John Udell

John Udell
Udell's portrait from his 1856 diary, Incidents of Travel to California Across the Great Plains
Born	(1795-06-22)22 June 1795 New York City
Died	30 June 1874(1874-06-30) (aged 79)
Resting place	Paskenta, California
Known for	Diarist of the American Frontier

John Udell (22 June 1795 – 30 June 1874) was an American farmer and Baptist lay preacher who is primarily known for two detailed diaries he kept of his travels to California across the Great Plains of the United States. He traversed the overland route four times between 1850 and 1859, returning by sea on his first three trips. After his fourth and final trip to California he remained there, settling in Solano County and later in Sonoma County. His first diary, Incidents of Travel to California Across the Great Plains, was published in 1856. His second diary, Journal of John Udell, Kept During a Trip Across the Plains, was first published in 1859 and is an account of his last trip to California as a member of the Rose-Baley Party.

Modern accounts of John Udell's early life are based on his autobiographical sketch published in 1856 as part of Incidents of Travel to California Across the Great Plains and summarized in Lyle H. Wright's introduction to the 1946 edition of Udell's second diary, Journal of John Udell, Kept During a Trip Across the Plains.

Born in New York City, he was the eldest of Phebe (née Bailey) and John Udell's 13 children. According to Udell, his great-grandfather Lionel had been a physician and innkeeper in Exeter, England. He emigrated to the United States in the late 17th century, settling in Stonington, Connecticut where he continued to practice as a physician. Udell's grandfather (also named John) had a shipping business in Stephentown, New York, but after his death, his business partners "absconded" with the company's cash, leaving large debts to be paid by Udell's father. For a while his father, who had previously worked as a merchant seaman out of New York, ran a sloop on the Hudson River belonging to the Schermerhorn family. The young John Udell served as the cook and cabin-boy.

In 1810, Udell's father moved the family to the wilderness of northeastern Pennsylvania where he took up farming. It was in Pennsylvania that Udell became a Baptist. He would remain a devout member of the faith until his death, preaching to small gatherings and once marrying a couple on one of his westward wagon trains. However, according to Lyle Wright, there is no evidence that he was ever formally trained or ordained as a minister. The Udell family found it difficult to make a living from the farm in Pennsylvania and in early 1816, John Udell travelled to Ohio to seek a new home for his parents, eventually settling the family in New Lyme. There he married Emily Merrill in December 1816. She was born in Connecticut, as were most of the early settlers of the town.