[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 128 (Wednesday, September 17, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1831-E1832]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
IN HONOR OF THE PIONEER MOTHER MONUMENT
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HON. IKE SKELTON
of missouri
in the house of representatives
Wednesday, September 17, 2003
Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Speaker, on April 23, 2003, in my hometown of
Lexington, MO, a rededication was held on the Pioneer Mother Monument,
known as the Madonna of the Trail.
In 1928, the National Society, Daughters of the American Revolution
(DAR) erected 12 duplicate monuments known as the Madonna of the Trail
paying tribute to the pioneer motherhood of the covered wagon days. The
monuments were placed along the Old Trails Memorial Highway in twelve
states across the United States. Statues are located in Springfield,
Ohio; Wheeling, West Virginia; Council Grove, Kansas; Lexington,
Missouri; Lamar, Colorado; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Springerville,
Arizona; Vandalia, Illinois; Richmond, Indiana; Washington County,
Pennsylvania; Upland, California; and Bethesda, Maryland.
At the original dedication of the Pioneer Mother Monument, 75 years
ago, my father Ike Skelton III, spoke as a representative from the
Lexington Legion Post. Also speaking that day was the Jackson County
Court Judge Harry S. Truman.
The rededication of this monument was under the direction of the
Missouri DAR. The moving force behind this event was LaVeda Cross, of
Lexington, MO, with the help of her devoted husband Bill. However,
without the support of the Lafayette/Lexington Chapter DAR and all the
local citizens, the day would not have been possible.
I was privileged to deliver the rededication speech which is set
forth as follows:
Re-Dedication of the Pioneer Mother Monument Lexington, MO--August 23,
2003
Thank you for inviting me to take part in this special
ceremony to rededicate the Madonna of the Trail, the Pioneer
Mother Monument, here in Lexington. This event could not have
taken place but for LaVeda Cross and her devoted husband,
Bill. A special thanks to the Lafayette/Lexington Chapter DAR
and local citizens for their efforts to make this day
possible.
To be able to participate in this event is very special to
me, and not just because my wife Susie has been an active
member of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Seventy-
five years ago, when this very monument was dedicated, many
prominent people participated: Mrs. Benjamin L. Hart, the
Missouri DAR's State Regent; Edward J. White, Vice President
of the Missouri Pacific Railroad Company; Mrs. John Trigg
Moss, Chairman of the DAR's National Old Trail Committee;
Mrs. Henry C. Chiles, Regent of the Lafayette Lexington DAR
Chapter; and Judge Harry S Truman, President of the National
Old Trails Road Association, to name a few.
But according to the program, and according to history
passed down in my family, my father, Ike Skelton, III,
Lafayette County's young Prosecuting Attorney, was allowed to
give remarks while presenting a memorial flag and flag pole
at the monument site. He was acting as the representative of
the Lexington American Legion Post.
On that day, my father first made the acquaintance of Judge
Harry Truman, the ``Man From Independence'', the man who
would later become President of the United States. Because of
the lasting friendship that was formed at the inaugural
dedication of this monument, my wife and I in later years
came to know President Truman as well--and he was a genuinely
nice person.
But imagining that Monday afternoon, September 17, 1928,
it's unlikely anyone dreamed that among them stood a future
President--a man whose decisions would set the course for the
second half of the twentieth century and alter the future of
the world. Makes you want to look around a bit at the crowd
gathered here today, just in case.
The Pioneer Mother Monument in Lexington has been a
landmark in this city for my entire life. As you may know,
there are twelve duplicate DAR monuments known as the Madonna
of the Trail paying tribute to the pioneer motherhood of the
covered wagon days. The monuments have been placed along the
Old Trails Memorial Highway in twelve states across the
United States.
According to an article in the DAR Magazine written some
years ago by Helen Bartlett of the Samuel Huntington Chapter
in Huntington, Indiana, the idea of a monument to pioneer
mothers came to Mrs. John Trigg Moss of St. Louis after she
saw a picture of a statue in Portland, Oregon, dedicated to
Sacajawea, the Shoshone Indian woman who guided Lewis and
Clark from Fort Mandan, North Dakota, to the mouth of the
Columbia River. That Sacajawea was the inspiration of this
statue seems quite appropriate.
Lexington sits on the bluffs overlooking the river Lewis
and Clark traveled, not quite half-way through their trek
across the unknown continent. And like the pioneer mothers
who followed, Sacajawea also knew what it was like to care
for an infant while leading a party of travelers through the
wilderness.
In this world of 24-hour news channels, satellite dishes,
thousands of newspapers, magazines, and internet sites, it is
difficult to overstate the leap of faith it must have taken
for the pioneers who bravely ventured into largely uncharted
territory as participants in the Westward Movement. In many
respects, it was a jump into the great unknown. And in some
cases, what the pioneers thought was true--from pamphlets,
from books, from word of mouth--was far from it.
A verse that pays tribute to the covered wagon people goes
like this:
The coward never started;
The weak died on the way;
Only the strong came through.
The women and men who pioneered the West built this
country, but the role played by the women who built this
country deserves special attention and recognition. This
statue, symbolizing all of the women who settled the West, is
larger than life--just as the women we celebrate led lives
that were larger than life.
With a baby in her arms and another child at her side, the
Madonna of the Trail glorifies the value of family. We can
see her sturdy boots, visible as she strides Westward, but we
also see that the Pioneer Mother carries a rifle. Looking at
her, there is no reason to doubt that she would be able to
use it.
The women who endured the trip West were tough, sturdy and
strong. They traveled the mountains, the hills, and the
plains, crossed rivers, fought heat and cold, wind and rain.
They cared for their husbands, bore children, and protected
their families. They tended their animals, hunted and
prepared their food, repaired their wagons, camped under the
stars, and staked out homesteads.
While men and women together built new communities in a
new, strange land, it was
[[Page E1832]]
the women who ensured that the communities were actually
settled. They built homes, schools, and churches, worked
farms and ran businesses.
Some moved West by choice, others by circumstance. They
faced terrible hardships. They made great sacrifices. They
struggled mightily. Many of these pioneers--women, men, and
children alike--did not survive. But those who did passed
along to us a rich American heritage--a heritage based on the
values of courage, independence, strength, determination, and
freedom.
In addition to the pioneer women whose accomplishments are
commemorated by this monument, the statue in Lexington also
pays tribute to leaders in our local community who were
instrumental in our country's development during the
covered wagon days.
As noted on the statue's pedestal, Lexington was settled in
1820 by pioneers moving west from Virginia and Kentucky. The
town became an early terminal for river transportation and
also served as the starting point on the Western Trail of the
pack pony and ox cart. Traders and wagon outfitters in
Lexington were some of our most prominent citizens--John,
James, and Robert Aull, William Russell, Alexander Majors,
and William Waddell.
These successful businessmen made their names not only by
selling essential supplies to men and women traveling West,
but also by running their own wagons into the frontier to
supply settlers and U.S. soldiers in their outposts. Russell,
Majors, and Waddell's later enterprise, the Pony Express, was
extraordinary in its ambition and still today enjoys
legendary status.
Our pioneer ancestors seized opportunities that were
available to those willing to take risks and settle our young
country's Western territories. But unlike Harry Truman, who
likely did not foresee in 1928 the prominent role he would
play on the world stage, the early pioneers of our country
realized that they were making history. From contemporary
letters and diaries, we know that they understood that their
adventurous spirits and determination to begin anew would
shape our new country.
Their motives were diverse. Some may have come West because
they could own land. Others traveled to make fast fortunes--
some succeeded, and some simply held on to the dream of
``getting rich quick''. But whether immigrating from
overseas, leaving crowded cities in the east, or moving from
Midwestern cities that at one time bordered the frontier,
their optimism was reflected in the belief that westward
expansion was our nation's manifest destiny.
After seventy-five years, the DAR's Pioneer Mother
Monument, the Madonna of the Trail, remains a fitting
reminder of those days. Seventy-five years since the initial
dedication of this statue, we again recognize and pay tribute
to those who made possible the permanent Westward expansion
of the United States, as well as the twentieth century
leaders who commissioned this monument and worked to ensure
that we would never lose sight of the vital contributions of
pioneer women in our nation's history.
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