Sylvester Woodbridge, a Presbyterian pastor, may have been one of the first to suggest a plan for the initial California Reserves. This certainly helped the effort for writing treaties with the tribes in 1851. Sylvester Woodbridge, January 23rd, 1850 Benecia, California (Recd. 18 March 1850) To General Zachary Taylor President of the United States Memorial … [Read more…]
In April and May 1856 Joel Palmer hired 60 men to be the Grand Ronde Guards, to build a fence and control access and egress to the Grand Ronde Indian Reservation. They were all laid off in early May, likely due to the fact that threats from settlers upon the Indians did not happen. In … [Read more…]
Recently, I came upon a number of postcards of soldiers at the Grand Ronde Reservation. It was a common practice to turn photos into postcards in those days. On Ebay these images were available for purchase. Image 808 is labelled Grand Ronde 1911 on the back. And this image, I assume it could be … [Read more…]
Folks who were around Portland in 2020 recall that there were a good number of protests in the area. Statues in several communities were being pulled down. Teddy Roosevelt’s Rough Rider statue was pulled down and is now being stored and restored by Portland. Maybe we did not all know why Roosevelt was such a … [Read more…]
I was looking through the NARA electronic records and found references to a man, Henry Petit, at Umatilla. The Petit name is well known at Grand Ronde. My Great GGG Grand Father Francis Mercier (Belgian) married Mary Petit (Chinook, Clackamas, Iroquois) and this brought the Mercier surname to the tribe. Peter Petit’s father Amable Petit … [Read more…]