84 ROBERT H. BLOSSOM
In a few days the mission party left for Vancouver, arriv- ing there on September 12, 1836. Gray also writes of their kindly reception at Vancouver, at the boat landing, by "one whose hair was then nearly white," (Dr. John McLoughlin) who stepped forward and gave his arm to Mrs. Whitman.
- In a letter from Mrs. Whitman to her mother, dated Walla
Walla, Dec. 5, 1836, she says : "We left Vancouver Thursday noon, Nov. 3rd, in two boats," stations having been selected and houses built. Mrs. Whitman informed Dr. McLoughlin that Mr. Gray was their associate and secular agent, and there is evidence to show of his usefulness in this capacity.
GRAY RETURNS EAST FOR REINFORCEMENTS.
Mr. Gray rendered invaluable service in settling the Whit- mans at Waiilatpu and the Spaldings at Lapwai. On Decem- ber 28, 1836, he returned East for reinforcements, arriving in Utica, N. Y., October 15, 1837. Mr. Gray .was married to Miss Mary A. Dix at Ithaca, N. Y., on February 27, 1838. The A. B. C. F. M. appointed him Assistant Missionary, under date of March 13, 1838. This interesting document, making Gray's appointment, is now in the archives of the Oregon His- torical Society.
The A. B. C. F. M. commissioned Rev. Gushing Eels, Rev. Elkanah Walker, Rev. A. B. Smith, and their wives, and Mr. Cornelius Rogers as the reinforcements for the Oregon Mis- sion, and in the summer of 1838 Mr. Gray, with his wife, con- ducted the party safely to Oregon.
ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSION.
By request of the Hudson's Bay Company, the Roman Cath- olics sent their missionaries, Fathers F. N. Blanchet and Modeste Demers, from Montreal, Canada, and they arrived in Vancouver (now in Washington) November 24, 1837, after an overland journey of over four thousand miles.
Transactions of the igth Annual Reunion, Oregon Pioneer Association for 1891, page 87.
