In Her Own Voice:
A Pioneer’s Account of Early Douglas County

Sophia Cobb was born in Massachusetts (1830) and married Elisha Frank Mayo. In 1855, they emigrated to Kansas Territory. Her husband preceded her, arriving at Lawrence with the Emigrant Aid Society’s second party, in April 1855. He staked a claim near Lawrence, south of the Wakarusa River, where he planted crops and built a house preparatory to Sophia’s arrival in September. In 1858, they returned to Massachusetts and by 1860 Sophia had become a widow.

This journal contains the memoirs, family history, and various memorabilia of Sophia Cobb Mayo. It begins with her transcription of her 1855 journal, written while she was en route from Massachusetts to Lawrence to join her husband. Her account includes not only her own recollections, but also transcriptions of letters written between her and her husband during the months of separation that preceded her arrival in Kansas Territory. Conditions and challenges of life as a homesteader are detailed in her husband’s letters, written in the spring and summer of 1855, as well as in her own recollections from 1855 and early 1856. Also included is her husband’s hand-drawn map of their claim and those of surrounding landowners.