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Twenty thousand
pioneers lost their lives in the effort to reach the Golden
West. They had no means of marking the graves of the dead in
those prairie stretches. Only one grave out of all twenty
thousand, so far as we know, is marked. This is the grave of
a pioneer mother near Scottsbluff, Nebraska.
Over the years
Rebecca Winters' grave has served as a reminder of the
hardship on the old Mormon Pioneer Trail. It would be
impossible to know how many people have visited the site
over the years, but her grave has had a profound effect on
many.
Rebecca was part
of an early Mormon expedition to the Great Salt Lake area of
Utah, when she contracted cholera and died as the group
passed through Nebraska's western Panhandle
region.
Rebecca was born
December 16, 1802 at Cayuga, New York to Gideon and
Catherine Burdick. Gideon Burdick was a drummer boy in
George Washington's army. She married Hiram Winters in 1824.
They had five children: Oscar, Alonzo, Hiram, Rebecca and
Helen.
While en route
to Utah, many members of the wagon train Rebecca was
traveling with contracted cholera. She helped care for them
until she became afflicted and passed away on August
15.
According to the
testimony of her husband, Winters was buried wrapped in
blankets and placed between two levels of wood planks to
protect her body.
A family friend,
William Fletcher Reynolds, obtained a steel wagon wheel rim
that had been found on the trail, and spent the night
chiseling "Rebecca Winters - Aug 1852 - Age 50" on the rim.
His young daughter, Ellis Reynolds, held a candle to give
him light.
Lorenzo DeMott
homesteaded the land where the grave stands. He included a
provision that the grave would not be disturbed when he sold
the Burlington Railroad Co. a right of way through his land,
but the 1899 survey would have taken the line directly over
the grave. DeMott spent a great amount of time legally
fighting the railroad which was required to
survey again.
In 1902, a
granite headstone was placed to the west of the iron rim by
family members. "She died a faithful Latter-day Saint August
15, 1852, aged 50 years, while making that memorable journey
across the plains with her people to find a new home in the
far distant Salt Lake Valley. She gave her life for her
faith. Her reward will be according to her works," is the
epitaph.
The Katahdin
Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution has
maintained the gravesite since forming in 1921. In 1929, the
chapter placed a Real Daughter Marker at the site. The
marker was stolen during WWII possibly to sell the bronze
plaque. Several years later the chapter replaced the marker
with the one seen today.
In 1994,
Burlington Northern officials decided to relocate the grave
due to its proximity to the railroad tracks. The grave was
located just 6 feet from the tracks.
The new grave
site, located about 900 feet east of the original grave, was
rededicated on June 22, 1996. It looks identical to the old
one, with the original wagon wheel iron and the two
monuments.
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