Transcript - Pack the Wagon Woman We're Leaving Tennessee

Music: I THOUGHT MY LIFE WAS SETTLED TIL'' THE DAY JOHN SAID TO ME, PACK THE WAGON WOMAN WE ARE LEAVING TENNESSEE.

Voice Over: IN THE WINTER OF 1846, OUR NEIGHBOR BEGAN TALKING OF MOVING TO THE NEW COUNTRY. MY HUSBAND WAS CARRIED AWAY WITH THE IDEA TOO. I SAID "OH LET US NOT GO." IT MADE NO DIFFERENCE. WE SOLD OUR HOME AND WHAT WE COULD NOT TAKE WITH US AND WHAT WE COULD NOT SELL WE GAVE AWAY. (GRAPHIC: MARY A JONES, 1846)

Joyce Badgley Hunsaker: CAN YOU IMAGINE WHAT YOUR HEART WOULD DO IF THAT HOME WAS THE ONLY HOME YOU HAD EVER KNOW AS AN ADULT. AND YOUR MOMMA LIVED RIGHT DOWN THE ROAD AND YOU GOT TO SEE HER EVERY DAY AND YOUR FRIENDS THAT YOU'D ALL GONE TO SCHOOL, AS FAR AS YOUR SCHOOLING WENT, LIVED WITHIN HALF A DAYS RIDE, AND YOUR HUSBAND WAS SAYING WE ARE GOING ACROSS THE UNITED STATES INTO A PLACE THAT ISN'T EVEN THE STATES ANYMORE IN TO GOD KNOWS WHAT.

Voice Over: I AM GOING WITH HIM BECAUSE THERE IS NO OTHER ALTERNATIVE. (GRAPHIC: MARGARET HERFORD WILSON, 1850)

Voice Over: AGREEABLE TO THE WISH OF MY HUSBAND I LEFT ALL MY RELATIVES IN OHIO AND STARTED ON THIS LONG AND PERILOUS JOURNEY. IT PROVED A HARD TASK TO LEAVE THEM BUT STILL HARDER TO LEAVE MY CHILDREN, BURIED IN GRAVEYARDS. (GRAPHIC: ABBEY E. FULKERATH, 1870)

Narrator: WHILE MOST EMIGRANT WOMEN WERE DIRECTED TO GO WEST, A FEW BOLDLY CHOSE TO INITIATE THEIR OWN OVERLAND JOURNEY. VO8: I HAVE A GREAT DESIRE TO SEE OREGON. THE BEAUTIFUL SCENERY, THE WILD ANIMALS AND INDIANS AND NATURAL CURIOSITIES IN ABUNDANCE. (GRAPHIC: ELIZABETH WOOD 1851)