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On to Oregon: The Diaries of Mary Walker and Myra Eells
In 1838, two missionary couples, the Walkers and the Eellses, joined the party going west as a reinforcement to the Oregon Mission. Just married when the trip began, Mary Walker and Myra Eells rode on horseback from Missouri to Oregon, keeping diaries throughout the months on the hazardous trail. After spending a winter at the Whitman mission in present-day Washington, the Walkers and Eellses moved north to do missionary work among the Spokane Indians. Throughout On to Oregon the presence of Myra Fairbanks Eells is deeply felt, but it is Mary Richardson Walker who will be remembered for perhaps the richest diary we have from a woman pioneering in the West.
- GenresHistoryNonfiction
382 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1998
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 18, 2016
Mary Walker rode sidesaddle from Missouri to Oregon (or, to what is now eastern Washington State, near the Idaho/Washington State demarcation) for 5 months in 1838, when she had never rode a horse before, while pregnant, with a new husband, Elkanah Walker, whom she had met a few weeks before the journey. They had married after only two meetings (eventually, they loved each other).
She and her husband wanted intensely to bring Christianity to Washington State natives despite not knowing a single word of their language. The American Board, a Calvinist evangelical Protestant missionary agency, approved of their separate applications, brought the two of them together, and sent them on their way to the West with a minimum of instructions and funds. They both knew how to farm and their version of Christianity backwards and forwards. They knew very little of Indians or about the country in which they were going to live.
They traveled with fellow missionaries in a wagon train of other emigrants and mountain men. It wasn't long before the American Board Christians were squabbling, apparently disagreeing over virtually everything. These disagreements carried over into their relationships with the other missionary couples who moved to 'Oregon' (now Washington State) for the next ten years. When the new missionaries met Dr. and Mrs. Marcus Whitman, already in an eastern Washington 'station' (farm) they had begun, the new arrivals discovered that the one of the two points of agreement the newbies had (teaching the Protestant Congregational Bible was the other) was that the Whitman's were unpleasant people. None of the missionaries would have likely been friends if not for their mutual desire to bring Christianity to natives. From the diaries and notes included in this book, the missionaries appeared to be overly judgmental in all things large and small, from what work on the Sabbath was permitted, to the seeing of slights and disapproval in every person's action and reaction. These were people who believed in rules and regimentation - the problems between them were all about what those rules and regimented behaviors were, even to whether a table cloth should be used or not.
The Walker mission was successful in the building of a working farm which supported the Walkers and their eventual birthing of six children. However, in the nine years that they lived in Eastern Washington, they did not baptize a single native (the Walkers never succeeded in getting the natives to fulfill the spiritual requirements necessary for baptism), nor did the Walkers ever learn the language of the Spokane tribe. If it wasn't for various and temporary interpreters, they would not have been able to conduct services or explain anything about Christianity (I have to wonder exactly what was communicated about Christianity). The failure of their proselytizing was not for lack of trying. They had church services and meetings with the natives, whose population rose and fell with the seasons (the Indians were constantly moving with the presence of animals and fish, depending on whether it was summer or winter). They spent years on a translation of a New Testament book, never completed. They hired natives to help them farm and clean the house (it was really a small terrible shed, at first). They raised chickens and cows and horses, and planted crops. Through barter, they varied their diet with fish.
They were horrified by the constant watching of the Indians, who never stopped 'spying' (the lack of privacy was a common complaint by all of the American Board missionaries). They also were horrified by the natives' process of mixing in Christianity with their usual religious ceremonies. They despaired of the continuing use of medicine men, who used indigenous religious methods for attempting cures of the soaring rate of illnesses and deaths decimating the native population, when prayer to Jesus would have saved the dying natives, in their opinion. The smallpox and measles epidemics were brought by the natives' contact with the whites, of course, but the missionaries believed these illnesses and deaths were punishments from god, angry by the natives' obstinacy in continuing to follow their traditional lifestyle. The missionaries also harangued the tribes to stop moving about and start farming, especially since they felt the lessons of Christianity were difficult to teach when the tribes refused to stay in one place and thus be more susceptible for continuous influence of the whites. While they loved their farm (eventually), and they enjoyed a few close friendships with one missionary family and a few natives, as the years went by they realized the mission was a failure. However, I have no doubt they would have continued to live in eastern Washington if not for the 14-person 'massacre' of the Whitmans by the Cayuse tribe.
It was increasingly clear to all of the Oregon Territory Indians the whites were taking over their lands while at the same time begrudging the natives to continue to live where they had always lived before the whites came; so upon the accidental poisoning of several Cayuse tribal members, they attacked the Whitmans in 1847. Word of the attack on the Whitman station quickly spread throughout the region, and the Walkers were concerned over what the Spokane tribe would decide. Over a period of days, and although the Spokanes reassured the Walkers they would remain at peace, eventually the Walkers chose to pack up and abandon their farm and their missionary purpose. They moved to what is now Oregon state, and started another farm.
Mary Walker died in 1897 at age 86, survived by five sons, one daughter, twenty-five grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren.
What is so impressive about these settlers is not just how they survived a horseback journey across the country for 2,500 miles and then that they raised families in such harsh and uncertain conditions, but that they did so never knowing ANY certainty of survival except for their reliance on their faith, as crazy insane as their ignorance and religious beliefs were. I can see some of what aided them in their hopeful quests in these diaries - a background of technological advances, such as provisioning by ships sailing around South America and from Hawaii (yes, I said HAWAII!), and the building of railroads, so that Mary Walker actually visited her relatives back east about 30 years later by traveling in a train from Oregon.
The bartering of superior and continuously-available food items from white farms and merchant caravans, and gun weapons, and the increasing numbers of whites must have demonstrated to the natives that they could not win a sustained war against the newcomers, and too late they must have seen they could lose it all. During the time the diaries were being written, the various tribes often warred and plotted against each other, some of which battles were mentioned in the journals of the Walkers in their trip across the country and in the 9 years of farming in their eastern Washington home. If the natives had been able to put aside their differences, I suspect the takeover by whites would have occurred much later with more white deaths. As it was, the journals describe how 80% of the local natives around the Walker farm died from disease and starvation, while the whites ate well in comparison. Disease occurred often among the Walkers and their white neighbors, but they survived their illnesses. This was happening in the 1838-1848 period, and the big push of settlers was in the future still, with the largest emigration occurring in the mid-1850's. The Walkers' diaries mention that the only biggest competitive worry at the time of their sojourn was the hated Roman Catholics, who are often mentioned with loathing in their journals, along with the customs of the Indians.
All of 'the (European) conquest' of North America is a wonder of history, whatever the right and wrong of it.
She and her husband wanted intensely to bring Christianity to Washington State natives despite not knowing a single word of their language. The American Board, a Calvinist evangelical Protestant missionary agency, approved of their separate applications, brought the two of them together, and sent them on their way to the West with a minimum of instructions and funds. They both knew how to farm and their version of Christianity backwards and forwards. They knew very little of Indians or about the country in which they were going to live.
They traveled with fellow missionaries in a wagon train of other emigrants and mountain men. It wasn't long before the American Board Christians were squabbling, apparently disagreeing over virtually everything. These disagreements carried over into their relationships with the other missionary couples who moved to 'Oregon' (now Washington State) for the next ten years. When the new missionaries met Dr. and Mrs. Marcus Whitman, already in an eastern Washington 'station' (farm) they had begun, the new arrivals discovered that the one of the two points of agreement the newbies had (teaching the Protestant Congregational Bible was the other) was that the Whitman's were unpleasant people. None of the missionaries would have likely been friends if not for their mutual desire to bring Christianity to natives. From the diaries and notes included in this book, the missionaries appeared to be overly judgmental in all things large and small, from what work on the Sabbath was permitted, to the seeing of slights and disapproval in every person's action and reaction. These were people who believed in rules and regimentation - the problems between them were all about what those rules and regimented behaviors were, even to whether a table cloth should be used or not.
The Walker mission was successful in the building of a working farm which supported the Walkers and their eventual birthing of six children. However, in the nine years that they lived in Eastern Washington, they did not baptize a single native (the Walkers never succeeded in getting the natives to fulfill the spiritual requirements necessary for baptism), nor did the Walkers ever learn the language of the Spokane tribe. If it wasn't for various and temporary interpreters, they would not have been able to conduct services or explain anything about Christianity (I have to wonder exactly what was communicated about Christianity). The failure of their proselytizing was not for lack of trying. They had church services and meetings with the natives, whose population rose and fell with the seasons (the Indians were constantly moving with the presence of animals and fish, depending on whether it was summer or winter). They spent years on a translation of a New Testament book, never completed. They hired natives to help them farm and clean the house (it was really a small terrible shed, at first). They raised chickens and cows and horses, and planted crops. Through barter, they varied their diet with fish.
They were horrified by the constant watching of the Indians, who never stopped 'spying' (the lack of privacy was a common complaint by all of the American Board missionaries). They also were horrified by the natives' process of mixing in Christianity with their usual religious ceremonies. They despaired of the continuing use of medicine men, who used indigenous religious methods for attempting cures of the soaring rate of illnesses and deaths decimating the native population, when prayer to Jesus would have saved the dying natives, in their opinion. The smallpox and measles epidemics were brought by the natives' contact with the whites, of course, but the missionaries believed these illnesses and deaths were punishments from god, angry by the natives' obstinacy in continuing to follow their traditional lifestyle. The missionaries also harangued the tribes to stop moving about and start farming, especially since they felt the lessons of Christianity were difficult to teach when the tribes refused to stay in one place and thus be more susceptible for continuous influence of the whites. While they loved their farm (eventually), and they enjoyed a few close friendships with one missionary family and a few natives, as the years went by they realized the mission was a failure. However, I have no doubt they would have continued to live in eastern Washington if not for the 14-person 'massacre' of the Whitmans by the Cayuse tribe.
It was increasingly clear to all of the Oregon Territory Indians the whites were taking over their lands while at the same time begrudging the natives to continue to live where they had always lived before the whites came; so upon the accidental poisoning of several Cayuse tribal members, they attacked the Whitmans in 1847. Word of the attack on the Whitman station quickly spread throughout the region, and the Walkers were concerned over what the Spokane tribe would decide. Over a period of days, and although the Spokanes reassured the Walkers they would remain at peace, eventually the Walkers chose to pack up and abandon their farm and their missionary purpose. They moved to what is now Oregon state, and started another farm.
Mary Walker died in 1897 at age 86, survived by five sons, one daughter, twenty-five grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren.
What is so impressive about these settlers is not just how they survived a horseback journey across the country for 2,500 miles and then that they raised families in such harsh and uncertain conditions, but that they did so never knowing ANY certainty of survival except for their reliance on their faith, as crazy insane as their ignorance and religious beliefs were. I can see some of what aided them in their hopeful quests in these diaries - a background of technological advances, such as provisioning by ships sailing around South America and from Hawaii (yes, I said HAWAII!), and the building of railroads, so that Mary Walker actually visited her relatives back east about 30 years later by traveling in a train from Oregon.
The bartering of superior and continuously-available food items from white farms and merchant caravans, and gun weapons, and the increasing numbers of whites must have demonstrated to the natives that they could not win a sustained war against the newcomers, and too late they must have seen they could lose it all. During the time the diaries were being written, the various tribes often warred and plotted against each other, some of which battles were mentioned in the journals of the Walkers in their trip across the country and in the 9 years of farming in their eastern Washington home. If the natives had been able to put aside their differences, I suspect the takeover by whites would have occurred much later with more white deaths. As it was, the journals describe how 80% of the local natives around the Walker farm died from disease and starvation, while the whites ate well in comparison. Disease occurred often among the Walkers and their white neighbors, but they survived their illnesses. This was happening in the 1838-1848 period, and the big push of settlers was in the future still, with the largest emigration occurring in the mid-1850's. The Walkers' diaries mention that the only biggest competitive worry at the time of their sojourn was the hated Roman Catholics, who are often mentioned with loathing in their journals, along with the customs of the Indians.
All of 'the (European) conquest' of North America is a wonder of history, whatever the right and wrong of it.
February 8, 2012
....it was ok. It was taxing to read the whole thing, and thought about stopping it more than once. I found myself bored with the never ending footnotes, and the general monotony of her life. My favorite parts were author's summaries of the years, the photographs, and the moment's of Mary's personal reflection. When she writes about incidents that happen with her children, her feelings towards the Indians/husband/fellow missionaries/herself, her personal convictions of faith-these are the things that I was hoping for more of and I found the most interesting.
I will say this: it certainly does present a very clear portrait of what life was like for families in that time period, and provides very interesting insight into what life was like for the Indians living in the area as well. I certainly feel like I know Mary quite well now.
I would recommend for big time history or character study buffs who don't mind extensive footnotes and some monotony, and enjoy reading about all the details (household chores laid out in great detail, for every day, for several years, as an example.)
If you're looking for an entertaining, or gripping story-steer clear.
I will say this: it certainly does present a very clear portrait of what life was like for families in that time period, and provides very interesting insight into what life was like for the Indians living in the area as well. I certainly feel like I know Mary quite well now.
I would recommend for big time history or character study buffs who don't mind extensive footnotes and some monotony, and enjoy reading about all the details (household chores laid out in great detail, for every day, for several years, as an example.)
If you're looking for an entertaining, or gripping story-steer clear.
April 9, 2007
late 1830's, early 1840's diary kept while traveling west to oregon...daily family life along the trail...the 2 women were part of a missionary group to the northwest..historical context provided by the editors....fascinating...
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews