Chapter 87: Foster Farm

 

Tuesday, October 12th—Mac says he will find me a home near Esther or the Tullers. William and I will not be alone.

 

Jenny sat near the wagon writing, William on a blanket beside her and Mac across the fire. She smiled in contentment. Soon she and William would have a home. She wondered whether Mac would find peace in Boston.

Would she ever be as happy as she had been as a child? She had William, she had friends, but she had no family. She shrank from the thought of marriage, even to a good man like Mac.

Even women married to men they loved faced trouble. Mrs. Pershing followed her husband and died. Mrs. Tuller left her children’s graves in Illinois, and Hatty left a son dead along the trail. Esther had Daniel, but she had to put up with Mr. Abercrombie and care for her younger siblings.

No, marriage didn’t guarantee happiness, and Jenny could not imagine herself married.

She would have to make her own happiness. Or rather, happiness for herself and William. She glanced down at her son and smoothed his downy head. Her heart ached when she looked at him, he was so beautiful. Even at a month old, he resembled her dear papa. She didn’t want to know which evil man had fathered him. Better to believe William had no father—only her for a mother.

The emigrants were almost giddy as they set out on the trail beyond the Sandy the next day. The dangers of the journey were past, and they had land to claim and homes to build in the Willamette Valley.

Esther and Jenny walked ahead of the wagons, each holding an infant. “How will you handle both Jonah and a new baby?” Jenny asked.

“Ma had twins. I’ll manage.” Esther tossed her head and smiled. “I’ve told Daniel we need to settle near Pa. Then Rachel can help.”

“Mac says he’ll settle me near you, too.”

“Settle you? Where will he be?”

“Settle us, I mean,” Jenny said hastily. She had been so careful for so long not to let on she and Mac weren’t married. “Though he might go back East.” Maybe she should plant the seed that Mac would leave.

“Back East?” Esther looked at Jenny with wide eyes. “After this long, long trek, he’d go back East? What will you do?”

“Oh, he wouldn’t stay,” Jenny stared at the ground. She couldn’t look Esther in the face and lie. “Lots of men go back to get their families.”

“Why would his folks want to come to Oregon? I thought they were rich.” Esther shrugged. “But then, Pa says Oregon is the best farmland anywhere.” Esther prattled on about how her father described Oregon. “The land just has to be cleared and planted. All we need is water nearby and high ground for a house.”

They traveled through wooded land along a cleared path plenty wide enough for the wagons. The terrain was almost level, the trail surrounded by green pines, bright orange maples, and red alders.

“Almost like autumn at home,” Mac said when he rode up beside Jenny and Esther.

They had gone about five miles when Jenny heard a shout from the front of their company. “A house!”

Mac galloped ahead. Jenny and Esther grinned at each other and ran, clutching the babies. At the top of a slight rise they looked out over a valley. Mac, Zeke, and Abercrombie raced their horses downhill toward a farmhouse, followed by many of the children. A man rode out from the farm to meet them.

“We’re here,” Esther cried, hugging Jenny, tears streaming down her face. “Oregon. We’re here.”

Jenny sobbed as well, hiding her face in William’s neck. She glanced up to see Mac shake hands with the farmer. Mac gestured at the wagons on the hill, and the farmer nodded.

Mac trotted back to Jenny and Esther, his face beaming. “That’s Philip Foster. It’s his farm. He has a field where we can camp. And fresh food. A home-cooked meal for fifty cents a head.”

Mac turned to the wagons behind them and shouted. “Dinner is my treat tonight. We made it!”

Mac took William from Jenny, then pulled her up behind him on Valiente. “Let’s go make camp,” he said. He rode beside their wagon and prodded the oxen down the hill. The emigrants followed Foster into a clearing and circled the wagons. Another wagon company was already camped in the field, but there was space for everyone.

They ate supper that night in the farmhouse—a rude, wooden building, not much better finished than the barn beside it. But it had room for a long table and benches, like the tavern in Arrow Rock. Mrs. Foster and two other women fed the travelers in shifts. Fresh beef, buttery mashed potatoes, biscuits with jam, and crisp coleslaw. And real coffee.

After supper Mac and Jenny sat near their wagon. “Good dinner, wasn’t it?” he asked.

She smiled and nodded, sated with the home-cooked meal.

“They have a store. We’ll buy whatever you need tomorrow. Lay by until Friday.”

“Won’t it be expensive?” She wondered how much money he had left. He always seemed to have plenty.

“I want to stock up before we arrive in Oregon City. And get you new shoes.”

“What did Mr. Foster tell you about the town?”

“Over five hundred people. Stores, churches, houses.” Mac grinned. “Biggest settlement in Oregon.”

Jenny sighed. It sounded like home.

“It’s only ten miles from here,” he continued. “We cross the Clackamas River at the bottom of this valley, go over a small range of hills, and we’re there. The town is at the falls on the Willamette. Boats have to stop where the falls are, so that’s where folks settled.”

“Where will we stay?”

Mac shrugged. “Foster mentioned a field right outside town where we can camp until we find places for the winter.”

“But no more traveling.” Jenny cuddled William close and smiled. “Esther says Captain Pershing and Zeke are staking out farm claims. And she and Daniel will also. Can we file a claim near them?”

“How will you manage a farm? Wouldn’t you rather be in town?”

“I’d rather be near Esther and the Tullers. Where are the Tullers going? Doc both farmed and doctored in Illinois.”

“Don’t know. I’ll talk to him.”

Jenny climbed in the wagon to nurse William. When the baby slept she took out her journal, its pages almost full now, and wrote:

 

Wednesday, October 13th—At Foster’s Farm. Good beef and vegetables for dinner. Only ten miles to Oregon City. I hope I find a place to call home.

Jenny went with Mac to Foster’s store in the morning. The building was as big as the barn, built with the same open rafters. Many shelves behind the counter were empty, but there were barrels of provisions on the floor.

“Not much here, is there?” she whispered.

“It’s late in the season,” Mac said. “Foster says he has more dry goods at his store in Oregon City. Prices won’t be any cheaper in town, so pick what you want here. Footwear on the far counter.” He gestured.

They bought potatoes and flour and boots for Jenny. “Look how white it is!” Jenny said of the flour. She hadn’t seen flour so fine since Missouri. “And carrots and cabbage. We’ll have fried beef and cabbage at noon, and beef stew this evening. No more venison.”

Jenny spent the day cooking and washing with other women. In midafternoon, when the wash was hung to dry and the stew on the fire, Jenny and Esther sat in camp with the babies beside them on the buffalo skin. The October air was crisp beneath a clear blue sky, the trees golden and green, Mount Hood rising beyond.

“Now that we’re here, Mr. Abercrombie may be less cantankerous,” Esther said. “He and Pa talked last night. Neither of ’em got mad.”

“Will you all live together?”

“Close.” Esther grinned. “But not together. Daniel and I want our own land.”

“And you’ll keep Jonah?”

Esther nodded. “At least until my baby comes and Pa is settled.”

“You don’t mind Jonah’s not your own child?” Jenny asked.

“No.” Esther touched her brother’s cheek. “He’s like having a part of Ma with me.”

Maybe blood made a difference, Jenny thought. Esther felt tied to Jonah. Mac wasn’t any relation to her or William, and didn’t love them. Jenny kept thinking about Mac leaving. She could raise William alone, but she would miss Mac dreadfully.

After supper Doc and Mrs. Tuller stopped by. “We’re almost there,” Mrs. Tuller said, taking Jenny’s arm.

“Yes.” Jenny smiled, hugging Mrs. Tuller. “I can’t wait to be done with the wagon.”

“Where will you settle?” Doc asked Mac.

“Not sure.” Mac poked at the campfire. “I’d like Jenny and William to be near you. She’ll need friends. What are your plans?”

“You’re still returning to Boston?” Doc’s mouth was grim.

Mac nodded. “In the spring.”

“You’re going to live with her through the winter?”

Mac looked at the doctor. “We’ve come this far.”

Doc snorted. “Wagon train’s one thing. Cozy cabin’s another.”

“I don’t want to get married,” Jenny said firmly. “I can raise William by myself. And Mac doesn’t care if we keep using his name.” She tightened her grip on Mrs. Tuller’s arm. “But I want to be near people I know.”

Mrs. Tuller patted her hand. “Of course you do. It’ll all work out.”

“Do you plan to stay in town?” Mac asked the doctor.

“Have to see if the town needs a doctor, or if I can do more good in the country.”

“Rest assured,” Mrs. Tuller said. “We’ll find a place for Jenny nearby.”

 

Thursday, October 14th—Our journey ends tomorrow.