[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 16]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 22448-22449]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                IN HONOR OF THE PIONEER MOTHER MONUMENT

                                 ______
                                 

                            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 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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