Converting the West: A Biography of Narcissa Whitman

Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1991. xvii, 238 pages, illustrations; 23 cm. Oklahoma Western Biographies Series, volume 3. Near fine. Tight, clean text. Top edge lightly soiled. Fine DJ. A near-fine copy of the first printing. Another copy available. "Narcissa Whitman and her husband, Marcus, were pioneer missionaries to the Cayuse Indians in Oregon Territory. Very much a child of the Second Great Awakening, Narcissa eagerly the burgeoning evangelical missionary movement. Following her marriage to Marcus Whitman, she spent most of 1836 traveling overland with him to Oregon. Narcissa enthusiastically began service as a missionary there, hoping to see many 'benighted' Indians adopt her message of salvation through Christ. But not one Indian ever did. Cultural barriers that Narcissa never grasped effectively kept her at arm's length from the Cayuse. Gradually abandoning her efforts with the Indians, Narcissa developed a different ministry. She taught and counseled whites on the mission compound, much as she had done in her own church circles in New York. Meanwhile, the growing number of eastern emigrants streaming into the territory posed an increasing threat to the Indians. The Cayuse ultimately took murderous action against the Whitmans, the most visible whites, thus ending dramatically Narcissa's eleven-year effort to be a faithful Christian missionary as well as a devoted wife and loving mother." - Publisher.. 1st. Hardcover. Very Good/Fine. 8vo.