Well Springs is about
5 miles WNW of Echo in Umatilla County. My
ggrandfather's older brother, Cornelius Gilliam
was called up with my gg by the then President
right after the Whitman Massacre took place near
what is now Walla Walla.
Cornelius was a fire
and brimstone preacher as well as a colonel or
general in the Seminole Wars and also fought the
Mormons when he was living in Missouri. He was
put in charge of the group called up to capture
the Nez Perce Indians who were responsible for
the slayings. They never did catch them so they
bivouacked back to Well Springs where Cornelius
was killed when he helped one us troop extract
his rifle from a wagon. The ramrod discharged
hitting him in the forehead.
The Gilliams with
others came west in 1944 and settled in and
around Rickreall or La Creole and after
Cornelius died in 1947 Mitchell my gg and his
family went to Sonoma County to live. It was
there in 1852 that Mitchell's daughter Rachel b.
1838 married David Spicer Bowman b 1824 and they
settled down establishing a well known orchard.
In 1871 they decided to relocated to the Palouse
in the Washington Territory and my grandmother
Caroline 'Carrie' Bowman Gildersleeve was born
at Fort Walla Walla. (George Gildersleeve)
