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MARTIN GILLIHAN
Oct. 30, 1824 Jackson Co. Tenn.
JAN. 26, 1906, Portland, Oregon
BURIED; OLD CITY CEMETERY, VANCOUVER, CLARK CO. WA.

SON OF; THOMAS GILLIHAN & LUCY BROWN

In 1844 Martin left Polk Co. Missouri and started across the Overland Trail with ox teams and driving a band of cattle along with the wagon group, the "California Company" or, the "Cornelius Gilliam Wagon Train". Martin married first, on May 21, 1844, on the Oregon Trail to, Elizabeth AZBILL/ASABILL, daughter of Franklin Azbill. They may have had a child in 1844 along the Oregon Trail, possibly in Missouri. They divorced in 1846.

After six months on the Oregon Trail they arrived in Washington Co. Oregon. He worked on a ranch during that Winter and the following Spring. In 1845 he farmed on a piece of land and in the Fall of 1846 came to Sauvie's Island. In the Spring of 1847 he traded his land for three Cayuse horses and with his Brother, William rode on horseback into California where they worked in the woods near San Francisco. In the Spring of 1848 they went to Sutter's Mills and saw the first gold taken out of that place. He returned to Oregon in 1848 but in the Spring of 1849 returned to California across mountains with ox teams and prospected/mined in the vicinity of Hangtown. In the Winter of 1849 he returned to Oregon with his brother's widow, and her three children.

Martin married a second time to, Sarah C. Howell, Dec. 15, 1850. They had thirteen children and settled on a donation land claim that same year signed by President Grant.

In the 1870's Martin traveled back Eastward to bring his brothers, Gideon and Thomas West.

View a photo of Martin & Sarah's gravesite in our "Photos Section"

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