Cholera Kills Half the Sans Family on Overland Trail
Fourteen-year-old Charles Sans watched cholera take half his family on the wagon road to California.
When Charles Sans was only 14 years old in the 1850s, his brothers Manuel and Robert acted as guides, leading their brothers and sister to California by ox-drawn wagon. Making only 8-10 miles a day, taking five or six months to complete. On the way, half of the six family members died of cholera after drinking contaminated water. Charles brother Marion and his two sisters died. The three surviving brothers crossed the Sierra Mountains and arrived near Lodi.