Umatilla with George

Well Springs is about 5 miles WNW of Echo in Umatilla County.  My ggrandfather's older brother, Cornelius Gilliam was called up with my gg by the then President right after the Whitman Massacre took place near what is now Walla Walla. 

Cornelius was a fire and brimstone preacher as well as a colonel or general in the Seminole Wars and also fought the Mormons when he was living in Missouri.  He was put in charge of the group called up to capture the Nez Perce Indians who were responsible for the slayings.  They never did catch them so they bivouacked back to Well Springs where Cornelius was killed when he helped one us troop extract his rifle from a wagon.  The ramrod discharged hitting him in the forehead. 

The Gilliams with others came west in 1944 and settled in and around Rickreall or La Creole and after Cornelius died in 1947 Mitchell my gg and his family went to Sonoma County to live.  It was there in 1852 that Mitchell's daughter Rachel b. 1838 married David Spicer Bowman b 1824 and they settled down establishing a well known orchard.  In 1871 they decided to relocated to the Palouse in the Washington Territory and my grandmother Caroline 'Carrie' Bowman Gildersleeve was born at Fort Walla Walla. (George Gildersleeve)

Index | Baker | Harney | Malheur | Umatilla | Union | Wallowa


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Oregon Obituary Database

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Contains obituaries for Baker, Crook, Grant, Hood River, Lane, Linn, Malheur, Umatilla, Union, and Wallowa Counties.


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