The California Trail

In 1862, when he was 75 years old, my ancestor Calvin Brewster left his home in Mt. Sterling, Iowa with his wife, Harriet (Cramer) Brewster, his younger children, Laura, Nancy, Isabel, [Silas] Ralph, and [John] Calvin, and his step-son Abe Daily, for California. His daughter, Laura, later wrote a short book about their journey, which took five months and covered more than a thousand miles. Here is a map of their approximate route. The blue markers represent places which were mentioned in the book or which I was able to determine from the description given. The book is Crossing the Plains with Ox Teams by Laura Brewster Boquist, copyright 1930 by Laura L. Tritt.