Hi! Researching Desc of George W. Stewart VA>/TENN>IND>MO John H. STEWART, Arrived Benton Co., Spring 1846 Robert Smith STEWART, arrived Oct 1852 George Washington STEWART, Died on Oregon Trail 1851 James Harvey STEWART, Arrived Sept 1851 Liz ----- Original Message ----- From: "Laura" <pinkya@gte.net> To: <OREGON-TRAIL-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, February 09, 2002 3:45 PM Subject: NORTHWEST COUSINS > Hi everyone > > It seems as if we are all related in the NW > > Keep posting to Walla Walla, Wasco, Benton, Franklin, and Columbia Counties. > > Lets have a call for your LINES!!! > > Post your names!! > > Let see some more activity on those county sites, I like to help! > > But we all join together on the Oregon Trail mailing list and compare notes > of our family migrations. > > Where were they before Columbia County, maybe Marion Co. Oregon, find your > cousins here!! > > OREGON TRAIL MAILING LIST > http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/other/Miscellaneous/OREGON-TRAIL.html > > > Laura in Seattle > GALLOWAY, FUDGE, FINE, JOHNSON, HALES Columbia Co. Franklin County > > ______________________________

My grandfather, Jesse Shaw, his sister Hulda and his mother Mary reportedly came to Washington Territory by Wagon in 1878. I know this is a little late for most of the wagon trains but there is also oral history that says Jesse guided some trains across the Blue Mountains after their arrival in Washington. It was also reported that Mary's second husband abandoned her and her two adult children somewhere in Montana en route to Washington. Can anyone offer a clue where I might find any information on their trip west? I offer this piece that I copied from the Pomeroy Washington. Moses Wright was married to Hulda Shaw, my great aunt at the time of this story and they were married until Moses Wright died in 1917. I've found some information about their life in Wisconsin before moving to Washington but little about the early days in Dayton, Pomeroy and Walla Walla. Any assistance or pointers would be appreciated. Larry Shaw From the Pomeroy East Washingtonian, WA Newspaper April 14, 1906 Pioneers of Garfield County Moses Wright was born in Franklin County, VA Feb 14, 1828. His mother died when he was in his infancy. When he was in his 11th year his father removed to Indiana where Moses was reared and remained until he was 23 years of age. Beginning at this time, which was in the year 1851, Mr. Wright relates the events of the rest of his life up to the present (1906) as follows: "In '51 I started west, leaving Fort Leavenworth on the 4th of May. Our company consisted of 26 men and their families traveling with 18 wagons drawn by oxen. We got along very well and experienced no extreme hardship or unusual adventure, until we reached the Black Hills. At this place an incident occurred which proved to be very interesting to our party and may be of some interest to your readers. Two of us were ahead of the train and were suddenly surrounded by Indians. There were perhaps 25 Indians. They were of the Crow tribe. At first they pretended to be very friendly and all of them shook hands with us, drawing near and forming a close circle about us. They wanted to see our guns and urged us to let them take the guns in their own hands. We had been warned by parties at the fort that this was a trick of these Indians. We refused to let them have the guns, and this caused them to suddenly change their tactics and make a demonstration as if they were going to take the by force. My companion was badly scared. I was in no condition to express my feelings then, so I will keep still about them now. I remember telling my companion to shoot rather than give up the gun, yet I knew to shoot meant death to us for they were close around us. Acting quickly, we both cocked our guns and the Indians fell back as if we had fired on them. Then they formed a circle and sat down and asked to smoke with us. We complied with their request, and while we sat smoking we noticed that some of them sere signaling and receiving answers from some one back in the hills. We afterward learned that they were getting signs from the main band of Indians. "Finally our train arrived and the Indians wanted "muckamuck," and received a barrel or two of moulded crackers, of which they ate ravenously. They followed our train and increased in numbers until they were about 200. They would ride in among the teams and cross the road between them. This frightened the oxen so we were compelled to stop. Acting on what we decided was the best plan; every man got his gun and told the Indians that they must go. They went and that night we doubled our guard. We lost two or three horses during the night and our guard captured a Frenchman who ran a two horse rig into camp as fast as his team could come. We supposed the Frenchman was a spy for the Indians and kept him a prisoner over night. This was the only serious annoyance our party suffered from the Indians during the trip across the plains. One night, while we were camped at the head of Rock Creek, Idaho, the Indians shot into the train wounding a number of oxen. "On Sept. 4th, our party arrived at the Foster ranch, in Oregon, on the west side of the Cascade mountains. Here the men found employment and I went to work for the Cranfield saw mill company on the Clackamas River. Portland was a small town then and was not heard of in the east, but Oregon City was known as a place of some importance. "After spending six weeks at the mill, I found I had earned money enough to take me to Yreka, Cal, Which place was then beginning to attract attention for its placer mines. "In Feb., '52, I left what has since proven to be a fortune in mining claims in Yreka and Green Horn and followed a stampede to Jacksonville, Oregon where I lost the entire summer prospecting. In the spring of '53 I bought some cayuses and packed from Portland to the mines of Althouse Creek, a distance of some 300 miles. That winter flour sold from 50c to $1.25 a pound. After spending three years at packing out of Portland to mines and mining I went back to Indiana. At the end of another two years I bought a band of Shorthorn cattle, consisting of 17 heifers and cows and 4 bulls and drove them across the plains starting from Richmond, Indiana on the 13th of October, 1858 and reaching Benton County, Oregon, on the sixth of November of the following year. We spend the winter at Lawrence, Kansas, and lost some of the cattle. I left two of the bulls on the plains. One of these cost me $500. I was offered $2,000 for one of the bulls that I got through to Oregon. "In '61 I started for the Orofina mines traveling up the Pataha creek. There was only one house where the town of Pomeroy (Wa) now stands. That was the old "Dutch George" cabin. We never reached the Orofina, but confined our trip to the Clearwater and Buffalo districts. On the Clearwater we were stopped by Indians who refused to let us proceed, believing we intended to settle on their lands. On being assured that we wanted no land but were hunting gold the Indians consented to let us go ahead. In May we encountered 4 feet of snow in the Buffalo Country and were unable to do much prospecting, but we discovered what we knew to be rich dirt. At Elk City our party counted in one band 25 elk and two moose. They were very gentle. I killed a large buck in an alkaline lick. We found pay prospects at Elk City also. We named all the creeks and gulches in that vicinity. Two months after our arrival at Elk City there were from two to three thousand miners in camp. At Florence, one man had a claim that fairly glittered with gold. They described it as "looking like a yellow-jacket's nest." I went down into it and washed out of it $302 in dust. The next day there was taken from the same cut $3,300 in five hours." Leaving the mines, Mr. Wright returned to his stock ranch in Benton County, Oregon and in 1867 he came to Eastern Washington, settling on a place just south of Waitsburg. There he made his headquarters for several years, grazing his cattle and horses on the Snake River and for awhile establishing camp at Central Ferry, at which place he built two cabins for use by his herder. Mr. Wright's fine cattle and horses were known by all of the old timers for their excellent breeds. The shorthorn cattle brought to this place in the early days by J. M. Pomeroy were descendents of the Wright stock and are today regarded as some of the best strains of Shorthorns ever brought to the northwest. In '81 Mr. Wright homesteaded land on Ping gulch which he still owns. He was twice married. He served 60 days as a packer for the government in the Indian war of '55-6 and never received a nickel for his service. Hulda Shaw was born in Indiana in November, 1851, came west in '78. She was married to Moses Wright in 1884. Mr. and Mrs. Wright have occupied their town home at the corner of Third and High streets. For several years. Mr. Wright is now at Hot Spring, Oregon, seeking a remedy for rheumatism.