286 Kellam's 1849 travel diary affords interesting insight into living and traveling conditions of that pioneer day. Seven hard days of riding were required to cover something less than 200 miles, a distance which today could be accomplished in four or five hours of leisurely driving. Roads were very poor, or, in some cases, non-existent. Kellam kept his journal in a small paper-backed notebook about four by six inches in size, writhing in pencil. With the exception of minor emendations for the sake of clarity, the original spelling and punctuation have been preserved. * * * Travel to Texas Left Camden Saturday June 23rd 1849 in company with Mandeville Wallace (an acquaintance). Take dinner at Woodlawn (5). Masonic celebration, a splendid Dinner, and large collection. Oration delivered by Maj Stitch (6). One of the best. Many of the Camden Ladies & Jents, in full array indeed, and short of a fine affair enjoyed ourselves excellently. leave about 3 o'clock P. M. night at Capt Hews (7). Good entertainment free of charge &c. Riding my Lightfoot Gray, Wallace on his Fine Stud Horse Archie. Object of our trip to see our Parents and our dear homes &c. a visit of 6 or 8 weeks. One year and a few days has now passed, since I left Home. Left Hews Sunday morning via of Tates' Bridge on Smack Over (8), thence via of Beechland P. O. Hawkins. Hard rain this A. M. get quite wet, &c. Now at Sewels Union Co. (9). waiting for Dinner, and drying our wet self by a Pine Not Fire, &c. Sunday M. June 24th (Masonic Day) Dinner Son Sewels--- Leave P. M. cloudy no rain. down by some fine farms. _____________________ 5. A small village about fifteen miles southwest of Camden. In 1849 it was in Ouachita County, but today it is in Leak Township in extreme southeast Nevada County. 6. This probably (in spite of discrepancy in spelling) was A. A. Stith, a Camden lawyer, born in North Carolina, who was 31 years of age at this time. Stith was Representatives in 1848 and 1849. (United State Census, 1850, Schedule of Free Inhabitants in Camden City . . .; Goodspeed, West A., The Province and and the States, a History of the Province of Louisiana Under France and Spain, and of the Territories and States of the United States Formed Therefrom (7 vols, Madison, Wisconsin, 1904). VII, 113; Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Southern Arkansas [Chicago, 1890], p. 644). 7. Richard F. Hughes. (Ouachita County Tax List, 1849). 8. This point was near the source of Smackover Creek. The present village of Hicks, Columbia County is nearby. 9. Near Waldo, Columbia County. The area was a part of Union County until the creation of Columbia County in 1852. (Dallas T. Herndon, [ed], The Arkansas Handbook, 1949-1950 [Little Rock, 1950], p. 144).           Contents  Words  Study Questions  Related Sites Next