Obituary for Thomas Sullivan Mountain (1915)

Contributed By

Louise Hayes_1

Obituary: In an unnamed newspaper on 9 August 1915 we read: "LAST SURVIVOR OF WILKES EXPEDITION DIES, AGED 93 YEARS ~ Captain Thomas S. Mountain, a veteran river craft commander and a pioneer of 1841, died yesterday at the age of 93 years, at the home of his daughter, Mrs. B. O'Hara, 714 Over ton street. He is the last survivor of the Wilkes expedition, the first naval expedition into the northwest. Captain Mountain is survived by four children besides Mrs. O'Hara, Captain Thomas J. Mountain, Portland fire bureau; Mrs. Agnes Reed, Los Angeles; John J. Mountain, Los Angeles, and Mrs. Mary A. Gilbert, San Francisco. Funeral services will be held tomorrow morning at 10 o'clock at St. Patrick's church, Nineteenth and Savier streets, the Rev. Father E.P. Murphy officiating. The burial will be in Mount Calvary cemetery. Captain Mountain was born in Gosport, Eng. in 1822. His father was a seafaring man who later joined the British navy. The son came to Oregon in the Peacock, which was wrecked at the mouth of the Columbia in 1841, so that he, withthe crew and other passengers, landed in the lifeboats. During the Mexican war he commanded the provision ship Sampson, which was sent with supplies to Port Isabelle, and from there with some of the other marines, went to the aid of General Zachary Taylor in taking a relief expedition to Fort Brown. At the battle of Palo Alto next day, Captain Mountain was wounded and forced to retire from service for a time. Later he became master of river craft here, before the old O. R. & N. company was formed, and for 40 years was employed by that company and its successor. He was first captain of the Portland Light battery, now Battery A., and was a member of the River Pilot association. In 1867 [sic] he married Miss Margaret Frances Barry. There were 12 children, of whom five are living. Members of the Pioneers' association, the Pilots' association and also of Battery A., to all of which Captain Mountain belonged, are invited to attend the funeral services."