Mary Richardson Walker

[4] William Thayer, a mutual friend of Mary Richardson and Elkanah Walker, knew they wanted to be missionaries, so he set up a meeting between them.

[3] A year later on March 5, 1838, they married hurriedly so they could depart for the Oregon Country as missionaries.

[5] The Walkers departed her home at North Yarmouth, Maine on March 7, 1838, for Boston, Massachusetts and then to Independence, Missouri for the long trip across the continent with three other couples: Cushing and Myra Eells, Asa and Sarah Gilbert White Smith, and William and Mary Augusta Dix Gray.

[7] On September 20, 1839, the Walker and Eells family arrived at Tshimakain and began setting up their new homes among the Spokan Indian tribal people.

While living at Forest Grove, the Walkers helped establish Tualatin Academy (now Pacific University.)