Notes for Benjamin Franklin Gerking

Family Group Sheet

Notes for Benjamin Franklin Gerking

Notes for BENJAMIN "BEN" FRANKLIN GERKING:
1. In 1862, after Ben's Company was disbanded during the Civil War, due to an epidemic of measles, Jonathan Rice Gerking, packed up and moved west with most of his family. Apparently, Jonathan wanted no part of the Civil War, because when I started looking for a land grant, the only one I could find belonged to his wife, Nancy. I mentioned this to Florence Bowe, and she explained that he would not swear allegiance to Abraham Lincoln, and therefore, could not get a land grant. The family first settled in Marion County, Oregon. Benjamin is in Umatilla, County, by 1870, but his parents are still in Marion County during the 1870 Census. His parents moved to Umatilla County in 1871, and settled on what is now known as Gerking Flats.
2. Ben Gerking served in the Union Army from 10 September 1861 to 31 December 1861 when the Company in which he was serving was disbanded because of an epidemic of measles. He held the rank of Corporal. His marriage to Mittie Willis, a beautiful girl of French descent, was performed by Rev. Isaac N. Richardson. Mittie had come to Umatilla Co. as a schoolteacher and was a favorite with her pupils. Many of the Gerking children went to school to her. Ben raised horses in Umatilla Co. and after settling in Hood River became a successful strawberry grower. The entire family worked in this venture both picking and crating the berries for market.

Bowe, Florence Chappell; The Gerking Family in America, 3rd Edition Revised 1990; p. 290.
NOTE: There is no documented information regarding Mittie being of French descent, and there are no known French names in this line of the family.