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Walker, Elkanah
| Last Name: | Walker |
|---|---|
| First Name: | Elkanah |
| Dates: |
*1805 (Date of Birth)
*1877 (Date of Death)
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| Biography/History: | Both Elkanah Walker and Mary Richardson attended seminary classes in Maine, where Elkanah was ordained in the Congregational church. As soon as they married in 1838, the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions dispatched the couple to the Northwest with Myra and Cushing Eells. They arrived first at the Whitman’s mission near present-day Walla Walla, and the next year established Tshimakain Mission northwest of Spokane near Ford, Washington. The missionaries made few converts in this homeland of the Lower Band of the Spokane tribe, but maintained a generally cordial relationship with the Indians. Mary kept extensive personal diaries. Elkanah studied the spoken language of the Spokane tribe and created its first written primer. The Board of Commissioners closed both Tshimakain and Whitman Missions in 1847. The Walkers relocated to the Willamette Valley, where Elkanah helped found Tualatin Academy – later Pacific University. |
| Related Objects: |
500.87 (Trunk, Walker Family Trunk, 1838)
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