James' Story
Birth: August 19th, 1848 | male | in Council Bluffs, Pottawattamie, Iowa
Death: July 1st, 1850 | 1 year old | along the Platte River in Nebraska
Memorial: Stone 1 | left column
James McClellan was born to parents James McClellan of South Carolina and Cynthia Stewart from Tennessee. Parents were married in 1826 in Tennessee and blessed to have 13 children. James was their tenth child.
The McClellan family joined the William Snow/Joseph Young Company to travel west to the Salt Lake Valley. Contaminated water from the Missouri and Platte rivers, caused disease to spread through the camp. James and some of his siblings came down with cholera. While his siblings recovered, little 2-year-old James passed away from the illness.
From Captain William Snow's journal: "Monday morning, July 1st, berried Br. King, Br. James Mcleland [McClellan] had 2 children very sick, but we started on. Traveled about 13 miles. This day we met the mail from the valley. One of Br. McClelans children [James Travers McClellan] died.
Tues. 2d. Buried Br. McCleland child. Tr. 10 miles. Camped for the night. Br. Whipple camped one side of us. Br. Woodruff the other. Health of camp very good."
According to James's mother Cynthia: “His little body was placed in an ordinary box of some kind which happened to be available and deposited in what is now an "unknown grave" by the side of the trail somewhere along the Platte River in Nebraska.” '