Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 15.djvu/91



FIRST PRESBYTERIANISM ON PACIFIC COAST 83

Rev. H. H. Spalding and his wife (nee Eliza Hart, married to H. H. Spalding, October, 1833) were persuaded to join the Oregon mission, although they had previously planned to go as missionaries to the Osage Indians. Mr. Spalding was a great- great-uncle of Miss Minnie Spaulding, (*) a member of the First Presbyterian Church, Portland. The difference in spelling is explained in this manner : One branch of the family dropped the letter "u." W. H. Gray was Whitman's secular manager. Mr. Gray became prominent in Oregon history and was the author of "A History of Oregon, 1792-1849." Mr. Gray was the father of Mrs. Jacob Kamm (nee Caroline Gray), at present a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Portland, Oregon. Whit- man was a bridegroom, having just married Miss Narcissa Prentiss, and now the wedding journey from New York to the Columbia River was begun, one of the most remarkable ever recorded. Mrs. Whitman and Mrs. Spalding were the first white women to cross the plains and over the Rocky Mountains to the great "River of the West," the Columbia. Other members of this notable party were two teamsters, whose names are not known, and the two Indian lads, Richard and John, who witnessed Dr. Whitman's marriage to Miss Prentiss, in February, 1836, in the Presbyterian church at Angelica, New York. Mrs. Whitman had a charming soprano voice, and prior to her marriage led the church choir at Angelica. At twelve years of age she united with the Presbyterian church of Platts- burg, New York. This brave little band of nine persons had left civilization on our western frontiers, May 2, 1836, and ar- rived at the Hudson's Bay Company post at Walla W T alla on September 2d, after a hard overland journey of more than two thousand miles.

W. H. Gray writes concerning their arrival at the old fort as follows : "Their reception must^ have been witnessed to be fully realized. The gates of the fort were thrown open, the ladies assisted from their horses, and every demonstration of joy and respect manifested." (Gray's History of Oregon, page 142.)


 * Miss Spaulding died her* in Portland, July 5, iQU-