Like other recently arrived pioneers, Martha and Garrett Maupin looked to Oregon as the Promised Land. But in the 1850s paradise had flaws.
Oregon may have seemed far from the troubles brewing Back East, but as the Civil War neared, feelings raged even in the Far West, and especially in Lane County, a hotbed of North-South rivalry. A Southern sympathizer, Garrett Maupin armed himself with a gun and a whip for disarming antagonists.
Alcohol-fueled fights erupted on the streets of Eugene City until troops arrived from Vancouver and placed a cannon at the courthouse. When things turned too hot for Garrett, he and Martha headed south to Douglas County—just ahead of the law.
Their great-great-granddaughter, Janet Fisher, tells their story in a new book called A Place of Her Own.
Garrett died in a Douglas County wagon accident, leaving Martha alone on the frontier with many children and few options. But she took charge and bought a farm there, a family legacy Fisher owns and operates today.
Source: Fisher, Janet. A Place of Her Own: The Legacy of Oregon Pioneer Martha Poindexter Maupin. Guilford, CT/Helena, Mont. TwoDot/Globe Pequot Press, 2014.