Frenchtown, Washington

Frenchtown is the name of an early Pacific Northwest mixed ancestry settlement, sometimes referred as a French Canadian or a Métis settlement [1] located in Walla Walla County, Washington, United States. Originally called "le village des Canadiens",[2] it became known as "Frenchtown" by later settlers similarly to other settlements such as Frenchtown, Montana. It has become referred in more recent years as "Walla Walla Frenchtown",[3] a rural community located along U.S. Route 12 north of the Walla Walla River, between Lowden and Whitman, west of Walla Walla. This Pacific Northwest historical place has become legally recognized through a registered historical foundation.[4]

History

Joseph LaRocque[5] built the first cabin in 1823. Retired Canadian Métis fur traders continued to settle and marry into the local tribes. Roughly twenty French Canadian Métis and twenty Ojibway, Cree and Iroquois formed the core. This would evolve into a mixed ancestry village of log cabins and Indian camps scattered over fifty square miles. Fifty Métis families lived in the area by 1847. [6][7]

Following various Indigenous uprisings throughout the Territory of Washington and escalating pressure from settlers arriving through the Oregon Trail, the US Army declared in October 1855 that the Walla Walla valley was under martial law and that all the people had to leave. The order was challenged as some Frenchtown Métis stayed. Hostilities with the native relatives would soon follow. Without any supervision from the US Army, the Oregon Mounted Volunteers (OMV) engaged in the terrible Battle of Walla Walla that followed.[8] The US Army could not pay them. The "Battle of Frenchtown" (December 7–10, 1855) ended up being the longest Indigenous battle in the history of Washington Territory. Frenchtown Métis community was shattered as some of the Métis families went on scattering around the Pacific Northwest or returning to where they originally came from. Americans filed claims on the land vacated. What was left of the community continued on the best they could "close knit” French-speaking Catholic, under an influx of newcomers and difficult circumstances up to the 80's. The original Saint Rose Cemetery was established in 1853. The original mission cabin was burned during the war of 1855. A log chapel was built on the McBean land claim in 1863 and then moved to a site on the river. In 1876 the river burials were moved to a hill at the Frenchtown site and the Saint Rose of Lima Mission Church was erected on the lower portion of the site, which served the French-Canadian community in the area until about 1900.[9] Nearby Walla Walla was incorporated in 1862 and was for a while the largest community in the territory of Washington. In 1915, Frenchtown was renamed to Lowden.[10]

The Frenchtown Historic Foundation was first conceived in 1992 to rehabilitate this important precolonial Pacific Northwest history location. The Frenchtown Foundation acquired the land for the present-day historic site, including the cemetery, in 2005. A formal opening of the site and rededication of the St. Rose of Lima cemetery occurred in 2010. Relocation and restoration of the "Prince’s cabin" was completed in 2016. Originally located near the Whitman mission, the cabin is believed to be the oldest standing cabin in the state of Washington. Nowadays, Frenchtown is mainly a historical interpretation site and often designates its vicinity of wineries and family farms where once lived a thriving Métis community.

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References
  1. Barman, Jean French Canadians, furs, and indigenous women in the making of the Pacific Northwest. UBC Press. Vancouver 2014. Chapter 7 and Part 3: Beyond the fur economy
  2. Robert Foxcurran, Michel Bouchard, Sébastien Malette. Songs Upon The Rivers. Baraka Books. Montreal 2016. Foreword
  3. "Walla Walla Frenchtown is established about 1824". www.historylink.org. Retrieved 2019-06-11.
  4. "Frenchtown Historical Site". Frenchtown Historical Site. Retrieved 2019-06-11.
  5. http://www.oregonpioneers.com/bios/LouisTellier.pdf
  6. Munnick, Harriet and Adrian Catholic Church Records of the Pacific Northwest: Missions of St. Ann and St. Rose of the Cayouse 1847-1888, Walla Walla and Frenchtown 1859-1872, and Frenchtown 1872-1888. Binford & Mort Publishing, Portland 1989
  7. Lyman, W.D. Lyman's History of Old Walla Walla County. S.J. Clarke. Chicago 1918
  8. "Oregon volunteers battle the Walla Wallas and other tribes beginning on December 7, 1855". www.historylink.org. Retrieved 2019-06-11.
  9. "History of Frenchtown- Sam P." Frenchtown Historical Site. 2016-01-16. Retrieved 2019-06-11.
  10. "Drink wine and get a history lesson at L'Ecole No. 41". The Seattle Times. 2015-09-11. Retrieved 2019-06-11.

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