memoirs of martha jane gyst
On April 5, 1869, my mother(marg shonkwiler), four brothers (two married and two single),myself and baby started for California. The wagon train was made up of 80 wagons, 115 men and a number of larger boys, and the women and children.alot of records say differently but the reminences of martha gist says she made the journey to california and the 1870 census says she was in fresno a widow and taking care of 3 children martha,Aaron burr jr..and john wesley.

I have a contact saying that Margarette Shonkwiler died in colma ca maybe feb 2 1899 and this could either be her interment or reinterment burial date in holy cross cemetery in colma california buried as Margarette Butler her first husbands name as She lost her second husband at the end of the civil war and relocated to safety in California with a wagon train her daughter , 2 daughter in laws and 4 sons were on

An email from Roseanne Hinshaw

…..The letter that Maude (Sanders) Hinshaw and her sister, Frances (Sanders) Atchley, found while they were taking care of their grandmother, Martha Jane(Gist)Hoffman, before her death (they were both nurses) was probably destroyed by Martha Jane's daughter, Martha Perlina Charlton, after Martha Jane died. Most of the family didn't know the letter existed but Maude and Fran both swear it did. The letter was written about (1890) 25 years after the Civil War. In it Aaron Gist sr saying that he has been searching for the family since the end of the war and now he has finally tracked the family down but he knew they have all made a new lives for themselves and he didnt want to interfere but he wished them all well. Maude said it was written in a beautiful handwriting even if it was a heart-breaking letter. When I showed Maude information that Aaron Gist survived the Civil War, she said that proved in her mind the letter she saw was genuine. Martha Perlina probably destroyed the letter because she knew her grandfather, Aaron Gist sr , had remarried while his 2nd wife even while Margaret Shonkwiler was still alive in California, and not having died in 1862 or 63 as I've seen various genealogies mention.