Authors: Ed, Don and Ron Guenther, 2019

John Landess and Leodicia Ingram Landess

Washington County Museum, Portland, Oregon

Ingrams in England

Families of the name Ingram were resident at early dates in the Counties of Essex, Hereford, London, Warwick, Worcester, Wilts, and Your, and at slightly later dates in Scotland, and Lincolnshire, Somersetshire, Surrey, and Sussex County. Records indicate that they were, for the most part, of the landed gentry and yeomanry of the British Isles.

Robin Hood and the Sheriff of Nottingham

In the legend of Robin Hood, Robin’s chief nemesis was the Sheriff of Nottingham. The sheriff of the legends could very well be based on the real life stories of Nottingham sheriffs like Randolph, son of Ingram, who sheriffed during the reign of King Henry II (1133-1189). Randolph had two sons, Robert and William. Robert was a knight of noted importance to King Henry III (1207-1272) and was rewarded with land. His arms are painted in The Temple Newsam to this day. There is a long line of Robert’s descendants who acceded to the estate of Temple Newsom including Sir Arthur Ingram, with many tales, which gets us to the beginning of the Leodisa Ingram story.

Hudson-Mohawk Genealogical and Family Memorials
Vol. IV, Compiled by William R. Cutter A.M., New York Historical Pub.  Co., 1914, page 1285

(1530-1614) Hugh Ingram

Hugh Ingram was born to Hugh ‘the elder’ Ingram and Joan Barrowby in 1530 at Thorpe on the Hill, Rothwell Yorkshire, England. He married Anne Goldthorope in London, England and became a very wealthy merchant in London dealing in cloth and dry goods. His burial is at St. Michael, Wood Street, London.

Hugh Ingram had five children, including Sir Arthur (of Temple Newsom) and John. John is in the family line but Sir Arthur is worth noting.

Sir Arthur (ca. 1565-1642) at Temple Newsam

It is believed that the first family seat was in Essex County and that the other branches of the family were of this parent stock. Some authorities indicate that the ancestors of the Ingr(ah)ams went into England about 1066, but others state that the family had residence in England prior to that time and traces its descent from the Scandinavian marauders who ravaged the coast of England in the eighth and ninth centuries. Owing to the location of the family in England, the latter theory seems more probable. 

Sir Arthur Ingram (ca. 1565 – 1642) was an English investor, landowner and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1610 and 1642. Responsible for the construction, purchase and sale of many manor houses and estates in Yorkshire, the Ingram family is most associated with Temple Newsam which became the seat of the wealthy family for about 200 years.

Within the United States Library of Congress is a book entitled “The Ingrams of Temple Newsman and the Ingrahams of America”.  This book talks about the early Ingrams in England and directs attention to the Temple Newsom, located about five miles from Leeds. Temple Newsom, a Cistercian house (a Catholic religious order that branched off from the Benedictines) founded in 1147 by Henry De Lacy, was one of the great houses of England and the seat of the Ingram family name, known in America as the Ingrahams.

Sir Arthur Ingram purchased the Estate in 1602 and it remained in the family until 1778 when Charles Ingram died.  Leaving three daughters and no male heir, the title became extinct.

The tidal currents of ancestry carry the good and the bad, sometimes leaving gems and treasures on the beach of time, sometimes leaving nasty debris of defilement. Nobody escapes having had some bad ancestors. If we analyzed ourselves we would come to realize that each one of us brings some good, some bad, into the works. Our children are the conglomerate of all who went before, and then they too become part of the tide. The redeeming factor is that an individual can turn the tide for the good, paving the way for a new direction in the line. May it ever be so.

Atlantic Crossings

John Ingram (1575-1645)

John Ingram married Francis E. Collier (1580-1628) in 1619 at Collegiate Church of St Katherine by the Tower, London, England. Together they came across the Water, through the Chesapeake Bay to   

investigate the settling of America.  At this time Eastern America was English owned and controlled, and many Brits were looking to America for a future. Those crossing the ocean were motivated by various reasons: investment, owning one’s own land, adventure, but also fleeing a dubious background. John was scoping it out for his progeny. Did America offer a future for his heirs? Perhaps he intended to stay, but in 1623 returned.

He would have known about the Jamestown Massacre of 1622 in Virginia, when Chief Powhatan  came unarmed into the town with warriors. The Chief, and his warriors, then grabbed any tool or weapon they could find and proceeded to slaughter men, women, and children, 347 in all. After this massacre and others like it maybe America held less sway for John and his wife.

It was an unconquered, uncivilized land but there was also plenty to be enamored with. Fresh fertile land, endless miles of it, and game for the taking without permits. But then, there were the various Indian tribes, some very hostile. Many of them viewed the pilgrims as invaders coming to take their land, and certainly there was truth to this. The Brits viewed foreign lands with conquest in mind. They did not treat the Indians well, for the most part seeing them as inferiors. What would one expect when two vastly different cultures clash? This needed some thinking. Was it wise to bring a family into this wilderness?  Still, there was the magnificence of it all, the beautiful shores and endless forests. It wouldn’t be until 1664 that this branch of Ingrams would start the migration that would span the Atlantic Ocean and then cross the North American continent. A migration that would cover a period of nearly 200 years, ending in Oregon in 1852.

Many of the early arrivals to the American shores died of disease, starvation, or exposure and any number of other causes. The Indians presented help in some cases, death in others. By the end of the 17th century about 200,000 British inhabited North America and the number was growing, but it was the first comers that experienced challenges in the extreme.

John and Francis had a number of children, including John and Robert. These brothers would migrate to America.

Robert Ingram (1626-1666)

In 1664 Robert Ingram migrated to America, arriving inland at the Chesapeake Bay. Robert brought with him his wife and children, including sons John  and James. They settled in Somerset County, Maryland. It was here that Robert would die in 1666. 

Robert’s brother, John, settled on Dividing Creek in Colonial Virginia in 1651, where they became a notable family. Near Chesapeake Bay one can find Ingram Bay and Ingram Cove.

John Ingram then migrated to Baltimore County, Maryland in the early 18th century. His grandson, James, was born here in 1723.

James Ingram (1723-1789) 

James Ingram, born in Baltimore, Maryland in the mid-eighteenth century, migrated with his two brothers to Caswell County, North Carolina. He had traveled along the Great Wagon Road heading South. The trip was about 300 miles long. At 12 miles a day it took about 25 days. Most likely they hooked oxen to a Conestoga wagon, the vehicle of choice in the east for carrying largeloads. 

(Pennsylvania Germans near the Conestoga Riverfirst made Conestoga wagons around 1750 to haul freight)

Conestoga Wagon by Newbold Hough Trotter, 1883                        

The Great Wagon Road

The Great Wagon Road was very rough at this early date, cutting through valleys of the Appalachian Mountains. The travelers had to cut trees, move rocks, maneuver around obstacles, and find good river crossings. The further south they went, the rougher the road became. There would not be good traveling until later in the century, at which time it would become one of America’s most heavily traveled roads.

James Wilson Ingram (1785-1846)

Around 1810, James Wilson Ingram, grandson of James Ingram (1723-1789) moved west from Caswell County, N.C. to settle in Bledsoe County, Tennessee. He used an extended version, or side trail, of the Great Wagon Road which followed along Indian trails, moving west.   

Marrying Nancy _____(last name unknown) (1789-1841) in 1811 she bore him 12 children includingWilliam R. Ingram. Born on February 3, 1812 in Bledsoe County, William was their second child. Bledsoe County was first being settled in the late 18th century. James came to this county shortly thereafter. Up until this point it had been solely occupied by Indians. Here was land on the edge of the frontier. The Ingrams were constantly moving to the edge of the frontier.

Indian tribes of Tennessee included Cherokee, Chiaha, Chikasaw, Kaskinampo, Mosopelia, Muskogee, and Natchez. Many of the settlers learned some of the Indian language in order to trade with them and to keep peace. The settlers were not looking for war, but for a place to live peacefully with their families. Some of the tribes also desired peace.

From Bledsoe County James moved his family to West Fork, Washington County, Arkansas, around 1833.

Conditions In West Fork, Arkansas 1828-1850

In 1819 Washington County, Arkansas was a wilderness, home to Indians. It was also a place that attracted Frank Pierce. Pierce was thought to be the first trapper/explorer in the region. He encountered buffalo as well as the Indians. By 1826 settlers were migrating into this area even though it had not been opened up to white settlers yet. They planted corn which soldiers knocked down trying to get them to vacate. But the settlers propped up their corn and still got a harvest.  In 1828 Pierce led the way for a greater migration into the area as a treaty with the Cherokees was established. A couple of years later, in 1830, James Ingram came with his family, along with other Ingrams. The Ingrams tended to migrate in groups. They located just North of what is now West Fork.

Over the time period from 1825 to 1850 all the land became spoken for. The larger land owners such as James and Zadok Winn began squeezed out the little guys. And the more prosperous the Winns became the more land value went up. A young person had the choice of working for someone on their farm, staying on the family’s farm, or moving on. The county’s population of 10,000 began to stagnate. Young people, like their parents’ generation before them, began to discuss moving on. These people were accustomed to hard work. (Tractors weredecades away.)  A six month journey to Oregon would be viewed more of a vacation when compared to their back breaking farm labor, at least for the men. The women had a different view of a move, loss of stability, a home, a location to raise kids. Oregon with the promise of more productive soil and available land appeared to be a good move for the young families. The young Winn, Ingram and Harer families began planning; they would leave in the early spring of 1852.

By late 1851 the community of Washington County, Arkansas was ablaze with the news from friends that migrated to Oregon that the trail to Oregon was doable and vast lands were available that could grow crops far surpassing that of West Fork. Oregon Territory had become a part of the United States in 1848. Eleven years later, in 1859, it would gain statehood. The Winns had first come to West Fork in the early to mid 1830s and had helped establish a school. The land was dotted with small farms. Buildings were all log type construction until after the civil war when planks became available. Washington County saw the construction of a brick courthouse in 1837. The cost … $6,398.75. Big plantations required for growing tobacco, cotton and rice were not being successful as individuals were choosing to do their own small farm. Family members provided cheap labor. Up until 1850 there was very little to no slavery in West Fork. After that only a few came in as part of the families moving in from the south. The slaves functioned more as domestic help. 

Death of James Wilson Ingram

The McClendons and Ingrams moved to Arkansas in the early 1830’s. It was here that Nancy died in 1841 with James following her on March 5, 1846, both in Washington County.  He had owned no slaves. The 1840 census indicated he could not read or write. Being illiterate,he signed his will, written in 1841, with an X. James was listed as a member of the Primitive Shiloh Baptist Church.

William Ingram(1812-1875)

William R. Ingram, son of James, first married Martha McClendon(1820-1844), and they had five children: Mary, in 1836, who died as an infant, Samuel(1838-1892), Ethalinda (1840-1918), Sarah(1842-1864), and William(1844-1924). Martha died in 1844 shortly after William was born. The McClendons’ clan was with the Ingrams heading to Oregon in 1852, probably desirous of staying close to their grandchildren.

William Marries Sarah Graham Winn 

William then married Sarah Sally Winn Graham(1816-1881) on March 15, 1846 in Washington County, Arkansas. They also had five children: Leodisa(1847-1908), James(1850-1852) who died at the end of the Oregon Trail, Lewis(1851-1863), John(1853-1863), and Lafayette(1861-1933).

Sarah Sally Winn had previously been married to Moses H. Graham(1802-1840). Sarah and Moses had three children: Minerva(1834-1884), Elizabeth(1837-1884), and Nancy(1840-1852) who died on the Oregon Trail. Together William and Sarah totalled 13 children.

William moved his family around Arkansas, taking carpentry work where he could find it. Perhaps William had moved to remove his family from a bad church situation and from nasty gossip. There was the issue of his wife Sarah being ‘excluded’ from the Primitive Shiloh Baptist Church in 1847.

Osage, Benton County, Arkansas

By 1850 the census shows William and his family living in Osage, Benton County, Arkansas. The government had purchased land rights from the Osage Indians in the early part of the 19th century and settlers consistently poured in.

William may have been listed as a carpenter in the 1850 census, but the talk circulating about land grants in Oregon could make a farmer out of him. He was raised on farming, knew how to go about it. He could still make use of his hammer, chisels, calipers, saws, planers, and auls on the farm. He knew wood and he knew how to shape it. No power tools. He could cut and notch trees with precision for log structures. William could make cabinetry and tables and chairs. His hand was sure gliding over the surface of the wood. (With no plank buildings in Osage until after the Civil War William worked from raw timber.)

William escaped the carnage of the Civil War as it ravaged Benton County in the 1860’s, but he saw the prelude to it. To the north was Missouri and the Union, to the south the confederacy. Even in 1852 tensions were rising over the slavery issue. For whatever reasons he wanted to go west. Ever west to the end of the rainbow, seeking elusive happiness like every generation before and after him. There had to be more to life than Osage, Arkansas. Besides, in Oregon there were big chunks of land for the taking. It would be instant land wealth. The talk increased about the land beyond the Blue Mountains.

By trade William was a carpenter, a tanner and a farmer. With these skills, in 1852, he moved Sarah and his combined families out west in a wagon train. Other relatives joined them. The wagon train they took had many challenges and difficulties and took its toll on the family. The Oregon Trail had devastated many of the families traveling it. But William had his reasons for going. Perhaps it was too crowded, maybe he longed for the adventure of his ancestors, the fertile land he was leaving being played out due to poor farming methods, or any host of reasons that may or may not have been justified. The thread of migration in the Ingram clan was beckoning, ready to make a new stitch out west.

Planning The Oregon Trip

In 1849 a group from West Fork, including James Ingram, William’s brother, took part in the California gold rush traveling the Cherokee Trail to California. Those involved gave a solid report on the western trail.

The plan for Oregon called for leaving in the spring, early April, as soon as the ground thawed and arriving in Oregon in late fall, maybe October. These were hardened pioneers familiar with hardships and knowledge about travel and survival. In planning they knew the journey would take up to 6 months. Oxen would be their preferred beast for pulling a wagon with the strength and stamina required to make the Rocky Mountain passage. 

In 1851 a wagon train had left West Fork and completed the journey to Oregon. The route they reported on had not been that difficult. The stories kept sifting in, Oregon with huge chunks of land waiting to be snatched up. But in 1852 when William Ingram headed west with his family, they would not be so fortunate as the 1851 travelers.Tragedy loomed. On the Oregon Trail you could be sure that death would come knocking on the door.

All manners of potential disasters were present, including cholera, river crossings, Indians, weather, and any host of other problems that could arise without warning and without outside help. There was danger in the block and tackle method of getting down from high places on steep inclines. These people were on their own in the stark wilderness.They were setting out on a 2,200-mile trek across prairies, deserts, and high mountains. One plus for the 1852 train was that starting in 1849 the army had outposts along the trail to protect them against Indian attacks. These also provided places to restock supplies.

This year migration from Western Arkansas consisted of several wagon trains.  Ingram and Winn relatives would be in these trains. Ten thousand people would brave the trail to Oregon in 1852.  Men following a dream, women just following along. 

Two of the trains consisted of one from the Springdale area known as the Ingram and Harer Wagon Trains consisting of 120 members and another from the West Fork area known as the Tigard-Gilbreath Wagon Train numbering about 105 members. There are no known lists for the two trains but in general the Ingram’s part of the Springdale wagon train and the Harer wagon train took the Cherokee trail and the Tigard-Gilbreath wagon train took the California-Oregon trail.  John Winn was part of the Harer wagon train. These caravans met and joined up and also split up as they ventured west. The travelers accounts do not differentiate between the wagon trains. As a result of the lack of clarity these strings of wagons are more or less described as a single wagon train out of Arkansas. In describing the westward migration of 1852 one comment made said it was like a 500 mile long single wagon train. There were areas on the prairie where the wagons were 4 abreast.

Evan’s Trace to Santa Fe Trail to Cherokee Trail to Overland Trail to Oregon Trail. 

Mapping by Don Guenther

Blacksmiths were kept very busy getting the wagons ready to roll. These events brought many people mulling about. Around any wagon train could be found trappers and gold seekers and adventurers.

Oregon Trail Conditions in 1852

Judge Delazon Smith wrote a letter to the Portland Times in 1852 in which he states: “There are perhaps 3,000 to 4,000 fresh graves between the Missouri River and The Dalles of the Columbia, and if the mortality has been equal on the California graves between the Missouri route, 12 or 14  percent of this year’s migration are dead.”

The James Akin Oregon Trail journals of 1852 included a letter from Caleb Richey to his brother and his brother’s wife. He wrote: “I would be glad to see you and Hannah in Oregon if I get there…  but I will not advise you to come by land.” Cholera would prove to be a major factor for this year’s travelers with heavy rain and many wagons and people polluting the available waters to drink, especially coming down the Platte River.

William Ingram Migrates to Oregon in 1852

(see the Sarah Winn Story)

For William and Sarah Ingram the Oregon Trail was a bridge to a new life, but the cost was great. They had merged their two families from previous marriages and added to that, a blending of three families. All told, William and Sarah set off from Arkansas to Oregon with 11 children. 9 made it to Oregon. They risked everything, but at the end of the trail they reached the end of their rainbow … Oregon. Soil as deep as you could dig. Mild winters. Rain, well, about the rain…

The actual Oregon Trail started in Independence, Missouri, but these folks started in Arkansas and intercepted the Oregon Trail out on the plains. In the 1852 wagon trains from Arkansas there were 400 people, many of them Ingram relatives and friends. The trail was used from 1843 until the 1880’s. Travel on the trail greatly diminished after 1869 when the Transcontinental Railroad came in, the building of which was probably the greatest technological feat of the 19th century. It made travel to Oregon cheaper, faster, and safer. Forget wagons.

Children on the Oregon Trail

It is thought that about 40,000 of the travelers on the Oregon Trail were children. For the most part, they walked, unless they were sick. But even when they were in the wagon it was not easy. The wagon was jostled around so much it was hard to rest when inside. Depending on their age they had various chores around the camp including tending stock, gathering fire material, and for the older kids, even driving the wagon. If things were going well they might play games or dance around the campfire. Sometimes there might even be singing. For those children who survived the Oregon Trail, it was a time of education, adventure, and wonder. They saw many things, did many things.

They watched and sometimes helped their mothers with their dutch ovens and iron pots cooking over the open fire. Children often got the water. Diaries of some of these children still exist today.

Jesse Applegate (7 years old when he made the trip): “I remember one afternoon, when the teams were tired and some of the oxen limping with sore feet, I was looking far away in the direction we were traveling, across a dreary sage plain, to all appearances extending to the end of the earth, and I got to wondering where we were trying to get to, and asked the question, when someone said, ‘To Oregon’.”(National Historic Oregon Trail Interpretive Center, Baker City, Oregon).

Evan’s Trace, Sante Fe Trail, Overland Trail, Cherokee Trail

William Ingram’s brother, Lewis(1829-1869), said he knew both good and bad Indians. He said he owed his life and that of his sister’s to some Indians.  He and his sisters were floating down the Deschutes River in a wagon box and were ‘rescued by some of the Redskins’.

The trail started up the Arkansas River on Evan’s Trace and then onto the Santa Fe Trail, the Overland Trail, winding through the Cherokee Trail and eventually merged onto the California-Oregon trail out on the plains, possibly in Northern Kansas. There were sections where drinking water was an issue. Disease was a common threat and dysentery could wipe out a train. Oregon Trail travelers became icons in the pioneer movement. They were heroes of their day and they knew it. They thrived on adventure and hope. Leodisa’s eyes no doubt grew large with wonder as her dad pondered the great opportunity out in Oregon, a farmer’s paradise! It sounded fun. In 1852 the section of the Oregon trail shared by all three destinations of California, Oregon, and Utah, had 70,000 travelers. With 5 people per wagon that’s 14,000 wagons. For a 60 day window to travel through the area wagons would be end to end and the wagon train would appear to be 100 miles long. 

Leodisa on the Oregon Trail

Leodisa Ingram was a member of this Wagon Train. She was 5 years old. She was a love child of her parents, William and Sarah Winn Ingram. When Leodisa Ingram was born on September 26, 1847 in Arkansas, her father William was 35, and her mother Sarah was 31.Leodisaand her family traveled in prairie schooners pulled by oxen, the most reliable form of transportation of the day for rough terrain and endurance. They set out on April 7 and arrived in Oregon on September 10, a five month journey.

Indians, including the Blackfoot, were a menacing threat, but there were good and helpful Indians, too.The pioneers traveled well armed and ready. They traveled in groups normally. Buffalo meat helped with the food stores, though the number of buffaloes diminished along the trail as the decades passed. Dried buffalo chips were a good source of fuel for the night fires. Those walking, which would have included little Leodisa, would collect the dried dung in a pouched blanket or canvas carried on the wagon. Did Disa take time and pleasure to collect flowers for her mother? Was she too tired at night to see the stars and hear the wolves and coyotes howling? 

The prairie was filled with fascinating things for a little girl. The grass was 2-3 feet high, as tall almost as Leodisa. The wind would make the grass undulate like ocean waves. The rain of 1852 would have brought great clashes of lightning and rolling thunder. One traveler described the thunder as rolling around the perimeter. There were insects, but no mosquitoes to harass the travelers, mosquitoes need still waters to propagate. The crows jeered at them and the whippoorwills made music. There were antelope that would appear on the rim of the deep ravines. Grizzly bears were pretty much gone from the prairie by the middle of the 19th century but they were plentiful in the mountain passes. The various Indian tribes became part of the landscape, and there were many, especially around the trading posts. One such trading post was Fort Laramie at first  run by The America Fur Company in the 1840’s and then purchased by the army and occupied starting in 1849. 

James Akin Jr. Journal entry 1852:

“I will now try to give you some idea of how we travel. We turn our cattle out to grass by daylight every morning, and start about 6 o’clock and travel till noon, then unyoke the cattle and drive them to water and grass and stay about two hours. Then we start and travel till 5 o’clock, and then turn them out on grass till dark, and then tie them up and guard them till night.” Due to a treaty in 1851 with Broken Hand the Indians were not as troublesome in 1852 as in other years.

Perhaps a misconception of the Oregon Trail is that the plains are not as flat as imagined. They are rolling hills. With no trees except along the streams and rivers, one saw only grass and flowers as far as the eye could see for days on end. There were bison, prairie dogs, snakes, wolves, and coyotes. The howling became just another ordinary night sound. Some of the snakes could be deadly: cottonmouths, copperheads, and rattlesnakes. Indians were present all along the way, but not necessarily a threat; many traded with them. But the Indians resented the white settlers invading their land and turned violent on many occasions, resulting in the army outposts along the trail. The most notable Indian outbreak of 1852 was the Klamath War. The settlers were not always innocent either, sometimes retaliating for some small offense with horrible violence. It was a case of two vastly different cultures clashing.

This year heavy rains on the prairie created mud reaching up to the fetlocks of the oxen, sometimes with the wagons getting stuck in axel deep mud. It might take a good part of the day to free a wagon.

In the 1852 train, with so many trains merging and diverging, there was sparse firewood and muddy waters. The polluted Platte River became a breeding ground for disease. Cholera and dysentery were the worst and often times deadly. The Ingram/Winn train added their share of graves to the Oregon Trail. They moved across the prairie and navigated by the known monuments on the trail. They entered the Rockies and sliced through South Pass then over the Continental Divide, stopping at Fort Bridger for supplies. It was desert traveling west of the Rockies, desolate, and very hot. There was no escaping the heat as the travelers were flayed out on the shadeless trail. They crossed the Three River’s Crossing in Glenns Ferry, Idaho.

And  always there was loss, loss of life, loss of wagons. The trip continued to take its toll.

The Blue Mountains of Oregon beckoned with their fingers of welcome. It was true then, the mountains were blue! Then it was down the Columbia River, either by raft or Indian canoe. Some preferred an overland trail following the Columbia.

After five months they had made it to Oregon, with 640 acres awaiting for each family to claim. The spirits of their dead would live on through them in memories, some happy, some tragic. The pot of gold was there all right, but the cost had been great. They were pioneers, a breed of people not to be seen again in America, but their progeny would forge their own rivers, fight their own fights, and cross their own rivers.

Tigard’s Letter

William Tigard was in the John Winn wagon train of 1852 from Arkansas. Their train brushed up against the Ingram train on the trip. Here are some excerpts of a letter from W.M.Tigard to Eli and Mary Boyd in Arkansas, dated November 13, 1852, written from Oregon:

“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 and I do hope that these few bad written lines will find you all enjoying the same like blessings. After a long and tedious journey of over six months we got to a little town called Milwaukie October the second and remained there about 1 month. During that time I spent 7 days looking around. Finally I found a place that pleased me very well with a little house on it and about 2 acres chopped off so I bought it and moved to it about the 6th of December. I promised 1 hundred dollars in work or money to be paid in ten months.

We are the best pleased you ever saw with the country although it is not as handsome a country where we stopped as it is further up the country. My place is situated 10 miles from Portland, and 10 miles from Oregon City and 7 miles west of Milwaukie.

“I must now go back and tell some of our troubles, sufferings and misfortunes on the latter part of our trip for at least two thirds of the way was more like pleasure than trouble. After leaving Green River we had some of the worst mountains that ever wagons rolled over. It was the Bear River Mountains. Our cattle was then getting weak an I had lost as good a yoke of cattle as I had or nearly so, for I sold one for 30 dollars and it was stolen. The other I got only 100 pounds of flour for.

“After we struck on to Bear River we fell in company with some of the companies that went up the Arkansas River. At that time there had been little or no sickness amongst them but their sufferings and losses on the latter part of the trip was equivalent to ours on the first part of the trip. We got along tolerable well until after we passed Fort Hall. Grass was very scarce nearly all the way down Snake River Our cattle began to give out and a great many died. My teams all died or give up except 3 steers and 1 cow.

“…we elected John Winn(as a new) captain. By this time our provisions was nearly out so we left them(the train split) between the two crossings of Snake River. John Winn went with us. I was taken sick with the mountain fever and came very near dying. Our provisions give out and we had like to have starved to death. We were over five weeks without any bread. We had to kill our own cattle for beef poor as they were and eat them without bread or salt. Some chance times we got a pint of salt for 50 cts. This kind of living gave us all the dir(diarrhea) and like to have killed part of us.

“When we to the Grand Rounds we found beef at 20 cts., flour at 50 cts. per pound, sugar siryp was 6 dollars per gallon. The next beef was 25 cts. and flour 75 cts. per pound. When we got to the Dals [Dalles] flour was 20 ct., beef 20 ct., bacon 1 dollar per pound, pickled pork was 50 ct., molasses was 3 dollars per gallon. When we got to the Dals I was compelled to sell my cattle for 1 hundred dollars. We got to the Dall(The Dalles) Oct. 12th.

“The boats were so far behind had that we could not get away until the 18th and the very day the rains commenced. We landed at the Cascade Falls the 20th. About the 26th we landed at the mouth of the Sandy. I had found Baird there waiting for Craig’s family with 2 yoke of cattle. I had to stay there 7 or 8 days to take care of John Skean for hehad a spell similar to cholera. When I got to Milwaukie 20 miles from Sandy I had barely money enough to buy 2 days rations. Flour was 16 ct. per pound, beef 16 ct., potatoes 2 dollars, molasses from 75 ct. to dollar per gallon. At the docks potatoes was 6 dollars and everything else in proportion. When we got to the Dals we could scarcely walk we was so near starved and like all most hundreds of others had like to have killed ourselves by eating too much. When I got into the valley I went to work at nearly 2 dollars a day. Everything in the eating line is very high. We are living very hard but the people comfort us by saying they lived still harder.

“I will now tell about the deaths in the company that I left. Huffmaster and wife and Manerva is dead. Uncle Enos is dead. James Harer and wife and child is dead. John Harer and wife and youngest child is dead. Craig and wife and child is dead. James Crawfords babe is dead. David Harer’s child is dead and Samuel Harer has been at the point of death but was on the mend a few days ago at Oregon City. I think they have not got to Stanifers. They had only got to Oregon City about the 23 or 24 of October. Nelson’s crippled girl got shot by pulling or moving a gun as she went to get in the wagon. Evan Harer’s child died. Lum Bow lost another girl. Stephen Lewis child died. Nancy Graham and William Ingram child is both dead. Alroy Harer is delirious and an object to look at. Jacob Rushes wido and little girl is dead. There was a great many deaths in the Evan route company.

“John Winn and John Gilbreath are gone up to Bairds. James Gilbreath and family and sister Emily went down the Columbia River about St. Helen. I have not heard from them since. James Bloyed is living with me. When he got in the valley he got in with a doctor for 1 year, 5 days afterward he was taken very sick and like to have died. They was all so ill that he left as soon as he could walk. He came to my house Oct. 18th looking like a corpse.” (Tigard Letters, Portland, Oregon, from John W. Tigard)

Arrival in Oregon

Arriving in Oregon City was no time to relax and take it easy. The fall weather in Western Oregon presented cold nights with heavy rains soon to come. In 1852 there was plenty of rain that fall. The travelers had to get settled in for the winter; a dry, warm home was needed quickly. Some were able to buy an existing home, some built roughshod cabins, some lived in their wagons for a spell. Then there was the firewood to get in, the food stores to acquire. Shelter for the animals was a priority. Often times people would be homesteading in family groups or with friends and would work together to build their homes.

National Archives, The Oregon Genealogical Society: 

“Fach settle r claiming a land donation was required to notif y the áurveyor-General of tbe special tract of land claimed under the Donation Land Law. A number was then assigned to the notification . On submission by the claimant of proof of compliance vá th. al l lega l requirements, the Surveyor-Geneml or the Register and Receiver issued a certificat e setting fort h the facts i n the case and specifying the land to which the claimant was entitled . The proof of compliance was then forwarded by the Surveyor-General or the Register and Receiver of the land offic e to the Commissioner of the General Land Office . I f no grounds fo r rejection were found by the Commissioner the General Land Offic e issued a patent fo r the land designated i n the certificate. “

There were about 7500 land claims made in Oregon: from Oregon City 5289, Roseburg 2141,The Dalles only 5, and La Grande only 2. The number of acres allotted was determined by the year of the claim. Before 1850, 640 acres for a man and wife was allowed. Some exceptions can be found. After 1850 it was 320 acres for a man and his wife. Thus a single man could only claim 160 acres. Women became an extreme asset to have along! The land grants continued until 1855, and even then land was only $1.25 an acre. Even so, $1.25 had to be gotten somewhere, it didn’t grow on trees. A manual laborer might make $1 or $2 a day. Some worked for 50 cents or lower. 

A question arises, why would a man and his wife want 320 acres of land when he could only farm maybe 40 or 50 acres, using another 30 or 40 for pasturage? The answer is simple: they wanted something for their progeny. Something solid, something that would last through the generations, a gift, a sacrifice of love.

The Ingram Homestead

William and Sarah settled in Washington County in Farmington, near Hillsboro. Having arrived at Oregon City in September, they secured their land grant on January 1, 1853. 319.44 acres. The end of the rainbow,  with many sorrows along the way.

President Franklin Pierce(1853-1857) signed/stamped William Ingram’s land grant.  William and Sarah were the recipients of 319.44 acres in Farmington, Oregon. William and Sarah had struck gold!

1875 William Ingram’s Death

William became a Christian in 1874, the year before he died in 1875 at the age of 63. He was buried in the Lewis Pioneer Cemetery, Hillsboro, Oregon. 

1862 Leodisa Marries John Landess

If one listens carefully, you might hear the Ingram voices down through the centuries, saying, “We present to you Leodisa!” A person is made up of all those who have gone before. Leodisa carried the Ingram blood, the Ingram name.

Having gone through such hardships early in life it comes as no surprise to see Leodisa desiring to get started on her life as a wife and mother. At the young age of 15 she married her neighbor John Landess(1823-1904) on December 14, 1862, in Hillsboro, Oregon.  John was well established and 39 years old. Good father material. And John had his land grant. Leodisa’s older half-sister had married John’s younger brother, paving the way for her younger sister to follow.

Leodisa’s daughter Corena remembered them reading their Bibles daily. Leodisa was a farmer’s daughter and a farmer’s wife. She knew the toil of the field, the challenges of child bearing and mothering. Living by the light of kerosene lanterns and wood heat, she was always there for her children. All the farming women had a big garden to feed the family, so there was tending to the garden to do. They had a big house. There were the family wagons for transportation and hauling supplies and produce, farm animals of various sorts. It is wondered what little Leodisa’s voice, now that of a grown woman, sounded like. Surely it was musical! She never forgot her trek across the prairie and over the mountains to Oregon. Oregon was in her blood and in her children’s blood for many generations.

Most early western women not only knew about guns, they knew how to use them. For Leodisa there was no transition into the western life, she grew up in it. She could skin a rabbit before you could blink an eye, cook up a man sized meal to feed a pile of people without thinking, tend to sick children better than many doctors, cook on a wood stove, sew and mend as did all the pioneer women.  In her spare time Leodisa kept house, a big house with lots of kids. On top of all that, Leodisa was a beautiful woman. Her children looked to her for support, and they got it.

On February 14, 1859, the pioneers cheered when Oregon became the 33rd state. They were the reason it had become a state. That was a part of the deal, filling up Oregon with pioneers and making it a state for the greater United States of America. Portland’s population at this time was about 50,000 people.

John and Leodisa had seven children in 23 years: Grant(1864-1943), Ruhama(1865-1920), Elmer(1869-1872), Corena(1873-1931), Marietta(1876-1964), Girtha(1885-1964), and Mamie(1887-1968).

1875 John Landess Dies

John Landess died in 1875 at age 81; Leodisa in 1909 at age 62. Their graves lay side by side in the Lewis Pioneer Cemetery, Hillsboro, Oregon. 

On John Landess’ headstone it is written: “By the side of his beautiful darling He’s sleeping the sleep of the dead and I know that they both shall awaken. For Jesus that promise has made”

On Leodisa Ingram Landess’ headstone it is written: “Wife of John Landess, A precious one from us has gone a voice we loved is stilled A place vacant in our home which never can be filled”

1908 Leodisa’s Death

Leodisa left a written record of her children’s births on a page in the family Bible. She was educated, many of the earlier pioneers were not.                 

Leodisa lived through the Storm King’s high winds of January 9, 1880. Some believed that it was bigger than the Columbus Day storm of 1962. But, nobody lives through the great storm of life, and Leodisa Ingram Landess died on October 9, 1908, in Hillsboro, Oregon. She 

was buried in Lewis Pioneer Cemetery next to her beloved John. Her life was full and rewarding, with one eye constantly on heaven where she could be reunited with her full family. Death would finally be swallowed up in victory. Perched atop their headstones in is an open Bible, a testament to their lives of commitment to God. Her obituary declares that she was full of charity and helpfulness, and was a member of the First Christian Church until her death.                

Corena Landess(1873-1931)

Corena Landess, daughter of John and Leodisa Landess, married Wilbur D. Wiley(1856 – 1909). They had Wilda Ruth in 1891.

Wilda Ruth Wiley(1891-1960) 

Wilda Ruth Wiley married Joseph Bernard Delsman(1887 – 1940). They had Geraldine Clara in 1916.

Geraldine Delsman(1916-2012)

Geraldine Clara Delsman married John Emmel Guenther(1912 – 1991). They had the 14 children.

Additional Pictures

24 Sep 1575 • Leeds, Kent, England

Bibliography:

Caswell County, North Carolina, Probate records

History of Benton, Washington, Carroll, Madison, Crawford, Franklin, and Sebastian Counties, Arkansas. Chicago, IL, USA: Goodspeed Publishing Co., 1889.

Parkman, Francis; The Oregon Trail, New American Library, 1950

Schlissel, Lillian; Women’s Diaries of the Westward Journey, Schocken Books, 1982

Key census’ records:

    1. 1850 Census, Washington Co., Arkansas.

    2. 1860 Census, Willamette Forks Pct., Lane Co., Oregon.

    3. 1870 Census, Jackson Co., Oregon; and Deer Creek Pct., Douglas Co., Oregon.

    4. 1880 Census, Deer Creek Pct., Douglas Co., Oregon.    5. U.S. Census Records 1790-1940

Lewis Pioneer Cemetery Records; Hillsboro, Oregon

Linn, Washington, Jackson and Douglas Co., Oregon, Marriage Records

Oregon Genealogical Society Records; Eugene, Oregon: https://www.facebook.com/OregonGenSoc

Winn, James A., Genealogy of the Winn Family, 1936: http://www.ancestor-rescue.com/Winn/Manuscript/WinnGenealogyFtScott1930s.pdf

Parts of this article published by the OregonPioneers.com here.

the end