Wilson McClendon Tigard

Wilson McClendon Tigard (pictured) and Mary Ann Tigard (Yoes) were some of the earliest settlers in the Tigard, Oregon area.  They gave their name town of Tigardville, which later became Tigard and became the founders of Tigard, Oregon.  Wilson and Mary Ann Tigard, along with several other families, settled in the area in the mid-1800s (1852).  They were Oregon pioneeers and pioneered on the Oregon Trail from West Fork, Arkansas with many other allied families.  It was a long, rugged and often dangerous journey to the Oregon Territory, which Wilson Tigard recounted in a series of letters he wrote to friends and family in his native Arkansas.

"It is in and through the mercies of almighty God that I am permitted to make an attempt to let you all know    that we are all alive and enjoying the best of health at present," Wilson wrote in a letter to his family in 1852.  In truth, when Wilson finally made it to Oregon, he was bruised, battered and had buried more than two dozen friends along the Oregon Trail.

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As it would also turn out, many of our direct ancestors from the Winn side of the family are mentioned in the "Wilson Tigard letters" (c. 1852, Oregon Territory).

It was always passed down in our family, that Grandpa Bill was the one with the deep Arkansas history, however, and ironically enough, Eloise not only had roots in Arkansas, but roots so deep that they go all the way back to when Arkansas was known as the Territory of Missouri--her direct ancestors living there around 1815 in a town named Batesville.  The Territory of 'Arkansaw' was not formed until four years later, in 1819, and then seventeen years later the territory was admitted into the Union as the State of Arkansas.

  How do The Winn's fit in to the Tigard story?

Eloise's father, John Samuel Winn, born in the Fergusen-tract area of northern Lane County, Oregon (west of Junction City, Oregon) in 1896 was already a third-generation Oregonian when he was born.  

John Samuel Winn's father was John James Winn.  He sometimes went by his middle name, James, or even a variation of his middle name, "Jas".  Most folks back in those days did indeed go by their middle name.  He was the son of an Oregon pioneer and was a second generation Oregonian.  

The Oregon pioneer and 1st generation Oregonian of this line of John Winn's was (can you believe it) another John Winn.  His name was, John Hensley Winn.

Not to sound redundant, but sometimes it helps to repeat the genealogy.  My grandmother Eloise was the daughter of John Samuel Winn.  His father was John James Winn and his father was John Hensley Winn (Oregon pioneer of 1852).  

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Remember, the term 'Oregon pioneer' is somewhat misleading because in 1852, the area was known as the Territory of Oregon and it was not until 1859 that Oregon recieved its statehood.  In fact, just four years earlier, prior to 1848, the area was known as the, 'Oregon Country' and was under British rule.  Oregon Country included all of the US states of Oregon, Washington and Idaho and parts of Montana and Wyoming.  The area was not even part of the United States, as the United States only extended at that time to about the eastern edges of Idaho.  At that time, all of present-day California was owned by Mexico.

Getting back to Wilso Tigard and the "Wilson Tigard letters".    

The connection to Wilson Tigard and our family is that the Tigards were all living near eath other in West Fork, Arkansas prior to their exodus for the Oregon Trail in 1852.  One or two generations prior to this even, the Tigard familiy and Winn family had even intermarried and so we are actually related to this Wilson Tigard.

After arriving in the territory of Oregon in 1852, Wilson McClendon Tigard wrote letters back to his family in Arkansas, as some of the family decided to stay there.  The letters are a very intense are very rare glimpse into the life and history of these times.

In the letters, our John Hensley Winn is mentioned several times and he is even mentioned as being the captain of the wagon train.  When numerous wagons all journeyed in the same group along the oregon trail, they were considered a 'wagon train', the term has nothing to do with an actual train.

John Hensley Winn had just married Elizabeth Jane Craig, in West Fork Arkansas in 1852, before they decided to embark on the Oregon Trail that same year.  Remember, these are the grandparents of my great-grandfather, John Samuel Winn and this is a very long time ago in our family history, so that's why reading about new family surnames, such as Craig will probably seem quite foreign.

John Hensley Winn has numerous brothers and sisters all living in West Fork, Arkansas, but they would decided to come to Oregon at a later time.  It was really the family of his wife, Elizabeth Jane Craig that John Hensley Winn came with and fittingly so, much of her family is also written about in the 1852 letters.  Eliabeth Jane Craig would be Eloise's great-gradnmother.  

Her father was Ewing P. Craig and Jane Harer, both of whom died along the Oregon trail and both of whom are written about in the letters.  Her grandfather, Enos Craig also died along the Oregon trail and is also written about in the letters.  It's just amazing to have these letters to be able to read.  This was over 160 years ago.  Pictures of family members from this "Oregon pioneer" generation are very rare too.  The picture above of Wilson McClendon Tigard (the Oregon Trail generation) I had just recently found online.  To my knowledge, we don't have any pictures of John Hensey Winn, or Elizabeth Jane Craig, although many of the pictures passed down do not have family names written in.  We do have several pictures of his siblings from the Oregon Trail generation, however--pictured as adults.

The link to the one of the Wilson McClendon Tigard letters is here:  www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ormultno/People/tigard.htm

The line in the letter that states: Craig and wife and child is where Tigard is writting about Ewing Craig and Jane Harer.

That means that Elizabeth Jane Craig lost bother of her parents and her grandfather along the trail.  She had younger brothers and sisters who were kids and who did survive, but remember, Elizabeth Jane Craig had just goten married to John Hensley Winn before they left on the Oregon Trail and she was in no shape or form ready to take on looking after all of her siblings. Mary Craig, her aunt, had come to the Oregon Territory two years prior and she and her family were waiting for the Winn's and Craig's and Harer's at Sandy, Oregon, along the Oregon Trail and she is who ended up taking in the motherless kids, as she and her husband already had a large family.

That's all for now.  I have much more to write about on this, but this at least gives a glimpse into the section of our family history.  I also want to full transcribe the Wilson Tigard letters in the days to come and add some other pictures that I have found.