. Cliff went to Sacramento Valley for provisions. The party remained in camp until the 20th of February, when they left for the Sacramento Valley, and arrived at Lassen's Ranch on foot, on the 22d day of February, 1850. The family came to Humboldt and arrived at Eureka on the 22d day of February, 1851. William Roberts died at Bucksport, Humboldt county, January 7, 1872, aged 72 years. Susan Roberts, the mother of pioneers, my informant, is a hale and hearty old lady, now in her eighty-fifth year, and loves to talk of her pioneer days.