My sisters and I just had such a wonderful 2-day jaunt to Oregon in quest of our NOBLE and MARKS heritage, I'd love to share it. I know I have been in touch with many of you in search of my family, so some of this information is a repeat. I hope I don't bore you too badly. We found the donation land claim of our great-great-grandparents, William Sherman Noble and Sarah Noble, who crossed the Oregon Trail from Ohio (via Iowa) in 1850. It is such a gorgeous piece of property in the Willamette Valley -- mostly flat, rich farmland with gentle, rolling hills around, and the Cascade Mountains majestically rising to the east. The Santiam River runs nearby, and the Old Santiam Wagon Road also passes very near. "Noble Slough" runs through the property. They must have felt they'd arrived in heaven when they got there! We found the Liberty/Nye cemetery where William was buried, though not his grave. Lots of wonderful old graves of Oregon Trail pioneers, however, which were fascinating. We also found the DLC of our great-great-grandparents Bluford and Sarah Marks, who crossed the trail from Missouri in 1853 with a large group of Marks relatives. Their claim is across the Santiam River from the Nobles' claim, on a high ridge (Marks Ridge) overlooking the valley and the city of Sweet Home. What a breath-taking view! We visited the Lebanon Library, and found some documentation of our ancestors. Many, many thanks to Jane Hutchings for her help! The most moving part of the trip was at the grave of our great-grandmother, Charity Noble Marks, wife of James P. Marks and mother of our grandfather, George Alfred Marks. Charity was buried at the top of the Santiam Pass with her infant child, beside the Old Santiam Wagon Road, where they died in 1875. It is in the Willamette National Forest, near Fish Lake campground. We walked a length of the old road to get to the grave, with wagon ruts to remind us of its history and towering evergreens making the forest almost dark. I pondered how Charity must have felt, only 19 years old, going into labor in such a beautiful, lonely place, with snow falling around her and closing her in. At the grave we met a group of hikers on a 4-day "Living History" trek, and the teenage daughter of one of the rangers presented a monologue, in costume, of the events of that sad day. The whole group appeared touched by Charity's story. Several rangers were there, and expressed gratefulness that we had come. They seemed to have some emotional attachment to Charity and her baby, and may have felt some comfort to think that after 125 years of being tended faithfully by strangers, her descendants had found her and come to visit, and even mourn. My two sisters and two cousins joined me on the trip, and one cousin brought an old Bible that I had never seen, with family names inscribed. A note in it said it had come over the Oregon Trail to Oregon. Pages were missing, so we weren't sure which side of the family it came from, but it had Noble and Marks names and dates written in it. What a treasure! A team of high school students was at the grave, working on a short PBS program called "Through Their Eyes," focusing on a young person's view of Oregon history. They interviewed us, and may include Charity's story in their film. Our next step will be to get to eastern Oregon (Crook County), where the Noble and Marks families moved around 1870. I believe other descendants of William and Sarah Noble are still there. I'd love to find relatives with some photos! It amazes me that in March we knew no more than my grandfather's name and that he was born in the Willamette Valley, and now we know so much about our ancestors! It makes history to so personal. We owe a debt of gratitude to many on these lists who helped us find our roots. Thank-you! I know this may not be interesting to everyone, but I'm just so excited about what we're finding, it's fun to share it. Thanks for your patience. Marilyn Schwartz Chelan, WA