Jesse Ferguson

This biography acknowledges the bravery and endurance of the men and women who came to Washington as immigrants and who did without necessities to make history.  They dared dangers and endured hardships to save this area for the United States.  This is a tribute to one of these pioneers; Jesse Ferguson, the first person to occupy a large parcel of land in Tumwater, Washington.

The subject of this sketch shall hereafter be referred to as Jesse.  Jesse was born in Sandusky, Ohio, May 6, 1824, to Samuel and Jane (Bauser) Ferguson. They soon after moved to Quincy, Illinois, at the new edge of civilization in 1824.  Jesse and his parents remained for 17 years in Illinois and then moved to Savannah, Missouri where Jesse’s parents passed the remainder of their lives. After three years in Missouri, Jesse decided to move to the Oregon Country, even before it was a territory of the United States. In May 1844, he started with Michael T. Simmons, George Washington Bush and James McAllister for the Pacific Coast.  The trip was uneventful in the first two months except that eight of their oxen were stolen by Indians in the first few days.

Jesse Ferguson

They arrived at Fort Hall of Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) near Pocatello, Idaho in October 1844 by following the trail created by the immigration of 1843, the first major immigration to the Northwest.

After Fort Hall, in order to survive, the pioneers needed to eat birds and anything else that moved to make their way to The Dalles, Oregon, the next settlement along the Trail.  Wagons were the only means of transportation across the treeless prairies.  Most of the party arrived at The Dalles in December 1844 and then pressed onward with a HBC flatboat.  The party soon arrived at Washougal, Washington, where for nine months, the group engaged in logging, lumbering and carpentering for the HBC at Fort Vancouver.

The party decided to move further north in October 1845 into what is now Washington State. There was hardly enough room for an ox to walk on what was known as the Cowlitz Trail and the pioneers had brought their wagons. It took 15 days to cut the 58 mile road from Toledo, Washington, to Puget Sound. Finally, in late November 1845, the party arrived at Tumwater.  This party consisted of 31 men, women and children, and created the first American settlement in Washington State. During the next few months the party made shingles for shipment to Hawaii to pay HBC for food at the Fort Nisqually.  The only tools they had for making shingles were an ax and a draw-knife, and they worked in the dense forest where Olympia now stands.

In 1846 Jesse was 22 years old when he claimed 320 acres on Bush Prairie stretching one-half mile wide and one mile long between the Israel and Trosper Roads.  His log cabin was built where the Tumwater Middle School now stands.  In August 1847, he became a partner in the first sawmill on Puget Sound located at the lower Deschutes Falls in Tumwater. In June 1849, Jesse went with a ship carrying lumber from Olympia to San Francisco to be a part of the Gold Rush.  Due to heavy rains, he did not do any mining and returned without gold.

In 1850 Jesse began making square timbers in the new settlement of Olympia for shipment to California.  He returned to his claim to live, however he was still affected by gold fever.  In November 1851, the sloop Georgiana sailed into the harbor at Olympia.  On her departure Jesse and 26 other men, including James McAllister, Sidney Ford, and two Sargent Brothers, went aboard for passage to the Queen Charlotte Islands in search of gold.  The voyage went well until they reached the east coast of the Islands and the ship was blown ashore by a strong gale.  The fierce Haida Indians rushed on board, robbed them of everything, held them as prisoner and burned the ship.  As was custom, they were made slaves by the Indians. By good luck communications were made with Americans as far south as Olympia.  A ransom of $1,839 was prepared by Simpson P. Moses of the U.S. Customs Office in Olympia and dispatched with about 25 troops from Fort Steilacoom aboard the ship Damaris Cove under Captain John W. Balch.  The rescue party purchased blankets and trinkets at Fort Victoria from the HBC for the Indians and the exchange was made in February 1852 after 54 days of captivity.

This experience cured Jesse of the gold fever.  Jesse married Jane Rutledge in June 1853 from an adjacent homestead.  She had come over the Oregon Trail in 1851 with her parents William and Margaret Rutledge and a brother named Thomas who founded Littlerock, Washington in 1853.  The actual little rock still remains on the family farm eight miles south of the Ferguson homestead at a place now owned by Dale Rutledge, grandson of Thomas Rutledge.


During the Indian War of 1855-56, Jesse and the Rutledges built a blockhouse near the boundary between their claims which is marked by a memorial just one-quarter mile south of the Middle School along Littlerock Road.  The often-renovated house, just north of the stone marker was built by William Rutledge in 1853 which makes it the oldest structure in Thurston County.


Jesse was able to remain near his home with his wife and family during this troublesome time.  Jane died in January 1861 leaving Jesse with five children.  They were Henry C., David S., Samuel, Annie, and Sarah J.

Jane Ferguson was buried on the Ferguson claim. Jesse sold about 2 acres of land for a cemetery in the January 1866 for ten dollars.  The Union Cemetery is about one-quarter mile north of the Middle School on Littlerock Road where the graves of many pioneers are found including Charles Mason for whom Mason County is named.

Jesse never remarried, but resided with his married daughter, Sarah, on the old homestead until his death on December 16, 1900 the last remaining adult of the Washington State pioneer party.