- Christians on the Oregon Trail: Churches of Christ
and Christian Churches in Early Oregon,
1842-1882
http://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1004&context=heritage_center
But no individual in this party suffered more than 44-year old Catherine Linville Crowley, an older sister of Harrison
Linville. Her daughter, Matilda, and son, Calvin, along with
his wife and child, all died on the plains before the train ever detoured to the Applegate Trail. They probably died from typhoid or mountain fever. Calvin died on July 26 and his body was wrapped in a sheet and buried without a coffin.
After detouring to the Applegate Trail, Catherine's 16-year old daughter, Martha Leland Crowley, died of typhoid on
October 18 in present-day Josephine County. Two more
daughters, Melissa and a nameless baby, died on the same
day, October 27. Finally, her husband, Thomas Leland
Crowley, died of pneumonia on December 4 in the vicinity of
Creswell, a little south of present-day Eugene in Lane County.
With her remaining five children, all 12 years old and
younger, Catherine Linville Crowley continued resolutely on
to a new home and a new beginning in Polk County.
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