The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1913-03-20
NOTES ON FIRST
THINGS IN OREGON
& " Kennedy Pioneer 1853.

e. W. heuLtlsf leltcNA AooNs
may not connect, in chronological
I..dsr tfese events and incidents of
s5icb / sneak. but will associate them
In a natural order, as ! am impressed
they ought 10 appear
First white child born in the Oregon
mis- is a question Of some conten-
.io, II Is certain that a child was
born IN husband end wife, whose name
WAS LaRre. accompanying the Wilson
price Hunt expedition acrass the con-
| tirent in 1871. but the mother was an
i Irdian woman. The child was born m
Drcember of that year and on Powder
river. one days layby, then moved on
and the next day eamped at the Ia
nous Hot Lake, Grand konde valley. .
The first white child born vest Of
the Rocky mountains was the babe Of
/ mr. and Mrs. Whitman, born IN April
/ 1897 In the fall Of the same year II
was drowned in the Walla Walla river
eeo- fbqir mission. Another was born
N DR. and Mrs. White at Salem, in the
/ fan Of 1897 This child was drowned
I h The Columoia river, near one year s
/ time afterward. Mrs. White was re-
turning down the Columbia from lhe
Dalles mission with Rev. David Leslie.
While vet IN the whirlpools, below the
falls the canoe was overturned and
the little one was lost, while the
adults were barely saved, by the kind
beIn Of an Indian. The third white
child was born to Jason Lee and wife,
in .Iupe 1898. Neither mother nor
babe lived longer than few hours af-
terward, The mother being the frst
white woman buried in Oregon.
1t has been held that Cyrus II.
Walker was the first born in the Ore
pon country. but he was born in De-
cember. 1888, and after the three
named above. He still lives, and has
the notoriety of being the oldest living
white person born on this coast. Son
of old Missionary Walker, coming to
iojn Dr.. Whitman in 1888, it has been
NV good fortune to know him over 40
wears. He now lives in Albany. Had
his 74th birthday just last winter.
First schools in Oregon: ! may not
be able to fix certainly the date of the
first school for white children alone.
The Indian schools begun in 1884, at
Willamette mission, and If white chill
dren attended at all, they must have
gone to these schools up to 1910. At
least, learn of school taught in
Oregon City in 1872 Do not learn the
teachers names. This was probably
the first in Oregon.
Chloe Boone, granddaughter of Dan
iel Boone, of Kentucky, came in 1876.
She taught the first school in Upper
Willamette. She taught in a rude
cabin, was a real success as a teacher
and afterward became the wife of
Hon. George L. Curry, third governor
of Oregon.
Nv mother, Mrs. NJ. A. Kennedy,
taught the first school in the Mary's
river district, large country in west
ern Benton county. This was in 1854.
All the family of children went to
school with mother and about 25 of
the young immigrants attended. That
initial school was taught in log
cabin, 2OX30 feet, no floor but the
ground, no windows except where a
log was cut out to admit light, no
seats that had backs to them, lean
ing slab against the side Of the cabin |
for desk, large stone fireplace for
warmer. Our text books were those
used in Illinois and Missouri and
brought across the plains the Webster
spelling book, Maguffey's readers, the
Pixies arithmetic, etc. But there were
lessons learned there. Out of that log
cabin school went forth two young men
who became leading ministers, and
another, lawyer.
0, those pioneer schools Of Oregon
What they lacked in variety of helps
they made up in hard mental applica-
tion. There has Just gone from earth
an honored lady-for many years living
in The Dalles who crossed the great
plains in 1851, sent out by the Ma
tional Board Of Public Instruction, who
for several years was very prominent
| teacher in Oregon. She was a native
Of New York and the daughter of Rev.
James o. Miller After teaching four
years she became the wife of Hon. J.
G. Wilson, who represented Oregon in
conrgess in 1878. She taught important
schools in Oregon, but for over 40
years past has lived in The Dalles.
Mrs Lord, in her book, 'Reminis-
censes of Eastern Oregon" speaks of
the first school in The Dalles and in
Wasco county, started by an educated
soldier Of the fort, but afterward
taught by an immigrant, and in 1854.
To whom owe we more than to the
old teachers Pension theml Honor
them
attended school in 1855 to a young
teacher whose name was John Woods.
The whole outfit was "back woods for
certain, That man became leading
teacher in Willamette valley. He at.
tended institute a few years ago IN
Corvallis and reported there that he
had just finished his hundredtf
term Of public school and most Of this
was taught in BENTON county.
Oregon must honor these grand mcr
and women for their most important
work.