Whitman, Marcus, 1802-1847

Marcus and Narcissa Whitman served as missionaries to the Cayuse Indians at Waiilatpu (near Walla Walla, Washington) from 1836 until they were murdered in 1847. They operated under the auspices of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions.

Marcus Whitman was born on September 4, 1802 in Rushville, New York. His father's early death necessitated his living with relatives from 1810 to 1820. During this time he was educated and received religious instruction. He received his medical degree in 1824 and practiced medicine for several years in Canada, was ordained for the ministry in 1834, and married in early 1836. Narcissa Prentiss Whitman was born March 14, 1808 in Prattsburgh, New York. She attended Franklin Academy and Collegiate Institute and later a female seminary in Troy, New York that specialized in the training of teachers. Following the completion of her studies she taught in several places. The Whitmans arrived in the Oregon Territory in 1836 and settled near Fort Walla Walla, where Whitman cultivated land and practiced medicine and Mrs. Whitman started an Indian school. In 1842, he travelled to the east to argue against the closing of the Oregon Missions. On his return, he led the first major emigrant wagon train to Oregon, the forerunner of the American settlement. On November 29, 1847, Whitman, his wife, and twelve others were killed by Indians.

Marcus Whitman, pioneer Presbyterian missionary and doctor, was born September 4, 1802 in Rushville, New York. He was appointed in 1835 by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions to establish an Indian mission in the Oregon Country. In 1836, Whitman and his recent bride, Narcissa Prentiss, journeyed overland to Oregon, accompanied by Henry and Eliza Spalding and William H. Gray; later that year they established a mission for the Cayuse Indians at Waiilatpu. For over ten years, the Whitmans administered a program of agriculture, gospel instruction, and medicine. Marcus and Narcissa Whitman were killed at the Waiilatpu mission by the Cayuse on November 29, 1847, an event commonly known as the Whitman Massacre.

Marcus Whitman, pioneer Presbyterian missionary in the Oregon country. Marcus Whitman was born in Rushville, New York on Sept. 4, 1802. He received his schooling in Plainfield, Massachusetts and studied medicine at Rushville. In 1835 he journeyed with Dr. Samuel Parker beyond the Rocky Mountains to determine the feasibility of a mission to the Indians. He was commissioned by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions to establish such a mission. He married Narcissa Prentiss in February of 1836, and later that year they journeyed overland to the Oregon country with the Spaldings and William H. Gray. The Whitmans established a mission in the Cayuse country at Waiilatpu, near present-day Walla Walla, Washington, where Marcus set up a program of agricultural pursuits combined with ministering both the gospel and medicine to the Indians. In November of 1847 an outbreak of measles at the mission precipitated serious animosities between the missionaries and members of the Cayuse tribe. On November 29, 1847, Marcus and Narcissa Whitman and others were killed by a group of tribal members.

Physician Marcus Whitman and his wife Narcissa (Prentiss) Whitman undertook a mission to Oregon for the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. In 1836 they established a pioneer station at Waiilatpu in present-day Washington state, and after a journey by the doctor to and from the United States in 1842-1843, were killed by disaffected Cayuse Indians late in 1847.

Marcus Whitman (1802-1847), missionary in Oregon Territory.

Narcissa Prentiss Whitman (1808-1847), missionary in Oregon Territory.

Marcus Whitman was a missionary in the Oregon Territory who was killed by Cayuse Indians on November 29, 1847. He and his wife, Narcissa, had arrived in the Cayuse / Nez Perce lands in 1836, near what is now Walla Walla, Washington. There they set up a mission, which was named Waiilatpu, and attempted to convert the Cayuse peoples to protestant Christianity. When a measles epidemic hit in late 1847, many of the whites and Cayuse in the area became sick. A large number of Cayuse, including most of their children who contracted the disease, died; most of the whites recovered. The Cayuse believed that the Whitmans were responsible for the deaths. This led to several Cayuse, including the chief Tiloukaikt, killing the Whitmans along with 12 other whites at the mission. Later called the "Whitman Massacre," this event precipitated the Cayuse War.

The Whitman Mission at Waiilatpu had served as a kind of hub for other white settlers, who were arriving in increasing numbers in the 1840s. One of the Whitmans' friends was Alanson Hinman, who had immigrated to the Oregon Territory in 1844. Hinman taught school at the mission before moving on the Willamette Valley. He eventually settled in Forest Grove, Oregon, where he became a founder and trustee of Pacific University.

Marcus and Narcissa Whitman were a pioneer Presbyterian missionaries in the Oregon country. Marcus Whitman was born in Rushville, New York on Sept. 4, 1802. He received his schooling in Plainfield, Massachusetts and studied medicine at Rushville. In 1835 he journeyed with Dr. Samuel Parker beyond the Rocky Mountains to determine the feasibility of a mission to the Indians. He returned with an optimistic report and was commissioned by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions to establish such a mission. He married Narcissa Prentiss in February of 1836, and later that year they journeyed overland to the Oregon country with the Spaldings and William H. Gray. The Whitmans established a mission in the Cayuse country at Waiilatpu, near present-day Walla Walla, Washington, where Marcus set up a rigorous program of agricultural pursuits combined with ministering both the gospel and medicine to the Indians. Conflicts arose between the American Board and Whitman, and in response he returned overland to the East in the winter of 1842-1843. After his return to Waiilatpu, difficulties developed with the surrounding tribes. In November of 1847 an outbreak of measles at the mission precipitated serious animosities between the missionaries and members of the Cayuse tribe. On November 29, 1847, Marcus and Narcissa Whitman and others were killed by a group of tribal members. A number of women and children were held hostage but later freed by Peter Skene Ogden of the Hudson's Bay Company.

Narcissa Prentiss Whitman was born in Prattsburg, New York on March 14, 1808. In 1828 she attended Emma Willard's Female Seminary in Troy, New York, and in 1831 she was a student at Franklin Institute, where she met Dr. Marcus Whitman. After their marriage, in February 1836, she accompanied him to Oregon. The couple had one daughter who, at the age of two, drowned in a creek in front of the mission.