A Journey Beyond the Covered Wagon Myth in My Family’s History
The family story is that my great-grandmother Blanche came west with her family in a covered wagon when she was a young girl. Digging into her past, I found the truth and more surprises than I could have imagined.
Blanche’s father, John Thomas Workman, and mother, Julia Smith, were married in Wolfe County, Kentucky in 1874. They had their first seven children from 1875–1886 in Kentucky. The last four were born in Purdy, Missouri, 1889–1897.
In 1900, I found the family in the U.S. Census in Cherokee Indian Territory. Did they come from Oklahoma Territory to Washington in a covered wagon? I still didn’t have an answer. I noticed their son, John, was missing, though.
I found him living on a farm with widow Lucy Duncan and her two children. This page said, “Indian Population.”
Lucy was on the Dawes Census Card as 1/16 Native American, and her children as 5/8 native American. Why John was living with Lucy, I didn’t yet know. But it…
