Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 8.djvu/395

 —The Reverend J. S. Griffin and wife, and Asahel Munger and wife, were fitted out for missionary work among the Oregon Indians by a Congregational ist Association of North LItchfield, Connecti- cut. It appears that they started directly from Oberlin, Ohio. Mr. Griffin was then a single man, but met the future Mrs. Griffin on his way through Missouri and married her on a very brief acquaintance.

The Griffins wintered at Lapwai and the Mungers at Waiilatpu. In the spring of 1840 Mr. Griffin attempted to establish an independent mission in the upper Snake River country but failed. He later settled on the Tuala- tin plains and was for a time an editor and always a leader of radical movements. Mr. Munger and wife remained at Dr. Whitman's until May, 1841, when he showed signs of mental derangement. He had made himself useful to the mission as a carpenter, but Dr. Whitman, fearing the effect of his affliction upon the Indians, suggested the idea of his returning to the States. Not making connections at Green River with the returning party of the American Fur Company, the Mungers came back and he was em- ployed for a time by the mission at Salem. His malady became worse and he committed suicide.

The narrative of his journey is valuable in the clearness and explicit- ness with which the incidents are detailed. The situation of the Mungers at Fort Hall, where they would have been stranded had it not been for the whole-souled generosity of Mr. Frank Ermatinger of the Hudson Bay Company, is worth having an account of at first hand. See Lee and Frost's Oregon, p. 211 ; Gray's History of Oregon, pp. 185-192 ; Bancroft's Oregon, Vol. I, pp. 237-240.

Dear Mother,

Through the kind providence of God we have safely arrived in Oregon, at Fort Walla Walla, after a long and tedious journey. We are well, and comfortably situated for the winter, and now, according to what you are expecting, I send you our journal. Saturday, May 4th, 1839 This day after finishing all our arrangements we started from the States, from our country; went about 3 hours to

Mon. 6th—Traveled to the Wacarusia [Wakarusa] river, we passed as beau- tiful prairies as I ever saw in my life found a pleasant stream. }}