Gwen Boyer Bjorkman, "Five Orphans Of The Oregon Trail" Seattle Genealogical Society Bulletin (Winter 1997) pp. 65-68.
===
On April 1, 1852 Levi and Elizabeth McBee and their six children set off on the Oregon Trail for a better life in far off Oregon. There were about fifteen ox teams in the wagon train from Ray County, Missouri, most of them owned by their immediate relatives. The day after they crossed the Missouri River a council was called and Levi was elected Captain of the train. While the election was being held, the horses had wandered around a bend in the river and when the men went to look for them they discovered they had been stolen by the Indians.
===
After crossing the Platte River, Levi McBee took the cholera and died that same day. He was buried at Fort Kearney. His wife, Elizabeth, contracted cholera several days later and died at Ash Hollow on the North Platte River. She had shortly before delivered a baby and both the baby and three year old Henry McBee died soon after their mother.
===
The five remaining orphans continued their trip cared for by two paternal uncles and others of the train. After about six months they reached the Cascades where Caroline had the opportunity to stay with a family and care for their children while the rest of her family went on and settled near Forest Grove and Portland. Isaiah, at age 12, went immediately to work in King's tannery in Portland. Two months after their arrival, Barbara married a Frenchman, Mr. Chambreau, that she met at Forest Grove. She was then age 15 and he was 31. They soon moved to Portland where he was a tailor.
===
In the spring of 1853, Caroline came to live with her sister in Portland and attended the first school in Portland. She describes Portland as a typical frontier town with one main street that ran along the Willamette River. "It had a few stores, and plenty of saloons and gambling halls. There was one church and one school house; the church was Catholic. The school was a little one-room building." Caroline got into a quarrel with her brother-in-law and when the man she had lived with, Mr. McNall, came to town she accepted his offer to return to his family. In 1856, at the age of 14, Caroline married Rufus Beeman, a man that she had met after the McNall family had moved to Douglas Co., Oregon.
===
Mary and Rebecca McBee lived with relatives near Forest Grove where Mary met George Wilkes and married him at age 13. Rebecca was living with the parents of George Wilkes on the 1860 census and in 1861, at age 13, she married Isaac Knighten. There were not many choices available for five little orphans on the Oregon frontier. How different it was then from today.
===
Isaiah married in 1868, but did not have a family. In 1904 he owned three quarters of a section of farm land near Goldendale, Washington. Barbara, Caroline, Mary and Rebecca all married happily (though young) and raised large prosperous families in Oregon and Washington. They were typical of the pioneer women of the Oregon Territory who worked very hard to raise and care for their large families. They may not have had a choice, but they did what they had to do.
===
References:
An Illustrated History of Klickitat, Yakima and Kittitas Counties, [Chicago]: Interstate Publishing Co., 1904, p. 421.
Gwen Boyer Bjorkman, The Descendants of Thomas Beeman of Kent, Connecticut, (Seattle, WA: 1971), pp. 79-85.
L. E. Wilkes, By An Oregon Pioneer Fireside, Hillsboro, OR: 1941, Revised Genealogy by Carol A. Thilenius, Fairfield, WA: Ye Galleon Press, 1995, pp. 34-36.
Census Records and Family Records.∼Married: 31 Jan 1833, Starks Co., OH, McBee, Levi.
Gave birth on Oregon Trail; she died of cholera near Ash Hollow, NE and infant died, too.
===
On April 1, 1852 Levi and Elizabeth McBee and their six children set off on the Oregon Trail for a better life in far off Oregon. There were about fifteen ox teams in the wagon train from Ray County, Missouri, most of them owned by their immediate relatives. The day after they crossed the Missouri River a council was called and Levi was elected Captain of the train. While the election was being held, the horses had wandered around a bend in the river and when the men went to look for them they discovered they had been stolen by the Indians.
===
After crossing the Platte River, Levi McBee took the cholera and died that same day. He was buried at Fort Kearney. His wife, Elizabeth, contracted cholera several days later and died at Ash Hollow on the North Platte River. She had shortly before delivered a baby and both the baby and three year old Henry McBee died soon after their mother.
===
The five remaining orphans continued their trip cared for by two paternal uncles and others of the train. After about six months they reached the Cascades where Caroline had the opportunity to stay with a family and care for their children while the rest of her family went on and settled near Forest Grove and Portland. Isaiah, at age 12, went immediately to work in King's tannery in Portland. Two months after their arrival, Barbara married a Frenchman, Mr. Chambreau, that she met at Forest Grove. She was then age 15 and he was 31. They soon moved to Portland where he was a tailor.
===
In the spring of 1853, Caroline came to live with her sister in Portland and attended the first school in Portland. She describes Portland as a typical frontier town with one main street that ran along the Willamette River. "It had a few stores, and plenty of saloons and gambling halls. There was one church and one school house; the church was Catholic. The school was a little one-room building." Caroline got into a quarrel with her brother-in-law and when the man she had lived with, Mr. McNall, came to town she accepted his offer to return to his family. In 1856, at the age of 14, Caroline married Rufus Beeman, a man that she had met after the McNall family had moved to Douglas Co., Oregon.
===
Mary and Rebecca McBee lived with relatives near Forest Grove where Mary met George Wilkes and married him at age 13. Rebecca was living with the parents of George Wilkes on the 1860 census and in 1861, at age 13, she married Isaac Knighten. There were not many choices available for five little orphans on the Oregon frontier. How different it was then from today.
===
Isaiah married in 1868, but did not have a family. In 1904 he owned three quarters of a section of farm land near Goldendale, Washington. Barbara, Caroline, Mary and Rebecca all married happily (though young) and raised large prosperous families in Oregon and Washington. They were typical of the pioneer women of the Oregon Territory who worked very hard to raise and care for their large families. They may not have had a choice, but they did what they had to do.
===
References:
An Illustrated History of Klickitat, Yakima and Kittitas Counties, [Chicago]: Interstate Publishing Co., 1904, p. 421.
Gwen Boyer Bjorkman, The Descendants of Thomas Beeman of Kent, Connecticut, (Seattle, WA: 1971), pp. 79-85.
L. E. Wilkes, By An Oregon Pioneer Fireside, Hillsboro, OR: 1941, Revised Genealogy by Carol A. Thilenius, Fairfield, WA: Ye Galleon Press, 1995, pp. 34-36.
Census Records and Family Records.∼Married: 31 Jan 1833, Starks Co., OH, McBee, Levi.
Gave birth on Oregon Trail; she died of cholera near Ash Hollow, NE and infant died, too.
Gwen Boyer Bjorkman, "Five Orphans Of The Oregon Trail" Seattle Genealogical Society Bulletin (Winter 1997) pp. 65-68.
===
On April 1, 1852 Levi and Elizabeth McBee and their six children set off on the Oregon Trail for a better life in far off Oregon. There were about fifteen ox teams in the wagon train from Ray County, Missouri, most of them owned by their immediate relatives. The day after they crossed the Missouri River a council was called and Levi was elected Captain of the train. While the election was being held, the horses had wandered around a bend in the river and when the men went to look for them they discovered they had been stolen by the Indians.
===
After crossing the Platte River, Levi McBee took the cholera and died that same day. He was buried at Fort Kearney. His wife, Elizabeth, contracted cholera several days later and died at Ash Hollow on the North Platte River. She had shortly before delivered a baby and both the baby and three year old Henry McBee died soon after their mother.
===
The five remaining orphans continued their trip cared for by two paternal uncles and others of the train. After about six months they reached the Cascades where Caroline had the opportunity to stay with a family and care for their children while the rest of her family went on and settled near Forest Grove and Portland. Isaiah, at age 12, went immediately to work in King's tannery in Portland. Two months after their arrival, Barbara married a Frenchman, Mr. Chambreau, that she met at Forest Grove. She was then age 15 and he was 31. They soon moved to Portland where he was a tailor.
===
In the spring of 1853, Caroline came to live with her sister in Portland and attended the first school in Portland. She describes Portland as a typical frontier town with one main street that ran along the Willamette River. "It had a few stores, and plenty of saloons and gambling halls. There was one church and one school house; the church was Catholic. The school was a little one-room building." Caroline got into a quarrel with her brother-in-law and when the man she had lived with, Mr. McNall, came to town she accepted his offer to return to his family. In 1856, at the age of 14, Caroline married Rufus Beeman, a man that she had met after the McNall family had moved to Douglas Co., Oregon.
===
Mary and Rebecca McBee lived with relatives near Forest Grove where Mary met George Wilkes and married him at age 13. Rebecca was living with the parents of George Wilkes on the 1860 census and in 1861, at age 13, she married Isaac Knighten. There were not many choices available for five little orphans on the Oregon frontier. How different it was then from today.
===
Isaiah married in 1868, but did not have a family. In 1904 he owned three quarters of a section of farm land near Goldendale, Washington. Barbara, Caroline, Mary and Rebecca all married happily (though young) and raised large prosperous families in Oregon and Washington. They were typical of the pioneer women of the Oregon Territory who worked very hard to raise and care for their large families. They may not have had a choice, but they did what they had to do.
===
References:
An Illustrated History of Klickitat, Yakima and Kittitas Counties, [Chicago]: Interstate Publishing Co., 1904, p. 421.
Gwen Boyer Bjorkman, The Descendants of Thomas Beeman of Kent, Connecticut, (Seattle, WA: 1971), pp. 79-85.
L. E. Wilkes, By An Oregon Pioneer Fireside, Hillsboro, OR: 1941, Revised Genealogy by Carol A. Thilenius, Fairfield, WA: Ye Galleon Press, 1995, pp. 34-36.
Census Records and Family Records.∼Married: 31 Jan 1833, Starks Co., OH, McBee, Levi.
Gave birth on Oregon Trail; she died of cholera near Ash Hollow, NE and infant died, too.
===
On April 1, 1852 Levi and Elizabeth McBee and their six children set off on the Oregon Trail for a better life in far off Oregon. There were about fifteen ox teams in the wagon train from Ray County, Missouri, most of them owned by their immediate relatives. The day after they crossed the Missouri River a council was called and Levi was elected Captain of the train. While the election was being held, the horses had wandered around a bend in the river and when the men went to look for them they discovered they had been stolen by the Indians.
===
After crossing the Platte River, Levi McBee took the cholera and died that same day. He was buried at Fort Kearney. His wife, Elizabeth, contracted cholera several days later and died at Ash Hollow on the North Platte River. She had shortly before delivered a baby and both the baby and three year old Henry McBee died soon after their mother.
===
The five remaining orphans continued their trip cared for by two paternal uncles and others of the train. After about six months they reached the Cascades where Caroline had the opportunity to stay with a family and care for their children while the rest of her family went on and settled near Forest Grove and Portland. Isaiah, at age 12, went immediately to work in King's tannery in Portland. Two months after their arrival, Barbara married a Frenchman, Mr. Chambreau, that she met at Forest Grove. She was then age 15 and he was 31. They soon moved to Portland where he was a tailor.
===
In the spring of 1853, Caroline came to live with her sister in Portland and attended the first school in Portland. She describes Portland as a typical frontier town with one main street that ran along the Willamette River. "It had a few stores, and plenty of saloons and gambling halls. There was one church and one school house; the church was Catholic. The school was a little one-room building." Caroline got into a quarrel with her brother-in-law and when the man she had lived with, Mr. McNall, came to town she accepted his offer to return to his family. In 1856, at the age of 14, Caroline married Rufus Beeman, a man that she had met after the McNall family had moved to Douglas Co., Oregon.
===
Mary and Rebecca McBee lived with relatives near Forest Grove where Mary met George Wilkes and married him at age 13. Rebecca was living with the parents of George Wilkes on the 1860 census and in 1861, at age 13, she married Isaac Knighten. There were not many choices available for five little orphans on the Oregon frontier. How different it was then from today.
===
Isaiah married in 1868, but did not have a family. In 1904 he owned three quarters of a section of farm land near Goldendale, Washington. Barbara, Caroline, Mary and Rebecca all married happily (though young) and raised large prosperous families in Oregon and Washington. They were typical of the pioneer women of the Oregon Territory who worked very hard to raise and care for their large families. They may not have had a choice, but they did what they had to do.
===
References:
An Illustrated History of Klickitat, Yakima and Kittitas Counties, [Chicago]: Interstate Publishing Co., 1904, p. 421.
Gwen Boyer Bjorkman, The Descendants of Thomas Beeman of Kent, Connecticut, (Seattle, WA: 1971), pp. 79-85.
L. E. Wilkes, By An Oregon Pioneer Fireside, Hillsboro, OR: 1941, Revised Genealogy by Carol A. Thilenius, Fairfield, WA: Ye Galleon Press, 1995, pp. 34-36.
Census Records and Family Records.∼Married: 31 Jan 1833, Starks Co., OH, McBee, Levi.
Gave birth on Oregon Trail; she died of cholera near Ash Hollow, NE and infant died, too.
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