George
Washington Bush - Washington State Pioneer
In 1844 some
residents of Clay County, Missouri decided to
find a new life and immigrate to Oregon
Country thereby creating the first American
settlement in what is now known as Washington
State.
A farmer in
Clay County known as George Washington Bush
and his family were asked to join a party of
four other families and travel to Oregon
over the Oregon Trail.
Mr. Bush was the son of an
African-American father from India and an
Irish-American mother.
Arriving in Oregon in December 1844,
George Bush was in a predicament. The American
Provisional Government of Oregon had just
enacted a law in June 1844 while the Party
was traveling westward which was known as
the
"Lash Law". This
law subjected blacks found guilty of
violating the law to whippings --- no less
than 20 and no more than 39 strokes of the
lash --- every six months "until he or she
shall quit the territory."
The other four
families were sympathetic with Mr. Bush and
were willing to follow him either south into
Mexico (California) or into an area north of
the Columbia River that was jointly occupied
by Britain and America. The sparsely
populated northern area was determined as
the logical choice to settle for men of
color. Therefore, after a few months of
exploration, the party continued to Puget
Sound thus establishing the first American
settlement in Washington later known as
Tumwater.
"....the little party reached
the extreme head of the Sound at
Tumwater in 1845 and proceeded to
take possession of such tracts of
land as took their fancy covering
what is now the town of Tumwater
and back along the west side of
the little Des Chutes River and
out on the prairie which begins
about a mile south of the landing
and extends down about three miles
to a rise of ground
not far from the river. Upon
this commanding site George Bush
pitched his last camp...."
~John Edwin Ayer - 1916
George
Washington Bush was known as a generous
pioneer who provided a good place to
stop near the end of the Trail. Many of the travelers were
on their way to the two smaller
settlements founded further northward -
Seattle in 1851 and Tacoma in 1852.
From 1846 to 1863 Mr. Bush welcomed
exhausted travelers and gave them food and
rest free of charge. The Bush Farm on that "rise of ground"
was famous during the 1850's, long before
Washington became a state.
British Fort
Vancouver of Hudson Bay Company (HBC)
has become a national park and a large state
park was founded for
Dr. William Tolmie of HBC northeast of
Olympia. Little has been left to
remember Washington's first American family
on Bush Prairie near the Olympia Airport.
Contact webmaster
at historian@start-wa.com
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