NANCY KELSEy Ben and Nancy Kelsey were barefoot and destitute when they straggled into California in the late fall of 1841 with their two year old daughter, Martha Ann. They had just completed an amazing overland journey from Sapling Grove, Missouri. They and their few remaining companions were the very first emigrants to enter California from the east over the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and Nancy was the only woman in that group. Being the first woman to enter California in that fashion gives her a unique niche in the history of our country. It was an unimaginably grueling trip for them. They had no established route to follow. Their wagons broke down on Grouse Creek in Northern Utah and had to be abandoned. Gradually the rest of their belongings were used up
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