Less than a decade after the Whitmans established their mission at Waiilatpu in southeast Washington, a group of pioneers left Missouri in search of a new life at the end of the Oregon Trail. The co-leader of the group was George Bush, a military man, trapper, farmer and free Black American. He, his wife, Isabella, and their five sons joined friend Michael T. Simmons and three other families on the journey west, eventually settling in current day Tumwater. Tumwater was the first permanent American settlement in Washington.

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