Last updated: August 22, 2026
Place
Amanda (Lamin) Lamme Grave
NPS Photo
Quick Facts
Location:
Nebraska State historical marker is about 6.5 miles southeast of Bridgeport, at a roadside turnout on the east side of US-385 and 85 yards west of Rd 109. GPS 41.6130333333 -103.0038333333
Significance:
Twenty-eight-year-old Amanda Lamme, bound for California with her family in 1850, was one of thousands who died of cholera on the trek west.
Designation:
Historic site on the California and Oregon National Historic Trails.
OPEN TO PUBLIC:
No
Amenities
5 listed
Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits, Parking - Auto, Parking - Boat Trailer, Parking - Bus/RV, Wheelchair Accessible
Amanda Lamme, a 28-year-old wife and mother of 3 young daughters, died of cholera while emigrating with her family from Missouri to California in 1850.
Their journey began in April, departing from Boone County just as cholera —a deadly waterborne bacterial infection—spread through the Missouri River outfitting towns and along the eastern overland trails. In a letter sent from Fort Kearny, Amanda’s husband, May Jackson Lamme, worried about the epidemic, noting that their party had passed several fresh graves.
On June 22, as their wagons pulled out of Ash Hollow and moved toward Scott’s Bluff, Amanda fell ill with fever, severe cramps, and diarrhea, the hallmark symptoms of cholera. She died the next day, becoming one of the thousands of emigrants killed by the disease during the California gold rush. Her husband buried her on a low knoll overlooking the North Platte River and marked her grave with a board. When traveler Micajah Littleton passed on June 30, he recorded that the inscription read, “Amanda Lamme June 23 Age 28 Boon Co.”
Trail lore claims that May Lamme returned to Fort Kearny, purchased a marble headstone, and pushed it 200 miles in a wheelbarrow to place on his wife’s grave. (The wheelbarrow story is also told about two other graves in Nebraska, those of Amanda Lamme near Bridgeport and Sarepta Fly near Lexington.) According to the story, years of weather and damage from grazing livestock gradually destroyed the stone. In 1912, area residents tried to reconstruct Amanda’s story to create a replacement marker, misspelling her name and incorrectly identifying her as an English emigrant.
The 1912 marker still stands on her isolated grave, on private land not visible from public roads. It reads, “AMANDA/Consort of M.J. Lamin/of /Devonshire Eng./Born/Feb 22, 1822/Died/June 23, 1850/of cholera”.
Today, visitors can learn about Amanda Lamme at a Nebraska State historical marker located at a turnout along US-385, about 6.5 miles southeast of Bridgeport, Nebraska.
Site Information
Location (Nebraska State historical marker is about 6.5 miles southeast of Bridgeport, at a roadside turnout on the east side of US-385 and 85 yards west of Rd 109. GPS 41.6130333333 -103.0038333333)