I read somewhere recently that a wagon train could move no faster than the youngest children could walk. The families didn't ride in those wagons. All their worldly goods were in there or tied on the outside. The driver rode. The rest of the family walked alongside. And, since their diet on the trail was largely dried beans, they had to make camp early enough in the day to get them cooked over the open fire. They slept underneath the wagon or under the stars. -----Original Message----- From: Research and writing about Virginia genealogy and family history. [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Paul Drake Sent: Saturday, December 15, 2007 2:08 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: FW: [DRAKE] FW: [VA-SOUTHSIDE] Slow Goin' -----Original Message----- From: .... On Behalf Of [log in to unmask] Anyone have a grasp on how fast our ancestors traveled? How far was a day's ride on horseback? By coach? Oxcart?? How far could one walk or march? Thanks in advance, Matt Harris ____________________________________ Hi Matt. One of my ancestral families, during the summer of 1828, traveling with some elderly and several children and including the old, via what soon would be the National Road, hurriedly as could be, with 14-16 hours days and trailng no other animals, moved a distance of about 425 miles (Perrysburg, PA to Marion, OH) by horse-drawn wagon in 28 days, something near 18 miles per day. A. P. Hill's Corps under pressure marched from Harper's Ferry to the battle of Antietam (16) miles in approx 8 hours. Most folks considered that a man and a horse at a fast walk could travel a mile in 12-15 minutes. Folks also presumed that a man and a horse walked at about the same speed - 12 to 14 miles in an average day. I personally urged a grade gelding to take me about 12 miles in about 7 hours. It is written that the trip by a one horse buggy from Marion, OH to Delaware, OH, 23-24 miles, could be done in a full day. For his Inauguration, Andrew Jackson traveled from Nashville to Washington by horse and carriage, a distance of about 670 miles, in 66 days. Ox-drawn wagons or wagons trailing a cow were considerably slower than were horse or mule-drawn vehicles. During World War II we learned that by walking 50 paces, then trotting 50, then again walking 50, alternating, etc., etc, while quite tiring, would take a strong young man a mile in about 12 minutes (5 miles an hour). My father and grandfather both were railroad people (the Erie), both involved in at least a passenger train trip a week in the early decades of the 20th-century, operated on the basis that a passenger train, presuming the average number of needed stops (and whistle stops), could be expected to average 20-25 miles an hour. The New York Central RR boasted that it had the first-ever regular passenger train service - "20th Century Limited" - from N.Y. City to Chicago in 24 hours; that, about 725 miles by rail and averaging near 30 mph. Not long thereafter, several RRs met that competition with like speed. Perhaps the most interesting rate of movement that I came across was when 2 of my ancestral uncles, every summer, (before the coming of the railroad) drove turkeys on foot from central Ohio (Delaware County) to the railhead at Pittsburg, 210 miles. It took them about 3 months. They then walked back to Delaware County, OH. I found it humorous to learn that when any single turkey decided to rest or sleep, every bird in the herd did the same, thus having controlling command of all. So, a turkey herd moved at 1.5-2 miles a day - really fast, huh :-). Important to our family, during the Revolution and at the order of General Benjamin Silliman, Isaac Sherwood - an ancestral cousin - rode 98 miles from Fairfield CN to Hartford CN, to Lebanon CN and then returned to Fairfield (his home) - in 7 days (about 13 miles a day). For that long ride the CN colony paid him near 18.5 Pounds (L18/7S/6p), about, 2.5 Pounds a day (about $150.00 in the money of today), and Sherwood supplied his own horse, the use of which and his meals were included in that sum as reimbursement. Caveat: migrating, pulling loads or livestock work animals and even trains moved at much slower speeds than those same transporters might individually move much more rapidly much shorter distances in a train of wagons, such as those often employed when multiple families migrated any considerable distance, would only move at the rate the slowest could go, and that rate was in no small measure determined by the quality of horses or mules, the condition of the roads, the weather and by reason of the need to move slowly enough to accommodate the stress on the animals, the elderly and all children. Though the maximum walking speed of a single horse or mule was a good bit more rapid, a family could not move that quickly. Paul ___________________________________ No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.503 / Virus Database: 269.17.2/1185 - Release Date: 12/15/2007 12:00 PM To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-roots.html To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-roots.html