Leaving family behind 8.21.29

Took a final leave of all my fathers family and turned our faces toward the West. We found the roads very bad and of course traveled slowly. Crossed the North Mountain and at noon ate a harty meal of bread, beef and cheese at a spring on the side of Mill Mountain. Fed at Williams and started for Warm Springs about 3 o’clock. We had not proceeded more than two hundred yards before we broke a singletree and were detained until almost night to have a new one made. Then drove four miles to Stewards. Fared well on a plenty of plain substantial food.

This journal of a journey from Lexington, in Rockbridge County, Virginia to St. Charles County Missouri, was written in 1829, and includes the story of the enslaved Archer Alexander. Written by William Campbell (1805-1849), it can be found in the Leyburn Library…