Christians on the Oregon Trail: Churches of Christ and Christian Churches in Early Oregon, 1842-1882 (Jerry Rushford, Pepperdine University, 1997)

Glen Hamilton · December 15, 2019

First page of Christians on the Oregon Trail: Churches of Christ and Christian Churches in Early Oregon, 1842-1882 (Jerry Rushford, Pepperdine University, 1997)

Chapter 10 of this book, "Three Brothers For Oregon 1851," describes John, Noah and Alfred Powel (later Powell) and their families leaving Illinois for the Willamette Valley in 1851. A young Supplina Hamilton joined the Powel wagon train as a teamster and later married John A. Powel's family friend Jane Sumpter in 1858, making the Powels an important part of Supplina's life. The book also lists an unidentified preacher named "Hamilton" active in eastern Oregon around 1872, which the author flagged as an open research question. Glen's notes here connect that reference to the family's own research, identified after the book's 1997 publication.

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