The Davidsons Take The Oregon Trail
The Milton Township Diaspora (part 2)
Sarah Montgomery was born in Milton Township, Richland County, Ohio, on 27 December 1824 and married Henry Davidson (1818–1894) in Fulton County, Indiana, on 22 Apr 1841. They took their family—including their adopted niece, Sarah Ferrell—on the Oregon Trail in 1853. In my last post about this family, I told you, “…but we will have to talk about that adventure another time.”
Now is another time!
Born In Ohio
Sarah Montgomery was about 10 years old when her mother, Elizabeth (Callen) Montgomery, died. She would have been about 14 when her father moved the family to Fulton County, Indiana, in 1838, and she was 17 when she married Henry Davidson there on 22 Apr 1841.
It’s hard to say whether Sarah or her siblings were able to keep in touch with their cousins in Milton Township after they left. Many of those families left Milton Township soon after the Montgomerys did. Her grandmother, Mary Callen, moved with Sarah’s uncles, Alec and Hugh, to Iowa, and we know the Callins who stayed in Ohio lost touch with the Iowa relatives after 1845. Sarah’s uncle, Thomas Callin, died in 1843, leaving his widow, Nancy (Burget) Callin, to care for their ten children.
By 1846, Sarah had two small children, Lucretia and William. When her sister, Mary Ferrell, died, Sarah and Henry took in Mary’s orphaned daughter, Sarah Ferrell, and raised her with their own. They had two more children soon after: a son in 1848, Theodore Bruce Davidson, named after Sarah’s adventurous brother, who had gone off to join the U.S. Army in Mexico, and a daughter, Frances Mary, in 1850.
Setting Out for Oregon
In 1852, the Davidsons set out for Oregon as part of the Murphy Train. Captained by John Ecles Murphy, the group consisted of family and friends, all members of the Christian Church known as Campbellites or Disciples of Christ.
In the early 1830s, the followers of Alexander Campbell, founder of the Disciples of Christ, moved from their homes in Warren County, Kentucky, to Warren County, Illinois, and established the town of Monmouth, named after their home in Monmouth, Wales. As the word of the virtues of the Oregon Territory reached Illinois, the group began planning another move. An advanced migration of church members went west in 1850, which included Elijah and Margaret Davidson (of unknown relation to William Henry Davidson).
In April 1852, the second migration of church members began the journey. This second group was made up of the families of Burford, Butler, Davidson, Lucas, Mason, Murphy, Roundtree, and included Henry and Sarah Davidson and their children, as well as their adopted niece, Sarah Ferrell.
Coincidentally, they probably traveled in a Murphy Wagon—no relation to Captain Murphy—like this replica at Scotts Bluff National Monument.
The Journey of Sarah Ferrell
Sarah Ferrell would have been 6 years old in 1852, when her family joined Captain Murphy’s wagon train. Before they could begin the journey, they had to travel more than 500 miles from Fulton County, Indiana, to join the group on the Missouri River, probably near Omaha, Nebraska. From the Missouri River, the group had to travel more than 1,500 miles to the Willamette Valley in the Oregon Territory.
Sarah, along with her two older and two younger cousins (Lucretia was 10, baby Frances was 2), would have probably ridden in the wagon, pulled by oxen traveling an estimated 12 to 15 miles per day. The National Park Service website has a pretty good description of A Typical Day on this trip, which could last from 4 to 6 months.
As far as I can tell, the Davidson family arrived safely in Oregon and settled in Linn County, in what is now Harrisburg.
At 18, Sarah was married to Josiah S Powell (1839–1865), son of Noah Powell (1808–1875) and Mary E. "Polly" Smith (1812–1893). He was born on 19 Nov 1839 in Menard County, Illinois. The Powell family wagon train, led by Noah and his two brothers, was one of the largest groups to migrate along the Oregon Trail, departing Illinois in 1851. Josiah and Sarah probably married in 1864, and their son, Glenn O Farrell Powell, was born in Mar 1865. Josiah died at 26 years of age on 21 Nov 1865. He was buried in Hunsaker Cemetery in Marion, Marion County, Oregon.
A widow at 21, Sarah married E J S Page on 4 Aug 1867 in Marion County, Oregon. We know nothing about Mr. Page beyond his name; we do not even know what his initials stood for. A child and a marriage record are all he left behind. Their daughter was Sarah Olive Page, born on 14 May 1868.
Now 24 years old, widowed twice, and caring for two small children, Sarah married for a third time.
A Final Match
James Addison Bushnell was a 44 year old widower, originally from Cattaraugus County, New York. According to his Wikipedia article (because he would go on to be notable enough for this!):
“He crossed the plains in the spring of 1852 to Oregon and then on to California. He departed for home in July 1853 via ship from San Francisco and across Nicaragua to New York to Missouri to get his family, only to discover they had already left for Oregon. He then returned to Oregon via ship from New York across Panama, back to Portland where he joined them in Springfield in Oct 1853. Thus, he covered over 10,000 miles in less than 120 days. His first wife, Elizabeth C. Adkins, whom he married in Sep 1849 in Missouri and who died in Jan 1868 in Junction City, was part of the ‘Lost Wagon Train of 1853’ that came over the Cascades via the Elliott Cutoff. He married his second wife, Sarah E. Page in Apr 1870.”
There is a lot of adventure packed into that paragraph—not only for James, but also for poor Elizabeth. She would have had their son, Charles, with her when she crossed the plains in 1853, and Charles would have been about 2 years old. I can’t imagine the fortitude it took to care for a 2 year old during the “Lost Wagon Train of 1853;” the Elliott Cutoff was not a picnic.
James and Elizabeth had seven children, including Charles. When James married Sarah (Ferrell) Powell Page in 1870, four of his seven children were still alive. James was a successful farmer, and he and Sarah had another five children, three of whom were lost to a diphtheria epidemic in the winter of 1881-82, along with one of James’s older sons, George Addison “Addie” Bushnell.
Despite these hardships, James operated a grain warehouse near Junction City for 35 years. He and C.W. Washburne established the Farmers & Merchants Bank in 1893, and served as its president until his death in 1912 at age 85.
The first library at Eugene Divinity School was named the Bushnell Library, as James and his wife Sarah provided $1,000 for the purchase of rare bibles. The Sarah E. Bushnell Bible and Rare Book Collection, established in 1913, is now housed in the Kellenberger Library at Northwest Christian University, successor to Eugene Divinity School.
Sarah died on 29 Jan 1916 at age 70 in Junction City, Lane County, Oregon. She and James are buried in the Luper Cemetery. Her obituary appeared in The Oregon Daily Journal in Portland, Oregon, on 2 Feb 1916.
“Pioneer of Lane Dies.
“Junction City, Or., Feb. 2--Mrs. Sarah Elizabeth Bushnell, aged 70 years, died here at the home of her daughter, January 29, after a brief illness. The funeral was held from the Christian church Tuesday. Mrs. Bushnell had lived in Lane county since 1869. Her husband, Addison Bushnell, died about three years ago. She leaves four children: Mrs. Ollie Beebe, Ashland, Oregon; Glen O. Powell of Portland, Or.; H.C. Bushnell and Mrs. Gertrude Movius of Junction City, Oregon.”
And we haven’t even discussed the Davidson family, yet!