The Oregon Trail runs about 30 miles south of Lander, WY, on its way across the South Pass region to the pass itself. South of the main trail and the Sweetwater River, there’s an alternate route called the Seminoe Cutoff that avoids Rocky Ridge and eliminates several crossings of the Sweetwater River.
On 29 June 1854, a young woman named Sarah A. Thomas died and was buried near the trail on the Seminoe Cutoff. Unlike the vast majority of trail graves, a stone was carved and left to mark her grave. And then her family continued on, because a delay could mean hitting early snow in the mountains and that could be fatal.
On 1 February 2024, almost 170 years later, I clicked on the Oregon-California Trails Association’s video “The Curious Case of Sarah Thomas’ Tombstone”.
Randy Wise, curator of the Fremont County Pioneer Museum in Lander, WY, first presents some background on the Oregon Trail and the fairly high mortality rate (the vast majority of deaths due to accidents and disease) before telling Sarah’s story.
The little information that was then known is from her gravestone and because an unrelated person in another party, Jacob Hays, witnessed her funeral and noted the same date and location.
Randy then noted that a new, larger stone was left in the 1920s that may’ve been left by relatives — and that reminded me of a story I’d heard about 50 years ago.
Back in the early 1970s, my grandfather told me a story that he’d heard from his father, Ed Brennan. Ed (or possibly his father, also named Ed; my memory isn’t what it was and my grandfather died in 1997. My uncle doesn’t recall hearing the story) either knew or had met a gentleman named Bill Thomas.
Bill told Ed his grandmother had died on the Oregon Trail, and that over 50 years later he’d been able to find her grave using his grandfather’s notes and sketches.
I didn’t remember anything about a gravestone in the story, but my grandfather did say that Bill Thomas was named for his grandfather.
It wasn’t much to go on, but I’m a genealogist and I love a challenge — and I had a feeling I really should start looking for Sarah.
A few days later I thought I may’ve found her, and not long after that I was almost certain.
Sarah Ann Campbell was born about 1832, the third child of Hiram D. Campbell and Catharine Dennison of Windsor Township, Lawrence Co, Ohio.
In 1847, the family moved to Linn County, Iowa, where Hiram bought a farm that was much of what later became Center Point. The house he bought was the first house, and the house he later built was the second house in Center Point and still exists.
On 15 September 1848 in Linn County, Iowa, Sarah married William A. Thomas. In 1849 they had their first son John Clark, and on 3 October 1850, the three were enumerated immediately after Sarah’s family on the census.
Their second son Lee Dignis (sometimes Dignus), was born the next year, and their third son, Louis K, was born in 1852. Sadly Louis died very young. He’s buried at the Center Point Cemetery, where three of his Campbell aunts are also buried.
In the Spring of 1854 the Thomases and Campbells set out with teams of oxen for California. They were going to join Catharine’s younger brother James Madison (Jess) Denison and other friends and family in Illinoistown.
On June 29th, Sarah died on the trail and was buried along the Seminoe Cutoff. A gravestone with her name, date of death, and age was carved to mark her grave. And then the family had to move on so they wouldn’t get behind and risk being caught by snow in the Sierras.
The rest of the family arrived safely in Illinoistown, CA, early that fall. William clerked for Mr Enos Mendenhall for a time, then he and the boys moved to the Bloomer ranch south of Auburn and ran a hotel there for a few years.
In 1860, when William married the widow Mrs. Ursula Blakely, Sarah’s father bought Bloomer Ranch and moved the Campbell family there. William moved the Thomas family to what was later named Sylvan or Sylvan Corners (and later still, Citrus Heights), where he ran the 15 Mile House on the Old Auburn Rd; Hiram owned a half interest in the property.
The 15 Mile House on the old Auburn Rd linked Sacramento to the mines; it provided rooms, refreshments (for people and animals), etc., for wagon crews to and from the gold country as well as stagecoach travelers.
In 1862, William donated five acres of land for the first school in Sylvan Corners. The History of Citrus Heights’ First One-room Schoolhouse
His sons John and Lee were students, as well as his future daughter-in-law Charlotte Annereau and her brother Thomas James Annereau. The Annereaus lived on the Parsons and Annereau Ranch near what’s now Antelope.
In 1864, when the train lines opened and wagon traffic to the mines dropped to a trickle, William moved the Thomases to Roseville, just over the Placer County line. William opened the first mercantile business in town, which also included rooms to rent and a post office. For a time he also had a carriage repair and upholstery business, which his brother Abe Thomas ran.
In 1865, Sarah’s father Hiram Campbell died at Bloomer ranch. His will names his deceased daughter Sarah as the wife of W. A. Thomas and states that her share of his estate will go to her sons Lee and John.
On 12 Dec 1867 at Bloomer Ranch, Sarah and William’s eldest son John married Charlotte Annereau, and they had four children, Thomas Lavater (after Charlotte’s younger half brother Lavater Thomas Lee), Rosa M. (after her younger half sister Rosa Lee), William Alexander Thomas Jr (after John’s father), and Lottie Lee.
Was William Alexander Thomas Jr the Bill Thomas that Ed Brennan told my grandfather about? I don’t think I’ll ever know for certain. But I think it was. Ed lived in Berkeley and Albany and for many years worked for the City of Oakland, and Bill Thomas’ cousin George William Annereau lived in Oakland through at least 1950.
William Alexander Thomas Sr died in 1897. His obituary was in the Placer Argus on 2 April 1897. It mentions his marriage to Sarah Campbell in Linn County, Iowa.
The Roseville Press Tribune published a biographical sketch of William on 14 August 1962, 65 years after his death. Unfortunately, his and Sarah’s year of marriage is off by 6 years, his own death is off by 2 years, and Sarah’s death is off by 4 days. With that being said, it does list her as Sarah Ann Campbell and notes that “Mrs. Thomas died at South Pass in the Rockies en route to California on 3 July 1854.”
Randy Wise (to whom I sent articles I’d found that mentioned William’s wife Sarah dying en route to California) forwarded what I’d sent to Randy Brown, an Oregon Trail researcher and the acknowledged authority on trail graves; Randy had previously written about Sarah’s grave: The Seminoe Cutoff and Sarah Thomas Grave
Randy Brown contacted me and agreed that it’s very likely that Sarah Ann Campbell Thomas is the same person whose body was buried on the Seminoe Cutoff.
The two discrepancies from 1962 about Wiliam Thomas that concerned me turned out to not be an issue: the exact location (“at South Pass” vs on the Seminoe Cutoff) and 29 June 1854 vs 3 Jul 1864.
I had brought up my concerns with Randy Brown in an email. He told me that recording the closest well-known landmark for a burial location was common as are small discrepancies in dates. The recorded date might be when the recorder arrived at the landmark or a place where they could write a letter to be sent home via an emigrant headed east or the mail company; the date on the letter might be the only date recorded. Randy said he’s seen that many times.
Given that, I’m very confident that I’ve reconnected Sarah A.Thomas to her family.
Randy suggested early on that it was likely the Campbells travelled with the Thomases. I looked in to that, and found that both families were in Center Point on the 1852 census and gone by the 1854 census.
One thing that had puzzled me was why Lucinda Campbell had travelled with the Thomas family; she’d only turned 16 in June 1854.
Realising that the Campbells and Thomases travelled together changes that. Lucinda was probably the one who took care of the boys and who Lee remembered the best many years later (Lee turned 4 during the journey. Lucinda married in the early 1860s and died in 1865).
I also discovered this: for the rest of his life William celebrated his own birthday on his and Sarah’s wedding anniversary. She was always remembered and loved.
Sarah’s mother, Catharine (Dennison) Campbell, outlived all her 13 children except her eldest daughter, Margaret Jane (wife of Isaiah Helm). She raised her granddaughter Sarah Catherine Mitchell and her grandsons Charles and Joseph Campbell. Catharine died on 1 Feb 1903; her grave is unmarked at Upper Lake Cemetery. The last of Sarah’s siblings, Margaret died on 25 April 1906 and was buried in the Helm plot of the same cemetery as her mother.
Chris Starfire
Cattycorner Cottage, Lorane, Oregon
2024
starfire-studio.com
1830 Census of Windsor Township, Lawrence Co, Iowa.
1840 Census of Windsor Township, Lawrence Co, Iowa.
Celebrating 150 Years, Center Point, Iowa 1854-2004, pages 1-2
Sarah Ann Campbell, “Iowa, County Marriages, 1838-1934”
1860 Census of Center Township, Sacramento Co, CA
1870 Census of Judicial Twp 1, Placer Co, CA
1880 Census of Roseville, Placer Co, CA