Where oh where have you been?

Another two months have passed and I have not posted to this blog.  I have no excuse (unless raising two small great-grandchildren is an excuse) and hope to get back into posting articles on a regular basis.

I've found another interesting book (while waiting for my great-granddaughter participating in a dance clinic) in the library in Meridian.  We did not have it in our Nampa library so I did an inter-library loan.  The book is a very pleasant 'Tales of the Trail" written by Arabella Fulton  'after she had passed her eightieth milestone -- an account, from a woman's viewpoint, of the crossing of the plains in ox caravan in 1864, and settlement of the Boise Valley of Idaho; a wagon trip to Texas, and settlement and life there; a wagon trip to Washington Territory from Texas, and settlement in the Kittitas Valley.'  This book is an easy read and gives a woman's account of the hardships of travels over the many miles from Missouri to the frontier settlements. 

The following data is extracted from Kittitas County, Washington Obituaries.
Fulton, Arabella Clemens

Arabella Fulton, Valley Pioneer, Succumbs Today. Mrs. Arabella Clemens Fulton passed away July 30 1934 at 3:45 a.m. at the home of her daughter and son-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Will German.

She was born in Boone County, Missouri, on January 23, 1844. She crossed the plains in the spring of 1864 by wagon trains to Boise, Idaho. On November 24, 1864, she married Francis M. Fulton. Four children were born in Idaho; J. L., John Hugh, Della, and Isabelle. In 1872 Mr. and Mrs. Fulton moved by wagon train to Decatur, Wise County, Texas.

In Texas the following four children were born: Frank, Mrs. Nellie Wilmarth, Nettie, and William R. In 1883 they moved to Washington Territory by wagons. They spent the winter in the Wenas, moving later to Ellensburg in the spring of 1884. Two daughters, Mrs. Estella Cooper and Mrs. Jacquelyn Nickell were born here. Mr. Fulton died here in 1896. After that, Grandma Fulton resided in Okanogan County and California. She moved back here five years ago and has since made her home with her daughter and son-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. William German. The seven living children are J. L. Fulton of Willows, Calif.; Mrs. Della German, Ellensburg; Francis M. Fulton, Wenatchee; Mrs. Nellie Wilmarth, Nampa, Idaho; William F. Fulton, Mazama, Wash.; Mrs. Estella Cooper, Glenn, Calif.; and Mrs. Jacqueline Nickell of Pateros, Wash. There are 28 grandchildren and 23 great grandchildren.

Grandma Fulton was a faithful member of the Christian Church for many years and until her death. She leaves a host of friends who will mourn her passing. Funeral services will be held at Honeycutt's Chapel on Wednesday afternoon at 2 o'clock. Burial in the IOOF Cemetery.

Source: Kittitas County, Washington Obituaries

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I have no relationship to Arabella Fulton that I can determine, but as my grandmother Mary Winnie Dexter, came from Illinois to Idaho territory with her parents and two siblings in the 1880s, I imagine they had some of the same struggles in settling in Long Valley.  Even though this was twenty years after the Fultons settled in Boise Valley, it was still difficult to get goods into the high mountain valleys and household goods were scarce and expensive.  Raising crops and animals was difficult with the unpredictable weather, medical help was almost non-existent, and life was hard for all.

 Mary W Dexter with her parents, on their homestead in Long Valley in the 1890s.

By the time my grandfather (her future husband Thomas Logue) had arrived in Long Valley, Mary Dexter and her father, Walter M Dexter had filed on homesteads of 160 acres each.