4. WILLIAM CAMERON³ MCKAY (THOMAS², ALEXANDER¹) was born 18 Mar 1824 in Fort George, Oregon, and died 05 Jul 1895 in Weston, Umatilla, OR. He married MARGARET CAMPBELL 03 Oct 1856 in Wasco, Oregon¹, daughter of COLIN CAMPBELL and ELIZABETH MCGILLIVRAY. She was born 08 Jan 1833 in Red River Settlement, Canada.

Notes for WILLIAM CAMERON MCKAY:

http://www.oregongenealogy.com/umatilla/earlyhistory.htm

Early History of Umatilla County, Oregon

The first settlement of any kind in Umatilla county was the Catholic Mission, established on the Umatilla above Pendleton, by Bishop A. M. A. Blanchet, Father J. B. A. Brouillet and Mr. Leclaire, November 27, 1847, two days before the Whitman massacre. This was the actual founding, but for several months previous they had been living at Fort Walla Walla, and negotiating with the Cayuses for land upon which to build the mission. After the horrible massacre at Wailatpu, they were unable to do any missionary work; and January 2, 1848, Bishop Blanchet left for Vancouver with Peter S. Ogden and the rescued prisoners. Father Brouillet and Mr. Leclaire remained at Umitilla, in accordance with a promise made to the Cayuses to stay with them as long as they and the Americans did not go to war. On the nineteenth of February 1848, the Cayuses went out to fight Oregon volunteers, and the next day Father Brouillet and his companion went to Fort Walla Walla, and about three weeks later to Willamette Valley. The Indians being displeased, burned their house and destroyed the property left behind them. This ended the first settlement in Umatilla County.

The first actual American settler was Dr. William C. McKay, son of the celebrated Tom McKay, and grandson of Alexander McKay who came to Oregon in 1811 as a partner of John Jacob Astor, and perished soon after in the massacre of the Tonquin's crew at Vancouver Island. Dr. McKay was born and reared in Oregon, and it was his familiarity with, and confidence in this region that led him to make a settlement. After this difficulty with the Cayuse tribe had been adjusted a few Americans, and Hudson's Bay Company French, came to this section to locate. The majority of them selected choice spots on the Walla Walla, Touchet, Tukannon, and Mill Creek, while Dr. McKay located on the Umatilla River at the mouth of Houtama, or McKay creek. This was in the fall of 1851. The French settlers were chiefly in the Walla Walla valley, and not more than one or two, if any, were within the limits of Umatilla County. The great respect and regard entertained by the Cayuses for Tom McKay had, in a great measure, been conferred upon his son, and Dr. McKay was welcomed by them and received favors that would have been denied other Americans. He was looked upon as a Hudson's Bay Co. man, though he was born in Oregon, educated in New York, and had always identified himself with the Americans. This fact saved his life and that of several others a few years later. In 1851 an Indian agency was established on Umatilla, opposite the present town of Echo, by Dr. Anson Dart, Superindent of Indian affairs for Oregon. E. Wampole was installed as agent, and was succeeded the next year by Thomas K. Williams, and he by R. R. Thompson. The last named gentleman resided at the Dalles, and placed Green Arnold as his deputy at the agency. This station was known as Utilla, and in August 1851, a post office by that name was established there, being on the route between, Dalles and Salt Lake. A. F. Rogger was appointed postmaster. These were the only settlements in 1855 when the Indian war drove all Americans from the country east of the Cascades.

In common with scores of others, Dr. McKay visited the Colville mines in the summer of 1855. His property was left in charge of Jones E. Whitney, who had came with his wife in the emigration of 1854 and had lived with the Doctor for a year as his partner. In the fall he started on his return from Colville, accompanied by Victor Trevitt, now living at the Dalles, and two Hudson's Bay French. They were several times stopped by Indians, but Dr. McKay represented Trevitt as a clerk of the Hudson's Bay Co., and they were not interfered with. When they reached the settlement of Brooke, Bumford and Noble, at Wailatpu, it was deserted, and while wondering at it, Howlish Wampo head chief of the Cayuses, rode up and informed them that the Americans had all gone to the Dalles, but that some people were up the river. They proceeded up the river where they found a number of French settlers, among whom were Mr. Pambrun, Mr. McBean and a Catholic priest. Next morning the chief sent his brother with McKay and Trevitt as an escort, the two Frenchmen remaining at the camp. The Dr. found his place deserted by Whitney and his wife, the house door broken in, his property destroyed and his cattle gone. They remained there two days and had a big talk with the Cayuses, who were very sore about the sale of their land. They did not go to war as a tribe, but many of the young warriors joined the hostiles. Umhowlish, Stikas and others advised them to leave at once, as the feeling against Americans was so bad it was unsafe even for McKay to remain. They therefore departed for the Dalles as secretly as possible, passing the deserted agency as they went. McKay's place and the agency were both destroyed, and thus ended the second settlement of Umatilla County.

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http://www.accessgenealogy.com/scripts/data/database.cgi?file=Data&report=SingleArticle&ArticleID=0020758

McKay, W. C., Dr.

The following data is extracted from History of the Pacific Northwest, Oregon and Washington, 1889.

DR. W.C. McKAY. - One by one the pioneers who braved the wilderness and its dangers, in order that their posterity might enjoy the fruits of their hazardous conquests of the domain of the savage are passing away. As the poet sang of the valorous knights of the days of chivalry, "Their souls are with the saints, we trust," so, at no distant day, will the same be sung o'er the graves of the last of the pioneers. So, while yet alive, let us honor them as they deserve to be honored; and when dead let their deeds be recorded with loving remembrance on the pages of history.

Of the old pioneers who still exist, Umatilla county can claim but a few. Prominent among them is Doctor William C. McKay, who, together with his father and his grandfather, figured conspicuously in the eventful early history of the State of Oregon. His father, Thomas McKay, was born in Canada. When he had grown into a lusty lad of some fourteen summers, he, together with his father, Alexander McKay, then a partner of the millionaire, John Jacob Astor, left for Oregon to establish a trading-post. The expedition sailed in the ill-fated ship Tonquin, and arrived at the mouth of the Columbia, the beauty of whose rolling waters and massive cliffs were then known to none but the savage.

In 1812, the year of the second war with Great Britain, a company was formed under the title of the Pacific Fur Company; and a trading-post was established on the present site of Astoria. Soon after its establishment, Alexander McKay went up the coast on a trading voyage, the result of which unfortunate expedition is known to every reader of Oregon's history. His vessel, the Tonquin, was taken by the Indians, the goods confiscated, and every soul on board destroyed. Owing to sickness, the boy Thomas did not accompany his father, and to this is due the presence of Doctor W.C. McKay in Pendleton to-day.

Thomas McKay was then left upon his own resources; but they were sufficient to carry him through and make his name illustrious in the annals of Oregon. Soon after his father's death, the war resulted in the mastery of the British on the Pacific coast. The vessels of the Pacific Fur Company were intercepted and confiscated by British cruisers; and to prevent its capture, the trading post of Astoria was transferred to the North West Company, a Canadian organization. It soon became a prominent trading station of the Hudson's Bay Company, the history of whose subsequent extensive operations is known to all readers. With this powerful organization, young McKay became connected; and his services were found to be very valuable. He was placed in charge of all important expeditions; and his word was law. He was at the same time feared and respected by the Indians; and it was probably due to his influences that the trading operations of the company were carried on so peacefully with the red man, who at that time doubtless little suspected that the pale-faces would in the future become their absolute masters. He was one of those remarkable characters of which pioneer history furnishes the only type, - a crack shot, brave but cautious, resolute and determined in his actions; and he was viewed in the light of a terrible and wonderful being, gifted with almost supernatural powers, by the Indians, over whom he exercised a peculiar controlling influence. His life was an eventful one; but its incidents can be recorded in this sketch only as they concern its subject, his son.

Thomas McKay married first a princess of the Chinook tribe; and to-day Doctor W.C. McKay, their first-born child, is chief and ruler of that nation by hereditary right. As a result of this union, three sons were born, William, John and Alexander. On his second marriage, Fortune favored him with a son and a daughter; and the third time two sons and one daughter were born, making quite a large family altogether. William C. McKay with whom we have to deal, first saw the light of day at the Astoria trading-post on the 18th of March, 1824. His eyes opened on a country whose resources were almost boundless, but were yet unknown even to the few adventurous souls who had invaded the Western wilderness. It was the domain of the savage, whose wants were simply and easily gratified, and whose untutored mind was utterly unconscious of the wealth which lay beneath his feet and all around. Little he knew what he was losing when his empire was yielded inch by inch to the encroachments of the pale-face settlers. To-day what a magical scene meets the view of the Doctor; and it is due to such men as he that all this material wealth has been reclaimed. This land is compelled to yield up its riches unto the white man; and the fertile plains of the Oregon are covered with farmhouses, villages and cities instead of the few rude wigwams of the Indians.

Doctor McKay, during his boyhood days, was given over to the charge of his grandfather, Doctor John McLoughlin, who was governor of the territory occupied by the Hudson's Bay Company, and was stationed at Vancouver. Here it was he first received instruction, his young mind being trained by two Yankee teachers, John Bant of Massachusetts and Solomon H. Smith of New Hampshire, the first school-teachers that ever set foot on the shores of Oregon. They came across the Rockies with Captain Nathaniel Wyeth, the founder of the Pacific Fur and Fishing Company, of Boston, in 1832. Methodist missionaries, who braved every danger of the West in the interest of christianity, were his next educators; and altogether the young pupil had better training than many youths of the civilized present.

When William was fourteen years of age, his father concluded to send him to Scotland to be educated, and particularly to study the art of medicine; and plans were formed for his safe transportation across the continent and the Atlantic Ocean. It was one of the annual expeditions of the Hudson's Bay Company to Canada, placed as usual in the charge of his father, that he started; but, reaching the martyred Doctor Whitman's missionary station at Waiilatpu, the entire plan for the youth's education was changed. Whitman was a man of singularly impressive faculties, and exercised a powerful influence over those with whom he came in contact. He was moreover truly loyal to the United States government, and at length persuaded the father to have his son educated at home. "Tom," said he, "I suppose you know that this country will one day become the property of the Untied States, although a British organization, the Hudson's Bay Company, now has temporary control; but the time is coming when Uncle Sam's mastery will be undisputed. I therefore wish you would send Bill to the college in which I was educated in the Eastern states. Give him an American education, and let American principles and ideas be thoroughly inculcated in his youthful mind." His words had a great effect; but the father replied that his money was all in England, and that he hadn't the means to give his boy a collegiate education in America. "I trade at your post," answered Whitman; "and I draw my money from Boston. I will pay for the young man's education; and in exchange you can furnish me with supplies." The worthy Doctor was so intensely loyal that he did not wish a single useful subject to be lost to the United States; and he carried his point. The matter was forthwith settled; and at Soda Springs, on Bear river, William McKay, with his two brothers, John and Alexander, parted company with their father, and in charge of Missionary Jason lee and party safely made the trip across the plains in the summer of 1838.

On reaching the East, the subject of our sketch entered Fairfield College, Herkimer county, New York, at that time, his two brothers being placed in a Methodist training school at Wilberham, Massachusetts. There he remained, wrestling with his studies in medicine, for five years, and then, grown nearly to man's estate, and ready to battle with life, returned with another expedition of the Hudson's Bay Company, starting from Montreal in1843. His two brothers left for the West a year before with the first emigrants who ever crossed the plains. The operation of the Hudson's Bay Company, notwithstanding the dangers and difficulties encountered in trips through the wilderness, were conducted on a perfect system; and the return journey was made without hindrance or delay. On his return young McKay was established in the mercantile business at Oregon City by the grandfather, and continued in that occupation until the California gold fields were discovered, when he joined a party of eager gold-seekers in the palmy days of 1849 and started for the El Dorado. The Trinity mine, in Northern California, was discovered and operated with profit by this expedition, but its members were attacked by sickness, death decimating their ranks; and in one year those who remained were glad to return to the fair climate of Oregon as best they could. McKay being among the number who survived. He located again in Oregon City on his return; and we find him there a short time after the Whitman massacre, which set the little frontier world afire.

It was this sad event, and the necessity of a stronger organization and protection against the Indians, which warned the settlers that the days of a Provisional government must cease; and efforts were made to bring Oregon Territory under the United States government. This was finally accomplished, Joe Meek being sent to Washington to present the claims of the would-be territory, and Joseph Lane being made governor. One of his first acts was to call the Indians together at The Dalles, in council, to enforce the delivery of the actual murderers of Doctor Whitman and party. The Umatillas, Walla Wallas and Cayuses obeyed the request; and the guilty Indians were yielded up to the avenging white man, and were duly tried and executed at Oregon City. The chiefs of those Indians, who were present at the trial, invited Doctor McKay to establish a trading-post in their midst; and his final settlement in Eastern Oregon is due to that fact. He soon had a post established, locating on the creek which bears his name, a short distance from the present site of Pendleton, and on the spot where the residence of Mr. Fanning now stands, commenced operations. His post was situated on the very outskirts of the country known to the white man, and became the general rendezvous of traders and travelers.

The Doctor wintered on the site of Pendleton in 1851 and 1852, on the spot where W.H. Jones' residence now stands, then occupied by a flourishing grove of trees. Then, instead of brick blocks and fine residences, the valley of the Umatilla was covered only with cottonwood trees and thickets of brush and willows. Into the vast and fertile territory of Eastern Oregon even the earliest pioneers had not ventured; and the race of the pale-face was only represented by the trader, driving his traffic with the Indians, and exchanging beads and blankets for valuable furs. In the spring of 1852 McKay returned to Oregon City, but soon came back with a larger stock of goods, and remained, doing the while a "rushing business," until the Yakima war in 1855, in which he with many others lost all his possessions. The Indians had recognized by this time that the people who came form the land of the rising sun had grown all too numerous; there was menacing danger; the houses and lands of the red men were being taken and occupied by the pale-face settler and miner, who by this time had begun to make their presence felt. The time had come when this number should be lessened, and a few scalps hung to the lodge poles of the tribes; but they began the work of destruction too late, - and in vain.

The primary cause of the war was the treaty with the Indians in1855, in which all their lands from the east of the Cascades to the Missouri river were purchased, and their occupation by the settlers begun. Another cause was the discovery of the Colville mines in Idaho, and other discoveries of the rich mineral wealth contained in the country of the Snakes, Cayuses and Walla Wallas. These discoveries led to an excitement and consequent influx of population much similar to the one in the Golden state in the "days of gold" of '49. The savage began to look upon the increasing number of white men with distrust and suspicion. While few in number, nothing could be feared; but now the forest, the plains, the beautiful valley of the Indian, were becoming monopolized. So the hatchet was dug up with a vengeance; and war was declared.

The treaty in question took place on the present site of Walla Walla. General Issac I. Stevens, Governor of Washington Territory, and General Joel Palmer, Superintendent of Indian affairs for Oregon, with their associates, met the head men of the Indians there in council. Dr. W.C. McKay took a prominent part as secretary of council for Oregon; and this explains the subsequent antipathy for him by the Indians, and the total destruction of his property. Almost immediately after the treaty the war began, lasting two years, the Indians finally being forced into submission. Its history is well known; and it is not necessary to particularize it here. Suffice it to say that McKay took a prominent part, and that his services as a scout were found to be very valuable by the campaigning generals, who were as unacquainted with the methods of Indian warfare as the Indian himself would be of military tactics. In the fall of 1856, Doctor McKay acted as guide for the expeditions of Generals Wright and Steptoe; and it was he who selected the site of Fort Walla Walla, a garrison being their established at his suggestion.

After the close of this war, when the power of the Indian had been almost broken, mines were discovered in Southern Idaho and Eastern Oregon and Washington, principal among them being those at Boise in1864; and to this fact is due the final rapid settlement of this section, the rancher and stock-grower following fast upon the heels of the miner, as he himself had followed the early traders and missionaries.

In the meantime the doctor had taken unto himself a wife, marrying Miss Mary Campbell at The Dalles, then a small settlement, in1857.

The Indians gain began to make trouble for the now hated pale-face at the close of the Civil war. The red man could not remain quiet and see his possessions wrested from him. The Snakes began a bushwhacking style of warfare, harassing the entire mining section, intercepting and confiscating pack trains and supply outfits, and taking the scalps of struggling unfortunates. Everything was thrown into a state of chaos; miners were compelled to cease operations because of the lack of supplies, which traders were unable to send. The Untied States soldiers seemed powerless or unwilling to take any action; and indeed one wily redskin, familiar with every nook and cranny of his mountain home, was more than a match for a dozen blue-coats. Finally measures for defense became absolutely necessary; and here again we find McKay placed to the fore. A petition was signed by the settlers and sent to Governor Woods, asking, in the name of God, that volunteers be organized as a means of protection against the devastating Snakes. A bill was thereupon introduced in the legislature for three companies of volunteers; but an amendment was proposed by Judge Humason, representative from The Dalles. He said volunteers were all well enough in their way; but his plan was to fight Greeks with Greeks and Indians with Indians. He moved that a company of scouts consisting of Warm Spring Indians be raised, and that Dr. W.C. McKay be placed at their head.

The amendment was carried with a rush. General Steele, commander of the department of the Columbia, proposed that the scouts be equipped with necessary arms and accoutrements, and be regularly mustered into the United States service. As is usual in such cases, a quantity of red tape was wound around proceedings; and we find the Indians waiting at The Dalles for three or four months, impatient for action, but not yet supplied with everything necessary to well-regulated warfare from a tactician's standpoint. At last, in the dead of winter, the company was inspected by General Steele; and McKay was asked when it was advisable to begin the campaign. "Now," was his emphatic answer; and he forthwith took the field with his command, being assisted in the leadership by captain John Dauch. It is needless to say that, being acquainted with the modus operandi of the enemy, their campaigning was eminently successful; and they returned with thirty-five scalps, more than the entire regular army of the United States in that section had captured in five years.

In the month of June they again took the field, being then used as the eyes and ears of the command of General Crook, who was in command of this district. The Doctor says that the General, a very affable gentleman, spent much of his time in schooling himself in Indian warfare, using the Indian scouts as his tutors. He was an apt scholar, and gained knowledge which afterwards proved of much value during his famous campaign against the Apaches in Arizona. The result was that in one year after the little band of Indian scouts took the field under McKay, and afterwards placed themselves in the service of General Crook, the Piutes and Snakes sued for peace in solemn council with their enemies. One of their chiefs, in a grave and impressive address, said that once his people were as numerous as the leaves on the trees, pointing to a grove green with verdure; now they were few in number, and had fallen as the leaves in autumn, and were compelled to make peace with the white man. But he told the pale-faced commander that it was not he whom he feared, nor his blue-coated soldiers, at whom the Indians laughed. "It is there," and he pointed to McKay and the Warm springs scouts, "the salmon-eaters (as the Warm Springs Indians were styled by their copper-colored brethren) who have taken the scalps of my people and compelled us to bury the hatchet ere it is red with the blood of our enemies."

The chief was right. The Warm Springs Indians, guided by the vigilant McKay and his able assistant; were a terrible force. They knew the customs and habits of the foe with whom they had to deal, and could fight him with his own weapons and in his own style of warfare, and were provided with all necessary supplies by the government. The method employed, says the Doctor, was to march from place to place by night, camp in some obscure retreat during the day, sending out scouts to discover signs and traces of the enemy. When a trail was discovered , it was followed with the keenness of a pack of hounds by lynx-eyed pursuers. The camp of the enemy was discovered; and that night the hapless Indians were swooped down upon and destroyed as the hawk darts upon its prey. That was the method of warfare, and it was a successful one.

With the surrender of the Snakes terminated the eventful portion of the Doctor's history. He was invited by General Canby to take command of the same company of scouts during the Modoc war, but considered the outbreak a trifling matter, owing to the small number of the Indians, and refused. It was not, however; for it cost the government nearly three million dollars to subdue less than one hundred able-bodied Indians. Donald McKay, a brother of the Doctor, had charge of the Warm Spring scouts during this famous campaign against Captain Jack in the lava beds; and these scouts did about the only successful fighting.

Leaving the Doctor located in Pendleton after the close of the outbreak, we will close our sketch, a brief and unsatisfactory one, considering the variety of events the writer endeavors in a faint way to portray. Should the principal incidents of the Doctor's life be particularized, a volume would not contain them.

He is now a hale and hearty old gentleman of over three-score years, and has seen churches, buildings and schools spring up magically around him where once was a wilderness. He has seen the pack-train superseded by the iron horse, and the last vestige of the early days of the trader and pioneer obliterated. Here, in the midst of civilization, refinement, and the busy bustle of a world of mortals, we find the Doctor at present, and will leave him to the tender mercies of the future.

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Pioneer days of Oregon history page 442

Mr. Holman was a much respected and well-known citizen, now many years deceased, whose friendship I enjoyed, and it is a pleasure to do justice to his memory. He was of English birth, came to America in 1836, resided in Peoria at the time when Rev. Jason Lee lectured there in the winter of 1837-38. That lecture was the inducement for this band of adventurers to make that attempt. Holman was a wagonmaker and knew2 William C. McKay -- afterwards Dr. McKay, grandson of Mrs. McLoughlin, who was then East at school and frequented his shop, telling of the beautiful Willamette, the Columbia River region, the salmon run, etc., that interested those who heard.

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Notes for WILLIAM CAMERON MCKAY:

According to the Oregon Historical Quarterly in 1978 "William McKay was blessed with a healthy constitution, a lively sense of humour from both sides of his heritage and a fondness for Scotch whiskey."

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1860 United States Federal Census > Oregon > Marion > Champoeg

Line 19

Wm McCay 37 Farmer 2,000/1,000 OR

Margt McKay 24 F F.America

Flora McCay 3 F OR

Thos McCay 2 M OR

Source Citation: Year: 1860; Census Place: Champoeg, Marion, Oregon; Roll: M653_1056; Page: 384; Image: 16.

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1870 Census OR Wasco East Dalles Precinct Pg 431

Line 6

88 88 William C McKay 46 M 1/2 I Physician OR

Margaret McKay 36 F 1/2 I Keeping House Canada

Flora E McKay 12 F 1/2 I Attending School OR

Thomas C McKay 11 M 1/2 I Attending School OR

John M McKay 9 M 1/2 I OR

James S McKay 7 M 1/2 I OR

Delia C McKay 3 F 1/2 I OR

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1880 Census OR Umatilla Pendleton ED 112 Pg 54A

Line 18

53 McKay W. C. IM 53 Dr for I Agency OR MI OR

----------, Margaret IF 45 Wife Keeping House Canada Scotland Canada

----------, Flora E IF 22 Daughter At Home OR OR Canada

----------, Thomas IM 21 Son Carpenter OR OR Canada

----------, James IM 17 Son Laborer OR OR Canada

----------, Delia IF 13 Daughter At School OR OR Canada

More About WILLIAM CAMERON MCKAY:

Census 1: 1870, OR Wasco East Dalles Precinct Pg 431

Census 2: 1860, OR Marion Champoeg Pg 384

Census 3: 1880, OR Umatilla Pendleton ED 112 Pg 54A

Occupation 1: 1892, Dr. VA Agency

Occupation 2: 1870, Physician

Occupation 3: 1880, Dr for V Agency

Picnic: 1892, Weston, Umatilla, OR

Residence: 1892, Pendleton, Umatilla, OR

Notes for MARGARET CAMPBELL:

http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/METISGEN/2001-07/0995907019

More About MARGARET CAMPBELL:

Baptism: August 23, 1833, St Boniface, Red

River Settlement

Fact 1: Stan Hulme 'Out from Hudson's Bay'

Dec, 1998

Fact 2: MF pages 175 & 767

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http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:0QOpsetJWj8J:freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~jtenlen/ORBios/wcmckay.txt+%22Umatilla%22+%22McKay+William%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us

DR. WILLIAM CAMERON McKAY

No name appears more frequently in the pioneer annals of the Northwest than

that of McKay. Alexander McKay, a hardy Scotchman, and well versed in the fur

trade, came to Oregon in 1811, with his son Thomas, as a partner of Astor in the

Pacific Fur Company, and lost his life a few weeks later in the massacre of the

Tonquin's crew by savages of Vancouver island. His widow afterwards married Dr.

McLaughlin, Chief Factor of the Hudson's Bay Company, at Vancouver. Thomas

McKay was at Astoria at the time of his father's death, and a few years later

entered the service of the Hudson's Bay Company. He became more widely known

and had greater influence among the Indians of the Coast than any white man

before or since. In after years he left the company and settled among the

American pioneers of Oregon. He had four sons: William C., Alexander, John,

and Donald. The last has become quite prominent as a scout and Indian fighter,

especially in the Modoc war, and has been traveling in the East for several

years with a party of Warm Spring Indians. Alexander and John are dead.

William C. was born at Astoria March 16, 1828. He lived in childhood at

Vancouver, and was taught by his grandfather, Dr. McLaughlin. In 1833, a Yankee

named John Ball, came out with Nathaniel Wyeth's party, and was employed by Dr.

McLaughlin to teach school at Vancouver. The next year Ball went to Sandwich

Islands, and thence to Boston. The next teacher was an English sailor. In 1836

Cyrus Shepard, and M. E. missionary, was employed to teach the school. In 1837

William was placed in the dispensary to aid the Company's physician put up

medicines for the interior posts and trapping parties. It was there he began

the study of medicine. In 1838, his father who was then in charge of Fort Hall,

decided to send him to Scotland, and Alexander and John to Wilberham, Mass.,

where Rev. Jason Lee was educated. When they arrived at the Wailatpu mission

where they were to separate, William to go by the way of Manitoba, and the

others by Fort Hall, Dr. Whitman persuaded Mr. McKay to send William to

Fairfield, N.Y., where the Doctor was educated, and "make an American of him."

His course and destination were thus changed, and he accompanied his brothers by

the way of Fort Hall. He staid there five years, attending the Academy and

Medical College. He came back in 1843, with the Hudson's Bay Company's annual

express, and had to leave school before getting his diploma. His professors,

one of whom was the celebrated Dr. F. H. Hamilton, of New York, gave him a

medical certificate, or license. Upon his return he became a clerk in the

Hudson's Bay store at Oregon City, as there was but little call for a physician.

In July, 1849, he went to California, and mined on Trinity river, returning in

the fall on account of ill health, and bringing back a goodly quantity of gold

dust. In 1851 he went to Eastern Oregon, and in the next spring settled on the

Umatilla river, at the mouth of McKay, or Houtamia, creek. In 1855 he was

driven out by the Indians, and his property destroyed. He then entered the

military service as guide and interpreter, and served till 1861. He was then

appointed physician at the Warm Spring reservation. In 1866 he commanded a

company of seventy-six Warm Spring Indians, in the war with the Snakes, and in a

year whipped them into submission, the soldiers having tried it in vain for two

years. In 1868 he became physician of the Umatilla reservation. In 1874 he

went East, with his brother Donald and a party of Warm Spring Indians, and

traveled two years, chiefly in New York and the New England States. He then

settled in Pendleton and practiced medicine. A year later he again became the

Agency physician, and so remained until 1881. Since that time he has been

practicing his profession in Pendleton, where he resides with his family. Dr.

McKay is a man of broad mind and liberal ideas. He enjoys a large share of the

confidence the Indians formerly reposed in his father, and possesses in a marked

degree, the integrity and firmness of character peculiar to his Scotch ancestry.

(Additional notes in this same book regarding Dr. McKay, pages 451, 452)

The first actual American settler was Dr. William C. McKay, son the of

celebrated Tom McKay, and grandson of Alexander McKay who came to Oregon in 1811

as a partner of John Jacob Astor, and perished soon after in the massacre of the

Tonquin's crew at Vancouver island. Dr. McKay was born and reared in Oregon,

and it was his familiarity with, and confidence in this region that led him to

make a settlement. After this difficulty with the Cayuse tribe had been

adjusted a few American's, and Hudson's Bay Company French, came to this section

to locate. The majority of them selected choice spots on the Walla Walla,

Touchet, Tukannon, and Mill Creek, while Dr. McKay located on the Umatilla river

at the mouth of Houtama, or McKay creek. This was in the fall of 1851. The

French settlers were chiefly in the Walla Walla valley, and not more than one of

two, if any, were within the limits of Umatilla county. The great respect and

regard entertained by the Cayuses for Tom McKay had, in a great measure, been

conferred upon his son, and Dr. McKay was welcomed by them and received favors

that would have been denied other Americans. He was looked upon as a Hudson's

Bay Co. man, though he was born in Oregon, educated in New York, and had always

identified himself with the Americans. this fact saved his life and that of

several others a few years later. In 1851 an Indian agency was established on

Umatilla, opposite the present town of Echo, by Dr. Anson Dart, Superindent of

Indian affairs for Oregon. E. Wampole was installed as agent, and was succeeded

the next year by Thomas K. Williams, and he by R. R. Thompson. The last named

gentleman resided at the Dalles, and placed Green Arnold as his deputy at the

agency. This station was known as Utilla, and in August 1851, a post office by

that name was established there, being on the route between, Dalles and Salt

Lake. A. F. Rogger was appointed post master. These were the only settlements

in 1855 when the Indian war drove all Americans from the country east of the

Cascades.

In common with scores of others, Dr. McKay visited the Colville mines in the

summer of 1855. His property was left in charge of Jones E. Whitney, who had

came with his wife in the emigration of 1854 and had lived with the Doctor for a

year as his partner. In the fall he started on his return from Colville,

accompanied by Victor Trevitt, now living at the Dalles, and two Hudson's Bay

French. They were several times stopped by Indians, but Dr. McKay represented

Trevitt as a clerk of the Hudson's Bay Co., and they were not interfered with.

When they reaches the settlement of Brooke, Bumford and Noble, at Wailatpu, it

was deserted, and while wondering at it, Howlish Wampo head chief of the

Cayuses, rode up and informed them that the Americans had all gone to the

Dalles, but that some people were up the river. they proceeded up the river

where they found a number of French settlers, among whom were Mr. Pambrun, Mr.

McBean and a Catholic priest. Next morning the chief sent his brother with

McKay and Trevitt as an escort, the two Frenchmen remaining at the camp. The

Dr. found his place deserted by Whitney and his wife, the house door broken in,

his property destroyed and his cattle gone. They remained there two days and

had a big talk with the Cayuses, who were very sore about the sale of their

land. They did not go to war as a tribe, but many of the young warriors joined

the hostiles. Umhowlish, Stikas and others advised them to leave at once, as

the feeling against Americans was so bad it was unsafe even for McKay to remain.

They therefore departed for the Dalles as secretly as possible, passing the

deserted agency as they went. McKay's place and the agency were both destroyed,

and thus ended the second settlement of Umatilla county.

(Additional notes in this same book regarding Dr. McKay, page 462)

County election, June 6, 1882

Office - Coroner, Name - William C. McKay, Politics - Rep., Vote - 1156, No.

candidates - 3, Total votes - 2545

More About MARGARET CAMPBELL:

Census 1: 1860, OR Marion Champoeg Pg 384(See Husband)

Census 2: 1870, OR Wasco East Dalles Precinct Pg 431(See Husband)

Census 3: 1880, OR Umatilla Pendleton ED 112 Pg 54A(See Husband)

More About WILLIAM MCKAY and MARGARET CAMPBELL:

Marriage: 03 Oct 1856, Wasco, Oregon¹

Children of WILLIAM MCKAY and MARGARET CAMPBELL are: