FARLEY: Virginia to Oregon

Margaret Ferguson married Thomas Farley in Virginia. 

Among their children was Sarah Ann Farley who married (1) Ashbell Van Scyoc and (2) Abraham Fletcher. She died in Fremont Co., Iowa. She had met and married Van Scyoc in 1845 in Holt Co., Missouri. She was there with her widowed mother and several siblings, all apparently, heading west. Her mother Margaret, and at least three of her children,  left Missouri in 1845 on a Wagon Train headed to Oregon.  

Somewhere in Oregon the Winter snows prevented their oxen from pulling their wagon. They abandoned the wagon and were "packed" to their destination.

An unidentified source sent me the following many years ago: "I believe that was to Oregon City. Margaret Ferguson was listed as being on the "1845" Overland Wagon Train to Oregon led by Sam Barlow. She had remarried a man whose last name was Fanno.   The trail was brutally steep coming down from the Cascade Summit on the South side of MT. Hood. Trees were thick and the trail was an Indian trail and only one animal wide.  It  was slippery when wet and it was wet with rain snow and fog . Animals and people alike slipped often and  fell many hundreds of feet to their deaths. Wagons were attached with ropes to trees and lowered down the mountain side. Many wagons and their contents were lost and the poor people half frozen were left with nothing. So many lost their lives.

Margaret's daughter Emmeline (pictured here around 1880 in California) was married to Simeon Loveland and they were on the same wagon train. Their son Anderson was born in November 1845 near what is now John Day, Oregon. John Day is located in rugged country. It is hard to imagine just how the pioneers made it through the stony, mountainous landscape to reach the Cascade Mountains and then to virtually walk all the way in winter conditions over the  Cascade mountains to Oregon City boggles my mind. I just drove the trip i September  in a modern automobile on a smooth highway and it took me 12 hours from Baker , Oregon to Portland, Oregon via John Day, Bend, Sisters, Oregon. In Sept. it was snowing at the summit . In November chains will be required. I have so much respect for their sacrifices, tenacity and bravery."

 The pass over The Cascades around Mt. Hood is still called Barlow Trail.

According to {IT::IT} The Trial Blazers, Emeline Farley Loveland and her husband, Simeon Loveland, left Liberty, Missouri in April of 1846 with 100 wagons and many other families.  Also along on this wagon train was her mother, Margaret Ferguson Farley, and her brother, Ira Farley.  (We know from other sources that Anderson Farley, another brother, was also along on this trip as he joined Fremont and his men after they reached the west).  

At Black Rock Desert (northern Nevada) they came upon hot springs---one 30 ft. in diameter--- Emeline accidentally got a foot into this hot water and scalded her foot so severely that as her stocking was removed, the skin peeled off!  The last part of the journey while in Southern Oregon became so difficult they were 'packed into' the nearest settlement.  This last fact is written up in  Holt's journal as recorded in {IT: :IT} Overland in 1846.

Overview of the Family:

FARLEY FAMILY OF VIRGINIA, IOWA, CALIFORNIA

THOMAS B. FARLEY (HENRY6, THOMAS5, FRANCIS4, JOHN B.3, JOHN B.2, THOMAS1) was born 1792 in Montgomery Co., Virginia, and died 1832 in Logan County, Virginia. He married MARGARET FERGUSON 1816 in Cabell County, Virginia, daughter of SAMUEL FERGUSON and LUCY STOKES.

Children of THOMAS FARLEY and MARGARET FERGUSON are:

i. ANDREW "JACKSON" FARLEY, b. 1818, Tug Fork Of Sandy River , Virginia; d. April 11, 1908, Laytonville, CA; m. CAROLINA STOKES, October 23, 1845, Andrew Co., Missouri.

ii. ANDERSON "ANCE" FARLEY, b. 1822, Cabell County, Virginia; d. July 27, 1872, Napa, Napa, CA.

iii. SARAH ANN "SALLY" FARLEY, b. 1826, Cabell County, Virginia; d. 1909,Fremont Co., Iowa; m. (1) Ashbel Van SCYOC, 1845, Holt Co, Missouri; m. (2) ABRAHAM FLETCHER, September 05, 1860, Fermont County, IA.

iv. EMELINE FARLEY, b. 1827, Cabell County, Virginia; d. Aft. 1900, California; m. SIMEON LOVELAND, October 16, 1845, Atchison Co., MO.

v. IRA FARLEY, b. Abt. 1830, Clark County, Illinois; d. 1848, Napa City, California.

vi. JAMES FARLEY, b. January 01, 1832, Clark County, Illinois; d. January 29, 1903, Laytonville, CA; m. NANCY ANN DAVIS, March 25, 1851, Andrew Co., Missouri.