I received the following in a packet of information I sent for regarding the family of Amos Cook. The following is one of 2 articles printed in the Oregon Daily Journal (3/21 & 3/22/1925). I am posting them in 2 separate emails FYI: Impressions and Observations of the Journal Man, by Fred Lockley (3/22/25) As sequel to the story of Mrs. Cook, told yesterday, Mr. Lockley today tells the story of the Peoria part, with acknowledgment to Mrs. Cook, whose husband was a member of that remarkable band of young men who were first of all to resolve to go to Oregon to become actual settlers upon the soil. Mrs. Mary Frances Scott Cook was born May 19, 1833, in Tazewell county, Illinois, nine miles from Peoria. I visited her recently at the home of her daughter, Mrs. F. P. Young, at No. 329 East Sixth street north. Mrs. Cook's husband, Amos Cook, was the first permanent white settler in Yamhill county. He died at his home in Lafayette, February 3, 1895. Amos Cook was born in Washington county, Maine, January 8, 1816. As a young man he struck out for what was then the Far West, but is now termed the Middle West. He happened to be at Peoria, Ill., in the fall and winter of 1838 and there heard a lecture by Rev. Jason Lee on what he and his fellow missionaries were doing and planning in far-off Oregon, at that time considered a foreign mission field. Lee told of his trip overland to Oregon and of his return trip from the Willamette valley. His description of Oregon fired the enthusiasm of a number of young men, who decided to cross the plains to Oregon. Several meetings were held and finally 19 pledged themselves. They met at the door of the courthouse early in May, 1839, to bid farewell to their friends and acquaintances. They pledged themselves to be true comrades and never to desert one another. On their flag was the motto, "Oregon or the Grave." This was the first part of actual settlers to start for Oregon. Othe! rs who had preceded them went as traders, trappers, explorers or missionaries. These came with the avowed intention of taking possession of good sites along the Columbia river, to engage in farming, stockraising and catching, curing and shipping salmon. Differences of opinion arose on the way westward, so the part split into smaller parties. Owen Garrett, Tom Pickett and Moore turned back at the Osage river and returned to Peoria. J. Q. Jordan, Chauncey Wood and Prichet turned back at Bent's Fort on the Arkansas river, and instead of returning to Peoria went to New Mexico. Obadiah A. Oakley and Joe Wood went as far as Fort St. Vrain, on the South Platte, and decided to go back to Illinois. Charley Yates pulled out from the same point for New Mexico. Robert Moore and James Trask decided to go back to Peoria. At Bent's Fort, T. J. Farnham, Sidney Smith and William Blair decided to go ahead of the others. This left eight of the original Peoria party to proceed together from Brent's Fort, but they, again, split into two parties. The "Peoria party" had started from Peoria with a team and wagon, to carry their supplies and with some loose horses. They planned to travel afoot. At Independence, Mo., they had sold their team and wagon and had bought pack saddles and pack horses. They had lived on the tongues of buffalo calves, for the most part, as the plains were dark with buffalo herds. The original party was reduced to five men -- Amos Cook, Francis Fletcher, Joseph Holman, Ralph L. Kilbourne, and Robert Shortess. Shortess decided to press on to Fort Hall with Joe Meek, so that the part was now reduced to four. These four decided to winter at Brown's Hole, a park-like rendezvous for trappers and mountain men on the western border of Colorado. They reached Brown's Hole in September, finding there a number of trappers and a large number of Shoshone Indians. They built a cabin to winter in. Going back to Bear river, they killed a number of buffaloes and jerked the meat for a winter provision. They put in the winter mending broken guns for the Indians and making saddles to trade for beaver skins and supplies. In February 1840, they decided to press on to Fort Hall. They were advised to take supplies for two or three weeks, which they did, as they expected to make good time. They started with Robert Newell, later prominent in Oregon affairs but at that time a mountain man and trapper. Instead of two or three weeks, they were two months on the way on account of heavy snow in the mountains and constant storms. Their horses had to live on the bark and limbs of cottonwood trees. They themselves ate what they could. Their provisions gone, they ate a dog, then for three days fasted. They then ran across an old buffalo bull, which they killed. When they reached Fort Hall they filled up on dried salmon and parched corn and thought it luxurious fare. They went out some distance from Fort Hall and camped a few weeks to let their horses recuperate on the young grass on the creeks. They went to Fort Boise with some fur traders and from there to Fort Walla Walla, and thence by the north side of the trail to a point on the Columbia river opposite the Dalles. Crossing the Columbia, they took the Indian trail on the Oregon side for Fort Vancouver. They recrossed to Fort Vancouver just as the Lausanne was discharging the "Great Reinforcement" of missionaries for Jason Lee's Methodist mission in the Willamette valley. Dr. McLoughlin hospitably took the Peoria in and exchanged suits of English make for their beaver pelts. Robert Shortess was the first member of the Peoria party to reach Oregon. Shortess was born in Ohio and was well educated. He served as judge of Clatsop county under the provisional government. He died near Astoria, May 4, 1878. Robert Newell, who had served as guide to the four Peoria men from Brown's Hole to Fort Hall, has the honor of bringing the first wagons from Fort Hall to Fort Walla Walla. He and Joe Meek and Caleb Wilkins took the wagons as far as Fort Walla Walla and the next year Robert Newell took them down the Columbia by boat to the Willamette valley. He was a member of the legislature of the provisional government and a director of the Oregon Printing association, which published the Oregon Spectator at Oregon City, the first newspaper published west of the Rocky mountains. He was born in Ohio, March 30, 1807 and died at Lewiston, Idaho in the fall of 1869. Joseph Holman settled at Salem and did much to advance the religious, educational and commercial interests of that community. Sidney Smith settled in Yamhill county and worked at first for Ewing Young. Of the 19 men who started from Peoria, the following reached Oregon: Thomas J. Farnham, Robert Shortess, Sidney Smith, William Blair, Francis Fletcher, Joseph Holman, Ralph L. Kilbourne, and Amos Cook. Kilbourne was one of the party that build the Star of Oregon. He went on to California where he died. Francis Fletcher and Amos Cook took adjoining donation land claims in Yamhill county. Amos Cook was the last survivor of the Peoria party. He and Mary Frances Scott were married August 16, 1853. They had six children -- Edith, their firstborn; Lillian, who married W. P. Olds; Agnes, who married Judge Bradshaw of The Dalles; Lewis Lincoln Scott, who died in childhood; Maud, who married F. P. Young; and Pearl. Mrs. Cook was one of 15 children, one of whom, her brother Harvey, was the first graduate of Tualatin academy at Forest Grove and some years later became the editor of the Oregonian. (end of article) Be well & God bless, Kate Beaugrand Cook Minnesota List Adm. (for [email protected]) [email protected] or [email protected] ><> God bless America! <><