This family wagon train left Salem, Henry County, Iowa on 15 April 1852, and took a diagonal course west-northwest through Iowa to reach Council Bluffs 15 May. They waited most of four days before they were able to get their whole party across the Missouri River. They took the road on the north side of the Platte River across Nebraska, passed through Ash Hollow 11 June, and reached Fort Laramie, Wyoming, on 21 June. South Pass was crossed 10 July, then the party took Sublette's Cut-off to Bear River. Passing Fort Hall, Idaho, on 1 August, the wagon train traveled west along the Snake River Plain to Three Island Crossing, which they reached 17 August. They took the main route along the north side of the Snake River, crossed the summit of Oregon's Blue Mountains about 19 September, and reached the Columbia River at The Dalles, Oregon, 5 October. From near The Dalles, they took rafts down the Columbia River to the Willamette Valley.
A partial list of those on the wagon train, and a several generation genealogy of the principal families from the trip, are included in:
Webber, B. 1989. The Oregon Trail Diary of James Akin, Jr. in 1852. Medford, OR: Webb Research Group. 101 pages.
Following is the list of individuals known to have been with this wagon train. Only three people are mentioned in the journal who are not members of the Aiken, Booth, Ingram or Richey families. It seems likely that there were additional wagon drivers and hired hands.
AKIN, Caroline - born 2 Jan 1846
AKIN, Eliza [RICHEY] - born 11 Nov 1814; died on the trip, in
central Idaho 22 Aug 1852.
AKIN, Elizabeth - born 1835
AKIN, Frances - born 11 Aug 1844
AKIN, Franklin - born 15 Mar 1842
AKIN, James - born 2 Apr 1807; died two weeks after arrival in
Portland, OR, 8 Nov 1852.
AKIN, James Jr. - born 26 Jan 1833
AKIN, John L. - born 14 July 1837
AKIN, Mary Ann - born 1850; died on the trip, on the Columbia
River Oct 1852.
AKIN, Nancy - born 6 June 1840
BOOTH, George - born 1 Jan 1852
BOOTH, John Owen - born 12 Jan 1848
BOOTH, Mary [MINOR] - born 24 Sept 1826
BOOTH, Mary Lucinda - born 14 Sep 1846
BOOTH, Robert - born 4 Aug 1820
BOOTH, William Andres - born 6 Sept 1849
COULTER, W. A.
INGRAM, Elizabeth - born 15 June
1844
INGRAM, Elva - born Jan 1848; died on the trip near Guernsey,
Wyoming, 23 June 1852
INGRAM, James - born May 1809
INGRAM, James Henry - born 1838
INGRAM, Leanna
INGRAM, Louisa
INGRAM, Mitchell - born 25 Jan 1835
INGRAM, Paulina
INGRAM, Rachel - born 12 Aug 1836
INGRAM, Ritta Ann [AKIN] - born 1815
INGRAM, Sarah
NICHOLSON, James
RICHEY, Alice [BOOTH], wife of Caleb
- born 11 June 1824
RICHEY, Caleb - born 2 Aug 1816
RICHEY, Edgar - born 6 Nov 1840
RICHEY, Eliza Ann - born 1846; died on the trip 9 Sept 1852.
RICHEY, James - born 1 Jan 1848
RICHEY, John Akin - born 17 Jan 1849
RICHEY, Louisa [LENOX] , wife of Stuart; born 1823; died in Nebraska,
16 June 1852
RICHEY, M. Ellen - born 20 Dec 1845
RICHEY, Mary Jane - born 4 Sept 1842
RICHEY, Miranda Jane - born 13 Feb 1850; died on the trip in Nebraska
31 July 1852
RICHEY, Sarah - born 18 March 1846
RICHEY, Stuart - born 27 May 1812
STEWART, John R.
ADDITION 16 January 2022: Monta Harrington provided me with the following information, pertaining to others who traveled all, or part way, to Oregon with the Akin wagon train.
Mary Ratliff-Price-Coppock (1807-1855) was the 2nd wife of Aaron Coppock (1797-1851). Aaron had left Henry County, Iowa, for California in 1849. He was counted in the 1850 US Census in El Dorado County, California, and was killed near Downieville, Sierra County, California, in May of 1851.
At some point, Aaron had gotten word to Mary that she should join him in California, which she set out to do, leaving Henry County, Iowa, around 20 April 1852, but not yet knowing that Aaron had died.
Mary travelled with her sons Robert Coppock (1844-1923), Alfred R Price (1837-1918), and unmarried daughters Zilpha H Price (1832-1858) later the wife of Alec Brandon, and Sarah Jane Price (1835-) later the wife of Obadiah Small.*
Also traveling with Mary were her two married daughters and their families—Anna Price-Mace with her husband, Joseph D Mace (1826-1902), and children, Mary Emma Mace (1850-1908) & Rice P Mace (1851-1921); and Belinda Price-Rhodes (1829-1882) with her husband, David Rhodes (1826-1907), and children, Moses Rhodes (1848-1852**) & Robert P Rhodes (1850-1881).
At some point during the journey, Mary and family made the decision to head to Oregon rather than to California. The exact reason for the change in direction is unknown, but per The Oregon Trail diary of James Akin, Jr. in 1852 (Akin, James; Webber, Bert.1989 Webb Research Group) on page 38, in the entry for Wednesday, July 7 ”…Joseph Mace overtook us”; and per the obituary of Joseph Mace in The Tacoma Daily Ledger, 10 Feb 1902, on page 8 “…They [Joseph and Anna Mace, in the company of 3 other Henry County, Iowa, families] joined the Stewart-Akin company at the crossing of the North Platte.”
*Obadiah Small probably traveled with the party—he was living with the Price-Coppock family in Henry County in the 1850 US Census, and he married Mary’s daughter Sarah Price a few months after they arrived in Oregon.
**Tuesday, August 24. “…Moses Rhoades died in the morning” [somewhere between Glenn's Ferry (Three Island Crossing) and Mountain Home, Idaho.] Page 48— The Oregon Trail diary of James Akin, Jr. in 1852.
Below is a transcription of the relevant portion of Joseph Mace’s obituary (the original is difficult to read) which parallels the James Akin Diary.
The Tacoma Daily Ledger, 10 Feb 1902, page 8
“Montesano, Feb 9 -- Joseph D Mace, one of the oldest pioneers of Chehalis County, died at his home in this city in the early hours of Wednesday morning, February 5, aged 76 years…
…Accordingly, in 1831 [the Mace family] settled at Richmond, Indiana where they remained until 1842, when they moved to Salem, Henry County, Iowa. In 1849, Joseph was married to Miss Anna Price, a Salem girl. They resided in Salem until April 20, 1852, when they started, in company with three other Salem families to cross the plains. They joined the Stewart-Akin company at the crossing of the North Platte. From this point they went forward on their journey, now having a train of 20 ox teams, reaching The Dalles, Ore, Oct 15. Finding it was impossible to go further with their teams and selling their outfits[?] they proceeded on their journey down the Columbia River in Indian canoes to the cascades where they embarked on the Steamer Multnomah for Portland, having been exactly six months making the journey, after encountering many hardships, privations and skirmishes with hostile Indians…”
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