BIO

I have felt passionate about the story of my ancestors' journey on the Oregon Trail for many years now. In 2021 I traveled with my pickup camper on the trail from Maryville, Missouri to the South Pass, Wyoming. My original plan was to travel all of the way to Oregon City, but the desolation of Western Wyoming and general fatigue did me in and I turned around to go home on the tenth day. One month later I flew to Portland, rented a four-wheel-drive Jeep and set out to cover as much of the western portion of the Trail as another ten days would allow me. I enjoy pairing American history events with the story of my ancestors. In addition to the Oregon Trail, I have researched and written about my ancestor's interface with the history of American slavery and have researched the history of the making of the Erie Canal. I also spent one winter researching the Battle of Alamance which occurred in  North Carolina a scant three years before the beginning of the American Revolutionary War. My ancestors were all greatly affected by these events in the history of our country.

Hugh Finney McPherson, Ann Arbor, Michigan