the three sons of Thomas McKay were also of the party, though there is a conflict on that point in the statements furnished.
The first tidings of his family received by Jason Lee were of a most painful character. At Pawnee Mission, near Council Bluffs, an express arrived from Fort Vancouver, sent by McLoughlin, with the intelligence of the death of Mrs Lee on the 26th of June, three weeks after the birth and death of a son.[1] Mrs Lee was buried among the firs that had overshadowed her when her marriage vows were taken, and her burial was the first of any white woman in Oregon.[2]
After crossing the Mississippi, Lee began a lecturing tour, drawing large audiences in the churches, where he presented the subject of Oregon with the ardor of an enthusiast, and stimulated his hearers to furnish funds and men for the settlement of that paradise of the west. The effect of his labors was to draw into his paradise "hundreds of immigrants," says White, "from the western frontier of the states, of a restless, aspiring disposition," who gave him subsequently no little uneasiness.[3] The interest at Peoria, Illinois, was augmented by the illness of Adams, the young Chinook, and by his remaining there through the
- ↑ Hines' Hist. Or., 31–2; Lee and Frost's Or., 153. Gray does not credit McLoughlin with sending the message the entire distance. Gray's Hist. Or., 182.
- ↑ Later the remains were removed to Salem. 'In the mission graveyard at Salem Oregon is a grave, on the head-stone of which is recorded these words: "Beneath this sod, the first ever broken in Oregon for the reception of a white mother and child, lie buried the remains of Anne Maria Pitman, wife of Rev. Jason Lee, and infant son. She sailed from New York in July 1836, landed in Oregon June 1837, was married in July 1837, and died June 26, 1838, in full enjoyment of that love which constrained her to leave all for Christ and heathen souls. So we have left all, and followed Thee; what shall we have therefore."' Portland P. C. Advocate, Jan. 2, 1879. It will be observed that the inscription is incorrect as to the date of Miss Pitman's arrival, which was in May.
- ↑ Ten Years in Oregon, 91.
Elizabeth Wilson of the Dalles says that Jason Lee persuaded McLoughlin to have William C. McKay sent to Wilbraham instead of to Europe as was intended. There he remained two years, and then entered a medical college at Pleasanton, Vermont, and subsequently attended lectures at Albany. Or. Sketches, MS., 21–2; Ten Years in Or., 140.
