Lang, H. O., ed. "The History of the Willamette Valley, Being A Description of the Valley and its Resources, with an account of its Discovery and Settlement by White Men, and its Subsequent History; Together with Personal Reminiscences of its Early Pioneers." Portland, OR, Geo. H. Himes, Book and Job Printer, 1885. p. 620. THOMAS SHADDEN; Lives in McMinnville; was born in Tennessee; lived in Arkansas and Missouri prior to coming to Oregon. He arrived in the Willamette Valley, October 3, 1843. Was with Fremont in the Mexican war; afterwards engaged in farming and stock-raising. Married Miss Martha Sumner in 1832; has had twelve children, three of whom are living. ******************* (The name "SHADDEN" is mentioned in further text) Page 247-250 The emigration of 1842 consisted of one hundred and nine people, fifty-five of them over eighteen years of age. They started from Independence on the sixteenth of May, with sixteen wagons and a number of cattle. In the train was Dr. Elijah White, who had spent three years in Oregon in connection with the Methodist Mission. He had now secured an appointment as Indian Agent for the region west of the Rocky Mountains, and was on his way back to the scene of his missionary labors. Alexander and John McKay, sons of Tom. McKay, were also with the party, being homeward bound from a few years of attendance at school in New York State. these three had lived in Oregon, but were not acquainted with the route thither. Judge Columbia Lancaster and his family accompanied them as far as the Kansas River, but he was compelled by the sickness of his wife to abandon the journey and return. A few years later he was more successful and his name is now indelibly stamped upon the pages of Oregon history. Stephen H. Meek, an experienced mountaineer and brother of Col. Jo. Meek, served as guide and general advisor, having trapped for years through the mountains and been in Oregon several times, first with Bonneville and afterwards as an employee of the Hudson's Bay Company. F. X. Matthieu, well known in the State, joined the train at Fort Laramie, with three Frenchmen whose names are unknown. Thomas Fitzpatrick, a former partner in the Rocky Mountain Fur company, and one of the most experienced of the mountain men, was encountered at Fort Laramie and engaged for $500 to pilot the train to Fort Hall. At Independence Rock a young man named Bailey was killed by the accidental discharge of a rifle; and L. W. Hastings and A. L. Lovejoy, two names prominent in Oregon history, were captured by Sioux Indians while engaged in carving their names on the face of the rock. They were ransomed by making their captors a present of a few trinkets and pieces of tobacco; and this was what gave rise to the story in after years that Hastings had been bought for a plug of tobacco. At Green River one-half of the wagons were dismantled and used to make pack saddles, since it was deemed too slow and difficult a task to take the whole train further. This event and the subsequent incidents of the journey are thus related by Hon. Medorum Crawford, one of the party: "Horses, mules and oxen were packed with such clothing, utensils and provisions as were indispensable for our daily wants, and with heavy hearts many articles of comfort and convenience, which had been carefully carried and cared for on the long journey, wee left behind. About the middle of August we arrived at Fort Hall, then an important trading post belonging to the Hudson's Bay Company. From Captain Grant, his officers and employees, we received such favors and assistance as can only be appreciated by worn-out and destitute emigrants. Here the remaining wagons were left, and our company, no longer attempting to keep up an organization, divided into small parties, each traveling as fast as their circumstances would permit, following the well-beaten trail of the Hudson's Bay company to Fort Walla Walla, now Wallula. The small party to which I was attached was one month traveling from Fort Hall to Dr. Whitman's, where we were most hospitably received and supplied with flour and vegetables in abundance, a very acceptable change after subsisting almost entirely on buffalo meat from Laramie to Fort Hall, and on salmon from Fort Hall to Whitman's. In fact there had not been in my mess a mouthful of bread since leaving Laramie. * * * From Walla Walla Dr. White and some others took passage down the Columbia River in the Hudson's Bay Company's boats. Others pursued the journey by land to The Dalles, and there embarked in boats or canoes, and still others, and the large portion of the emigrants, crossed the Cascade Mountains on the old Indian trail. From Fort Hall to the Willamette no precaution was taken against, or the slightest apprehension felt of Indian hostility, nor were we in any instance molested by them; on the contrary, they furnished us with salmon and game, and rendered us valuable assistance for very trifling rewards. From Walla Walla to the Willamette Falls occupied about twenty days, and all things considered, was the hardest part of the entire journey - what with the drifting sands, rocky cliffs, and rapid streams along the Columbia River, and the gorges, torrents, and thickets of the Cascade Mountains, it seems incredible how, with our worn-out and emaciated animals, we ever reached our destination." The members of that little train of 1842, such as were then over eighteen years of age, are thus enumerated by Mr. Crawford: "The following named men over eighteen years of age composed the emigration of 1842: C. T. Arendell, James Brown, William Brown, Gabriel Brown, Barnum, Hugh Burns, Geo. W. Bellamy, Bennett, Bennett Jr., Bailey (killed), Nathaniel Crocker, Nathan Coombs, Patrick Clark, Alexander Copeland, A. N. Coates, Medorum Crawford, Allen Davy, John Dearnn, John Dobbinbess, Samuel Davis, Foster, John Force, James Force, Girtman, Gibbs, L. W. Hastings, J. M. Hudspeath, John Hofstetter, Hardin Jones, A. L. Lovejoy, Reuben Lewis, F. X. Matthieu, S. W. Moss, J. L. Morrison, Stephen Meek, Alex. McKay, John McKay, Walter Pomeroy, Dwight Pomeroy, J. W. Perry, Dutch Paul, J. R. Robb, Owen Summer, T. J. SHADDEN, Andrew Smith, A. D. Smith, Darling Smith, Adam Storn, Aaron Towner, Joel Turnham, Elijah White, David Weston, Three Frenchmen." The condition of the valley and the settlers, when these emigrants arrived, is thus delineated by Mr. Crawford: "On the fifth day of October our little party, tired, ragged and hungry, arrived at the Falls, now Oregon City, where we found the first habitations west of the Cascade Mountains. Here several members of the Methodist Mission were located, and a saw mill was being erected on the island. Our gratification on arriving safely after so long and perilous a journey, was shared by these hospitable people, each of whom seemed anxious to give us hearty welcome and render us every assistance in their power. From the Falls to Vancouver was a trackless wilderness, communication being only by the river in small boats and canoes. Toward Salem no sign of civilization existed until we reached the French Prairie, where a few farms near the river were cultivated by former employees of the Hudson's Bay Company. West of the Falls some fifteen miles was Tualitan Plains, where a few settlers, mostly from Red River, had located. Within the present limits of Yamhill County, the only settlers I can remember were Sidney Smith, Amos Cook, Francis Fletcher, James O'Neil, Joseph McLaughlin, ---- Williams, Louis LaBoute and George Gay. There may have been one or two more, but I think not. South of George Gay's on the west end of Salem, on the east side of the Willamette River, there were no settlements in the territory. There were in the valley some twelve or fifteen Methodist Missionaries, most of them having families, under the general superintendence of Rev. Jason Lee. Some of them were living at the Falls, some at Salem, and some at the Mission farm, ten miles below Salem, opposite the place now known as Wheatland. At these places, especially at the Falls and Salem, many improvements were being made, and employment was given at fair wages to all who desired work. Payment was made in lumber and flour from their mills at Salem, cattle and horses from their herds, and orders on the mission stores at the Falls, kept by Hon. George Abernethy. There was no money in the country, and in fact I do not remember seeing a piece of money of any description for more than a year after my arrival. A man's financial condition was based upon his cattle, horses, and credit on the Hudson's Bay Company or Abernethy's books. With these he could procure everything that was purchasable in the country. All kinds of tools and implements were scarce and generally of the most primitive character. There were no wagons in the country. Carts of the rudest manufacture were in general use, which among the French were frequently ironed with raw-hide. Ground was plowed with wooden mould-boards, grain was threshed in rail pens by the tramping of horses and cleaned by winnowing in the wind, and transported in canoes and bateaux to Fort Vancouver to market. Most of our clothing came from the Hudson's Bay Company, was all one size, and said to have been made to fit Dr. McLoughlin, who was a very large man. Boots and shoes were more difficult to be obtained than any other article of clothing; as for myself I had no covering for my feet for two years, either summer or winter, but buckskin moccasins, still I never enjoyed better health in my life. A number of our company, probably one-third, dissatisfied with the winter and not willing to wait and see what the summer would bring forth -- acting on their migratory instincts -- determined early in the spring of 1843 to go to California. It was said of some of those that they never remained in one place longer than to obtain the means to travel; and of one family in particular, that they had practically lived in the wagon for more than twenty years, only remaining in one locality long enough to make a crop, which they had done in every State and Territory in the Mississippi Valley. Accordingly, under the lead of L. W. Hastings, they set out as soon as the weather would permit, and, after encountering some difficulty with the Indians, they reaches the Sacramento Valley. Among this party was Hon. Nathan Coombs, then a mere boy, who afterwards became a large land owner and stock raiser in Napa Valley, and founder of the city of that name. Uncle TOMMY SHADDEN, who is here today, was also of that party. In the spring of 1843 those of our party who remained in the country generally located claims in different sections of the Willamette Valley, and laid the foundations for homes they had traveled so far to obtain. These claims were by common consent recognized and respected without other protection than public opinion until the provisional government was established, which provided that non-residents could hold claims by having them recorded and paying five dollars annually into the territorial treasury." "Pen Pictures From the Garden of the World, or, Santa Clara County, California" Lewis Publishing Co.; Chicago; 1888 Edited by H. S. Foote; Page 37-38 "Overland travel commenced about 1841. Even before this time settlements had been made in Oregon, and that country was much better known than California. For this reason, and because California was a foreign country, nearly all the overland trains were pointed to Oregon. Some of these having reaches the Sierras and hearing something of California, came here instead. In 1841 Josiah Belden, Charles M. Weber, and Grove C. Cook came overland, as did also Henry Pitts, Peter Springer, William Wiggins, and James Rock. In 1843 Major S. J. Hensley, Julius Martin, THOMAS J. SHADDEN, and Winston Bennett made the trip across the plains. The advent of this party was an important incident, as with it came three ladies, wives of Martin, Shadden, and Bennett, the first foreign ladies to settle in the district. The next year, 1844, came the Murphy party. The history of these people is important, from the fact that they were the first to cross the mountains with wagons, and that from their advent to the present time they have been an important factor in the development of the State." "History of Santa Clara County, California Publisher: Alley, Bowen & Co. San Francisco; 1881; Page 330 "In the following years few additions were made to the strength of the pueblo. In the spring of 1844, there arrived Thomas Fallon, Julius Martin and family; THOMAS J. SHADDEN and family ; Mr. Bennett and family, while later in the year the names of Dr. John Townsend, Moses Shallenberger, the Murphys, Sullivans, and others were made familiar." ******************* Submitted to the Oregon Bios. Project in April 2005 by Diana Smith. Submitter has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned above.