In the Westward Movement in the United States, by 1845, the immigrants had gotten to Missouri, and were reaching beyond to follow the footsteps of the Lewis and Clark expedition of 1804-1806.

Between 1848 and 1853, several of these families came across the trail to Marion County or, in one case to Douglas County, and became the builders of a new state, leaving their marks in a variety of ways.

First to come were the Cleavers and Porters in 1848. In 1849 William and Jane Jett (Graves) Glover, John and Mariah (Glover) Graves, Gibsons, and Settlemier families came to Marion County. In 1850, Calvin Reed brought his family to Douglas County.  In 1853, John Henry and Catherine (Graves) Palmer and several children came over the trail with Catherine’s brother Tom Graves and 200 head of cattle, arriving in Marion County where Catherine’s brother, John (Jack) Graves, his wife Maria Glover, and sister, Jett Graves and her husband, William Glover, greeted them. In the south, George Ballard W Parks, his wife, Cynthia Richardson, and their children took the “Elliott Cut-off” and eventually arrived in Springfield, Douglas County.

One Graves brother, William James, who was a lawyer, joined the military in Missouri, just in time for the Mexican - American War. By the time he got through Texas, New Mexico/Arizona, and to California, the war was pretty well over. So, he met and married the daughter of Jose de Jesus Pico, alcalde of San Jose. His story is another we will tell in these pages.

Eventually several of the siblings of these also came to Oregon, and by then, Washington. And, of course, the children married, had children, moved around, and out of state, until the “tribes” are found in all the western states.

The scope of the website is not restricted to these pioneering families, however, but includes their ancestors and collateral relatives. If you have any interest in these families, please let us know.

At the top and bottom of each page, links (tabs) will take you to the various parts of this website. Genealogy information is kept in a database called The Master Genealogist, and processed with a program called Second Site, resulting in a series of individual reports with links to children and parents.

  • Home: This page.
  • Surname Index: This section gives the names of all people in the database, with links to the Person Page for that person. From there you may link to parents, children, and read about that person. If you have a large monitor, or two monitors, it helps to pull the Surname Index to one side so you don't have to do so much switching.
  • Descendant Charts are from each of the "top of the line" ancestors for the various family groups.
  • Family Photos are photos and other images from the individuals and/or events represented in the genealogies.
  • Extra Photos are photos we "think" are of members of these families, some of whom we can identify. Some are awaiting identification. Some are of objects or places related to the families. If not identified, llease let us know about them if you can. We can always use more of these.
  • Research Publications: Various publications that relate to the Palmer and allied families. These are in PDF format. If you do not have Adobe Reader, you may download it for no cost here: Adobe Reader
  • Search provides you with a method to look for information where you might not know the name of the person.
  • Places Index: Use this index to see who was where, when.
  • Recent Changes: Over time, things/people will be added. Check in here for updates.

Our goal with this website is to give some flavor to those early pioneers, and provide the descendants with practical information.

To help you out with all these intermarriages, here's a chart: The Whole Gang

Please join us! We hope you enjoy it!