From the INTRODUCTION of "Into The Eye of The Setting Sun"

          In 1843, five-year old Charlotte Matheny and her family headed west with the first
     big wagon train to use the Oregon Trail.  This wagon train was known as the emigration
     of 1843, or The Great Emigration.

          One hundred forty-eight years later, what a wonderful opportunity we have to travel
     across the plains with the pioneers to settle the Oregon Country, and especially Yamhill
     County.    In these pages we will know history as a child, a very observing child, saw it
     through her recollection of years later.

          We will identify with Charlotte as she grows up, and read of her thoughts and
     experiences.  This is truly a history of the times, and all verifiable incidents have been
     found to be correct.  Charlotte Matheny was born on May 5th, 1838,  in Platte  County,
     Missouri.  She was married on December 26th, 1852, to John Kirkwood, the son of
     James and Christina Davie Kirkwood.  She died on November 25th, 1926, and is buired
     in the Yamhill County, Oregon.
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           Charlotte Matheny Kirkwood was a wonderfully remarkable woman.  She was a
     student of the nature of man and his surroundings even at the age of five, when she and
     her family set out across the plains "into the eye of the setting sun", as her father,
     Daniel, described it to her.

  You may obtain a copy of   INTO THE EYE OF THE SETTING SUN  by writing to Walt Davies