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Salem Pioneer Cemetery ~ Frederick Gustavus Schwatka
~ part of the Marion County Pioneer Cemeteries of Oregon
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Frederick Gustavus Schwatka
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| LAST NAME: Schwatka
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FIRST NAME: Frederick
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MIDDLE NAME: Gustavus
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NICKNAME:
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| MAIDEN NAME:
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AKA 1:
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AKA 2:
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AKA 3:
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| TITLE: Lieutenant
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GENDER: M
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MILITARY: 3rd Cavalry
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| BORN: 29 Sep 1849
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DIED: 2 Nov 1892
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BURIED: 4 Nov 1892
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| ETHNICITY:
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OCCUPATION: Explorer, Writer, Army LT., MD, Attorney
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| BIRTH PLACE: Galena, Jo Davies Co., Illinois
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| DEATH PLACE: Portland, Multnomah Co., Oregon
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NOTES:
IOOF - Fredric [sic] Schwatka, age 43, died in Portland of stomach trouble.
1850 IL CENSUS - Fredrick Schwatka, age 1, b. Illinois, is enumerated with [mother] Amelia Schwatka, age 39, b. Virginia, along with Catherine, age 16, b. Ohio, Helena, age 14, b. Ohio, Amelia, age 11, b. Ohio, Loretta, age 9, b. Iowa, August, age 8, b. Iowa, and Josephine, age 4, b. Illinois. [Father is not enumerated with the family].
BIOGRAPHICAL:
Explorer, W.U. & West Point graduate, 4 years in U.S. Cavalry, led American Geographic Society of New York expedition in 1879-1880; led trek through Alaska & Yukon in 1886 and expedition into Mexico in 1889, and another to Alaska in 1891. Also degree in law (Nebraska), and medicine (Bellevue Hospital Medical college 1876). Served the army in Arizona, transferred to the Platte in Nebraska. In Sioux war of 1876, Tongue River, Rosebud and Slim Buttes. Aide deCamp on the staff of Gen. Nelson A. Miles, at Fort Vancouver. Wrote books; "Along Alaska's Great River," Nimrod in the North", "The Children of the Cold." Married Ada Josephine Brackett on 6 Sept. 1882 at Rock Island, Illinois. Ada was the daughter of Joseph Warren Brackett and Eliza M. Parmelee. They were parents of a son Frederick, born 16 Apr. 1886.
BIOGRAPHICAL:
ABOUT FRED SCHWATKA -- Harpers' Weekly for July 31 has the following: Lieutenant Schwatka, in command of the Time's exploring expedition in Alaska, is over six feet high, and weighs two hundred and fifteen pounds. It was he who discovered in King William's land, in the arctic seas, evidences that Sir John Franklin and his party had really perished. It was he, who, a few years later, sailed twelve hundred miles on a raft on the dangerous Yukon river, in the polar regions, and explored also the remaining eight hundred miles of that previously unknown, stream. Today the lieutenant is supposed to be climbing Mt. S. Elias, the highest peak of North America, its elevation being almost four miles. If he reaches the snowy summit, he will be the first person to have accomplished that feat. The Smithsonian Institute wanted to send him on the same errand, but was out of funds. He expects to bring back many facts and specimens valuable to science, and to deposit them in the Museum of Natural History at the Central Park, and in the museum of Princeton college, where his assistant, Mr. Libby, is a professor.
Oregon Statesman 5 Aug 1886 3:1
See also: Biographical sketch of father, Fredrick Schwatka (Pioneer cemetery database).
At West Point - Mr. F. G. Schwatka, of this place, recently heard from his son Fred, who is at the West Point Military Academy, that he had received so severe a sprain of the ankle as to be laid up for a month. He was in the riding school, practicing a feat in the drill, which consists of vaulting into saddle while your horse is on the full run. Young Schwatka's vaulting ambition overleapt itself with the above results; but he adds, as a consolatory idea, that sometimes there are three or four cadets disabled at a single drill.
Weekly Oregon Statesman 4 March 1870 3:1
PICTURE courtesy of Al Jones
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DEATH CERTIFICATE:
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OBITUARY:
LIEUT. FRED SCHWATKA DEAD.
He Took an Overdose of Laudanum and Died at Portland Yesterday Morning
Lieutenant Frederick G. Schwatka, who was reared in Salem and who made the name famous the world over by commanding expeditions to the Arctic region and to Mexico, is dead. He was found at 3 o’clock yesterday morning at Portland. The lieutenant was found lying on 1st street near Morrison. By his side was a half-empty bottle of laudanum. He was in a comatose condition. The supposition at first was that he was intoxicated but his condition grew alarming at the end of an hour. A telephone message was immediately sent to a physician, who responded at once and discovered that the lieutenant was suffering from what appeared to be narcotic poisoning. He was sent to the Good Samaritan hospital, where everything known to medical science was done for him, but in vain, and at 5 o’clock yesterday morning the heart beat ceased, and thus closed the life of a brilliant man, who had shed lustre upon the state of his adoption.
SOMETHING OF HIS LIFE.
Frederick Schwatka was born in Galena, Illinois., Sept 29, 1849, and came with his parents to Oregon in 1850, stopping in Astoria for a couple of years. From Astoria they removed to Albany, where they remained until 1859, when they came to Salem. Here he attended the Willamette university and learned the printer’s trade, being employed in the offices of the Statesman and the Willamette Farmer. In 1886 or ’87 he received an appointment to West Point and after graduating at the U.S. Military academy in 1871 was appointed second lieutenant in the 3d Cavalry and served on garrison and frontier duty until 1877. He also studied medicine and law, and was admitted to the bar in Nebraska in 1875, and received his medical degree at Bellevue hospital medical college, New York, in 1876. On hearing the story of Capt. Thom. F. Barry, who, while on a whaling expedition in Repulse Bay in 1871-3, was visited by Esquimaux who described strangers that had traveled through this region several years before and who had buried papers in a cavern, where silver spoons and other relics had been found, Lieut. Schwatka determined to search for traces of Sir John Franklin’s party, and obtaining leave of the army, fitted out an expedition of June 19, 1878, sailed on the "Eothen" for King William’s land. The party returned on Sept. 22, 1880, having discovered and buried many of the skeletons of Sir John Franklin’s party, and removed much of the mystery of its fate. Lieut Schwatka found the grave of Lieut John Irving, third officer of the "Terror," and, in addition to many interesting relics, a paper which was a copy of the Crozier record that was found in 1859 by Lieut Wm. R. Hobson, of sir Leopold McClintock’s expedition, and which contained two records, the latter, under date of April 25, 1848, stating the death of Sir John Franklin on June 7, 1847. This expedition was also marked by the longest sledge journey on record 3,251 miles, during which a branch of Back’s river was discovered, which Lieut. Schwatka named for President Hayes. Afterward he explored the course of the Yukon river in Alaska, and rejoined his regiment in July, 1884. In August of that year he resigned the commission of first lieutenant, third cavalry, to which he had been appointed in March, 1879. He commanded the New York Times Alaskan exploring expedition in 1886. During later years he made two tours of exploration through Mexico and at the time of his death was contemplating exploring Mt. Hood. Lieut. Schwatka was an entertaining writer and had written and published all of his explorations. He was an honorary member of the greatest geographical societies of the world and had received from many of them acclaim. He was the author of several books of travel, among them being "Along Alaska’s Great River," "Nimrod in the North," and "The Children of the Cold." Lieutenant Schwatka was the son of F. G. Schwatka, who died at Salem on January 12, 1887. Mr. Schwatka, the senior, was a cooper by trade and followed this vocation during the residence here. He was preceded to the grave by three years by his wife, the mother of the Lieutenant, and also of Mrs. T. H. Reynolds, of Portland, and Mrs. J. D. Jordan, of this city. Ned Schwatka, of Yreka, Cal, and an uncle of the explorer and Gus Schwatka of San Francisco is a brother. His wife is at Rock Island, Ill. At the time of his death, the lieutenant had under way a project for the exploration of Mt. Hood with a view to having it made a national park. He expected at an early day to deliver a lecture in Salem, taking for his subject his travels in the Northland.
THE FUNERAL AT SALEM
At Portland today at 2 p.m. a post-mortem examination will be conducted at the conclusion the body will be taken to the home of T. B. Reynolds, in Portland. It will arrive in Salem by the 11:17 train on Friday and will at once be taken to Rural cemetery for burial.
Oregon Statesman, November 3, 1892, 4:3
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INSCRIPTION:
Lieut. F. G. Schwatka
3rd Cavalry
Died Nov. 2, 1892
Explorer
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SOURCES:
IOOF Register of Burials
S&H pg 34
1850 IL CENSUS (Jo Daviess Co., Galena, FA #2428)
WOS 4 March 1870 3:1
OS 5 Aug 1886 3:1
OS 3 Nov 1892 4:3
OS Jan. 8, 9, 10, 1937 Bits for Breakfast, p. 4
CJ 17 Sept, 1952, 4:3
Historic Marion, v. 18, January 1981, p. 2
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CONTACTS:
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| LOT: 113
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SPACE: 2 NE
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