The Stout-Hearted Seven: Orphaned on the Oregon Trail

I read this years ago as a kid after stumbling over it (I think it was a lost library book?) and man oh man, some parts of this book could be real heart-wrenching. But then, as an adult, looking back, it's hard to not appreciate the sheer pluck it took to be willing to plunge westward into the unknown, dealing with starvation, attacks from Native Americans, people in a group turning against one another, etc. Not to mention the horrors of childbirth on the trail with no hospitals nearby.

Damn, even with COVID going on right now, the people of 2020 (at least in 1st-world countries) still have it pretty easy.

Narrated by Mary Starkey. Based on the true story of the Sager family who left Missouri in 1844 to head for the Oregon Territory as part of a wagon train. The hard conditions of life on the trail tragically befall the family, as both parents die. Catherine, the oldest, and her brothers and sisters eventually are brought to the Whitman mission in the Territory where they are taken in by Narcissa and Marcus Whitman who work as missionaries to the Indians. The Sagers come to see and love the Whitmans as their own parents and enjoy a secure if spartan life at the mission. A couple of years later, an Indian uprising leaves several people dead, including the Whitmans and Sager brothers. Eventually the remaining Sager children are rescued and show more taken away to Fort Vancouver. Despite the tragedies in their lives, Catherine realizes they have fulfilled their father's dream of reaching Oregon thanks to the family's stout-heartedness. show less

Based on the true story of the Sager children in 1840. The children were traveling on the Oregon Trail when their parents got the fever and died, leaving them as Orphans. The 7 children, one of which was just a newborn, were adopted by the other members on the trail. The children are very lucky until the massacre that occurs where many were killed. The seven children were then orphaned again and had to begin to rebuild again.

Orphaned on the oregon trail is a historical non-fiction book. It's sad to learn about all of the bad things that happened to them along the way, but they had a big adventure in the process. I loved this book!!

This book describes the tragic and almost unbelievable, but historically accurate saga of the Sager children as they traveled the Oregon Trail in a covered wagon, suffering unimaginable hardships and deprivation, including near-starvation. This novel narrates the journey of the Sager children in an engaging dialogue form from the starting point of Independence, Missouri to the conclusion of the journey, in which the remaining family members finally arrive safely at the Whitman Mission in Walla, Walla, Oregon Territory, (now Washington). Students can vicariously experience the harsh realities of the trail from the wagon wheel breaking Catherine’s leg to the tragic loss of both the children’s parents, and finally to the horrors show more suffered by the children in Whitman Massacre, in which the Sager boys are violently and tragically killed by angry natives. (Rest assured, though, the violence of the massacre, as well as the harsh realities of the trail {starvation, thirst, sickness, and death} is handled in a gentle and child-friendly way, going into very little detail of the actual gruesome events detailed by Catherine Sager in her original journal.) The book is a true account, based on the books written by Catherine and Matilda’s books, Elisabeth’s interview published in the Oregon Journal and Oregon Spectator, as well as the original diaries of other members of the Sagers’ wagon train. The book is full of engaging, light humor as well as suspenseful chapters that will intrigue a Spectrum student and pique his/her interest until the very end. Fourth grade students will not be able to put this book down! As for my own children, they requested chapter after chapter and would refuse to go to sleep until they were read another chapter for the night, and still they begged for more. show less