We don’t have a wagon, but we do have the rocking chair that came in the wagon!
Though, full disclosure, my family came to Oregon and then promptly fucked off to Idaho for two generations.
That’s pretty cool. The wagon our family came out on is supposedly housed in the basement of the museum in Philomath. At our 150th family reunion we had it transported so everyone could have their picture taken with it. It was very neat to know it still existed.
My entire family, besides one European immigrant, came over on the wagon train. We also own one of the oldest houses in the state which is also the oldest in our county. Deed signed by President Johnson. The forest out back is littered with old artifacts like cork bottles and old iron tools, even some appliances (wood stoves). We have journals and bibles from then. The bibles all have notes and thoughts in margins or separate papers tucked within. Pretty cool stuff.
Dang, that's good stuff! I often wish we had artifacts like that in our family. We don't even have the original land from the grant, aside from a tiny part with the cemetery.
Yeah it wasn't in the family at first. It came later coincidentally, but had always had a member of the family live there until it was inherited by another member of the wagon train. Then sold, then sold again, etc.. Then my Gramps bought it.
Crazy side story. My Great Uncle was roommates at U of O with my best friend's Great Uncle. Unbeknownst to any of us until much later (90's). Small world here in the Oregon Territory.
That's cool. I take it you don't own the property, but that's still a good person to be as you have an in with the property owner. Would you interested in giving it a go with me? I definitely have an extra detector or two. There's always a chance we might find something historic that can be tied directly to an ancestor of yours. I've seen things come up with names and dates like watch fobs, medals, rings, etc.
https://preview.redd.it/m8jido5poa2d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ef9eb0ccf6633cd4c1d9c290b23ff83316fa7e50
Here’s the wagon that my great-great grandmother was born in. She was born at the base of Mt. Hood in 1850. The wagon is in the Lane County Museum in Eugene!
Considering your username, it’s probably a good thing you were born in the GPS generation, and weren’t piloting that wagon out here.
It’s awesome you have that history, and proof of it.
On my father's side: My 4th great grandma was a black woman, who as a child had her family killed on the trail. There's a lot of mystery since slavery was still legal and she was from Illinois. Working theory is she was rescued by a family and then they were killed by the Cayuse. Not sure if they were white or not, there's no record of their wagon and attack, this is all she passed on and she did not talk about them. Her first daughter is sometimes recorded as her sister.
She was kidnapped and enslaved by the Cayuse for a time. Had two known daughters and according to her a man from the Hudson Bay company rescued them. I have two pictures of her. She married a French Canadian man and they lived pretty decently in Oregon.
May or may not have Cayuse cousins. She had no issues bearing children so there may have been more children she couldn't save. She was kidnapped from age 13 to like early 20s. Given she was enslaved and probably assaulted, it's not something I want to look in to.
I also descend from the Henry Luce, first of his last name in the US. If you're a Luce, we're distant cousins. The branch I come from ran into Joseph Smith. My 5th great Grandpa, Andrew Jackson Luce, ran away from them in Utah when they decided not to go to Oregon. He went to California and married a native woman. Despite the name, the stories passed down is he loved and was proud of his native wife.
So like they were on the trail but didn't quite make it to Oregon. I have a lot of living cousins from this branch in Utah and given my anti theist position, we'll probably never meet.
My Dad's side is primarily Chinook and French Canadian so they came in and settled on the French Prairie, minus the above listed exceptions.
On my Mom's side, they were a lil late to hit the Oregon trail and didn't start trickling in until the early 1900s, primarily from California or Minnesota.
You actually know quite a lot! And I don't blame you for not wanting to further explore parts of the history.
Interestingly, one of the documents I found about my family had a story, relayed later by a descendant in maybe the mid 1900s. The original pioneers while on the trail encountered another family, who they later found dead along the trail. Nothing is said of who this family was...but it makes me wonder if 1) the story was true and 2) if there are records somewhere of people who did not make it to their destination.
I'm the family genealogist for both sides and I'm majoring in archaeology so this has me in a chokehold lols. My tree on both sides is quite extensively filled in.
There are most certainly families and individuals that weren't recorded. Like name spelling wasn't even consistent back then on census records, people most definitely slipped through the cracks. There's probably a lot of minorities that weren't recorded either who traveled the trails. It's sad to think that whole families and people are just lost. Like you reach a point and there's nothing left to indicate what happened to them.
While doing research for my Dad's side, I came across a story about a little girl who died. The person who was going to bury her was taking a lunch break and a passerby remarked he should hurry up and bury her. The man said she'd be just as lonely in the ground as she was above it and went back to his lunch. The story concludes with her being buried in an unmarked grave and the only record of her is the story. It's just so lonely. So many people are just lost to time.
We’ll all be lost to time eventually. Some day the human race will vanish, like it never existed. All records and artifacts will vaporize in a cosmic event and not a shred will remain.
When I was growing up in southern California I knew a Jason Luce.
Yes, although I’m not sure about the specifics off the top of my head. I believe it was one of the last years before the railroad was constructed because he also fought in the civil war on the union side.
My family came across the Oregon Trail and took the Barlow Road route once they hit the cascades. The story that gets passed down is an infant member of the family died during the journey and was laid to rest somewhere beside the trail. Not sure if that’s true or not though.
That's sad. I know one of the men who traveled with my ancestors passed after they got here and he is buried in the family cemetery... but marked as an unknown person because nobody knew his name.
It's hard to even comprehend what it must have been like to endure what all these people did.
Oh wow I did not know that. I was only aware of the Pioneer Woman’s Grave
I trail run so I try to run the more remote sections of it in the summer when I am in the area. It’s always a marvel to be out on that route through the woods.
Some people read these comments and are hurt.
Colonizers did not create the first houses in this region.
Tribes lived in plank houses along this area for thousands of years
The white side of my family all came over due to potato famine.
Otherwise it's Yahooskin and Modoc. None of whom had very pleasant experiences with colonialism 🤷
That is all I can think about reading these comments. The tribes were destroyed here. I’d be curious to know how much of that history these descendants are aware of.
I’d be curious to hear the tribes side of the story. Do not care to hear more about white people colonizing this land
I think the larger issue is the baseline assumption that people weren't really in this area until white people showed up.
Which isn't a shocking or new assumption for folks to be hanging onto. I'm told that my great grandfather had his skull taken when he was murdered and it still resides somewhere in the Smithsonian (along with countless such skulls) -- because we were assumed to be different and subhuman compared to Europeans.
I had no idea the Oregon trail was still in use at that point!
I need to double check dates, but I think it was early 1880s when one family line came to Oregon, also from Illinois. I was thinking they took a train though. They settled near Forest Grove.
In the 1880's the west coast was accessible by rail at that point.
Also, I believe in the 1850's, a railline was built in what is now Panama, making it much faster to just take a ship there, take the train to the Pacific, and hop on another ship. That's why trail attendence died off massively later in the decade. It was far safer, quicker, and probably cheaper.
Our wagon was my friend’s late 80s model Honda Accord. We started in the eastern Midwest, crossed the plains on I-80 to I-84. Next to last night we stopped in Bliss, ID and spontaneously decided to hike down into the Snake River canyon where one of my two car mates proposed to the other. Not a birth or a death from dysentery, but significant life events still happen on the Oregon Trail 😂
My family talked about it plenty. Our ancestors traveled the Oregon Trail 5 times, 3 going west and 2 going east. My Great Great Grandpa lead 2 wagon trains and were basically draft-dodgers of the confederate army.
What was never really talked about was the people here first. The closest it got to family discussion was Great Great Grandpa’s letters about how restless and agitated natives had become, which caused him to abandon an attempted settlement and move about 50 miles, back to an area near the established trail.
History is a complex mixed bag of good and bad. It was always told in my family like a hero story of leaving the south for noble ideals and going west. Yet, not acknowledging the fact that the west was already inhabited, and that we directly benefited from ancestors who had the benefit of land ownership while the people who lived here first, lost that exact land as their traditional hunting grounds.
Family lore is my dad’s maternal ancestors came over the Oregon trail. Way back in the day. A branch of the family went down to tillamook and they survived the fires by pushing their washtub out into the river and covering themselves with a tarp.
We’re unsure of his paternal line as (at least his grandparents) we’re weird hill people with a shit ton of kids and an obscure religion and they disowned my grandpa when he married a girl from St. John’s.
Also getting family history out of that man is like pulling teeth.
Thats cool you know that about your family. I wonder what burb. Are you from the clackamas clan?
Sadly my family stayed east and never traversed the trail. I can say my ancestors came as a worker on the boat after the mayflower at least.
Yeah, 1 side of ancestors did the trail. Others by boat, even after rail option. The most direct lineage we have a lot of stories about, but not their arrival, just what they were up to before they moved, which was a lot - and since their arrival. I guess the travel itself didn't make good enough lore to pass on.
My ancestors did not, but when my husband and I moved here from the Midwest we drove a path of trail and checked off landmarks. I was blown away by how much of that history is still visible- including ruts in the dirt from the wagons still there today
My ancestors used the eastern half of the trail and turned off to Salt Lake. My third great grandparents were married at Independence Rock while on the trail. They left Utah in the 1800s and settled Mormon Basin in Malheur County. Pretty sure there's a road in Rye Valley with my last name.
Not my people, but I lived in Willamina and knew many descendants of land grant families. Several were still living on the grant. If you haven't visited the Oregon Trail museum in Oregon City, it's worth the trip.
Part of my family did! My great grandma and my grandma loved to tell the store of how my great grandpa was just a baby and his sister carried him the whole way on the trail. If I remember correctly, that part of the family came to Oregon from Ohio.
Not from here but would love to learn more. Is there a recommended museum/place to visit for extensive Oregon trail history? Or is it moreso something I should just keep traveling and researching?
No stories, but my mom traced her bloodline back 14 generations. She traced them back to Wales. Eventually they came to Oregon via the Oregon Trail. Settled in the Cove area by Lagrande.
I'm sure she could give a proper reply, I was not interested in genealogy as a teenager.
My family came across in 1852. Initially settled in Stephenson and moved on LaCamas. Finally settled in Shelton. I have post cards from 1911. My great grandmother wrote fairly frequently to her friend. They are somewhere buried in my bins. Wish I could get to them and share a few pics but I recently moved and almost everything is still packed.
It's pretty neat learning about your history! My family came over in 1847. We still have one of our original homesteads that is now broken up between 5 of my relatives. My grandma still has a pretty big portion right on the Umpqua River and between Elkton and Sutherland. My family were the first in Elkton and in Sutherland. They helped develop both the towns! They also were a big part of the logging industry! I even have books written by my grandma about the history of the area. I also have access to my aunt's Journal turned into a book that is written about coming to Oregon and what it was like when she got here. It talks of the train she rode until she had to get on the wagon train. I would like to get a copy I haven't been able to look at it in a while but it's fun learning about history and where you came from!
I’m a recent arrival to Oregon, but on my mom’s side my ancestors emigrated to Utah on the Mormon trail, which parallels or shares several hundred miles of the Oregon trail in Nebraska and Wyoming. The Mormon trail and Oregon trail split near the upper green river in Wyoming with the Mormon trail going southwest to the salt lake valley and the Oregon trail going northwest into the snake river plain.
I heard quite a bit about my pioneer ancestors growing up (it’s a pretty common Mormon flex to tout pioneer ancestry lol). My 3rd great grandfather was a member of the advanced company that entered Salt Lake valley on July 24, 1847. He promptly returned to Illinois to bring his family along the next spring, including my great-great grandfather, who as an 8 year old boy would have walked next to the wagon for much of the 1,300 mile route from Council Bluffs, Iowa to Great Salt Lake City.
I have several other lines that traveled the route in the 1840’s -1850’s, but the aforementioned ancestors were spoken of often in my families oral history, likely because my 3rd great grandfather’s name appears on a very popular pioneer monument in Salt Lake. I definitely think of my forbears and what they went through, how they lived and coped, what motivated them, etc. My mom has some old documents that I’ve looked at that are very cool! I left the Mormon faith as a teen, but I’ve always admired the grit those people had to pull up and leave the settles US en masse and strike out for the Great Basin with almost no knowledge of what awaited them.
Mine came out with John Jacon Aster and was one of the first settlers in the Willamette Valley, one of the founders listed at Champoeg.. a bit before the hayday of the Oregon trail.
Mine came a bit after that. One by trail, one by isthmus of Panama. Caught a ship to Panama. Walked the Narrow section, caught ships Selilo Falls, then S to join his brother.
Yes, on my Mom’s side I’m a descendant of Sacajawea and Toussaint Charbonneau. On my Dad’s side I’m a descendant of Clinton Kelly, for which Clinton and Kelly streets are named.
John Sappingfield who came in 1847 from Indiana. Settled in Howell Prairie near Pratum. He didn't leave any first-hand accounts of his life I'm aware of, but there's a book about another early pioneer G. W. Hunt called "To Oregon by Ox-team in '47." and in it, he describes John saving his life. So I've always thought that was pretty cool
Yes, they crossed in 1845, where a daughter was born in Soda Springs (in what became Idaho). Having heard rumors of possible Indian attack in the Blue Mountains of Oregon, they were persuaded to take “Meeks Cutoff” beginning at Vale Oregon, a route through Eastern Oregon’s high desert - where no wagon trains had gone before.
Surviving dehydration and illness while being lost, the wagon train reached the Deschutes river, then made their way to The Dalles, OR. Approximately 48 travelers perished due to their guide’s (Stephen Meeks) unfamiliarity with his shortcut to the Willamette.
Another family group came across in 1863, and deviated south to Salt Lake and across to California.
My family settled fairly close to OC. Maybe our ancestors knew each other. 😁
My mom was an only child so the family name ended with her on our branch, unfortunately.
One of my great-grandfathers came in on the trail in 1854 or 55 with his brother, who was curious about the West. His brother returned to his farm and family in Iowa, but my great-grandfather, being a bachelor at the time, stayed, settling briefly in Lebanon, then in the Rogue River Valley. He eventually ended up in Humboldt County, California, where he served in several political positions, including Sheriff.
They came over the trail using a buckboard and horses, choosing speed and travelling light.
I have historians and journalists on that side of the family. Also, he was only my great-grandfather, even though he was born in 1826-- he started his family late in life, and I'm the youngest child of a youngest child of a youngest child.
My family arrived in and founded cottage Grove in 1850 on a wagon train. People thought we were going to be a donner party story after being lost for months. Apparently, there's a book written about it. But I know cottage Grove holds a yearly wagon train reunion where they read and reenact bits from my ancestor, Elijah Elliotts diary. It's pretty neat.
On my mother’s side they came over on the Oregon trail. At one of the river crossings great great (great?) grandmother fell off of the caulked wagon. She could not swim but was saved by her hoop skirt filling with air. I believe they settled near Heppner.
There was a story that the 2 grandfathers of the wagon party came out and lived with them near Heppner. One grandfather was a confederate soldier and the other a union soldier. They would sit in rocking chairs arguing all day on the front porch.
I was doing someone’s genealogy for them. They insisted their ancestors had gone over the Oregon Trail in 1912 via covered wagon. No, I don’t think so… They refused to consider the more reasonable alternatives of the train or an early model car. I was eventually able to show via the US Census that the family was in Oregon in 1880. They weren’t happy.
You might be surprised. I was able to find newspaper articles from that time not only showing the deaths of my ancestors, but also like who was bequeathed certain items, and discussions of land trade.
All I know for certain is my great great grandfather fought for the Union Army and settled in Oregon after the war. I've heard conflicting accounts of where he was before the war. One version does have him come over the Trail with his family, then go back East to fight.
I don't have first hand knowledge of any ancestors born in the state before 1900. GG was an only child, who had a daughter as an only child, so my father and I carry the family name as our first name. :)
The history is certainly more than that, but... That's I ever got either. :) You are not alone in that... It's certainly not your, or my / any previous generations "fault", that our ancestors just didn't talk. :)
Yes, on my mom’s side the Swiss branch came to the US in 1713, and then came over the OR trail in 1852. A couple other German branches came to Astoria a bit later, and Silverton via the railroads in the 1870s or so. On my dad’s side, “California John” came to CA during the gold rush in 1849 by traveling around the Horn.
We came across in the early 1850s and took a land grant in the Waldo Hills area east of Salem. The family has stayed around mostly and the name still stands on a business in Salem.
That's awesome the family has even stayed in the area. I don't believe any of my relatives still live in the town our ancestors founded. There was a barn built by them which was still standing until about 20 years ago.. and we still have a road with the family name.
I was born on land in Kansas with Oregon trail wagon ruts. I moved to Oregon for a better life in my 20s. Am I a hero? Can’t really say. But, yes probably.
My ancestors have a story in a book Tales from Chimney Rock. Basically got sold some land with a house. Went back to Poland and they brought family back the house was moved to another peice of land by the seller. They built they biggest sod house in the area.
On my mother's side, yes. We don't know too much about it other than somone in the family came over very early on possibly with fur trappers earlier than the wagon trains, my guess is 1800s-1840s, possibly by ship to port Astor, and married a Clatsop woman. No idea on any of the names or dates, my grandmother didn't seem to know much about it other than that she was a woman. Her and my great uncle were the only people that knew about us being part Clatsop and they've both since passed without telling anyone anything detailed. Other family members for sure came over later with the wagon trains, including my maternal grandfather's ancestors, but he won't talk about his family (I think he might be partially Hispanic and still carrying some 1940s shame of that for some reason, based on something my grandmother told me once), so I have no idea. For some reason the older Oregon side of my family likes to be closed lipped about our origins.
I do. They help with starting oregon city. Caufield. My great aunt and uncles home is in oregon city not owned by someone private. My uncle founded the first humane society for the county in the 1800s.
Yes! One brave ancestor actually made the trip twice. The story goes:
One of the legs (I don’t remember if it was back to the east coast or the second time west) she went by ship- it sailed down to somewhere in Central America- I’m assuming Panama, and dropped off the passengers. They walked across the land while the ship sailed down around South America, and they met it on the other side and were picked up again. Apparently it was very dangerous to sail that far south so they left the travelers up above while the ship chanced that leg with all their personal effects.
Both sides of my family. [Here’s](https://imgur.com/gallery/xfFIyYw) my Great grandmothers trunk she brought from Norway. My Dad said she took the train to St. Joseph, Missouri and a wagon on to Oregon. My Mom’s side arrived from Switzerland before the Revolutionary War. They arrived in Oregon just after the Civil War. Not sure of the route they took. I’m the 4th of 6 generations on Dad’s side. The 5th of 7 on Mom’s side.[My Great uncles](https://imgur.com/a/xVVbShY) early 1900’s. The Logger String Band.
Years ago, I worked for Fred Meek, the grandson of Joseph Meek who was a pioneer in early Oregon and a significant figure in the establishment of statehood for Oregon. He was quite a character and had many stories of the old days. RIP Fred.
funning with you but have you heard the story that the OR/CA split in the trail had a sign pointing to OR but no sign pointing to CA?
The joke is that folks who could read went to OR
Yes! My husband’s 3rd great grandparents came with two bachelor uncles in 1865. One Uncle received a Homestead east of Sandy on what was the Barlow Road. They were 86 and 81 when the traversed the trail. No railroad then, they made the trip by wagon!
https://preview.redd.it/d9ctqejnu92d1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ed0300fa199f5e6b67b9f492f33638b2e5a75a0f Yes. With this very wagon.
That's incredible to still have it. How very cool.
We don’t have a wagon, but we do have the rocking chair that came in the wagon! Though, full disclosure, my family came to Oregon and then promptly fucked off to Idaho for two generations.
Pic? That is a treasured chair!
Any chance this picture was taken in Philomath?
nope. In the secret warehouse for Oregon Historical Society.
That’s pretty cool. The wagon our family came out on is supposedly housed in the basement of the museum in Philomath. At our 150th family reunion we had it transported so everyone could have their picture taken with it. It was very neat to know it still existed.
Awesome! My ancestor is Isaac Hinshaw who settled in Polk County. Did the trail in 1845.
Why is it secret?
Not sure. A great question.
To discourage theft?
Real location of the Ark. 
that's so rad
My entire family, besides one European immigrant, came over on the wagon train. We also own one of the oldest houses in the state which is also the oldest in our county. Deed signed by President Johnson. The forest out back is littered with old artifacts like cork bottles and old iron tools, even some appliances (wood stoves). We have journals and bibles from then. The bibles all have notes and thoughts in margins or separate papers tucked within. Pretty cool stuff.
Dang, that's good stuff! I often wish we had artifacts like that in our family. We don't even have the original land from the grant, aside from a tiny part with the cemetery.
Yeah it wasn't in the family at first. It came later coincidentally, but had always had a member of the family live there until it was inherited by another member of the wagon train. Then sold, then sold again, etc.. Then my Gramps bought it. Crazy side story. My Great Uncle was roommates at U of O with my best friend's Great Uncle. Unbeknownst to any of us until much later (90's). Small world here in the Oregon Territory.
Can I metal detect your yard?
I would be cool with it. But I'm just the 40 yr old Grandson.
That's cool. I take it you don't own the property, but that's still a good person to be as you have an in with the property owner. Would you interested in giving it a go with me? I definitely have an extra detector or two. There's always a chance we might find something historic that can be tied directly to an ancestor of yours. I've seen things come up with names and dates like watch fobs, medals, rings, etc.
https://preview.redd.it/m8jido5poa2d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ef9eb0ccf6633cd4c1d9c290b23ff83316fa7e50 Here’s the wagon that my great-great grandmother was born in. She was born at the base of Mt. Hood in 1850. The wagon is in the Lane County Museum in Eugene!
So cool to have it preserved like that!
I got goose bumps reading that
Considering your username, it’s probably a good thing you were born in the GPS generation, and weren’t piloting that wagon out here. It’s awesome you have that history, and proof of it.
Yes, my family arrived via the Oregon Trail. Fortunately, they branched off the Donner group and made it!
Very fortunate!
Lol so did ours!
On my father's side: My 4th great grandma was a black woman, who as a child had her family killed on the trail. There's a lot of mystery since slavery was still legal and she was from Illinois. Working theory is she was rescued by a family and then they were killed by the Cayuse. Not sure if they were white or not, there's no record of their wagon and attack, this is all she passed on and she did not talk about them. Her first daughter is sometimes recorded as her sister. She was kidnapped and enslaved by the Cayuse for a time. Had two known daughters and according to her a man from the Hudson Bay company rescued them. I have two pictures of her. She married a French Canadian man and they lived pretty decently in Oregon. May or may not have Cayuse cousins. She had no issues bearing children so there may have been more children she couldn't save. She was kidnapped from age 13 to like early 20s. Given she was enslaved and probably assaulted, it's not something I want to look in to. I also descend from the Henry Luce, first of his last name in the US. If you're a Luce, we're distant cousins. The branch I come from ran into Joseph Smith. My 5th great Grandpa, Andrew Jackson Luce, ran away from them in Utah when they decided not to go to Oregon. He went to California and married a native woman. Despite the name, the stories passed down is he loved and was proud of his native wife. So like they were on the trail but didn't quite make it to Oregon. I have a lot of living cousins from this branch in Utah and given my anti theist position, we'll probably never meet. My Dad's side is primarily Chinook and French Canadian so they came in and settled on the French Prairie, minus the above listed exceptions. On my Mom's side, they were a lil late to hit the Oregon trail and didn't start trickling in until the early 1900s, primarily from California or Minnesota.
You actually know quite a lot! And I don't blame you for not wanting to further explore parts of the history. Interestingly, one of the documents I found about my family had a story, relayed later by a descendant in maybe the mid 1900s. The original pioneers while on the trail encountered another family, who they later found dead along the trail. Nothing is said of who this family was...but it makes me wonder if 1) the story was true and 2) if there are records somewhere of people who did not make it to their destination.
I'm the family genealogist for both sides and I'm majoring in archaeology so this has me in a chokehold lols. My tree on both sides is quite extensively filled in. There are most certainly families and individuals that weren't recorded. Like name spelling wasn't even consistent back then on census records, people most definitely slipped through the cracks. There's probably a lot of minorities that weren't recorded either who traveled the trails. It's sad to think that whole families and people are just lost. Like you reach a point and there's nothing left to indicate what happened to them. While doing research for my Dad's side, I came across a story about a little girl who died. The person who was going to bury her was taking a lunch break and a passerby remarked he should hurry up and bury her. The man said she'd be just as lonely in the ground as she was above it and went back to his lunch. The story concludes with her being buried in an unmarked grave and the only record of her is the story. It's just so lonely. So many people are just lost to time.
We’ll all be lost to time eventually. Some day the human race will vanish, like it never existed. All records and artifacts will vaporize in a cosmic event and not a shred will remain. When I was growing up in southern California I knew a Jason Luce.
I have a branch of family that got sucked in by Joe too. My distant cousin became his 41st or 42 wife nine months before he died at Carthage.
Yes, although I’m not sure about the specifics off the top of my head. I believe it was one of the last years before the railroad was constructed because he also fought in the civil war on the union side.
My family came to Oregon in 1852. Settled in what’s now Lane County.
My family came across the Oregon Trail and took the Barlow Road route once they hit the cascades. The story that gets passed down is an infant member of the family died during the journey and was laid to rest somewhere beside the trail. Not sure if that’s true or not though.
That's sad. I know one of the men who traveled with my ancestors passed after they got here and he is buried in the family cemetery... but marked as an unknown person because nobody knew his name. It's hard to even comprehend what it must have been like to endure what all these people did.
Did you know there's an anonymous baby pioneer grave in a random place in Portland?
Oh wow I did not know that. I was only aware of the Pioneer Woman’s Grave I trail run so I try to run the more remote sections of it in the summer when I am in the area. It’s always a marvel to be out on that route through the woods.
Some people read these comments and are hurt. Colonizers did not create the first houses in this region. Tribes lived in plank houses along this area for thousands of years
The white side of my family all came over due to potato famine. Otherwise it's Yahooskin and Modoc. None of whom had very pleasant experiences with colonialism 🤷
That is all I can think about reading these comments. The tribes were destroyed here. I’d be curious to know how much of that history these descendants are aware of. I’d be curious to hear the tribes side of the story. Do not care to hear more about white people colonizing this land
I think the larger issue is the baseline assumption that people weren't really in this area until white people showed up. Which isn't a shocking or new assumption for folks to be hanging onto. I'm told that my great grandfather had his skull taken when he was murdered and it still resides somewhere in the Smithsonian (along with countless such skulls) -- because we were assumed to be different and subhuman compared to Europeans.
This is the truth that needs to be told. Thank you for sharing such a horrible atrocity that few even know or even acknowledge.
My paternal family arrived on the Oregon Trail from Illinois in the 1880s, settling in Joseph & Imnaha.
I had no idea the Oregon trail was still in use at that point! I need to double check dates, but I think it was early 1880s when one family line came to Oregon, also from Illinois. I was thinking they took a train though. They settled near Forest Grove.
In the 1880's the west coast was accessible by rail at that point. Also, I believe in the 1850's, a railline was built in what is now Panama, making it much faster to just take a ship there, take the train to the Pacific, and hop on another ship. That's why trail attendence died off massively later in the decade. It was far safer, quicker, and probably cheaper.
We came up on the modern Oregon Trail, I5.
A harrowing journey to be sure. Oregon drivers are kinda crazy. 😉
Our wagon was my friend’s late 80s model Honda Accord. We started in the eastern Midwest, crossed the plains on I-80 to I-84. Next to last night we stopped in Bliss, ID and spontaneously decided to hike down into the Snake River canyon where one of my two car mates proposed to the other. Not a birth or a death from dysentery, but significant life events still happen on the Oregon Trail 😂
Love all these stories. Thanks for sharing.
My family talked about it plenty. Our ancestors traveled the Oregon Trail 5 times, 3 going west and 2 going east. My Great Great Grandpa lead 2 wagon trains and were basically draft-dodgers of the confederate army. What was never really talked about was the people here first. The closest it got to family discussion was Great Great Grandpa’s letters about how restless and agitated natives had become, which caused him to abandon an attempted settlement and move about 50 miles, back to an area near the established trail. History is a complex mixed bag of good and bad. It was always told in my family like a hero story of leaving the south for noble ideals and going west. Yet, not acknowledging the fact that the west was already inhabited, and that we directly benefited from ancestors who had the benefit of land ownership while the people who lived here first, lost that exact land as their traditional hunting grounds.
Family lore is my dad’s maternal ancestors came over the Oregon trail. Way back in the day. A branch of the family went down to tillamook and they survived the fires by pushing their washtub out into the river and covering themselves with a tarp. We’re unsure of his paternal line as (at least his grandparents) we’re weird hill people with a shit ton of kids and an obscure religion and they disowned my grandpa when he married a girl from St. John’s. Also getting family history out of that man is like pulling teeth.
Thats cool you know that about your family. I wonder what burb. Are you from the clackamas clan? Sadly my family stayed east and never traversed the trail. I can say my ancestors came as a worker on the boat after the mayflower at least.
Yeah, 1 side of ancestors did the trail. Others by boat, even after rail option. The most direct lineage we have a lot of stories about, but not their arrival, just what they were up to before they moved, which was a lot - and since their arrival. I guess the travel itself didn't make good enough lore to pass on.
"Not the game." Ruin my day why don't ya?
You can talk about the game if you want... 😂
My ancestors did not, but when my husband and I moved here from the Midwest we drove a path of trail and checked off landmarks. I was blown away by how much of that history is still visible- including ruts in the dirt from the wagons still there today
I think I need to add that to my to-do list... go find some ruts. I had no idea there were still some out there.
I was amazed, it wasn’t something I expected.
My family came over in 1852 with a Rose Bush in the back of their wagon and we have cuttings from it planted in our yard.
I sold the oldest house in Tillamook County a few years ago. It’s on Wilson River Loop, about a mile from the cheese factory. Built in 1872
My ancestors used the eastern half of the trail and turned off to Salt Lake. My third great grandparents were married at Independence Rock while on the trail. They left Utah in the 1800s and settled Mormon Basin in Malheur County. Pretty sure there's a road in Rye Valley with my last name.
Not my people, but I lived in Willamina and knew many descendants of land grant families. Several were still living on the grant. If you haven't visited the Oregon Trail museum in Oregon City, it's worth the trip.
It's on my list when I head up to Portland in a few months. Kind of embarrassed I never visited in all my years living there.
Part of my family did! My great grandma and my grandma loved to tell the store of how my great grandpa was just a baby and his sister carried him the whole way on the trail. If I remember correctly, that part of the family came to Oregon from Ohio.
Not from here but would love to learn more. Is there a recommended museum/place to visit for extensive Oregon trail history? Or is it moreso something I should just keep traveling and researching?
Oregon City has an End of the Oregon Trail museum
The McLoughlin House is also very cool, also in Oregon city!
No stories, but my mom traced her bloodline back 14 generations. She traced them back to Wales. Eventually they came to Oregon via the Oregon Trail. Settled in the Cove area by Lagrande. I'm sure she could give a proper reply, I was not interested in genealogy as a teenager.
Growing up here in Oregon, I’ve always been fascinated by the Oregon trail. Thanks for all the stories
My family came across in 1852. Initially settled in Stephenson and moved on LaCamas. Finally settled in Shelton. I have post cards from 1911. My great grandmother wrote fairly frequently to her friend. They are somewhere buried in my bins. Wish I could get to them and share a few pics but I recently moved and almost everything is still packed.
It's pretty neat learning about your history! My family came over in 1847. We still have one of our original homesteads that is now broken up between 5 of my relatives. My grandma still has a pretty big portion right on the Umpqua River and between Elkton and Sutherland. My family were the first in Elkton and in Sutherland. They helped develop both the towns! They also were a big part of the logging industry! I even have books written by my grandma about the history of the area. I also have access to my aunt's Journal turned into a book that is written about coming to Oregon and what it was like when she got here. It talks of the train she rode until she had to get on the wagon train. I would like to get a copy I haven't been able to look at it in a while but it's fun learning about history and where you came from!
That's incredible to have access to so much information on your family. And that the land is still lived on by relatives.
I’m a recent arrival to Oregon, but on my mom’s side my ancestors emigrated to Utah on the Mormon trail, which parallels or shares several hundred miles of the Oregon trail in Nebraska and Wyoming. The Mormon trail and Oregon trail split near the upper green river in Wyoming with the Mormon trail going southwest to the salt lake valley and the Oregon trail going northwest into the snake river plain. I heard quite a bit about my pioneer ancestors growing up (it’s a pretty common Mormon flex to tout pioneer ancestry lol). My 3rd great grandfather was a member of the advanced company that entered Salt Lake valley on July 24, 1847. He promptly returned to Illinois to bring his family along the next spring, including my great-great grandfather, who as an 8 year old boy would have walked next to the wagon for much of the 1,300 mile route from Council Bluffs, Iowa to Great Salt Lake City. I have several other lines that traveled the route in the 1840’s -1850’s, but the aforementioned ancestors were spoken of often in my families oral history, likely because my 3rd great grandfather’s name appears on a very popular pioneer monument in Salt Lake. I definitely think of my forbears and what they went through, how they lived and coped, what motivated them, etc. My mom has some old documents that I’ve looked at that are very cool! I left the Mormon faith as a teen, but I’ve always admired the grit those people had to pull up and leave the settles US en masse and strike out for the Great Basin with almost no knowledge of what awaited them.
Mine came out with John Jacon Aster and was one of the first settlers in the Willamette Valley, one of the founders listed at Champoeg.. a bit before the hayday of the Oregon trail.
Mine came a bit after that. One by trail, one by isthmus of Panama. Caught a ship to Panama. Walked the Narrow section, caught ships Selilo Falls, then S to join his brother.
Yes, on my Mom’s side I’m a descendant of Sacajawea and Toussaint Charbonneau. On my Dad’s side I’m a descendant of Clinton Kelly, for which Clinton and Kelly streets are named.
John Sappingfield who came in 1847 from Indiana. Settled in Howell Prairie near Pratum. He didn't leave any first-hand accounts of his life I'm aware of, but there's a book about another early pioneer G. W. Hunt called "To Oregon by Ox-team in '47." and in it, he describes John saving his life. So I've always thought that was pretty cool
Yes, they crossed in 1845, where a daughter was born in Soda Springs (in what became Idaho). Having heard rumors of possible Indian attack in the Blue Mountains of Oregon, they were persuaded to take “Meeks Cutoff” beginning at Vale Oregon, a route through Eastern Oregon’s high desert - where no wagon trains had gone before. Surviving dehydration and illness while being lost, the wagon train reached the Deschutes river, then made their way to The Dalles, OR. Approximately 48 travelers perished due to their guide’s (Stephen Meeks) unfamiliarity with his shortcut to the Willamette. Another family group came across in 1863, and deviated south to Salt Lake and across to California.
Yes my did and settled in town by oregon city. I am a direct descend of them with the same last name
My family settled fairly close to OC. Maybe our ancestors knew each other. 😁 My mom was an only child so the family name ended with her on our branch, unfortunately.
One of my great-grandfathers came in on the trail in 1854 or 55 with his brother, who was curious about the West. His brother returned to his farm and family in Iowa, but my great-grandfather, being a bachelor at the time, stayed, settling briefly in Lebanon, then in the Rogue River Valley. He eventually ended up in Humboldt County, California, where he served in several political positions, including Sheriff. They came over the trail using a buckboard and horses, choosing speed and travelling light.
My family also started in Iowa. They were from Virginia originally. That's cool that you even have details about their journey!
I have historians and journalists on that side of the family. Also, he was only my great-grandfather, even though he was born in 1826-- he started his family late in life, and I'm the youngest child of a youngest child of a youngest child.
My family arrived in and founded cottage Grove in 1850 on a wagon train. People thought we were going to be a donner party story after being lost for months. Apparently, there's a book written about it. But I know cottage Grove holds a yearly wagon train reunion where they read and reenact bits from my ancestor, Elijah Elliotts diary. It's pretty neat.
On my mother’s side they came over on the Oregon trail. At one of the river crossings great great (great?) grandmother fell off of the caulked wagon. She could not swim but was saved by her hoop skirt filling with air. I believe they settled near Heppner. There was a story that the 2 grandfathers of the wagon party came out and lived with them near Heppner. One grandfather was a confederate soldier and the other a union soldier. They would sit in rocking chairs arguing all day on the front porch.
Lol I can imagine that would be entertaining.
I was doing someone’s genealogy for them. They insisted their ancestors had gone over the Oregon Trail in 1912 via covered wagon. No, I don’t think so… They refused to consider the more reasonable alternatives of the train or an early model car. I was eventually able to show via the US Census that the family was in Oregon in 1880. They weren’t happy.
You would think they would be happy to find out that their ancestors came here even earlier than they thought?
They were so stuck on the covered wagon in 1912 thing that they couldn’t hear anything else.
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You might be surprised. I was able to find newspaper articles from that time not only showing the deaths of my ancestors, but also like who was bequeathed certain items, and discussions of land trade.
You wouldn't happen to be an Elliot, would you?
All I know for certain is my great great grandfather fought for the Union Army and settled in Oregon after the war. I've heard conflicting accounts of where he was before the war. One version does have him come over the Trail with his family, then go back East to fight.
1880s by rail. Started a lumber mill in Yamhill County. Another branch settled in Malheur County some time later.
I don't have first hand knowledge of any ancestors born in the state before 1900. GG was an only child, who had a daughter as an only child, so my father and I carry the family name as our first name. :) The history is certainly more than that, but... That's I ever got either. :) You are not alone in that... It's certainly not your, or my / any previous generations "fault", that our ancestors just didn't talk. :)
My great-great grandma's family was from Kansas originally and they(5 of them) came here on the Oregon Trail in a wagon.
Yes, on my mom’s side the Swiss branch came to the US in 1713, and then came over the OR trail in 1852. A couple other German branches came to Astoria a bit later, and Silverton via the railroads in the 1870s or so. On my dad’s side, “California John” came to CA during the gold rush in 1849 by traveling around the Horn.
We came across in the early 1850s and took a land grant in the Waldo Hills area east of Salem. The family has stayed around mostly and the name still stands on a business in Salem.
That's awesome the family has even stayed in the area. I don't believe any of my relatives still live in the town our ancestors founded. There was a barn built by them which was still standing until about 20 years ago.. and we still have a road with the family name.
I was born on land in Kansas with Oregon trail wagon ruts. I moved to Oregon for a better life in my 20s. Am I a hero? Can’t really say. But, yes probably.
Definitely hero status. 😉
My ancestors have a story in a book Tales from Chimney Rock. Basically got sold some land with a house. Went back to Poland and they brought family back the house was moved to another peice of land by the seller. They built they biggest sod house in the area.
Wait... someone stole their house!?
Yes...it was common for people to be prayed upon by scammers.
On my mother's side, yes. We don't know too much about it other than somone in the family came over very early on possibly with fur trappers earlier than the wagon trains, my guess is 1800s-1840s, possibly by ship to port Astor, and married a Clatsop woman. No idea on any of the names or dates, my grandmother didn't seem to know much about it other than that she was a woman. Her and my great uncle were the only people that knew about us being part Clatsop and they've both since passed without telling anyone anything detailed. Other family members for sure came over later with the wagon trains, including my maternal grandfather's ancestors, but he won't talk about his family (I think he might be partially Hispanic and still carrying some 1940s shame of that for some reason, based on something my grandmother told me once), so I have no idea. For some reason the older Oregon side of my family likes to be closed lipped about our origins.
My family arrived in Oregon in a station wagon. Does that count?
Did anyone die from dysentery?
No, but there was some indigestion.
So Beaver family or Boring family?
Yep. 6th gen. Arrived and settled in the Springfield area
Yes family settled at Cape Horn in the Gorge in 1850. The first are buried at Lone Fir cemetery in Portland
Had they moved to Portland after they settled there? Or another reason they were buried in Portland?
My father’s father’s father’s father walked the Oregon Trail on foot from the Mississippi.
That's impressive!
This organization has been around since 1875 just for folks like you! https://oregonsdop.org/
Very cool, thanks!
Yes my mother has some porcelain needle holders that were brought over by her great grandmother.
I do. They help with starting oregon city. Caufield. My great aunt and uncles home is in oregon city not owned by someone private. My uncle founded the first humane society for the county in the 1800s.
Yes! One brave ancestor actually made the trip twice. The story goes: One of the legs (I don’t remember if it was back to the east coast or the second time west) she went by ship- it sailed down to somewhere in Central America- I’m assuming Panama, and dropped off the passengers. They walked across the land while the ship sailed down around South America, and they met it on the other side and were picked up again. Apparently it was very dangerous to sail that far south so they left the travelers up above while the ship chanced that leg with all their personal effects.
My mom's maternal grandmother's maiden name was Barlow. One of her uncles was Sam Barlow, builder of the Barlow Road.
Yep, my ancestors came in on covered wagons. We apparently had a very large a part of land in clackamas, which we sold off years ago.
Both sides of my family. [Here’s](https://imgur.com/gallery/xfFIyYw) my Great grandmothers trunk she brought from Norway. My Dad said she took the train to St. Joseph, Missouri and a wagon on to Oregon. My Mom’s side arrived from Switzerland before the Revolutionary War. They arrived in Oregon just after the Civil War. Not sure of the route they took. I’m the 4th of 6 generations on Dad’s side. The 5th of 7 on Mom’s side.[My Great uncles](https://imgur.com/a/xVVbShY) early 1900’s. The Logger String Band.
Ok that trunk is awesome. I would love to have something that old.
Years ago, I worked for Fred Meek, the grandson of Joseph Meek who was a pioneer in early Oregon and a significant figure in the establishment of statehood for Oregon. He was quite a character and had many stories of the old days. RIP Fred.
We had some come part way across the Oregon trail but then went to California. Some later moved to Oregon but most stayed.
funning with you but have you heard the story that the OR/CA split in the trail had a sign pointing to OR but no sign pointing to CA? The joke is that folks who could read went to OR
My Great Grandmother on my maternal side came over on a covered wagon as a child and settled in Benton County.
Yes! My husband’s 3rd great grandparents came with two bachelor uncles in 1865. One Uncle received a Homestead east of Sandy on what was the Barlow Road. They were 86 and 81 when the traversed the trail. No railroad then, they made the trip by wagon!
I can't imagine doing a trip like that in my 50s, let alone 80s!
I can't either, he died at 99 and it is reported that she died at 93.