Well, our OREGON-TRAIL mail list has had a summer off and it's time to get back 'into' genealogy again! Thank you RowRiver for stepping out there! We now have over 400 subscribers, so Pplease send your emails to EVERYONE by using the email address: OREGON-TRAIL-L@rootsweb.com Use the SUBJECT line to draw attention to your subject such as: GILLIHAN, Martin MO-OR 1844 (m HOWELL/AZBILL) Archives of back emails on this Mail list are at; http://searches2.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl Here you enter the list name in the search field (Oregon-Trail). Then you can do specific searchers in specific years. My list has been going since April 2000 so you have 3 years of postings to search. Use "Query" to search your surnames, years of travel, etc. This mailing list is for those who want to research their family history concerning anything to do with the Oregon Trail. The history of the trail is an appropriate topic for discussion as well as postings of wagon train lists, and anything else genealogical including stories of life as a pioneer, diaries, queries, books, etc. - these are all welcome! Western states involved would mostly be Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington; maybe even California, Utah and others. Time periods include around 1840-1900. Tell us about your pioneer ancestor! Rose Terry @>,--'--- OREGON-TRAIL Mail List mom RowRiver@aol.com wrote: > > <PRE>I signed up for this site but am not recieving anything. -- oooO Oooo || || +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+ { Current publications available at: } http://cgi3.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewListedItems&userid=rosess { http://stores.half.com/rosess } { Rose Terry @>,--'--- _ RMTerry@prodigy.net } +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~000~~~~~( )~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+ ( @ @ ) || \ / || ||| || 0ooo Give your children these two things - One is roots, the other, wings.

I have 4 names of ancestors who arrived in Oregon before statehood after traveling on the Oregon Trail. ARRINGTON, HALPAIN, McCONNELL, and STUART/SEARLES. James Merville Arrington traveled with his wife, and the first 3 of his 9 children, in 1851 from either DeKalb County or Benton Co, Missouri. They came with a 6 year old, 4 year old and 3 year old! By the time child # 4 was born, they were in the current Portland area. They arrived in Happy Valley, Douglas County in 1853, where the rest of the children were born. There are several references to him in those early years in books about the history of Douglas County. He married Kittyann Caroline Halpain in Missouri before they left, and her brother Samuel Halpain with his wife Polly, and children, all traveled on the same wagon train. Their 3rd child was Frances Arrington, who married Aaron Rose, the founder of Roseburg, OR. The rest of the Arrington family lived south of Roseburg in the Happy Valley area, and their farm was close to the current area where the Wildlife Safari Park is in Winston, OR. The McConnell and Searles/Stuart story also ended in the same part of Douglas County. Family stories said that John McConnell's wife, and Myra Stuart's husband died on the trail, and that each was traveling with young children, so they got together, married, and had children together. John McConnell was born in Indiana in 1809, and married his first wife who may have been named Sarah Miller. The family was friends with Myra (nee Stuart)and David Searle or Searles in Indiana. They were making plans to leave for Oregon all together. I don't know when Sarah died, but it was apparently before 1852, because I found John McConnell and children, with no wife just prior to their setting out on the Oregon Trail. I did find David Searles in a mortality table in Indiana in Aug. 1851, so it looks like both spouses died before they even set out. John and Myra were married in Clackamas County in 1855, with a DLC in Yamhill County. Then them moved to Douglas County in about 1860, and are found on census records there for the next 20 years. I don't know anything about their trips, but would like to know. I know more about their lives after they arrived in Douglas County than anything that occurred earlier, so I'm watching the list in case someone includes one of these names in the narrative about their own family. Evelyn Haynes Brown in Coos Bay -----Original Message----- From: Rose Terry [mailto:RMTerry@prodigy.net] Sent: Thursday, August 29, 2002 2:49 PM To: OREGON-TRAIL-L@rootsweb.com Subject: Tell us about your PIONEER ANCESTOR! From ListOwner @>,--'---