Archives West Finding Aid

Catherine Carney Sager, born 1835, was the eldest daughter of Henry and Naomi Sager's seven children. While travelling on the Oregon Trail to what is now Washington State, both parents died due to illness. The children were taken to the Walla Walla Valley and adopted by the missionaires, Marcus and Narcissa Whitman. In 1847 the Whitmans and the 2 eldest Sager boys were killed in an attack on the mission by a group of men, including local Cayuse. After this, Catherine and her remaining three sisters were sent to Oregon City, Oregon, and Catherine was placed with the Rev. William and Mrs. Roberts. In October 1851, she married Clark Pringle, a Methodist minister. They had a farm near Salem, Oregon and raised eight children. About ten years after her arrival in Oregon she wrote an account of the Sager family's journey west, though she never found a publisher. She died on August 10, 1910 at the age of 75.