| Notes |
- Thomas Crawford McBride was born during the Revolutionary War near the site of a major battle, Guilford Courthouse. He became a very famous minister of the Disciples of Christ Church or Campbellite Church (Christian Church). There is a website that has much information on him and his two sons (Thomas McBride, Jr. & James McBride) that also became ministers in the same church. The website (compiled by Charles Dailey) is in incredible story of the Christian Church and its members especially in Oregon is as follows:
http://ncbible.org/nwh/ProMcBrideTC.html After you view Thomas Crawford's information, go back to the Pioneer Index. There you can click on James McBride's information. This website has information about Thomas Crawford McBride's three wives. I believe that he was married to these three women, but I am not sure which children were born to which wife. The information about his mother being a sister to Andrew Jackson's mother is family tradition and should be taken as so. He cites some sources, but I am sure these sources came from information from family members. Those family members were a lot closer to the actual activities, but as of yet no proof has been found. Pat Linton
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The Stockton Valley Association
http://www.danielhaston.com/places/churches/bigfork/big-fork-sv-assn.htm
1806 At Roaring River Meeting House in Overton County, TN
Caney Fork Baptist Church was newly constituted as of this 1806 meeting. This church changed its name to Big Spring Baptist and later to Town Creek Baptist. It was located in White County, TN.
Note: John Mulkey, Philip Mulkey, & Thomas McBride were prominent in the early years of the Stockton Association (particularly, John Mulkey who was the association's moderator). They were all three in this 1806 meeting. These men all defected to the "New Light" (Stone-Campbell "Restoration Movement") movement a few years later.
1808 At Big Spring Meeting House "on the waters of the Caney Fork" in White County, TN
John Mulkey preached the introductory sermon. (Philip Mulkey and Thomas McBride were also present here in this meeting in White Co.).
Note: Apparently, in the 1811 meeting, association representatives had been appointed "to look into the standing of Big Spring (of White County, TN), Sinking Creek (of White County, TN), Middle Fork (of Jackson County, TN...where Thomas McBride was or had been the pastor), Brimstone (of Clay County, TN...where Philip Mulkey was the pastor), and Martin's Creek (of Jackson County, TN)" churches. At the time of the 1812 meeting, "With respect to Big Spring, Sinking Creek, and Middle [Fork] churches satisfaction is received..." The report indicated that they doubted that the Martin's Creek Church "has ever been legally constituted and ...we agree to drop her out of our union." "And in consequence of the Brimstone Church being disorderly we agree to drop her from our union and declare that we will be no more accountable for her conduct."
Big Spring, Sinking Creek, and Middle Fork had all been represented at the 1810 meeting, so the investigation into their "standing" was probably not because of having missed associational meetings (although they could have missed the 1811 meeting, since we have no record of that meeting). Were they all three being examined for possible involvement in the "New Lights" (Stone-Campbell) movement, now being led in this region by John & Philip Mulkey? We do know that Thomas McBride of the Middle Fork Church was influenced by the Mulkeys and soon headed west as a missionary-church planter for this movement. In this meeting, nothing is said of Thomas McBride, although his church was mentioned. Probably, failing to lead his church to follow the views he adopted from the Mulkeys, he left the church. Thus, the Middle Fork Church was cleared of charges of being disorderly. However, for whatever reason, there was no representative from the Middle Fork Church at this 1812 meeting.
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EARLY TENNESSEE AND KENTUCKY PREACHERS
by R.L. Roberts
http://www.mun.ca/rels/restmov/tests/resources/TNKY.htm
The writer has for a number of years attempted to compile a complete list of preachers active in the Cumberland region before A. Campbell's influence was felt. The list consists of approximately 200 names, all of whom, either directly or indirectly, were influence by Barton W. Stone. Name of Baptist ministers - representing the earliest influence by Campbell in Tennessee - are included, e. g. John Calvin Smith, Jonathan H. Young, Joshua K. Speer, Calvin Curlee.
#103. McBride, Thomas 1777-18
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Ansearchin' News
Vol. 18 1971
White County Tennessee 1811 Tax List, Polls & Taxable Property
Pg 110 McBride, Thomas 1 white poll 100 acres Location: Where he lives
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History of Boone County, Missouri
http://digital.library.umsystem.edu/cgi/t/text
Page 1105
Thos. McBride, Sr., came from Madison county, Kentucky, to this county in 1816. He had three sons, who had nearly attained manhood when they came to the new country. They were named, Jacob, James and Thomas. Old Thomas McBride was the first preacher in Rocky Fork, and was an earnest, zealous one, who test-book was the Bible alone. Of his sons Jacob was a farmer and a justice of the peace for many years; James was a physician;Thomas, Jr., was a school teacher. Altogether the McBride were men of more than average learning and ability. the father and James and Thomas removed to Oregon in an early day, and there the old gentleman lived to see one of his grandsons governor of the State and a congressman. Jacob McBride died in this township, and the family resides in the county, except one member, a daughter, who removed to Oregon.
Samuel Caldwell came to the township with the McBrides and married a daughter of Thomas, Sr. Caldwell served as constable of the township for fifteen years. He settled on section nine, township fifty, range twelve, where John Philips now resides, and died in 1881, at an advanced age.
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Errett Gates' The Disciples of Christ: Chapter X (Excerpt)
http://www.mun.ca/rels/restmov/tests/egates/tdoc/TDOC10.HTM
Early Growth and Organization
The state of Missouri lay in the path of emigration to the west and was among the first to receive visits from Christian preachers from Kentucky. Thomas McBride came under the teaching of B.W. Stone in Kentucky, moved to Missouri in 1816, and was the first Christian preacher who crossed the Mississippi River to preach the Bible alone as the basis of Christian union. He preached and established churches in Howard, Boone, Franklin and other adjacent counties lying along the Missouri River. Samuel Rogers was the second Christian preacher to go to Missouri. He made his first journey in 1819 and found many churches already established by McBride. These early Christian churches, together with many Baptist churches, provided congenial soil for the teachings of Alexander Campbell and out of them came the first churches of the Disciples in the state. The reformation was devloped in the early period under the preaching of such men as J.H. Haden, T.M. Allen, M. P. Wills, F. R. Palmer, Absalom Rice, James Love, Jacob Creath, Allen Wright, Jacob and Joseph Coons, Henry Thomas, and Duke Young.
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Autobiography of Elder Samuel Rogers
edited by his son, Elder John I. Rogers
3d edition, Cincinnati
Standard Publishing Company
1881
"After traveling over the burnt prairie for a few hours, I cam e to timber, and, from the direction of the streams, I knew that I was on the waters of the Missouri. I was not long in finding a cabin, where I inquired after Thomas McBride. The inmates knew him, and gave me directions that soon led me to his cabin. He was at home, and was glad to see me. Thomas McBride was a plain, uneducated man, but he had fine sense and a sound judgment. He was the first Christian preacher who had crossed the Mississippi to preach the Bible alone, as the only basis of Christian union. He was a poor man, and led an humble life, but he was rich in faith, and had been battling alone for years against error and superstition. His home was now in the upper end of Howard county. He had recently moved to this place, but he made me welcome and comfortable in his log cabin. I related to him the success of the meeting at Ramsey's Creek, at which he seemed overjoyed. For a long time he had been in Missouri, and he had almost despaired of ever receiving any assistance from any source. When I informed him that Hughes and I had determined to make a lengthy tour through this county the coming spring, his feelings completely overcame him....
"On the following day, arrangements were made for a meeting to be held at Brother Cyrus Bradley's house. We had a pleasant season, but, being anxious to see other friends and relations before I should return home, I left for Salt Creek, in the lower part of Howard County, where Brother McBride had labored for some time, and had gathered together a small band of disciples.....
"From this place I went to Franklin county where Brother McBride had lived and had made his mark. I found many here who loved the Bible cause, but they had no leader."
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RED TOP CEMETERY
Hallsville, Missouri
http://www.geocities.com/Heatland/Valley/7991/redtopcm.html
Located 1 mile west of Hallsville, Missouri on Hwy 124
RED TOP CHRISTIAN CHURCH - Rocky Fork Township - The Christian Church at Red Top is one of the oldest churches in this part of Missouri. The germ or parent organization was founded October 5, 1822, with the following members: Elders---Wm. Roberts, Thos. W. McBride and Richard Cave. Deacons---Nathan Roberts and Isaac Davis.
Members---Peter Stice, Richard Wainscott, Richmond T. Roberts, James Roberts, Priscilla Roberts, Sally Davis, Nancy Wainscott, Charlotte Caldwell, Charlotte Stice, Mary Turner. This organization was before the formation of the Christian or Disciples church. The members took for a guide and were ruled by the Bible, and by the Bible alone. They subscribed to no creed or confession of faith. They recognized the elders of the church as pastors, and to them all questions of difference were referred. Afterwards the organization was merged into the Christian church.
The pastors of the church have been Thos. McBride, Richmond T. Roberts, Joe hayde, Richard Cave, Thos. M. Allen, M. Wills, Wm. White, Thomas Thompson, Elder Davis, Elijah Chrisman, John T. McCune, T.J. Marlow, M.M. Davis, Joel A. Heddington, and others. From the History of Boone County, Missouri.
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Historical and Biographical Sketches of the Early Churches and Pioneer Preachers of the Christian Church in Missouri by T.P. Haley
Kansas City, Mo: J.H. Smart & Co., 1888 Chapter III Boone County Page 138
The first church organized in this county was called "Red Top", a country church, situated some twelve miles north of Columbia. The church was organized on the fifth day of October, 1822, with William Roberts, Thomas W. McBride, and Richard Cave as elders........(there is more about Thomas McBride, but it has related elsewhere in these notes - Pat Linton).
Page 138 "Bear Creek Church," situated some three or four miles north of Columbia, and now called Antioch, was the next congregation organized. The congregation was organized on the 6th day of June, 1824. Hon. Jesse Boulton, to whom I am indebted for these facts, says: "As a curiosity i give you a copy of the record verbatim: (Page 139) "June 6, 1824, we the undersigned subscribers being called upon to Examine in to the faith and ability of the Brethren living on and near Bear Creek (north of Columbia) desireing to be constituted, we find them in our opinion sound in the faith, and possessing the abilities of keeping in order the house of God. We have therefore pronouced them a church of Jesus Christ, under no other discipline or Rule of faith and Practice but the old and new Testament, professing at the same time to have charity enough as a church to let each other judge of the doctrines contained in the Scriptures for ourselves. Given under our hands who are Elders and have Constituted the undersigned names. Elder present: Thomas McBride, William Roberts, John M. Thomas. "Assigned the day and date above."
Page 141, Rocheport church was organized in the year 1837, by Thomas M. Allen, kindly furnished me by his son, Colonel W.H. Allen, I find the following (page 142) minute: "October 7th. I went to Rocheport and met Brothers Thomas McBride, James mcBride and Joel Prewitt. Brothers Prewitt, James McBride, myself and Thomas McBride preached today in the order we are named. 8th Second Lord's day. Old Brother McBride and I preached to a very large congregation today. After preaching we planted a Church of Jesus Christ with thirty-four members."
Page 145 Elder Thomas McBride, whose name has been mentioned so frequently already, came from Madison county, Kentucky, to Boone County, in 1816. He was, I think, from the best information I can gather, the first advocate of primitive Christianity in the State of Missouri. In my childhood no name was more familiar among the disciples than that of Thomas McBride. He preached in Missouri first among the Baptists and was among the first to advocate reform. In addition to his labors in Boone county he is mentioned in connection with the early churches of Callaway, Howard, Monroe, Randolph, Cooper, Saline and Lafayette. He was a "tall, fine looking man of splended appearance." I know nothing of his peculiarities as a preacher, but he must have been a man of rare powers to impress himself as he did upon all the preachers and churches in an early day. He labored in Missouri for about thirty years and then removed with his children to Oregon, where (page 146) he lived to see one of his grandsons Governor of the State and a member of Congress. I have no information concerning his last days.
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Biographical Sketch of Mrs. Lorretta (Warren) Reavis, Johnson County, Missouri
From "History of Johnson County, Missouri," by Ewing Cockrell
http://searches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/ifetch2?/u1/data/mo+index+771093015956+F
Mrs. Loretta (Warren) Reavis, one of Johnson county's most highly esteemed pioneer women, was born in Lafayette county, Missouri in 1826 and when a mere child came to Johnson county with her parents, martin and Nancy (Hubbard) Warren of Virginia........................Frequently a young lady would go to church barefooted, carrying her shoes with her and putting them on when she had reached the church. Amonth pioneer preachers, whom Mrs. Reavis recalls, were Reverend Thomas Mulkey and Reverend Thomas McBride. There were no churches in the early days and religious services were held in the log cabin homes. Sometimes a traveling preacher would visit the settlement and then the settlers would comes miles and miles to hear him preach. The pioneer preacher was a settler just like the rest. He was always welcome and even the poorest settler was glad to share all he had with him.
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1830 US Census, Howard County, Missouri
Page 14
Thomas McBride
1 male 50 - 60 Thomas b 1777 (53 years)
1 female 50 - 60 (maybe 2nd wife)
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History of Lincoln County, Missouri
http://digital.library.umsystem, edu/cgi/t/text
CHAPTER XV
ECCLESIASTICAL
As mentioned elsewhere the date of organized efforts in behalf of church organization in Lincoln County is closely allied to the early settlement of the country. In these worthy movements pioneer ministers bore an important part.
Among these pioneer ministers of Lincoln County were Andrew Monroe, David Hubbard............And, commencing with 1830, the record shows the following: 1830, James W. Campbell and Thomas Bowen; 1832, Elder Thomas McBride of the Christian Church........
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Johnson County, Missouri
Original Land Grant
Sec 3 Twp 45 R25
E1/2 SW1/4 Thomas McBride 30 April 1839
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1840 US Census, Johnson County, Missouri
Page 119
Thos. McBride
1 male 60-70 Thomas b 1777 (63 years)
1 female 50-60 maybe Nancy (3rd wife)
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History of Johnson County, Missouri
by Ewing Cockrell
http://digital.library.umsystem.edu/cgi/t/text
Page 251 &
Early Churches. -- Like other sections of Johnson county, the cause of religion was given early attention in the pioneer days.
Mount Zion Church of Christ was the first religious society established in the township. It was organized May 31, 1840, with the following members: Charles Thornton, George Thornton, .......................Among some of the early pastors of this denomination, who filled the pulpit here were, Thomas Mulkey, Dr. Thomas McBride, Duke Young, Elder Price, Allen Wright, etc.
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Oregon Donation Land Claims
Volume 1
#128 McBride, Thomas, Yamhill Co., b 1777 Guilford Co. NC; SC 4 July 1848; m Ann 28 Sept 1851 Yamhill Co. Ore. T. Aff: Thomas W. Wright, Andrew K. (X) Wright, Conflicting boundary between James Fulton & McBride. Adj. c. settle by Jas McBride, son.
Oregon Donation Land Claims in Oregon
Volume 5
128 McBRIDE, Thomas, Yamhill Co., T3S R4W secs. 17, 18, 19, 20, 392.79 acres; b 1776/7 son of James and Mary Crawford McBride, d 1857; m 1st m2nd 9-28-1851 Yamhill Co. O. T. Ann; 1860 Yamhill Co. census shows Ann McBride 64 b Va residing with James mcBride family #11 Yamhill Co. Wills - DAR Collection
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History of Laclede, Camden, Dallas, Webster, Wright, Texas, Pulaski, Phelps and Dent Counties, Missouri
http://digital.library.umsystem.edu/cgi/t/text
Page 687
The Christian Church has grown steadily ever since the preaching of Elders Thomas McBride and Samuel Rogers in the earliest decades of this century.
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Past & Present of
SALINE COUNTY MISSOURI
by Hon. William Barclay Napton
CHAPTER XXVIII
The inhabitants of Saline county were always a religious and devout people, many being the descendants of Scotch Presbyterians. The pioneer preacher was a fighter as well as a preacher, and his services in either vocation were voluntary and without pecuniary compensation.
Before the settlers had time to erect churches, religious services of the various religious denominations were held in the private residences that were most convenient to the neighborhood, and such a thing as a salaried preacher of the Gospel was unknown. The preacher gained his living as did his fell settler, by daily toil in the fields and clearings, and the aid of his rifle. It was a part of his religion to lend his aid in devotional exercises without any pecuniary compensation whatever.
Other pioneer proclaims of the Gospel were Ebenezer Rogers, Thomas McBride, Robert King, Caleb Weedin,..........
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History of Howard and Chariton Counties, Missouri
http://digital.library.umsystem.edu/cgi/t/text
Page 342
CHRISTIAN CHURCH
(Prepared by Elder James Randall)
Two of the Christian churches of this county were organized at a very early day -- between 1816 and 1820. They were organized substantially on the same basis as those which were afterwards known as the Disciples of Christ and Christian churches, that originated from the ministry of B.W. Stone, of Kentucky. The ministers who organized and who became the pastors of these churches, were Thomas McBride, and James McBride, his son; he and his son left the county at an early day. Joel H. Hayden came to the county in 1827 or 1828, and labored with the McBrides. He was a man of strong mind and spotless reputation. Joel Prewitt was among the early ministers, coming in 1830, and did much for the cause of Christ.
Page 343
Church of Christ was organized by Elder Thomas McBride or Joel H. Hayden, about 1830. Among the original members were Thomas McBride and family, Joel H. Hayden and wife, Joel Prewitt..............
page 345
Richland Church -- This is the oldest church of this denomination in the county, having been establish in 1816; Elder Thomas McBride officiating. Sion Bradley and wife, John Thomas and wife and ----Holt and wife were a few of the early members. McBride and son preached for the congregation until 1832.
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http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=patlinton2&id=I739
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Pioneers of South Benton County Oregon
rootsweb (contact Benton County GenSoc, Dorothy C. Burt, burt.dorothy@yahoo.com)
http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=sbenton&id=I13078
also:
http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=patlinton2&id=I739
also:
http://ncbible.org/nwh/ProMcBrideTC.html
Churches of Christ & Christian Churches
in the Pacific Northwest
He was raised in North Carolina [sic] and Tennessee.
Preached: TN, KY, MO, Yamhill County, OR
(it's been proven he never lived in N.C. and he was grown before he went to TN)
Emigrated: On horseback using the Barlow Road - 1847
Settled: West of Carlton, OR
Cousin to President Jackson
Thomas Crawford McBride, 12 years older than Alexander Campbell, was raised in North Carolina and Tennessee. His mother, Mary Crawford McBride, was a sister to Andrew Jackson's mother.
McBride's Republican grandson and eventually executor of his estate, U. S. Representative John R. McBride, writing in his memoirs, said:
My grandfather and all my relatives were democrats. My grandfather was first cousin of Andrew Jackson, and it seemed to him like family treason to be anything but a Jackson democrat; but they were all anti-slavery in their opinions . . . ."
Thomas married Eliza Womack in 1796, the same year that Tennessee became a state. Since the Womack clan had also migrated from Guilford County, N.C. just like Thomas and his parents [sic] it is probable [sic] that Thomas knew Eliza before arriving in the new country of Tennessee.
(it's been proven that Thomas never lived in N.C.)
McBride was a highly respected frontier preacher with ties to Barton W. Stone and reformer John Mulkey of Kentucky. Stone had studied in Dr. David Caldwell's Log College, a school that trained a generation of North Carolina's leaders. It was located in what became Guilford County where Thomas Crawford McBride originated [sic]. It is reasonable to think that Barton Stone and Thomas C. McBride became acquainted while still in North Carolina. [sic]
(it's been proven that Thomas never lived in N.C.)
We can locate Thomas McBride as a messenger of the Roaring River Baptist Church in Overton County, Tennessee in 1801. He would have been 24 years old.
The History of Overton County is on line. Look under History for Thomas McBride's name. Because of its spelling, a search tool may not find it.
Thomas McBride followed the lead of John Mulkey (influenced by Stone) in leaving the Baptist Movement about 1810. He taught that those who obey the Lord become just Christians and are not part of any denomination. This was years before Alexander Campbell came to that view.
On to Missouri
McBride preached in what became White County, Tennessee, then moved his family on to Missouri in 1814 or 1815. His wife Eliza may have died and Thomas remarried before Margaret was born in 1809.
Records show him establishing the first church in Howard County, Missouri in the fall of 1817. The congregation was first called the Salt Creek Christian Church, but eventually became known as The Red Top Christian Church. It began with 13 charter members from Virginia and Kentucky. It was reputed to be the oldest Christian Church west of the Mississippi River.
From the Missouri Historical Review and provided by Patsy Scott and the White River Valley Historical Quarterly.
One record says he was the first preacher (1822) in the Rocky Fork Township. He was a "an earnest, zealous one, whose textbook was the Bible alone." Thomas C. McBride was preaching the plan of the New Testament Church here years before the Disciples Movement came to Missouri.
The Cemetery at the Rocky Fork Christian Church has its own web page. It has an incorrect initial for T. C. McBride.
From the History of Boone County, Missouri and provided by Patsy Scott.
Errett Gates, writing in 1905 says,
The state of Missouri lay in the path of emigration to the west and was among the first to receive visits from Christian preachers from Kentucky. Thomas McBride came under the teaching of B. W. Stone in Kentucky, moved to Missouri in 1816, and was the first Christian preacher who crossed the Mississippi River to preach the Bible alone as the basis of Christian union. He preached and established churches in Howard, Boone, Franklin and other adjacent counties lying along the Missouri River. Samuel Rogers was the second Christian preacher to go to Missouri. He made his first journey in 1819 and found many churches already established by McBride.
Mr. Gates original remarks are online.
We get a clue about the appearance of Thomas McBride from the pen of T. P. Haley writing in Historical and Biographical Sketches of the Early Churches and Pioneer Preachers of the Christian Churches in Missouri. He wrote on page 145:
He was a tall, fine looking man of splendid appearance. I know nothing of his peculiarities as a preacher, but he must have been a man of rare powers to impress himself as he did upon all the preachers and churches in a early day.
Researcher Jim Morgan located Thomas Crawford McBride's name at the top of the membership list for the Lone Jack Church of Christ, Lone Jack, Jackson County, Missouri. He became a member in 1840. Actually, it appears that he established the congregation. He was "dismissed" in 1842. This merely means that he left the congregation to work elsewhere.
McBride appeared that same year at Dover, Missouri. Alfred P. Jones, writing to the Millennial Harbinger reported,
Lexington, Missouri, August 17,1842.
The good cause of our Redeemer is still on the onward march in this Western Country. The brethren have just closed a protracted meeting at Dover, ten miles from this place where forty-four made the good confession and were buried with the Lord in baptism. Some five or six of the number were from the Presbyterian ranks, and one from the Methodists, and seven by letter, making in all fifty-one.
The preaching brethren were father McBride (that old pioneer in the good Cause in Upper Missouri,) and T N. Gaines. . . .
Millennial Harbinger, 1842, page 476.
But soon after the wagons of his son James McBride (he and James Lovelady began first church in Platte Co Missouri, Bear Creek, later called Salem) left for Oregon in 1846, Nancy McBride fell sick and died, leaving Thomas with dimming vision and without a mate. Many of his children and grandchildren were gone and the others were making plans to go. He would soon be alone.
Attracted to Oregon
The decision was made. He would find his loved ones in Oregon! Approaching 70, T. C. McBride set off on horseback with Andrew and Ellen Wright, their son James and Elisha Bedwell to reach Eden. They rode horseback the 2,000 miles in 41 days, bringing only what they could with two pack horses. They slept on the ground at night without shelter. It was September 13, 1847 when the weary travelers arrived at the James McBride residence west of what was to become Carlton.
--
Stephenie Flora lists Elisha Bedwell as among the travelers of 1847.
The grandchildren - the whole family - were astounded that Thomas Crawford McBride had come west. He had been the first person to preach restored Christianity in Missouri and now he would be among the first few men to preach it in Oregon. Here are the words of John Rodgers McBride as he recalled his grandfather's arrival:
Early in September after a day of rain, which had mistened the parched earth and cleared the skies of autumn haze, a little party of five on horseback, with one or two pack animals, rode around the point of the lofty hill which fronted our house.
My father was absent, but the family were at their usual duties. I was engaged under my mother's instructions in digging a small channel that would lead a stream of water that flowed from a spring through a little piece of ground devoted to a vegetable garden.
We saw that the party were travelers, and that they had dismounted at the house. My mother hurried over the few yards between where we were and the door, and I followed full of curiosity.
My elder sister had brought seats before we arrived, and there seated quietly was my grandfather, Thos. and two others, both of whom I recognized, and one woman and a little boy about two years old. One of the men was the husband of a cousin of mine, the other a man from the same county in Missouri, and his wife and little boy. Without one word of their having even contemplated the journey, or having started from their Missouri home, they had thus suddenly come upon us.
My grandfather was then 70 years of age, and his hair was white as winter?s snow. He looked wearied from his long travel of 2,000 miles, and he had ridden for 41 days continuously on horseback, sleeping in his blankets on the ground at night without shelter, to find us.
The party had left the train at Ft. Hall, on Snake river, in the month of August, and reached our home on the 13th of September. The lady, Mrs. Ellen Wright, had performed the same feat while her husband and herself, seating the little boy on a pillow in front of them, had by turns carried him all that long distance. It was of such stuff that the early pioneer was made.
When we left Missouri the year before, my father's mother was living, and his brother and sister were domiciled in good homes, with not a suggestion that any of them contemplated any change, much less that which involved the long journey to Oregon. But before they had heard from my father?s experiment they had all been seized with a desire to "go west," and all followed by the next year's train.
Location of McBride's grave marker:
Go west from Carlton 2.5 miles
to McBride Cemetery Road. Turn
north to Stout (lane) at top of hill.
Open cattle gate and continue
to the cemetery.
My father's mother had died a few months after our departure the year before. My uncle, Caleb Woods, and my father's brother, Dr. Thomas McBride, two of my cousins, by the name of Davis, and their brother-in-law, Elisha Bedwell, were of the party, and the latter had accompanied my grandfather on his horseback journey in advance of the train.
It is characteristic of all the old frontier people that what they did they did promptly, and so without warning or suspicion of their coming, they had arrived in our midst.
From Overland to Oregon: Yamhill County, 1846 by John Rodgers McBride. Available in the McMinnville, Oregon Library.
The grandson just quoted matured to become a U. S. Representative from Oregon. The elder sister referred to later became the wife of Sebastian Adams, the founder of McMinnville College.
The Lord granted Thomas C. McBride ten more years to preach and farm his 393 acres in Oregon. He married 55 year-old Mrs. Margaret Ann Wright of Virginia in the twilight of life. Following his death in 1857, Ann lived with James and Mahala McBride. This is based on the 1860 census.
Wright family researcher Charles Chicks reports that Ann married Elijah Barton Davidson in 1864 and died at McMinnville. Most historical accounts list her as Margaret McBride Davidson.
As You Enter
Still Preaching at 77
Jerry Rushford comments on the life of Thomas C. McBride,
On his 77th birthday, July 25, 1854, Thomas Crawford McBride was preaching in a gospel meeting in Hillsboro with his son and Harrison H. Hendrix. There were four additions to the church. The sight of his venerable father in the pulpit led (James) McBride to observe: "My father has been preaching fifty-nine years (this is the sixtieth). He abandoned all human creeds in 1810 . . . and has been pleading the Bible alone doctrine ever since; and though too blind to read, he still preaches." -- Christians On The Oregon Trail, Second Edition, page 197.
Three years later his earthly labors were over. The prince of pioneer proclaimers had passed on. Now he could see the Lord that he had extolled for more than 60 years.
--
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Death of a Preacher Son
Thomas Crawford McBride had a son also named Thomas Crawford McBride. He had met Martha Ann Brink when his father was preaching at Rock Fort Township. They married in 1835 and came overland in 1847, the same year that Thomas, Sr. left Missouri. Evidence is good that they left for Oregon at the same time. Like his older brother James, young Thomas was a physician as well as a preacher. He and Martha had settled on land several miles directly south of present-day Perrydale in Polk County. The nearest church would have been Bethel, about four miles northeast. But tragedy struck less than a year after reaching Oregon.
Thomas had been preaching on the east side of the Willamette River and was returning home with a yoke of oxen. Night had fallen before he reached the ferry at Oregon City. When the ferry boat started to move, the oxen were frightened and gored McBride's horse, causing horse and rider to fall into the Willamette River. He drowned leaving Martha with five children and another on the way.
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Census taker's entry in the 1850 Census.
H. C.,14, is probably Herbert, named for his
maternal grandfather, Herbert Brink. (no, it's Henry Clay)
Lavina, 11, named for her aunt Lavina McBride Davis.
Elizabeth, 9, named for both grandmothers.
Nancy, 7, named for her step-grandmother.
Mary, 5, possibly named for her paternal g-grandmother.
Thomas, 2, named for his late father and grandfather.
The 1850 census shows widowed Martha Ann McBride and her children living with her father-in-law, Thomas Crawford McBride, in Yamhill County. That same year, she married John Bird Bounds.
He brought 10 children to the marriage and Martha Ann brought six. They settled on his farm at Buena Vista.
A family genealogy shows John Bird Bounds first marriage, but not his second to Martha Ann McBride. The reader may want to read our entry on Buena Vista.
The McBride farmhouse must have been quiet after Martha's family of seven left. Perhaps that's why he decided to marry Ann Wright the next year.
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1777 - 1857 (80 years)
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