Biography of Marcus Whitman
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Marcus Whitman: 1802-1847
Marcus Whitman was born September 4, 1802 to Beza
and Alice Whitman, in Federal Hollow (later Rushville) New York.
He was the seventh generation of "descendents of John Whitman who
arrived in the Massachusetts Bay Colony sometime prior to December
1638. It is believed that John Whitman came from Norfolk, England,
where the family name was originally spelled Whiteman." (Drury,
1986; 61) In life and then in his death Marcus Whitman became one
of the most known figures of the 19th century and was an inspiration
to many.
Rushville was located in western New York, and at the time was considered
quite primitive. Growing up in these surroundings, tending a carding
machine (preparing wool for spinning), Marcus likely acquired the
knowledge and skills early on that he later needed in Oregon. Beza
died when Marcus was seven years old; Marcus was sent to live with
an uncle in Massachusetts where he received education and a moral
upbringing for five years. His teenage years were spent in Plainfield,
Massachusetts at a school taught by the Congregational pastor Reverend
Moses Hallock. William Cullen Bryant and John Brown (Harper's Ferry
raid) were among other students taught by Reverend Hallock. Greatly
influencing Marcus at age 17 were religious revivals throughout
New England, now known as the Second Great Awakening. Several Protestant
churches were active in revivals including Presbyterians, Congregationalists,
and Baptists. Marcus had a conversion experience, but did not join
a specific church at that time, though he did decide that he wanted
to become a minister.
Upon returning to Rushville in 1820 (age 18), he told his family
of his wishes to become a minister. They were not supportive of
this goal as it took seven years at that time to become a minister
- four years of college, followed by three years in a theological
seminary. Instead, for the next three years he worked in his stepfather's
tannery and shoe business. At age 21, he began studying to be a
doctor, apprenticing himself to Rushville's doctor for possibly
up to two years and perhaps alternating this with teaching. In 1825,
he enrolled in the College of Physicians and Surgeons of the Western
District of New York - Fairfield; after sixteen weeks, he was qualified
for a license to practice medicine. He went to Canada to practice
medicine, spending about 2 ½ years in the Niagara District before
returning to Rushville, New York. His thoughts again turned to ministry
and he entered preparatory study to become a minister. His studies
for the ministry were cut short by illness and never completed.
However, in October 1831 he again entered College of Physicians
and Surgeons, Fairfield, and achieved his Medical Doctor (M.D.)
degree. He was considered to be a very capable and qualified doctor
of medicine with his two degrees and experience in being a physician.
After receiving his M.D., Marcus settled in Wheeler, New York, where
he lived until 1835, when he left to scout for mission stations
in Oregon. Whitman was an active member of the community and was
elected to be a trustee of the Wheeler Presbyterian Church in 1832
and 1833. He was ordained as an elder of the church in 1834. It
was also in 1834 that Marcus Whitman was brought to the attention
of the American Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions (ABCFM)
in Boston, Massachusetts. The ABCFM was an organization that sponsored
Presbyterian and Congregational missions throughout the world, including
America. Reverend H.P. Strong of Rushville wrote the ABCFM on April
25, 1834:
"I write at this time to make known
to you the request of Doct. Marcus Whitman. He is a young man of
about 30 or 35 years of age, of solid, judicious mind, of, as I
hope and believe, more than ordinary piety and perseverance, a regular
bred Physician, has practiced several years with good success and
credit. He is, in my opinion well qualified to act as a Missionary
Physician. Although I know not that he thinks of it, yet I think
he might, if thought expedient after a time, be ordained to advantage.
He has formerly been in poor health, but is now better, and thinks
a station with some of our western Indians would be useful to him.
He has thought of being a Missionary for some time past, and I think
him better qualified to do good in that capacity than most young
men with whom I am acquainted. He would be glad to hear from you
soon, as, should he go, he would have some worldly concerns to arrange.
Yours
Respectfully,
Henry P. Strong
The ABCFM replied to this letter to Reverend Strong,
who then communicated with Dr. Whitman, resulting in Whitman writing
the American Board in June, 1834:
"I regard the Missionary cause as
based upon the Atonement, and the commands and promises of the Lord
Jesus Christ to his Ambassadors and Church; and that it involve
the holiness and happiness of all that may be reclaimed from Sin.
I regard the Heathen as not having retained the knowledge of the
true God and as perishing as described by St. Paul. I esteem it
the duty of every Christian to seek the advancement of the cause
of Christ more truly than they are wont to their own favorit [sic]
objects. I pray that I may have only such feelings in desiring to
be received as a helper in the Missionary Cause. I am ready to go
to any field of usefulness at the direction of the A. Board. I will
cooperate as Physician, Teacher or Agriculturalist so far as I may
be able, if required. I am not married and I have no present arrangement
upon that Subject. Yet I think I should wish to take a wife, if
the service of the Board would admit. I am in my thirty second year.
My mind has long been turned to the missionary subject. For the
last Six months I have been more intent upon it than before. I wish
soon to have definite course.
Yours
in Christian fellowship,
Marcus Whitman
Due to the ill health that had prevented Marcus
from completing his ministerial studies, the ABCFM was hesitant
to accept him as a missionary and did not appoint him as such at
that time despite letters assuring them that his health had improved.
Later in 1834, Marcus again had letters written on his behalf to
the ABCFM to become a medical missionary. On January 6, 1835 the
Board met and appointed Dr. Whitman as a missionary doctor. His
appointment began with orders to accompany Samuel Parker to the
Rocky Mountains that summer and scout out mission lands. Marcus
settled affairs in Wheeler and set out to acquire the last thing
missing in his life - a wife.
Marcus may have previously been acquainted with Narcissa Prentiss
prior to his February 1835 visit to her family's home that ended
with his marriage proposal. At that time, some missionary couples
were introduced by mutual acquaintances for what seems to us today
to be a marriage of convenience, the individuals hardly knowing
one another, but having common morals and goals. Narcissa Prentiss
was from Amity, New York. She had also applied to the American Board
of Commissioners of Foreign Missions, but was told that unwed females
were not accepted. Her prayers were answered when Marcus Whitman
entered her life as were his. Narcissa accepted Marcus' proposal.
Both had a year to anticipate their marriage while Marcus made his
journey west for the first time with Samuel Parker. With the upcoming
wedding, the last barrier to Marcus Whitman's dream of having a
life in the field of Christian service was broken down.
The journey west with Parker was not a pleasant one. Mr. Parker
was very difficult and considered Whitman to be more of a servant
than an associate. They traveled with a caravan heading to the annual
Rendezvous of mountain men and trappers that was held on the Green
River. As Christian missionaries and supporters of temperance (no
alcohol), Whitman and Parker were not well accepted by the others
in the caravan until Whitman treated the cholera sweeping through
the caravan. At the Rendezvous in 1835 he also operated on mountain
man Jim Bridger, removing a three-inch iron arrow point from his
back that was from a battle with the Blackfeet three years prior.
After the success of the operation on Jim Bridger, others at the
Rendezvous came forward for operations also, Whitman was well accepted
as a medicine man even before he established the mission station
among the Cayuse in 1836. Parker and Whitman parted ways after meeting
with Nez Perce and Flathead chiefs. Samuel Parker was to continue
the exploration to Walla Walla with the Indians, while Marcus returned
east to marry Narcissa and make preparations for the next journey,
including finding more missionaries to join them. On his return
trip east, he was accompanied by two Nez Perce boys whom he renamed
Richard and John. He also wrote a report to the ABCFM stating his
belief that women could make the cross-country journey (before this,
no woman of European descent had crossed the Rocky Mountains). Marcus
still hoped to find another couple to join them in their Oregon
venture. He heard of Henry and Eliza Spalding who were to be missionaries
among the Osage people; they had already started for their destination,
but Marcus caught up to them and convinced them to join the Oregon
missions. After the Spaldings agreed, Marcus returned to New York
where he married Narcissa Prentiss on February 18, 1836. The beginning
of their married life was also the beginning of their journey west
to a new life as missionaries among the Cayuse people, with whom
they spent the rest of their lives. Marcus and Narcissa Whitman
died on November 29, 1847 after spending 11 years among the Cayuse
people.
Between 1836 and 1847 life changed greatly for both the Whitmans
and the Cayuse. The Cayuse were a semi-nomadic people who were on
a seasonal cycle of hunting, gathering and fishing. Dr. Whitman
introduced agriculture in order to keep the Cayuse at the mission
and introduce Christianity. By the mid-1840's the mission was also
a way-stop on the Oregon Trail. Emigrants travelling to the Willamette
Valley knew they could stop at Whitman's Mission if they needed
food, medicine, or a place to stay during the winter. The Cayuse
were suspicious of the many people flooding into the area. Tension
rose between the Cayuse and the missionaries. The situation came
to a breaking point in 1847 with a measles epidemic that within
a matter of months killed half the Cayuse tribe. Marcus was considered
to be a te-wat, or medicine man, to the Cayuse people. His
medicines did not work when trying to cure Cayuse infected with
measles. It was Cayuse tradition that if the patient died after
being treated by the medicine man, the family of the patient had
the right to kill the medicine man. On November 29, 1847, eleven
Cayuse took part in what is now called the "Whitman Killings". The
majority of the tribe was not involved in the deaths of the Whitmans
and the eleven emigrants, however, the whole tribe was held responsible
until 1850. In that year, five Cayuse were turned over to the authorities
in Oregon City and hanged for the crime of killing the Whitmans.
The legacy of Dr. Whitman lived on. Stories of his 1842 ride east
to stop the ABCFM from closing some of the Oregon missions became
a legend that "Whitman saved Oregon for the Americans", making it
seem that Whitman promoted a manifest destiny for America. Cushing
Eells, an associate of Whitman, built Whitman Seminary on the grounds
of the old mission; it later moved to Walla Walla and became Whitman
College. A statue of Dr. Whitman was erected in Statuary Hall in
Washington D.C. And finally, the mission at Waiilatpu where he lived
and died, is part of the National Park Service, preserved by the
people of the United States since 1936. The memories of the Whitmans,
as well as those of the Cayuse and the Oregon Trail emigrants, live
on serving as a lesson in cultural understanding and tolerance today.
A Physical Description
of Marcus Whitman
Rev. Joel Wakeman
in an 1898 issue of the Prattsburg, NY News describes Marcus Whitman
as:
"His
stature was medium, compactly built, well-proportioned, muscular,
but not fleshy, a finely formed head…a bright, penetrating eye
that seldom failed to read human character correctly, an aqualine
nose, a benignant, expressive countenance."
(Woodbridge, 1970: 6).
In 1834 Whitman described himself to the ABCFM
as having iron-gray hair and deep blue eyes. William Gray, Whitman's
associate said that Marcus had a large mouth. "Other descriptions
indicate that Marcus was about six feet tall, weighed about 175
pounds, and was 'a rawboned man, muscular and sinewy, with broad
shoulders, neck bent slightly forward, and firm-set limbs.'" (Woodbridge,
1970: 6).
William Mowry, in his book Marcus Whitman and the Early Days of Oregon
describes the character of Dr. Whitman as:
"Dr.
Whitman was a strong man, earnest, decided aggressive. He was
sincere and kind, generous to a fault, and from the time he took
up the missionary work to the Indians, he devoted every energy
of his mind and body to the welfare of the Indian and the objects
of the mission. He was fearless of danger strong in purpose, resolute
and unflinching in the face of difficulties. At times he became
animated and earnest in argument or conversation, but in general
he would be called a man of reticence."
(Mowry, 1901: 63).
The Sager girls, who had been orphaned on the
Oregon Trail in 1844 and then formally adopted by the Whitmans,
remembered him to be kind and loving, but firm.
Sources:
Drury, Clifford Merrill
1897. Marcus and Narcissa Whitman and the Opening of Old
Oregon / by Clifford M. Drury. Seattle, Wash.:
Pacific Northwest National Parks &
Forest Association; 1986;2 v. : ill., maps ; 22 cm.
ISBN: 0914019082. Note: Bib.
no:wln87044105; Bibliography: v. 2, p. [405]-406; Includes
index.
Drury, Clifford Merrill
1897. Marcus Whitman, M.D., Pioneer and Martyr, by Clifford
Merrill Drury, Ph.D. Caldwell, Id.: The Caxton
Printers, Ltd.; 1937;473 p. front., 1
illus., plates (incl. music) ports., plans, facsims.
24 cm. Note: Bib. no: 38000236;
Maps on lining-papers; Bibliography: p. [461]-465.
Mowry, William Augustus
1829-1917. Marcus Whitman and the Early Days of Oregon,
by William A. Mowry. New York: Silver,
Burdett; [1901];xv, 341 p. : ill., maps ; 22
cm. Note: OCLC no: ocm02142259; Bibliography : p. xiii-xv.
Woodbridge, Ross. Are
These the Whitmans? The Whitman Alumnus: Whitman
College Bulletin. 1970 Feb; Volume 73 (Number
5):2-6.
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