Gates Family Connection with the Wildfires in the West

          When I began writing this article, the Black Butte wildfire's containment percentage was only in single digits. By early this week, it was 100% contained. 

            The Black Butte Wildfire burned over 22,000 acres of Malheur National Forest located in the central section of the eastern side of Oregon. The office of the Malheur National Forest’s supervisor can be found in John Day, Oregon. The beautiful area connects directly to all descendants of our maternal great-grandmother, Nettie Venator Tripp Black. 

Entrance to the Malheur National Forest 

According to the obituary of Nettie Venator Black, she was born in John Day City, Grant County, Oregon, on June 8, 1872. The town had only begun 10 years earlier in 1862. By the time Great-grandma Nettie was 10, the town dropped the word “City” from its name and is known as John Day to the present. The town’s population as of the last census is around 1,700 people. A curious bit of trivia from that region of Oregon – Pendleton, Oregon, the home of the beautiful Pendleton blankets, is situated only 87 miles north of Great-grandma Nettie’s birthplace.

Nettie Ann Venator Tripp Black - 1905
Great-grandma looks glum. Remember
smiling was inappropriate for those
born in the 19th century.

We seldom realize the ties we have with far-flung places. Often, we live for years without knowing of the connection! 

Over two months ago, I began delving into the Venator family in the Northwest during the late 19^th century. Not being a news hound, I heard enough updates to remain informed. More and more the news filled with fires ravaging the West. I investigated more closely Great-Grandma Nettie’s link to the devastated areas of Oregon.

I can’t help but wonder what drew some of the Venators to Kansas from Oregon. Perhaps the news of the opening of Oklahoma Territory or the opening of Cherokee Strip beckoned these ancestors struck with wanderlust. We descendants may never know, but my pondering brought Abram from the Bible to mind.

The patriarch, Abram, may have been judged by his neighbors in Ur and later Haran, to be the victim of being bitten by the travel bug. Some may have whispered behind his back that he was dragging Sarai into the unknown due to his itchy foot. Reading the account from the Bible clears up all speculating about Abram’s reason for relocating. Genesis 12:1 states: Now the Lord had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you.”

The recording of Abram’s response can be found in later in Genesis 12, in verse 4. It reads, So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him…

May we have Abram’s attitude of obedience. It may not mean relocating to an unknown country, but let’s obey without questioning, stalling, or debating with God.

These lines from hymns are easy to sing but usually harder to do:

What He says we will do, Where He sends we will go…from Trust and Obey

Where He leads me, I will follow…from Where He Leads Me

Anywhere with Jesus I can safely go…from Anywhere With Jesus

I’ll go where You want me to go, dear Lord, Over mountain, or plain, or sea;

I’ll say what You want me to say, dear Lord, I’ll be what you want me to be.

From I’ll Go Where You Want Me to Go

Photograph of the Scenery in the Malheur National Forest