I recently checked the "Women's Diaries of the Westward Journey" from the library and came across the section that Natalie Merchant read on the Unplugged version of this song. The passage was written by Nancy Hunt in the summer of 1854. Natalie truncated the passage, so I will provide it here.
"While the young folks were having their good times, some of the mothers were giving birth to their babes: three babies were born in our company that summer. My cousin Emily Ibe...gave birth to a son in Utah, forty miles north of the Great Salt Lake, one evening; and the next morning she traveled on until noon, when a stop was made and another child was born -- this time Susan Longmire was the mother made happy by the advent of little Ellen. The third birth [was to] the wife of my cousin Jacob Zumwalt who gave birth to a daughter while traveling in the Sierra Nevada. To this baby they gave the name Alice Nevada."
Whats interesting is that I googled the name Alice Nevada Zumwalt and, found that she was born on September 13, 1854 and died a year later on September 18, 1855. I also googled the name Ellen Longmire and she was born on June 29, 1854. I have googled Emily Ibe and can not find any information about her son, however, his date of birth is most likely June 28, 1854.
I recently checked the "Women's Diaries of the Westward Journey" from the library and came across the section that Natalie Merchant read on the Unplugged version of this song. The passage was written by Nancy Hunt in the summer of 1854. Natalie truncated the passage, so I will provide it here.
"While the young folks were having their good times, some of the mothers were giving birth to their babes: three babies were born in our company that summer. My cousin Emily Ibe...gave birth to a son in Utah, forty miles north of the Great Salt Lake, one evening; and the next morning she traveled on until noon, when a stop was made and another child was born -- this time Susan Longmire was the mother made happy by the advent of little Ellen. The third birth [was to] the wife of my cousin Jacob Zumwalt who gave birth to a daughter while traveling in the Sierra Nevada. To this baby they gave the name Alice Nevada."
Whats interesting is that I googled the name Alice Nevada Zumwalt and, found that she was born on September 13, 1854 and died a year later on September 18, 1855. I also googled the name Ellen Longmire and she was born on June 29, 1854. I have googled Emily Ibe and can not find any information about her son, however, his date of birth is most likely June 28, 1854.