Eells, Myron. Marcus Whitman: Pathfinder and Patriot. Seattle: The Alice Harriman Company, 1909. First Edition. [4373]
Navy blue cloth, 9 1/2 x 6 3/4 inches, private ink name stamp on top closed page edge, 349 clean and unmarked pp., tight, illustrated, no dust jacket. Very good. Hardcover.
Dr. Marcus Whitman (1802-1847), b. Rushville, NY; d. Waiilatpu, Oregon Territory. Dr. Whitman was a medical missionary with the A.B.C.F.M., and considered by many to be the leading American pioneer of the Pacific Northwest. He and his wife, Narcissa, were settled at Waiilatpu by 1836. In the winter of 1843 he made the arduous journey overland back to Washington, New York, and Boston to straighten out mission affairs and he urged Americans to move to the Oregon Territory, reckoning that population, rather than military or political matters, would determine the future of the territory. This call resulted in over 1,000 or more settlers returning with him, the formation of the Oregon Trail, with Whitman acting as guide for the final leg of the journey from Fort Hall to the Willamete Valley. A measles epidemic in 1847 and the inability to effect a cure for all Indian children led to suspicion and resentment among the natives; he, his wife and twelve others were massacred by members of the Cayuse tribe, igniting a war that lasted until 1850.
Rev. Myron Eells (1843-1907), born in Oregon Territory, missionary and ethnographer, author of History of Indian Missions on the Pacific Coast (1882). He was the son of the Rev. Cushing Eels (1810-1893), missionary to the Indians of the Oregon Territory beginning 1838. The elder Eells was a co-worker with Dr. Whitman from 1838 to 1847.