Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1884-03-09

John Eiett Reviews Se0e Ssateoents
Of m ALLEGED Missionary.
ICorrespOndenoe Tacoma Nevs1

| OH HI AlICXe0 MleSlO00RY-
Correspondence Tacoma News
LAKE VIEW. w. L., Feb. .. lsS&.-I
recently noticed an article in the Pa
eirc Christian Allocate, headed First
Things In Washington Territory" BY
Rev. J. p. Richmond. 1t appears that
the reverend gentleman had seen An
article in the San. Of New York, stating
that Mr.. Holpate WAS the first settler
On Puget Sound, aud that Col. NJ. /.
Simmons was the first settler north Of
the Colombia river in 1s45. Now the
writer does not wish to be invidlous,
nor to pluck from the brows Of Messrs.
Simmons and Holgate any laurels to
which they NAV be entitled. but he
imagines that accuracy is essential to
An historical sketch of the FIRST settle
nsRt of Washington Territory. The
reverend gentleman goes on to say that
| he and his family were the first full
bloOded white settlers on Puget Sound.
and that his son Francis was the FIRST
full bloOded white child born in Wash
| InRton Territory, west of the Rocky
| mountains.
There is evidently some mystery con-
nected With the history and appearance
| of the .rst white child in this Territory
W. H. Gray. Jr.. believe, in his history
of Oregon. says that Rev. Mr.. Walkers
son. born at Spokane Mission, vas the
| first white child born in Washington.
When the writer came to this country,
in 1s4l, one of the party, Berry by
name, who crosse d the pl,ins and noun
talus with US, accompanied by his wife
and boy, about Ia years old, and who
had previously been here in the EMPLOY
of the Hudson Bay Company, standing
on the ground of what had been the old
fort On the bank Of tie S. okane River,
said, pointing to his son, 'Tnis boy. Is
ad re, WAS born right here" THIS lad
was white, with curly hair and light
blue eyes. His father was born in Can
ada, his mother ia Upper Canada.
The reverend gentleman further SAYS
that at Nisqually he found Mr.. Kitchen.
With An Indian family in charge. knew
Mr.. Kitchen and his brother, who did
business at St. Paul, Mimi. for many
years They we're both Canadians BY
birth, and Mrs. Kitchen was a Canadian
half breed. Mr.. Richmond also says that
he found At Nisqually a small but very
neat steam vessel owned by the Huds. n
Bay Company, under command of Capt.
Mcneil, who also had An Indian family.
he would have been quite as true to the
record i'll terning the family white. as
happened to know the parties.
The doctor writes..tGat he solemniZed
the marriage ceremony uniting Mr.. VII
Sun and Miss Clark, who he says we're
the first couple married in Washington |
Territory. They left for Willamette
Falls in 1S4l. As the doctor wishes |
truth, will inform him that Id 1896 the |
Rev. Mr.. Beaver, an Episcopal clergy |
man, at Fort Vancouver, w. I sOlem- |
nized the marriage ceremony uniting |
Esq, to Mrs. Nelia Comley, and that on |
the same date he married Mr.. John Ray |
to Miss Mclaughlin, youngest daughter |
of Dr.. Jehn Mclaughlin. These mai
rlages occurred some four years before |
Wilson's marriage to Miss Clark. l was |
acquainted with the above named ladies |
and e ntlomen.
The Doctor further states that in 1912 |
Sir George Simpson, Governor of the |
Hudson Bay Company, reached Mis- |
Qually, on his tour around the world, /
and that under his aus. ices aud direc- |
tiOns some seven or eight families of |
Scotch Canadians and Indian women |
and children arrived at Paget Sound |
from the old Selkirk settlement on the /
lied River of the North, in Manitoba,
and settled on the plains back of Dr.. |
kichmOnd's residence, but after stay /
ing there several years most Of shem /
left for the Willamette Valley. The /
Doctor Is again mistaken in his dates.
The date Of their arrival was lS41 in |
stead of 1872, and there were seventeen
families instead of seven or eight, as he |
tells Us, and but one Indian woman
among them. There are, If still living,
three of the women Of this party in
Washington county, Oregon, who were
born in England. One was born in
Canada and two at Red River. The re-
main Ter are dead.
cannot account for the desire of the
reverend gentleman ~ see an Indian in
every family but his own, unless he had
Indian on the brain. He fills two news
paper columns, but never gives Us a
word about his missionary work. hope
he will come out with a historical sketch
of that work on the Nisqually plains. l
have never had the first Indian to tell
Inc that he knew the gentleman AS mis-
sionary. Several knew him as Bos-
ton," living by the stream on the north
side OF the small brook near the place
of Z. Higgins, Esq, who now owns old
Fort Nisqually. have Bible that Mr..
Richmond gave me in l84l, that prize
much. 1t has been my companion for
many years. l wish / could present to
the public something that the first mis-
sl0nary left IN this country beside this
book. He ante dated any American set
tier north Of the Columbia River by five
years. JOHN FLErT,
A Pioneer of lS4l.