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| Pierre and Catherine Pambrun, emigrants of 1826 Pioneer Family of the Month - May 1997 Born on December 17, 1792, in the Canadian province of Quebec, Pierre Chrysologue Pambrun traveled as far east as England and as far west as the Pacific Ocean in his lifetime. His father, an educated man, made every effort to ensure that Pierre was properly schooled, and Pierre's education served him well in later years. As a young man, Pierre enlisted to fight in the War of 1812 on the side of the British. He served with distinction, rising through the enlisted ranks and finally mustering out as an officer in the spring of 1815 through measure of his deeds. In April, he entered the service of the Hudson's Bay Company. His education won Pierre a clerkship in the Hudson's Bay Company, which was unusual for a Quebecois -- as a general rule, French Canadians served the HBC as trappers, voyageurs, or in menial positions -- and he eventually rose to the post of Chief Factor of Fort Walla Walla in 1839. His first year with the Company was perhaps his most remarkable, as he was involved in the defense of the Red River settlement (now known as Winnipeg) when the territorial conflict between the HBC and the North West Company turned violent. Pierre was one of a handful of defenders who escaped by swimming the Red River under cover of darkness, and he later testified in London against the men accused of killing Governor Robert Semple in the assault on the Red River settlement. Pierre returned to Canada in 1819 and began drifting westward in his service to the Hudson's Bay Company. After several assignments, he came to Fort Vancouver in 1826. Strictly speaking, he entered the Oregon Country in 1825 when he helped built Fort Kilmaurs on Babine Lake in northern British Columbia. This fell within the vast Columbia District headed by Dr. John McLoughlin, but he did not enter McLoughlin's direct service until presenting himself at Fort Vancouver the following year.
After working under Dr. McLoughlin at Fort Vancouver for six years, Pierre was assigned as chief clerk in charge of Fort Walla Walla in March, 1832. This was an important post, as it was the jumping-off point for trapping expeditions into the Snake River wilderness and a center of trade for the Indians of the surrounding plains and deserts -- most notably the Nez Perce, Cayuse, and, of course, the Walla Wallas. Fort Walla Walla was also, by virtue of its location, an important stop on the cross-country trail to the United States and Canada proper. For all these reasons, it was also a difficult post to manage. Pierre succeeded, however, and was promoted to chief trader, or Factor, of the fort in late 1839 The solution Pierre seems to have adopted was to draw a sharp division between guests of the fort and potential competitors. He welcomed everyone to Fort Walla Walla except traders and explorers who might serve parties interested in scouting the HBC's territory with the intent of opening it to competition. In 1836, he not only warmly received the missionaries Dr. Marcus Whitman and Rev. Henry Spalding, but traveled with them for more than a month, escorting them to see the sites chosen for their missions, and later helped organize the construction of the mission buildings and stockades. The good Dr. Whitman, a Presbyterian, wrote glowingly of the hospitality and invaluable assistance rendered by Pierre in his capacity as chief clerk of the fort, which Whitman found quite remarkable given that his host was a Roman Catholic. On the other hand, he was quite inhospitable to the expedition led by Captain Benjamin Bonneville, allowing them the shelter of the fort but refusing to sell them supplies. Pierre was remembered universally in emigrant diaries and reminiscences as a generous, friendly man. One early overlander from Illinois, Thomas Jefferson Farnham, wrote in his diary that he considered Pierre to be a "fine, companionable fellow; I hope he will command Walla Walla as long as Britons occupy it, and live a hundred years afterwards." Sadly, Pierre was killed on May 15, 1841, when he was thrown from a horse he was trying to break. Because of his untimely death, Pierre never had the opportunity to have his photograph taken. There is apparently no surviving likeness of him; if he ever commissioned a portrait of himself or his family, it has since been lost. His will left everything to Kitty and their nine children, five sons and four daughters. Kitty and the children moved back to Fort Vancouver, where she supported the family doing fine needlework. The family did well, by and large, with the eldest daughter marrying Dr. Forbes Barclay of Oregon City and the eldest son later settling in the Walla Walla area and becoming a prominent rancher. |
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Pierre brought his wife, Catherine "Kitty" Humperville, to the Oregon Country. Kitty was the daughter of a Cree Indian woman named Ann and Thomas Humperville, a British officer stationed at Fort York. Kitty's father was apparently reassigned when she was a child, and though the family never saw him again, he continued to send money to Ann and his children for many years. Without an English speaker in the home, Kitty grew up speaking her native language and French. After marrying Pierre, she moved from fort to fort with her husband, and the worst of their troubles over the years seemed to stem from the fact that, like many women on the western frontier, Kitty smoked a pipe. Pierre wanted her to give up the habit so badly that he bought a pair of diamond earrings and promised to give them to her if she would only quit; she couldn't, and he never gave her the earrings. On December 8, 1838, Kitty was baptized at Fort Vancouver by the Rev. Father Francis Blanchet, later to become the first Archbishop of Oregon.