The Applegate Trail
The history of the Oregon Trail makes for fascinating reading in its own right as well as for background for what follows in this resource. Dallas, Oregon is about 1750 miles northwest of St. Louis, Missouri. The RED line is an approximation of the route of the Oregon Trail.
"Known as the southern route of the Oregon Trail, the Applegate Trail provided an alternative for
settlers who wanted to avoid the perils of the Columbia River". The BLUE line is an approximation of the route of the southern or Applegate segment of the Oregon Trail.
The Applegate Trail headed south into northern Nevada about 50 miles west of Pocatello, Idaho. The southern extension was about 500 miles long. Paul Cales is developing an Internet resource for the trail itself. My interest is in the family history of Lindsay, Charles, and Jesse Applegate who developed the Applegate Trail.
These Applegate brothers are in the line from Thomas Applegate II (1632 - 1699). The following text is from the monumental work of Hugh Vorees who wrote The Applegate Family in America.
Benjamin Applegate (1686) had two sons - Richard and William - who figure in my interests. Richard was the grandfather of Lindsay, Charles, and Jesse and William was the father of Ruth Applegate who married John Dye of Middlesex County, New Jersey. John Dye was the nephew of John Dey.
In the family diagram that follows attention is focused on the line from Thomas Applegate II and two of his sons -- Thomas Applegate III (1674) and Benjamin Applegate (1686). Thomas Applegate III was the father of Thomas Applegate IV (1700) who was the father of Mary Applegate (before 1730). I believe that Mary married John Dey (1711) and one of their children was Ezekiel Dey/Dye (1750) who is in my line and the reason I got interested in family history.
Information about the families of Thomas Applegate IV and William Applegate is available for background.
The numbers that appear in the following are the Vorees Numbers for easy in locating specific information in this massive resource.
"5F4E. Daniel Applegate, born 1768; died in St. Louis, Mo. on Feb. 11, 1826. He married on June 10, 1790 in Fayette Co., Ky. to Rachel Lindsay, born c1769; died after 1830, daughter of Anthony(1736-1808) and Rachel(Dorsey)Lindsay(1737-1805), who had come from Maryland. When his father joined the army and his mother died, Daniel was placed with a "Dutch Farmer". He did not like this arrangement and ran away, looking for his father. He was unable to find him, but was permitted in Jan. 1780 at Battle Hill, Morris Co., NJ, to join the army during the Revolutionary War, serving in the 1st NJ Regiment under Col. Israel Shreve as a drummer, fifer and color bearer. He served until June of 1783 in various units serving mostly as fifer or drummer, under such leaders as Capt. Ballard, Col. Elias Dayton, and Capt. Ogden. Col. Shreve taught him martial music. After the war, he went to sea. (One tradition is that he went with a son of Col. Shreve who was a shipmaster). He went to Kentucky probably about the time of his father and was married in Fayette Co. in 1790. He farmed about 50 acres of land in Franklin Co., Ky. adjoining that of his father-in-law, Anthony Lindsay. He sold this land in 1797 to Harry Toulmin who in Nov. 7, 1804 sold it to Lewis Craig of Mason Co., Ky. and John Saunders of Gallatin Co., Ky. (Ky. Court of Appeals Deed book, Vol. 2, Michael L. and Bettie A. Cook). Daniel received 100 acres of bounty land issued Mar. 13, 1799(Warrent 8084) for his service in the Revolutionary War; he assigned this property to Abraham Bell. He was probably the Daniel Applegate who was admitted to the Ghent Baptist Church, Carroll Co., Ky.; was dismissed on Nov. 2, 1802. Daniel and his family moved to Henry Co., Ky. about 1808 as there is a record that he was fined 15 shillings and detained 3 hours in jail on Feb. 4, 1808 for cursing in the Henry Co., Ky. Court. On Sept. 30, 1821, he was given permission by the Henry Co., Ky. court to keep a tavern in his house for one year. The following year, he moved his family to St. Louis, Mo.
Their children include:
5F4E7. Charles Applegate, born Jan. 24, 1806 in Henry Co., Ky.; died in Yoncalla, Ore. on Aug. 9, 1879. He married, with his brother, Judge Lisbon Applegate, officiating, in Cole Co., Missouri on July 30, 1829 to Melinda Miller, born Masy 27, 1812 in Tenn.; died in Yoncalla, Ore. on Jan. 29, 1888. They had 15 children who all grew to maturity. In 1843, he joined his brothers, Jesse and Lindsay, and came to Oregon Territory. He had two wagons, each drawn by four oxen, and brought with him, 10 cows and one horse. They first lived in Oregon City, then in Marion Co., Ore. and in 1844, he went to Polk Co., Ore. and settled on a donation claim of 640 acres, near Yoncalla, Ore. near where his brothers had settled.
5F4E8. Anthony Lindsay Applegate, born Sept. 18, 1808 in Henry Co., Ky.; died Nov. 28, 1892 at Lone Rock Ranch, in Klamath Co., Ore. He married on Feb. 13, 1832 in Cole Co., Mo. to Elizabeth Basham Miller, born in Powell Valley, Tenn. on Sept. 27, 1816; died July 6, 1882 in Ashland, Ore., daughter of James Miller and Susannah Basham and sister of Melinda who married brother, Charles. In 1843, the three brothers, Charles, Lindsay, and Jesse Applegate met in Independance, Mo. to start the long trek to Oregon. They settled in the Willamette Valley at a point where the City of Dalles in Polk Co., Ore. now stands. In 1845, Lindsay and Jesse Applegate with Levi Scott prospected the southern mountains and plains in order to locate a good emigrant trail to Oregon. In 1846, Lindsay moved to the Tule Lake area of Klamath Co. Ore. In 1848, he briefly went to the California gold fields. In 1850, the family moved to the Yoncalla Valley. In 1860, the family moved again, this time to the Siskiyou Mountains near the California border where Lindsay had become owner of the toll road over these mountains. In 1861, he was briefly a Captain of a group of volunteers who scouted the same territory that he and his brother had scouted in 1845. In 1862, the family removed to Ashland, Ore. where they lived for a great many years. In 1865, Lindsay was appointed Indian agent over the Klamath and Modoc Indians at Ft. Klamath. Anthony Lindsay Applegate, born Sept. 18, 1808 in Henry Co., Ky.; died Nov. 28, 1892 at Lone Rock Ranch, in Klamath Co., Ore. He married on Feb. 13, 1832 in Cole Co., Mo. to Elizabeth Basham Miller, born in Powell Valley, Tenn. on Sept. 27, 1816; died July 6, 1882 in Ashland, Ore., daughter of James Miller and Susannah Basham and sister of Melinda who married brother, Charles. In 1843, the three brothers, Charles, Lindsay, and Jesse Applegate met in Independance, Mo. to start the long trek to Oregon. They settled in the Willamette Valley at a point where the City of Dalles in Polk Co., Ore. now stands. In 1845, Lindsay and Jesse Applegate with Levi Scott prospected the southern mountains and plains in order to locate a good emigrant trail to Oregon. In 1846, Lindsay moved to the Tule Lake area of Klamath Co. Ore. In 1848, he briefly went to the California gold fields. In 1850, the family moved to the Yoncalla Valley. In 1860, the family moved again, this time to the Siskiyou Mountains near the California border where Lindsay had become owner of the toll road over these mountains. In 1861, he was briefly a Captain of a group of volunteers who scouted the same territory that he and his brother had scouted in 1845. In 1862, the family removed to Ashland, Ore. where they lived for a great many years. In 1865, Lindsay was appointed Indian agent over the Klamath and Modoc Indians at Ft. Klamath.
5F4E9. Jesse Applegate, born July 5, 1811 in Henry Co., Ky.; died Apr. 22, 1888 at Yoncalla, Ore. He married in Cole Co., Mo. on Mar. 13, 1831 to Cynthia Ann Parker, born Aug. 15, 1813 in Tenn.; died June 1, 1881 in Yoncalla, Ore. Jesse attended Rock Spring Seminary (later Shurtlett College) in 1827-28 and became a surveyer. He met and talked with Capt. William Clark of the Lewis and Clark Expedition and with Wilson Price Hunt, then postmaster of St. Louis, but who had been the agent of John Jacob Astor with the Ship Tonquin, and had been in the Columbia River in 1811 and founded Astoria, Ore. These two persons fired his interest in the far west. However, he married and settled on a fine tract of land in the Osage Valley in St. Clair Co., Mo. In 1843, he, and his brothers decided to go to Oregon with a large number of emigrants. He had one hundred head of livestock and four wagons, loaded with food, tools of all kinds, household goods, books for his children, his surveying tools and his mathematical works. Peter H. Burnett was selected as first Captain of the company, but resigned when a dispute arose between those with cattle and those who did not. Jesse was chosen as Captain of those with cattle and his experiences are detailed in a book published in 1844, entitled, "A Day With The Cow Column". That year, the Oregon Colony legislature appointed him surveyor-general of the colony. In 1845, he became active on the political scene with the Hudson Bay Company support which brought political stability until 1849 when Oregon became a territory. He was a member of the government commission appointed to settle the Hudson Bay Company claims. "In 1849, he moved to the Umpqua Valley in Southern Oregon, which at that time was far from the center of civilization.....he continued to be active in political affairs. He was, for a time, a justice of the peace. His home was a polling place in the election of 1851. The first court of the southern district was held there on Mar. 22, 1852. He was leader in the constitutional convention of 1857, and he ran unsuccessfully for the United States Senate in 1876".(from This was a Man, about the Life and Times of Jesse Applegate. Wilfred H. Brown. N. Hollywood, Ca., The Camas Press. 1971). In 1865, at the request of Schuyler Colfax, he wrote a series of letters on the problems of reconstruction following the Civil War. This topic was of paramount interest at that time. These letters were collected and printed in the Oregon State Journal. In 1861, he and his wife took the eight children of his deceased daughter, Rozelle, into his home to raise. In 1869, he lost his property in Umpqua, Ore. He had been bondsman for Samuel E. May, Secretary of State for Oregon, and May defaulted in his debt. In 1872, he went to Clear Lake, Ca. to work for his friend, Jesse D. Carr. He saved his money and was able to buy a small piece of land on the side of Mt. Yoncalla where he built a small house. Following his wife's death, he returned to Clear Lake, Ca. and lived wilth his son, Henry, until the fall of 1887. That fall, he returned to spend the winter at his sons, Robert and Alexander's homes, dying the following April at the latter's home. He was buried at the foot of Mt. Yoncalla in the Applegate private cemetery.
Warren Applegate, son of Anthony Lindsay and Elizabeth Basham Millier Applegate. was born on January 16, 1834 and died on November 6, 1843 on the trip to Oregon. Edward Bates Applegate, son of Jesse and Cynthia Ann Parker, was born in November 1833 and died on November 6, 1843 along with his cousin Warren.
Paul Cales argues that the death of these young cousins caused their families to look for an alternative pathway to Oregon. Additional information on this tragic event would be appreciated.
More information will be added as it is developed.