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Pioneer Seventh-Day Adventists in the Walla Walla Valley

Caroline Maxson Wood came to the Walla Walla Valley by wagon train in 1859 with her husband J. Franklin Wood, her parents Stephen and Lois Maxson and her three siblings. They settled in the Russell Creek area. Stephen Maxson later brought the first piano to the valley via Cape Horn for his musical daughter, who became a teacher in the Walla Walla schools and eventually a music teacher at Walla Walla College. Her husband served as superintendent of the Walla Walla school district and was one of the first Seventh-day Adventist evangelists in the area. Caroline Maxon Wood is portrayed by Cleo Wentland.

William Nichols, presented by retired Walla Walla College professor Gordon Hare, was born near Montreal in 1838, then baptized as a Seventh-day Adventist in Iowa about 1861. He headed west on a wagon train in 1862 and ended up in Windsor, California, where he met and married Sarah Spence. There he met the James Wood family who had left Walla Walla to avoid a neighbor trying to convert them to Adventism. However, James Wood later converted to Seventh-day Adventism and convinced the Nichols family to return with him to the Walla Walla Valley. Both families settled in Milton, where Nichols prospered as a farmer and helped plat the town. Nichols was prominent in establishing Milton Academy which began classes in 1888, then closed when Walla Walla College opened in 1892. Nichols’s son George served as the second business manager of the college, and another son, Dorcey, operated the College Place post office, as well as William Nichols & Son General Merchandise, a dry goods and grocery store.

Augusta Moorhouse, portrayed by Evelyn Derby, was a native of Wurtenberg, Germany, who emigrated to the U.S. at the age of nine. In 1861, she and her husband and eight children came to the Walla Walla region as part of the Morgan wagon train, settling on Birch Creek. She was a pioneer Seventh-day Adventist settler in the Walla Walla Valley and was instrumental in founding the first Walla Walla and Milton-Freewater Adventist churches. Her son, Major Lee Moorhouse, was a famed photographer of Indians and the West, a Lt. Colonel in the Bannock War, and also served as mayor of Pendleton and Indian Agent at the Umatilla Reservation.

Aaron Miller, another pioneer Seventh-day Adventist, was also a strong leader in the development of Milton Academy. Miller was born in 1829 of parents who had come from Germany. He came west to California in 1850 for the gold rush but was not impressed with the behavior of the miners he encountered so he returned to Missouri. There he met his wife, Samaria, and they decided to return to California. This time the family settled in Windsor next to the William Nichols’ family. Miller converted to the Adventist religion and followed Nichols to the Walla Walla Valley where he set up a nursery in Milton. In the late 1800s his business was the largest nursery west of the Mississippi. Miller is portrayed by Bob Bohlman, retired teacher and IRS employee.

The Museum is located in Fort Walla Walla Park along Myra Road in Walla Walla. Admission is $7/adults; $6/students and seniors (62+); $3/children 6-12; and free to members and children under 6. Through a reciprocal visitation agreement, Tamástslikt Cultural Institute’s Inwai Circle cardholders and enrolled members of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation are also accorded free admission. For more information, contact Fort Walla Walla Museum at 509-525-7703, or email: info@fortwallawallamuseum.org.