INTERVIEW OF EDSON SAVAGE

I was born June 17, 1856. My father crossed the plains in 1845 and settled in Polk County, Oregon, where I was raised. I was married in 1880 to Miss Mary Chapman and we spent our honeymoon driving cattle from Oregon to Whitman County, now named “Franklin.” This was the best grazing country we had ever seen. On this trip we drove seven hundred head of cattle, ferrying them across the Snake River. I ran my stock on the Koontz Flat, which has since been named Ringgold. My wife’s mother was the former Esther Lorinda Bewley, a friend of the Marcus Whitman family, and was living with them at the time of the massacre. In 1854 her father, John Bewley, started a long journey across the plains. They stopped at Whitman station to leave one of their sons, who was ill, that he might receive treatment from Dr. Whitman. Lorinda remained with her brother. Mrs. Whitman presented Lorinda Bewley with a Bible as a token of her affection. Lorenda was taken captive by an Indian chief during the massacre, and after being held at Umatilla for a time, was ransomed at The Dalles. Through all her experiences she kept her cherished Bible, which Mrs. Whitman had autographed. The Bible was given to the daughter (Mrs. Savage), who kept it until recently, when she presented it to the Whitman College museum.

For more information on the Works Projects and American Life History Manuscripts that came from this project, visit this link from the Library of Congress. or Return to the Franklin County Biographies and Oral Histories Page or Return to Franklin County Home Page

Surnames include Bewley, Chapman, Savage, Whitman

Taken from United States. Work Projects Administration. Washington State. Told by the Pioneers: Reminiscences of Pioneer Life in Washington, Vol. II, pgs 158-159. 1938. Printed under W.P.A. sponsored federal project no. 5841, directed by Secretary of State Ernest N. Hutchinson.