Missionary Wife Narcissa Whitman's Early Life

Narcissa Was the Wife of Marcus Whitman, Walla Walla Missionary

Apr 2, 2009 Dale Raugust

The life of Narcissa Whitman is reflective of the lives of pioneer women, hard working and family oriented; these women are the unsung heros of the frontier.

Narcissa’s father, Stephen Prentiss was an owner of mills and substantial land holdings and her mother, Clarissa, was a born again Christian who devoted her life to church work. This dedication and commitment would be transferred to the daughter that Clarissa was pregnant with in the year 1807, at the time of her conversion. This together with her daughter’s birth so close to her own birthday emphasized the specialness of the mother daughter relationship. The children were raised in the Prattsburg Congregational Church and by the time Narcissa was 11 years old she knew what she wanted to do with her life, to be a missionary and servant of God. Four years later, when she was 15 she publicly announced her intentions and when she was old enough she applied to become a missionary. Meanwhile she involved herself in benevolent work.

Marriage to Marcus Whitman

Standing in the way of Narcissa’s desire to serve as a missionary was her unmarried status. She needed to find a husband who was also devoted to missionary work. One prospect was Henry Spalding who proposed to her but was rejected, perhaps because of his “illegitimate birth, inferior social position, and lack of polish and grace.” Spalding found another wife and later when he joined the Whitmans on the trip west some friction was caused between the men by his earlier desire to have Narcissa as his wife.

Meanwhile, Marcus Whitman had the same problem as Narcissa; the desire to enter missionary work but rejected by the missionary boards for positions in the South Pacific because he was unmarried and not in good health. He needed to find a good missionary wife, and in Narcissa he found the perfect match. “Both saw the marriage as a means of fulfilling cherished dreams.”

The Trip West to Walla Walla

“On Tuesday, March 15, 1836, the mission party left Pittsburgh on the riverboat Siam, headed for Cincinnati, where they would join the Spaldings. From there they steamed to St Louis and then to Liberty, where the long overland trek would begin.” The journey was nearly the same as that taken later by waives of immigrants to the Oregon country, except in 1836 the way was not as well known and the wagon ruts were not as deep. In many respects the trip was easier than that which was taken by later women as the missionaries had a sizable company of trappers and traders traveling with them who knew the way and the lay of the land. (Jeffrey 78; also see Whitman’s letter dated June 3. 1836, in which she stated that they traveled with 70 men from the fur company driving 6 wagons and one cart and nearly 400 domesticated animals. The Letters of Narcissa Whitman, Fairfield, WA Ye Gallow Press, p.15).

The Writings of Narcissa Whitman

Narcissa knew that she was writing her journal and letters for probable public consumption as the party had received a substantial amount of publicity before they left Pittsburg and the journals and letters of pioneer women were bestsellers in the East. She mentioned in some of her first letters home the belief that her letters would not stay private. Both she and Eliza Spalding kept journals. Narcissa wrote of the daily experiences of life on the trail and did not engage in much deep contemplation or spiritual concerns other than to express gratitude for God’s mercies.

Sources:

The Letters of Narcissa Whitman, (Fairfield, WA Ye Gallow Press)

Julie Roy Jeffrey, Converting the West, A Biography of Narcissa Whitman.

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