My husband's great-grandfather, George Dement Thomas (rank - lieutenant), served under Captain Madorem Crawford of Oregon in a special army branch to protect traveling emigrants. In May of 1862, Lieutenant Thomas reported at Omaha, NE for duty. Following is an excerpt from "United States Biographical Dictionary, 1876": "There he remained in charge til the necessary supplies and equipmentes were put in readiness for the expedition. During the time he organized a company of about sixty men, whom he drilled as far as practicable in the cavalry tactics, so as to be serviceable on the road in case of Indian attacks. He had charge of this company of mounted men on the entire route, and rendered efficient services to the command and expedition till it reached its destination, making about fifteen hundred miles. The expedition was successful in making the trip without the loss of a man, or the trasaction of any incident which is not common to an expedition crossing the plains." Is there anybody who may have further information about this particular trip, or could point me in the direction of finding more info? <George and his family eventually emigrated from St. Clair County, Illinois, to the Gallatin Valley of Montana, near Bozeman, in 1864.> Thanks in advance for your assistance. Barbara Thomas Oakland, CA Researching: THOMAS/ALEXANDER/KINNEY/MIDDLECOFF/SCOTT/HAXBY/LIENESCH; GRIM/ZEIGLER/MORRISON

Barb Thomas Checking on your ALEXANDER link. This website has my Alexander link for early Oregon ancestors. Put in Teel to start http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=PED&db=kirby&i d=I90 http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.cOM Laura ALEXANDER, TEEL, KIRBY, GALLOWAY, HALES, FUDGE, KRUCEK, POLLARD -----Original Message----- From: Barb Thomas [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Thursday, June 15, 2000 9:37 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Omaha to Walla Walla, Washington Territory Summer 1862 My husband's great-grandfather, George Dement Thomas (rank - lieutenant), served under Captain Madorem Crawford of Oregon in a special army branch to protect traveling emigrants. In May of 1862, Lieutenant Thomas reported at Omaha, NE for duty. Following is an excerpt from "United States Biographical Dictionary, 1876": "There he remained in charge til the necessary supplies and equipmentes were put in readiness for the expedition. During the time he organized a company of about sixty men, whom he drilled as far as practicable in the cavalry tactics, so as to be serviceable on the road in case of Indian attacks. He had charge of this company of mounted men on the entire route, and rendered efficient services to the command and expedition till it reached its destination, making about fifteen hundred miles. The expedition was successful in making the trip without the loss of a man, or the trasaction of any incident which is not common to an expedition crossing the plains." Is there anybody who may have further information about this particular trip, or could point me in the direction of finding more info? <George and his family eventually emigrated from St. Clair County, Illinois, to the Gallatin Valley of Montana, near Bozeman, in 1864.> Thanks in advance for your assistance. Barbara Thomas Oakland, CA Researching: THOMAS/ALEXANDER/KINNEY/MIDDLECOFF/SCOTT/HAXBY/LIENESCH; GRIM/ZEIGLER/MORRISON

Barb Thomas said: >My husband's great-grandfather, George Dement Thomas (rank - lieutenant), >served under Captain Madorem Crawford of Oregon in a special army branch to >protect traveling emigrants. In May of 1862, Lieutenant Thomas reported at >Omaha, NE for duty. >Is there anybody who may have further information about this particular >trip, or could point me in the direction of finding more info? > The Oregon Escort militia was authorized by Congress in 1861 to escort emigrants across the Oregon Trail. Commanded by 1842 pioneer Medorem Crawford, this train was formed in Omaha in 1862. Crawford led that year's migration as far as the Grande Ronde Valley when he returned East to report, while his brother LeRoy escorted the group on into the Willamette Valley. Crawford's report called for additional escorts each year of the war. He asked for 100 men each. Half would ride ahead of the wagons and clear the road and the other half would ride with the wagons. Crawford escorted the 1863 migration before returning to settled life in Oregon City. Crawford went into business with Harley Stevens to provide services related to Oregon Trail travel. When Rev. St. Michael Fackler of Albany, New York, was assigned by his church first to Portland, he left his wife and school-aged daughter home. Fackler traveled the Oregon Trail with Crawford's escort service. To care for his wife and daughter should he fail to return home, he left some vouchers on the U.S. Quartermaster (the 19th century equivalent of a money order) with Crawford, Stevens and Co. When Fackler died while crossing Nicaragua on his return trip to New York, Crawford forwarded the money to the family. Harley Stevens had crossed the Oregon Trail in 1862 as a member of the Emigrant Escort Service. He learned to key a telegraph in Portland and was hired as a telegraph operator by the Oregon & California Railroad in 1870. The following year he married Mary Elizabeth Crawford, the daughter of Medorem. The Clackamas County Historical Society owns the Stevens-Crawford House in Oregon City and one of the items from the Mertie Stevens collection is a handbill advising emigrants what to do and take on the Oregon Trail. Jim Tompkins

Jim Tompkins wrote: > [snip] > The Oregon Escort militia was authorized by Congress in 1861 to escort > emigrants across the Oregon Trail. Jim, How many years was such an escort available to emigrants? Thanks, Beth Perry Johnston Newport, Oregon -- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~`~`~`~`~ The Word Crafter's Inward Eye ~`~`~`~`~ http://www.Inward-Eye.com/ mailto:[email protected] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~