Martha Roe Diary, 1864 May 4-1864 September 8

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Loughridge, Martha A. (Martha Ann), 1843-1920
Title
Martha Roe Diary
Dates
1864 May 4-1864 September 8
Quantity
1 item
Collection Number
Collection 1396, MtBC, us (collection)
Summary
The Martha Roe Diary traces Roe's journey from Grinnell Iowa on May 4 to Council Bluffs and the Platte River road. Roe arrived at Fort Laramie on July 2, Platte Bridge Station on July 12, and Independence Rock on July 25, 1864. The diary records routine daily activities and sketchy descriptions of fellow travelers. There is some description of encounters with plains Indians.
Repository
Montana State University Library, Merrill G. Burlingame Special Collections
Montana State University-Bozeman Library
Merrill G Burlingame Special Collections
P.O. Box 173320
Bozeman, MT
59717-3320
Telephone: 4069944242
Fax: 4069942851
Access Restrictions

This collection is open for research.

Languages
English
Sponsor
Funding for encoding this finding aid was provided by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities

Biographical NoteReturn to Top

Martha Ann Freeman Roe was born in Orange County, Ohio on July 3, 1843. She moved with her family to Iowa where she attended Grinnell University in the early 1860s. She married Isaac Roe on April 16, 1864, and the couple joined an immigrant train the next month bound for the gold fields of Montana. Isaac became a banker and died in 1873. Martha remarried in 1880 to Thomas Loughridge and had four children, eventually settling in Bozeman, Montana where she died on May 11, 1920.

Content DescriptionReturn to Top

The diary traces Roe's journey from Grinnell Iowa on May 4 to Council Bluffs and the Platte River road. Roe arrived at Fort Laramie on July 2, Platte Bridge Station on July 12, and Independence Rock on July 25, 1864. The train Roe traveled with continued on through South Pass, taking the Lander Cutoff to Snake River and then on to Bannack, Montana (which she called "Bannock, Idaho Territory.") The diary records routine daily activities and sketchy descriptions of fellow travelers. There is some description of encounters with plains Indians. A published version of this diary was produced in 1982 by Grace and Lester W. Burket under the title Diary of Martha Roe, May 4, 1864 to September 8, 1864, Grinnell, Iowa to Bannock, Montana. The diary was also described in Merrill J. Mattes, Platte River Road Narratives (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1988), 585.

Administrative InformationReturn to Top

Acquisition Information

Original diary kept by Martha Roe while traveling from Iowa to Montana Territory was donated to Special Collections by the Museum of the Rockies on February 21, 1984. The diary was given to the Museum of the Rockies by Dr. Lester W. Burket and his wife, Mrs. Grace Burket, of Lititz, Pennsylvania.

Processing Note

This collection was processed 2009 March 13

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

  • Frontier and pioneer life-West (U.S.)
  • Indians of North America-Great Plains
  • Overland journeys to Montana-Personal narratives
  • Wagon trains-West (U.S.)
  • Women pioneers-Montana-Diaries
  • Women travelers-West (U.S.)-Diaries

Personal Names

  • Roe, Isaac, d. 1873

Geographical Names

  • Great Plains-Description and travel
  • West (U.S.)-Description and travel

Form or Genre Terms

  • Diaries