Walter Marsh Family

www.oregonpioneers.com
compiled by Stephenie Flora


Walter Marsh
b.  25 Nov 1794 in St Albans, Franklin, VT
d.  29 Nov 1847 in Whitman Mission, Waiilatpu near Walla Walla, WA
s/o Lemuel and Rosanna (Warner) Marsh

m'd 1817 probably Genesee Co, NY to
Louisa Meeker

b. 12 Jul 1796 Weybridge, Addison Co, VT
d. 1847 on Oregon trail; buried near Soda Springs
d/o Samuel and Eunice Meeker

1820: LeRoy, Genesee Co, NY; Walter Marsh; 1 male (-10), 1 male (16-25); 1 female (-10); 1 female (16-25)

1830: Cherry Valley, Ashtabula Co, OH; Walter Marsh 1 male (0-4), 1 male (5-9), 1 male (30-39); 1 female (0-4), 2 females (5-9), 1 female (30-39)

1840: Sangamon Co, IL; Walter Marsh 1 male (5-9), 1 male (41-49); 1 female (0-4), 1 female (15-19), 1 female (20-29), 1 female (40-48)

1847:
The Mansion House was 400' to the east of the Mission House.  It was built in the early 1840s by William Gray for his bride.  Ever since Gray had left the mission in 1842, Whitman had used the neat, adobe building as a store house in summer and to house the emigrants in the winter.  It housed 29 people in November 1847:
Saunders family
Rebecca Hays and son
Peter Hall family
Nathan Kimballs family
William Marsh, daughter and grandson
Jacob Hoffman
Isaac Gilliland
Joseph Stanfield

staying at the mission was �Mr. Marsh, miller and one child� [The Whitman Massacre of 1847 by Catherine, Elizabeth and Matilda Sager, Ye Galleon Press, Fairfield, WA 1986 p.46]

�The mansion house was even more crowded.  There was a widower, too within the shelter.  He was William Marsh who ran the gristmill, and in his charge was an eleven-year-old daughter and a two-year-old grandson, Alba Lyman.� [The Great Command by Nard Jones, Boston, 1959, p.322]

�William Marsh, a widower trying to care for both a daughter and a grandson, was hired to operate the mill.� [Shallow Grave At Waiilatpu: The Sagers West by Erwin N. Thompson, The Press of the Oregon Historical Society, Portland, OR, 1985 p.90]

�Dr. Whitman, instead of heading outside to work, selected a book from the shelf and sat down to read.  Marsh was at the gristmill by now, grinding grain for the Cayuse. �  [The Great Command by Nard Jones, Boston, 1959, p.322]

�Mr. Marsh was attending the mill and was shot.� [The Whitman Massacre of 1847 by Catherine, Elizabeth and Matilda Sager, Ye Galleon Press, Fairfield, WA 1986 p.63]

�William Marsh ran from the grist mill where he had been at work.  He got only a few steps when he fell mortally wounded by a bullet.� [Shallow Grave At Waiilatpu: The Sagers West by Erwin N. Thompson, The Press of the Oregon Historical Society, Portland, OR, 1985 p.97]

�Marsh fell in his tracks as he ran from the mill.� [The Great Command by Nard Jones, Boston, 1959, p.332]

Thirteen of the 72 individuals at the mission were killed that first day. These included: Narcissa Whitman, Andrew Rogers, Jacob Hoffman, the schoolmaster L.W. Sanders, Mr. Marsh, John Sager, Francis Sager, Nathan Kimball, Isaac Gilliland, and Young Jr.  Peter Hall, who had also escaped the original massacre, later disappeared and was never seen again.

�Meanwhile, it had dawned upon the Cayuse that the killing of Marsh left the gristmill idle.  The captors did not know how to run the mill.� [The Great Command by Nard Jones, Boston, 1959, p.354]

�Mary Marsh was in the family of Mrs. S.(aunders).  Joe came and took her into his room, and was seen having private talks with her.  He was trying to get her to accompany him and Mrs. H. in an elopement; but Mrs. H. still refused to go.� [The Whitman Massacre of 1847 by Catherine, Elizabeth and Matilda Sager, Ye Galleon Press, Fairfield, WA 1986 p.71]

after arriving at Fort Walla Walla �We were distributed as follows:  Mrs. Hall and family, with Mrs. Hays, Joe Stanfield, Mary Marsh, and Mary A. Bridger occupied one room; Mr. Smith�s family and Mrs. Kimball another; Mrs. Saunders, Eliza Spalding, Miss Bewly, my sister and I another; and Mrs. Young�s and Canfield the other.� [The Whitman Massacre of 1847 by Catherine, Elizabeth and Matilda Sager, Ye Galleon Press, Fairfield, WA 1986 p.72]

�When we arrived at the Dalles, we found some volunteers camped there.   Miss Johnson and Miss Marsh both met a brother.� [The Whitman Massacre of 1847 by Catherine, Elizabeth and Matilda Sager, Ye Galleon Press, Fairfield, WA 1986 p.86]

  The remainder of the party camped a few miles below.  Saturday, about noon the survivors arrived at Ft. Vancouver.  As they neared the place the Canadian boatmen broke into song with a zest that showed their joy at safely reaching home.

Bones were found in 1897 when leveling ground for a monument.  Matilda Sager helped to identify some of them� �the skull of an old man we decided was that of the miller, Mr. Marsh.� [The Whitman Massacre of 1847 by Catherine, Elizabeth and Matilda Sager, Ye Galleon Press, Fairfield, WA 1986 p.150]

Walter Marsh, killed in Whitman massacre [Oregon Spectator Dec 9, 1847 p 2:4; Jan 20, 1848 p 3:1]

Children:
1. Son Marsh
b. c1818 NY
d.

1820: LeRoy, Genesee Co, NY; Walter Marsh; 1 male (-10), 1 male (16-25); 1 female (-10); 1 female (16-25)

2. Jane Marsh
b. c1820 NY
d.
m�d  c 1842 Walter Lyman

1820: LeRoy, Genesee Co, NY; Walter Marsh; 1 male (-10), 1 male (16-25); 1 female (-10); 1 female (16-25)

1830: Cherry Valley, Ashtabula Co, OH; Walter Marsh 1 male (0-4), 1 male (5-9), 1 male (30-39); 1 female (0-4), 2 females (5-9), 1 female (30-39)

1840: Sangamon Co, IL; Walter Marsh 1 male (5-9), 1 male (41-49); 1 female (0-4), 1 female (15-19), 1 female (20-29), 1 female (40-48)

3. Lucius Marsh
b. Jan 1822 OH
d. c1852

1830: Cherry Valley, Ashtabula Co, OH; Walter Marsh 1 male (0-4), 1 male (5-9), 1 male (30-39); 1 female (0-4), 2 females (5-9), 1 female (30-39)

1850: Washington Co, OT, Dec 5, 1850; Lucius Marsh, 27, carpenter, OH (enumerated in household of S.A. Durham, 37, milling, NY along with other carpenters, wagon makers, etc)

Lucius Marsh, Member of Oregon Riflemen [Oregon Spectator Dec 9, 1847 p 2:1]

Cayuse War Claim collected by assignee O.C. Pratt Jan 1, 1853 [OS Jan 1, 1853 p 2:7]

 

4. Amanda Marsh
b.  Oct 1824 IL
d.   aft 1867       
m�d Benjamin Gibson

1830: Cherry Valley, Ashtabula Co, OH; Walter Marsh 1 male (0-4), 1 male (5-9), 1 male (30-39); 1 female (0-4), 2 females (5-9), 1 female (30-39)

 

5. Joseph Marsh
b.  Aug 1826 OH
d.  22 Jun 1856 Petersburg, Menard Co, IL
m�d Lucy Brooks

1830: Cherry Valley, Ashtabula Co, OH; Walter Marsh 1 male (0-4), 1 male (5-9), 1 male (30-39); 1 female (0-4), 2 females (5-9), 1 female (30-39)

 

6. Daughter Marsh
b. c1828 OH
d. bef 1840

1830: Cherry Valley, Ashtabula Co, OH; Walter Marsh 1 male (0-4), 1 male (5-9), 1 male (30-39); 1 female (0-4), 2 females (5-9), 1 female (30-39)

 

7. Male Marsh
b. c1833
d. 

1840: Sangamon Co, IL; Walter Marsh 1 male (5-9), 1 male (41-49); 1 female (0-4), 1 female (15-19), 1 female (20-29), 1 female (40-48)


7. Mary Elisabeth Ellen Marsh
b. 08 Oct 1836 Springfield, IL
d. 06 Apr 1907 Wheeler Co, OR
buried Haystack Cemetery, Wheeler Co, OR
m�d 25 Dec 1853 Oregon City, Clackamas Co, OR to James Pulliam Cason
James Pulliam CASON (1832-1887): m'd 1853 Mary MARSH; s/o Fendall and Rebecca (Holladay) Cason; James was b. Jan 5, 1832 in Howard Co, MO; he died Sep 6, 1887 at Shutler Flat, Gilliam Co, OR;  James is buried at Arlington, Gilliam Co, OR; wife was a survivor of the Whitman Massacre ; settled in Clackamas Co; later moved to Morrow Co where Cason Canyon is named for him; pioneer of 1843

1840: Sangamon Co, IL; Walter Marsh 1 male (5-9), 1 male (41-49); 1 female (0-4), 1 female (15-19), 1 female (20-29), 1 female (40-48)

1848: Mary Ellen Marsh, age 11, released by Indians after Whitman massacre; arrives at Fort Vancouver [Oregon Spectator Jan 20, 1848 p. 2:4]

1850: Oregon City, Clackamas Co, OR, Sep 6, 1850; H. Lawrence Lovejoy, 39, lawyer, $30,000, Mass; Elizabeth, 21, NY; Mary Marsh, 13, IL

1860: Rock Creek Pct, Milwaukie PO, Clackamas Co, OR, Jul 12, 1860; James P. Cason, 28, farmer, $4000 $800, MO; Mary E., 23, IL; Francis A., 5, OR; Charles L., 3, OR; Eliza R., 1, OR

1870: Pendleton to Willow Creek Pct, Umatilla Co, OR; James Cason, 38, farmer, $500 $900, MO; Mary, 33, keeping house, IL; Francis, 15, OR; Charles, 13, OR; Walter, 6, OR; John, 4, OR

1880: Dist 113, Lower Willow Creek Pct, Umatilla Co, OR, Jun 10 & 11, 1880; James Cason, 48, farmer and stock rancher, fever and bilous, MO VA VA; Mary, 43, wife, keeping house, catarrh, IL VT VT;  Charles, 23, son, works on farm, OR; Walter, 16, son, at home, OR; John, 14, son, at home, OR; Isabella, 9, dau, at home, OR; Jas Franklin, 3, son, at home, OR; Mabel, 3/12 (Mar), dau, at home, OR; James Compton, 21, laborer, herds stock, OR

1900: Dist 155, Wagner Pct, Wheeler Co, OR, Jun 11, 1900; John B. Cason, head, Dec 1865, 34, m-4, farmer, OR MO IL; Ada, wife, Jul 1878, 21, m-4, 2-1, MO Unk TN; Bertha M., dau, May 1898, 2, s, OR; Mary E., mother, Oct 1836, 63, wid, 10-5, IL VT VT; Ada M. Templeton, sister, Mar 1880, 20, m-2, 2-2, OR; Roy V. Templeton, nephew, Jan 1898, s, OR TN OR; Infant, nephew, May 1900, 0/12, s, OR TN OR

Obituary of Mary E. Marsh Cason Oregonian April 10, 1907 p.6


Mary E. Marsh,  11; d/o Walter and Lavisa Marsh, mother had died at Soda Springs during emigration of 1847 and was wrapped in her bed and buried along the trail. By 1848 Mary was living with Mrs. Asa Lovejoy. Mary married James Pulliam Cason on 25 Dec 1853 near Oregon City. Mary and James had 10 children. James Cason died 06 Sep 1887 in Gilliam Co, OR. Mary died at Spray, Wheeler Co, OR on 06 Apr 1907. Cason Canyon in Morrow County was named for them.[per Jon Ridgeway at JNCRIDGE@aol.com]  [photo contributed by Jon Ridgeway]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The following is research done by Muriel Cason Vaughn (deceased) on Holladay, Rawlings, Marsh and Cason families.  It was presented to the Genealogical Forum, Portland, Oregon by her daughter, Mrs. Caroly Newland of  Eugene, Oregon.

   "Grandmother Mary Marsh Cason wrote an autobiography a few years before she died, which has been copied by all of the family and has been published in different newspapers, but it is a story that never grows old.

   She was born in Springfield, Illinois Oct 8,1836, the youngest daughter of Walter and Lovisa Meeker Marsh." When she was still an infant the family moved from Springfield to the Big Bend of  Sangamon River on a farm.  They lived there until Spring of 1847, when there was a big rush for  Oregon.  The family consisting of Walter and Lovisa Marsh, their son, Lucius, Mary Elizabeth and an infant grandson whose mother had died, started in April on this long journey over the Oregon trail which would take about six months.  She says she was too young to remember much about the trip, it was more of a pleasure trip for her at first.  She remembers Independence Rock, on which a great many names and dates were inscribed, and the trouble they had crossing the rivers when they would have to prop up the wagon beds as high as possible.  When they crossed the Snake River her brother took her with him on his horse instead of leaving her in one of the wagons.  She writes: `When we got to Bear River my mother took sick, and when we got to Soda Springs, just a short distance beyond, my poor, dear mother died.  We had to bury her there on the lonely prairie, no coffin to bury her in, not even a rude box, but wrapped her in her bed�It was awful and many others shared the same fate.  We journeyed on until we reached Dr. Whitman�s missionary station, sometime in October.  Father, being very tired of travel and hardships, concluded to stop there until the next spring, then go on down to the Willamette Valley.  He got employment from the Doctor attending the grist mill.

   `It was on the 29th of November, 1847, about 2 o�clock in the afternoon that the Indians broke out and murdered Dr. Whitman and his wife, Narcissa, about eight others.  There were six families living in an adobe house not far from the Doctor�s.  My father and I occupied an upper room where we prepared our meals and slept.  He had come and got his dinner, his last dinner, and gone back to the grist mill.  That was the last I ever saw of my poor dear father.  I was washing dishes when I hear the report of a gun.  It was the shot that killed Gillian, the tailor.  He was doing sewing of some kind, when an Indian stood in the door and shot him.  At the same time the horrible work was going on outside.  I went upstairs with some of the others so we could watch from a window and see a part of the conflict.  Near the doctor�s house three or four men were butchering a beef and I could see them engage with quite a number of Indians.  Mr. Kimball had an axe to fight with and was dealing hard with, fighting desperately for his life, but they finally overpowered him and dismembered him.  I saw Mr. Hall chased by an Indian with an uplifted tomahawk, the Indian on a horse, but Mr. Hall made his escape.  Meanwhile, Mrs. Whitman had barred the doors and windows to keep them out of the house as long as possible, but they broke in.  I saw them break in, led by Joe Lewis, a half-breed, the instigator of the trouble.  There they finished their bloody work for the day.  Mr. Sales and Mr. Bewley were sick, so they did not kill them that day, but a week later they were killed in their beds.  I saw Mr. Bewley outside the house, his head almost severed from his body.  He lay there all night.  All of the dead bodies were buried in one grave by the four men who had not been killed, Elam Young and his two sons and Mr. Smith.  When the Indians killed the two sick men I was so scared that I ran to an Indian for protection, one that claimed to be friendly.  After the horrible work was done there were nearly fiftly women and children held in captivity, expecting any time to share the same fate as the others.  But no, they were spared the fear and suspense and cruel treatment that an Indian is capable of inflicting.  For one month the prisoners were kept well guarded and made to work.  One old Indian put me to work knitting a pair of socks for him�.long legged socks.  I got one nearly done when one day Governor Peter Skene Ogden of the Hudson�s Bay Company came to our relief and bought us from the heathen and took us away.

   We went in wagons to Fort Wallula the first day, then we were put in bateaux and started down the river (open boats with canvas to spread over the top and keep the rain out.)  Whenever a head would show up the Governor would shout `Duck that head!�  I, for one, suffered with the cold.  I suppose the others did too, so scant we were of clothing.

   When we got to the Dalles, the Volunteers were there and my brother Lucius was with them.  He had gone on down the Valley in the fall.  We journeyed on down the Columbia then up the Willamette River to Oregon City.  There we were turned loose with thankful hearts that we had escaped the merciless foe.  Most of the children had their mothers, but I was entirely alone among strangers, my brother Lucius being with the Volunteers.  So I was left to the charity of the people.  You all know how an orphan would fare among strangers�.soon she is not wanted any longer.

   In 1849 my brother Lucius left for California but before he left he found me a home with Mrs. A.L. Lovejoy who was very careful of my welfare.  There I remained until I married James P. Cason, son of Fendall Carr Cason of Clackamas co., who crossed the plains in 1843.

   When I arrived in Oregon City, a lady there gave me a piece of bread and molasses.  How I did enjoy eating that piece of bread!  Bread was not very plentiful those days with everybody, but there was plenty of salmon with whatever else that a person could get, sometimes boiled wheat for a change.

   I do not know how many survivors of the Massacre are still living that are as old as I am.  I have the pictures of Dr. Whitman�s buildings, and of the neglected graves of him and others that were killed.�

Notes by Muriel Cason Vaugh that were attached to the above story:

   �I visited this grave in 1911.  There was a large slab of concrete with the names of Dr and Narcissa Whitman and others inscribed on it.  The name of Marsh was on it but no first name.  The slab was in the shape of a wagon bed which the bodies were buried in.  Now the full name, Walter Marsh, appears and a monument has been erected in memory of Dr. and Narcissa Whitman at the old mission site `Waiilatpu�, which means `The Place of the Rye Grass�.

   Also, the name of Alba Lyman has been added to the list of survivors of the Whitman Massacre, which had been overlooked by historians for so long.  In the family record of my grandmother, Mary Marsh Cason, she has recorded the name of Alba Lyman among the deaths of her own family, as Aug. 24, 1866.  It is my impression that he was raised by a woman survivor of the massacre who was on the same train as the Marsh family and she had looked after him when the grandmother Lovisa Marsh died on the plains.

   Grandmother acted as post master for the Midway Post Office, which as the first post office in the triangle between The Dalles, Canyon City and Umatilla.  If our grandparents had deliverately tried to lose themselves in another frontier country they could not have found a more isolated place to live.  At least they must have received mail more often than previously when they had to travel to The Dalles twice a year for it and for necessary supplies.  James had to build a house out of logs brought from the mountains, miles away.  There was no lumber closer than The Dalles.  It had to be built from scratch, practically bare-handed.

   A man going out to buy cattle carried no check book, banks were not yet invented.  He carried enough gold in his saddle bags to buy what he needed, and strange to say, without fear of being robbed.  Talk about intrepid pioneers, I wonder how intrepid they could get!  We cannot imagine living 110 miles away from a trading point like The Dalles, but they had to learn the hard way not to run out of supplies, and had to depend on what they could raise in their garden out of course they had milk cows.  But they certainly didn�t get away from Indiana as there were plenty of them lurking around and they weren�t exactly friendly.

   My father said it was hard for the children to understand why grandmother was not afraid of Indians after the ghastly experience of the Whitman Massacre.  But she would talk to them and give them food enough to satisfy their hunger and send them on their way.  After about ten years the Casons moved to a ranch below Ione, on Willow Creek, but after a few years the stock range began to fail so they decided to more to Shuttler Flat and were the first to engage in wheat farming.  James P. Cason died in 1887 and is buried at Arlington, Oregon.  Grandmother, after a few more years on the wheat ranch with her son, John, managing it, then moved to Wheeler co, near Spray.  After John was married and Ada was married, she lived with them until her death in 1907.

   She got in touch with some of the members of the Marsh family in Springfield and when one of her sisters died she sent money for her to come to Oregon and kept her until she married.  This was Mary (Molly) Gibson, who married James Melson.  I have neglected to mention that Lovisa Meeker Marsh, mother of Mary E. and grandmother of Molly Gibson, came from a Quaker family and I am sure that grandmother was happy to hear about all the member of her family left in Illinois after so many years.  Following is an article from the Oregon Statesman,  Salem, Oregon which was sent in my Roy S. Melson, which gives some interesting information we did not have.�

�Bits For Breakfast by R.J. Henricks ["Oregon Statesman" Nov. 6, 1936]�Through the kindness of Roy S. Nelson, County Commissioner of Marion County, the writer has a copy of a paper that gives an eye-witness version of the Whitman Massacre, and is put in possession of a fact not heretofore preserved for history; that is, a new name of a rescued child.  The paper is entitled �Copy of Mary E. Marsh Cason�s Story of the Whitman Massacre� (This is the copy we are all familiar with, I will not repeat it here, M.V.)  Following the story, other interesting facts are given by Mrs. Mary A. Melson, niece of Mary Marsh Cason.

�A.L. Lovejoy was Adjutant General for the Provisional Government in the Cayuse War.  (This is the house where grandmother lived for several years after being brought to Oregon City with fifty other ransomed captives.)  He was prominent in the early days in Oregon City and Portland.  Mrs. Cason was Mrs. Melson�s aunt, and made her home with the Cason�s until she was 17 years, when she married.  The brother of Mary Marsh was Lucius Marsh.  After returning to Oregon City from the Cayuse War, he started for California and was never again heard of by his people.  He was probably killed by Indians on his way to the gold mines or in some other manner lost his life, else he would have communicated with his sister.  The official muster roll for the Cayuse War was in 1847-48, shows Lucius Marsh as a private in the 1st Company of which J.E. Ross of the 1847 immigration was Captain.  Later years Ross served in most of the Oregon Indian Wars and was prominent in official and civic life in the state.

   How we come to a new mission name in the list of rescued survivors of the Whitman Massacre.  No historian has so far had this name of Alba Lyman.  He was a small child of the 1847 immigration, whose mother was a daughter of Walter and Lovisa Marsh.  She died in Illinois before the immigration started and the infant Alba was taken by his grandparents.  When the grandmother, Lovisa Marsh, died on the trail he was cared for by a family as far as the Whitman Mission.  He was one of the children rescued from Indian captivity, ransomed by Chief Factor Peter Skene Ogden, and he lived until the age of about 17 (or 19) and died at Oregon City.  There is no question concerning the above mentioned related facts, now for the first time published to the world.  Bancroft, in attempting to give the names of the people from the 1847 immigration, at the Whitman Mission, did not list all of the names, omitting those of Mary E. Marsh and Alba Lyman.  The ransom paid the Cayuse Indians was as follows: 50-3 point blankets, 50 shirts, 10 fathous tobacco, 10 handkerchiefs, 100 balls powder.

   Mrs. Melson also says that Walter Marsh knew Abraham Lincoln well.  The Marsh home was about 3 miles from Springfield, Ill, on the road to Petersburg.  Springfield was the home city of  Lincoln.  Many people came to Oregon from that part of the state, beginning with the famous Peoria party of 1839-1840, running through the great immigration of the 1840�s, `50s and `60s.

   I have often wished I had known my grandmother better, but I can remember seeing her only twice.  The first time was at her ranch in Wheeler County, near the present town of  Spray, Oregon.  We children were playing outside in the yard, she came out to talk to us and asked us questions about school, etc.  She had washed her hair and wanted to dry it in the sun.  I remember it was a light brown shade, with silvery streaks through it.  The other time was when she came down to Ione on the train from Heppner with Uncle John and Aunt Ada T.  When we children went home for our noon dinner we were much surprised to see her.  I think I was about 9 or 10 years old.  Mama had cooked a fine dinner and afterwards grandmother sat down at the organ and played hymns and we all sang.  Pearl and I were so surprised that an elderly lady could play the organ so well and we were fascinated by her hat, a black velvet with jet trim, with ribbons tied under the chin.  We shut the door and tried it on and we thought it was very elegant.

   An old friend, Nira Potter, told me once that grandmother visited her for 2 or 3 weeks one time and while there she read `The History of England� by Hume, I think.  She had information from the Marsh family in Illinois that they were related to the Childs of London.  There were some rather exciting information about missing heirs, never confirmed, to property in London.  Probably long since it had reverted to the crown, even if true.  Jim Templeton did considerable research on the Marsh family while he lived in Ann Arbor, Mich., but I have not yet seen the genealogy.  Undoubtedly, there are revolutionary ancestorys in the Marsh line.�

�A brief Outline of the Children of Mary Marsh Cason and James P. Cason by Muriel Cason Vaugh�

 

 

 

 

SAW MASSACRE FROM WINDOWN
By.Mrs. Jas. P. Cason


Recalls Killing of Victims at Waiilatpu in November, 1847

   Mrs. James P. Cason was one of the small group of women who survived the Whitman Massacre, November 29, 1847, and shortly before her death early in this century, wrote the following account of the bloodv deed from her recollections. She was a small girl at the time the Cayuse Indians executed their horrible butchery.

"It was about 2 o'clock in the afternoon of November 29, 1847, that the Indians broke out and murdered D. and Mrs. Whitman and eight others. There were six families in the adobe house not far from the Doctor�s house.  My father and I occupied an upper room where we cooked our meals and slept.  He had come and had his dinner�his last dinner�and had gone to work.  He was attending the grist mill.  This was the last time that I ever saw my poor, dear father.

Watched Conflict

   �I was washing the dishes when I head the report of a gun.  It was the gun that killed Gillian, the tailor.  He was doing sewing of some kind when an Indian stood in the doorway and shot him. At the same time the horrible work was going on outside. I and some others went upstairs where we could look from a window and see a part of the conflict.

   Near the Doctor's house three or four men were butchering a beef.  Then I saw them engaged with quite a number of Indians. Mr. Kimball was dealing hard with several, having an axe to fight with. He fought desperately for a while but they overpowered him and disembowled him. I saw Mr. Hall chased by an Indian with an uplifted tomahawk. The Indian was on a horse but Mr. Hall made his escape.

   Meanwhile, Mrs. Whitman had barred the doors and windows to keep them out as long as possible, but they broke in. I saw them break into the house, led by Joe Lewis, the instigator of the trouble. There they finished their bloody work for the day.

   Mr. Sails and Bewley were sick and not killed that day.  A week later they were killed on their beds. I saw Bewley lying outside the house with his head almost severed from his body.  He lay there all night. All of the dead bodies were buried in one grave by the four men who were not killed--Elam Young, his two sons and Mr. Smith.

Left to Charity

   "So I was left to the charity of the people, perfect strangers. You all know how an orphan would fare among strangers. An orphan is soon not wanted any longer. In 1849 my brother went to California, but before he went he found me a home with Mrs. A. L. Lovejoy, who was very careful of my welfare. There I remained until I married James P. Cason son of P. C. Cason of Klackamus who crossed the plains in 1843.

   "When we arrived at Oregon City a lady there gave me a piece of bread and molasses and I did enjoy eating that piece of bread. Bread was not very plentiful in those days with everybody, but there was plenty of salmon with anything else that a person could get, sometimes boiled wheat for a change.  I do not know how many of the survivors of that massacre are living that are as old as I am.

   "I have the picture of Dr. Whitman's buildings and neglected grave." [Told by the Pioneers, Vol 1, p.76-77]

Children of James and Mary (Marsh) Cason:

7.      Sarah Isabelle Cason
b. 1871
d. 1892

8.      Mary Oradelle Cason
b. 1873
d. 1878

9.      James Franklin Cason
b. 1877
d. 1928

10.  Ada May Cason
b. 1880
d. 1961


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