CROSSING THE CONTINENTAL DIVIDE: Three American Diaries 1853-1854

Ronald John Vierling

Jul 2012 · Xlibris Corporation

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Told through preserved family diaries, Crossing the Continental Divide joins two major 19th century American themes—the moral consequences of chattel slavery and the cultural consequences of settlers going west.

In 1853, newly widowed Ethan Fall leaves Oxford, England, sailing with his two young daughters to Charleston, South Carolina, to begin their new life. When they arrive, Ethan unexpectedly becomes responsible for Sensible Rose, a sixteen-year-old girl of mixed racial parentage. In an effort to remove his daughters and Rose as far away as possible from the South’s “peculiar institution,” the four join a wagon train following the Oregon Trail. As they travel, Crossing the Continental Divide tells the story of their complex and changing relationships, set against the dangers of slavery coupled to the dangers of westward migration.