Clackamas County OR Archives Photo Tombstone.....Roop, Rachael Ruth (Center) Tull Powell ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/or/orfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Kirsty Haining khaining@comcast.net March 19, 2009, 6:40 pm Cemetery: Rock Creek Cemetery Name: Rachael Ruth (Center) Tull Powell Roop Date Of Photograph: July 17, 2004 Photo can be seen at: http://www.usgwarchives.net/or/clackamas/photos/tombstones/rockcreek/roop3032gph.jpg Image file size: 113.7 Kb RACHAEL RUTH CENTER TULL POWELL ROOP was born 14 April 1819 in Ohio, the daughter of Ebenezer Center and Mary Fetter. The family soon moved to Edgar County, Illinois, and it was there that her father died, in 1835, when Rachael was just 15 years old. Exactly how many children were in the Center family is unknown, but Rachael was the only black-haired daughter in a group of 7 daughters. There were at least 3 brothers, as well, and perhaps a half-brother or two. On 04 Feb 1835 in Edgar County, Illinois, almost 9 months after her father's death, Rachael married her first husband, Aaron Tull. Little is known about Aaron, since he died of tuberculosis within a few years after they were wed. But Rachael was left with a young son from this marriage, William Tull (born in 1838). On 01 Nov 1841, Rachael married Theophilus Powell in Van Buren County, Missouri. Theophilus was a circuit preacher for the Methodist Church. He was 26 years her senior. They probably lived on a farm in Missouri, as Theophilus had previously lived in Kentucky. However lack of markets, low farm prices and malaria (which was prevalent there), discouraged many of the early settlers of Missouri. The Powells began to hear stories of the wonderful Oregon country. On 11 May 1845, Theophilus and Rachael Powell left Independence, Missouri in the great wagon train of 1845. Rachael's mother, Mary Fetter Center, rode in their wagon, as did Lucy, a crippled sister. Their destination was "The Settlement," as Oregon City was then called. The wagon train left under the command of Capt. Solomon Tetherow, but after a few days he resigned and Capt. English took over. It took 6 months to travel west. Finally, on 05 Feb 1846 Theophilus and Rachael chose a homesite six miles south of Silverton, Oregon. They had 3 children then (William Tull, Rachael's son from her first marriage, and Mary Ann Powell and Isaac Jamison Powell, who had both been born in Independence, Missouri). Martha Jane Powell was born in Oregon Territory just a month after they settled their claim. Two more sons were born in the following years -- John Wesley Powell and George Powell. As in Kentucky and Missouri, Theophilus Powell preached in Oregon for the Methodist Church. He helped to build Rock Creek Church near Needy, Oregon. Theophilus Powell died on 20 Jan 1861, at Waldo Hills, and he was buried on his donation land claim under a tree. On 13 July 1862, Rachael had remarried Isaac Roop, a farmer from Needy and himself a widower with a family of half-grown children. She evidently made the home a happy one, as years later William Tull, Rachael's first son married Frances Roop, one of Jacob's daughters. Rachael died on 24 Dec 1890 in Clackamas County, Oregon at the age of 71 years. She is buried in the Rock Creek Cemetery between William Tull, her first son, and Jacob Roop, her third husband. The cemetery is about only a mile away from the Roop home where Rachael had lived for the past 28 years. -- adapted in part from "Our Colonial Lines", third edition, by Gertude Brown Smith and Beulah M. Springstead (a family-published book of history and genealogy) Photograph taken by Kirsty Haining on 17 July 2004. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/or/clackamas/photos/tombstones/rockcreek/roop3032gph.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/orfiles/ File size: 4.0 Kb