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<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=4>The Portland Oregonian March 31, 2002</FONT></STRONG>
<P><B><FONT size=+1>by JOHN TERRY</FONT></B>
<P><FONT face=Arial,Helvetica><FONT size=+1>It was a journey that challenged,
and in many cases defeated, women half her age, a fourth again her size and
lacking her physical disability.</FONT></FONT>
<P><FONT face=Arial,Helvetica><FONT size=+1></FONT></FONT> <BR><FONT
face=Arial,Helvetica><FONT size=+1>But Tabitha Brown was a women of great
resourcefulness, greater determination and faith sufficient to face down the
worst the West had to offer. She not only survived her ordeal but went on to
help establish a college and, more than a century later, to be championed as the
official "Mother Symbol of Oregon."</FONT></FONT>
<P><FONT face=Arial,Helvetica><FONT size=+1>Born Tabitha Moffatt on May 1, 1780,
in Brimfield, Mass., the daughter of a doctor and his wife, she was educated as
a teacher and married the Rev. Clark Brown on Dec. 1, 1799. He died in 1817, and
she resorted to teaching to support their three children.</FONT></FONT>
<P><FONT face=Arial,Helvetica><FONT size=+1>"Grandma" Brown was nearly 66 when
she left Missouri bound for Oregon in April 1846. With her were son Orus, his
wife, Lavina, and their eight children; daughter Pherne Pringle, her husband,
Virgil, and their five children; and 77-year-old brother-in-law John
Brown.</FONT></FONT>
<P><FONT face=Arial,Helvetica><FONT size=+1>Orus had visited Oregon in 1843,
returned singing the praises of the new land and was determined to take his
family there. But it was not a trip recommended for a woman of Tabitha's age,
size (108 pounds) and physical limits -- she had a bad hip and walked with a
cane -- and Orus tried mightily to talk her out of the idea.</FONT></FONT>
<P><FONT face=Arial,Helvetica><FONT size=+1>John Brown was a former sea captain,
and it was under his influence the family had moved to Missouri some years
before. "Captain Brown's stories of life on the high seas captivated Tabitha's
boys," says biographer Pat Wells. One more adventure to round out his life
appealed to him, and both he and Tabitha refused to be left
behind.</FONT></FONT>
<P><FONT face=Arial,Helvetica><FONT size=+1>"I provided for myself a good ox
wagon-team, a good supply of what was requisite for the comfort of myself,
Captain Brown and my driver," Tabitha recounted in an 1854 letter to relatives.
". . . Our journey, with little exception, was pleasing and prosperous until
after we passed Fort Hall."</FONT></FONT>
<P><FONT face=Arial,Helvetica><FONT size=+1>Orus continued along the
well-established trail to The Dalles and the Willamette Valley.</FONT></FONT>
<P><FONT face=Arial,Helvetica><FONT size=+1>But Tabitha, the captain and her
daughter's family took up with "a rascally fellow who came out from the
settlement in Oregon assuring us that he had found a new cut-off, that if we
would follow him we would be in the settlement long before those who had gone
down the Columbia."</FONT></FONT>
<P><FONT face=Arial,Helvetica><FONT size=+1>The "rascally fellow" was probably
Levi Scott or Jesse Applegate, who were promoting what came to be variously
known as the Scott-Applegate Trail, the Applegate Trail or the South Road. Their
first attempt to lead a party -- 98 men, 50 women and a number of children --
across the parched deserts of northern Utah and Nevada, and the frigid mountains
of Southern Oregon, culminated in disaster and destitution.</FONT></FONT> </P>
<P><STRONG>Copyright 2002 Oregon Live. All Rights Reserved.</STRONG> <BR><B>Used
by permission</B> </P></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>To read the rest of this story, and see a photo of
Tabitha, go to:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><A
href="http://freepages.history.rootsweb.com/~cchouk/brown/Tabitha.htm">http://freepages.history.rootsweb.com/~cchouk/brown/Tabitha.htm</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Cecil Houk, ET1 USN Ret.<BR>PO Box 530833<BR>San Diego CA
92153<BR>FAX 619-428-6434<BR><A
href="mailto:cchouk@cox.net">mailto:cchouk@cox.net</A><BR>ANDERSON - BLAKELY -
FORD - HOUK - KIMSEY - MOE - RULAFORD - SIMPSON<BR>Searchable GEDCOM: <A
href="http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/~cchouk">http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/~cchouk</A><BR>My
web page MENU: <A
href="http://members.cox.net/~cchouk/">http://members.cox.net/~cchouk/</A><BR></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>