| Date |
Event |
| 1838 Dec 7 |
Cyrus Hamlin Walker is born on Cayuse lands to missionaries Elkanah & Mary Richardson Walker at the mission of Marcus & Narcissa Whitman at Waiilatpu, near modern Walla Walla, Washington. He is one of the first children born to two white parents in the Pacific Northwest. |
| 1839 Sep 20 |
The Walker Family arrives at Tshimakain, a mission outpost on Spokane lands recently established by their friends, Cushing & Myra Eells. |
| 1840-1847 |
The Walkers build up a small farm on their mission. They try to convert the Native Spokane, but have no success. Cyrus' siblings Abigail (b. 1840), Marcus (b. 1842), Joseph Elkanah (b. 1844), and Jeremiah (b. 1846) are born. Cyrus is homeschooled and briefly attends school at the Whitmans'. |
| 1847 Nov 30 |
The 'Whitman Massacre': Marcus & Narcissa Whitman, family friends of the Walkers, are killed by Cayuse men who believe that the Whitmans are to blame for a deadly measles epidemic. This will trigger an evacuation of missionaries from outposts across the Oregon Territory, including the Walkers. |
| 1847 - 8 Winter |
The Walkers fear a similar attack to the Whitmans, and stay home under guard. Cyrus' brother John (b. 1847) is born. |
| 1848 Mar |
The Walkers move to Fort Colville for protection. |
| 1848 Jun |
The Walkers leave Fort Colville and travel south to The Dalles, and then follow the Columbia and Willamette rivers to Oregon City. They soon afterwards buy a house there. Cyrus and his siblings attend school. |
| 1849 Oct 26 |
The Walkers arrive in the West Tualatin Plains, now known as Forest Grove, Oregon, joining their friends the Eells Family. |
| 1849 Fall |
Cyrus Walker begins attending Tualatin Academy in Forest Grove. (Tualatin Academy was a preparatory school under the same administration as Pacific University.) |
| 1850-1852 |
Brothers Levi Chamberlin (called "L.C."), b. 1850; and Samuel Thompson (called "S.T." by family and "Sunday Sam" by neighbors), b. 1852 are born. |
| 185-? |
The Walker family donates 13 acres of land to Pacific University. A portion of this land now forms the northwest section of campus. |
| 1858-9 Winter |
Cyrus serves as a "tutor" in college classes at Pacific University, but does not formally enroll in college. |
| 1859 Feb 29 |
Cyrus (age 20) marries his first wife, Lucy Maria Tanner (age 19). Lucy was a fellow resident of Forest Grove and was probably a student at Tualatin Academy. |
| 1859 Spring |
Cyrus & Lucy move to a farm in Patton Valley near the modern town of Gaston, about 10 miles south of Forest Grove. |
| 1861? |
Around this time, Cyrus and Lucy move to a homestead on upper Birch Creek in Umatilla County. They remain there at least through 1863. |
| 1864 Dec 1 |
Cyrus enlists in the Union Army. He is the first resident of Washington County to enlist during the Civil War. He is given the rank of 1st Lieutenant in Company B, 1st Oregon Infantry Volunteers. |
| 1865 Jan |
Cyrus, accompanied by his wife Lucy, is stationed at Fort Hoskins in Benton County, Oregon. |
| 1865 Apr 10 |
Cyrus' Company B leaves for Fort Dalles. |
| 1865 May 6 |
Cyrus' Company B leaves for Fort Boise. |
| 1865 June 13 |
Cyrus arrives at Fort Boise. |
| 1865 June-Sep |
Cyrus is put into a detachment and sent to the Bannock/Snake Piute lands of Big Camas Prairie, Idaho. They establish Camp Wallace and then are sent on other missions in the Snake River basin. |
| 1865 Oct |
Cyrus is sent to Fort Hall, Idaho and helps establish Camp Lander nearby. He works for the fall-winter as an assistant clerk and quartermaster. |
| 1866 Jan 13 |
Cyrus and Lucy's daughter Lucy Adela (1866-1902) is born at Fort Hall, Idaho. |
| 1866 Spring |
Cyrus' Company B is ordered to return home. |
| 1866 Jun 27 |
Cyrus reaches Fort Boise. |
| 1866 Jul 23 |
Cyrus' Company B is mustered out of the army at Fort Vancouver. |
| 1867 |
Cyrus and Lucy are living in the small town of Dayton in Yamhill County, Oregon. Around this time, they put a down payment on a house in the town of Dayton with the balance to be paid through a mortgage. |
| 1868 Mar |
Cyrus trades his mortgaged house in Dayton in exchange for 80 acres from the Almor & Cynthia Robinson Donation Land Claim near Weston. They put the land deed in the name of his wife, Lucy Maria Tanner. |
| 1869 Feb |
Cyrus co-purchases with business partner George W. Carey 12 acres in Yamhill County with frontage on the Willamette River. They form the "Walker & Carey Company" and attempt to run a warehouse business. |
| 1870 |
Around this time, the Walker & Carey Company becomes insolvent and goes into debt with a Mrs. Hembree. |
| 1870 Dec 31 |
Cyrus receives a Teacher's Certificate from Yamhill County. |
| 1871 |
Cyrus, Lucy Maria, and George Carey admit to the debt owed to Mrs. Hembree. They sell off their warehouses to a man named Hall, who provides a down payment but defaults on the balance. Hall abandons the site and skips town to San Francisco around October 1871. |
| 1872 Spring |
Cyrus tries his hand as an insurance salesman while attempting to get payment from Hall. |
| 1872 July |
Lucy Maria leaves Cyrus, taking their daughter with her. This would be a permanent separation. Cyrus decides to leave Yamhill County and come back to work for his father in Forest Grove. |
| 1872 Nov 27 |
Confirmation of Cyrus' financial ruin arrives: A law office in Portland issues an opinion that some of their transactions were fraudulent, and all of their real estate assets are liable for liquidation to pay off their creditors. |
| 1873 Jan 1 |
Cyrus write romantic poems to two girls attending Tualatin Academy on the same day: Clara and Mary. |
| 1873 July |
Lucy Maria appears to have asked for a divorce by this time, and is travelling with another man named George. |
| 1877 |
Cyrus gains employment as a federal employee at the Warm Springs Indian Agency in Central Oregon. |
| Date |
Event |
