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| Martin Ringo and J.P. Parker gravesites |
The graves of Martin Ringo and J. P. Parker are protected by iron pipe fencing erected about 1930 by Troop 81 of the Boy Scouts of America, Casper, Wyoming. Recently available diaries enabled Randy Brown to summarize the sad facts of Martin Ringo's death for the OCTA marker text. The marker was dedicated on Friday, July 14, 1987 with then-director of OCTA, Mary Mueller of San Jose, California giving a talk on the Ringo family. For more information on the Ringo grave, see the article by Randy Brown in Volume 7, Issue 1 of the Overland Journal.
The grave is located on private property two miles west of Glenrock, Wyoming. Permission must be obtained before visiting the site! To reach the grave, go two miles west of Glenrock on Highway 20/87. The grave is located on the north side of the road in the front yard of a private residence.
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On May 18, 1864, Martin and Mary Peters Ringo left their home in Gallatin, Missouri intending to settle in California. With them went their five children: John, Albert, Fanny, Enna and Mattie. The wagon train they traveled with -- some seventy wagons grouped together for mutual protection -- camped here on the night of July 29. Early the next morning, as Ringo climbed up his wagon, his shotgun went off in his own hands, killing him instantly. He was forty-five years old.
A friend, William Davenport, wrote: "He was buried near the place he was shot, in as decent a manner as was possible with the facilities on the plains."
The family eventually reached San Jose, California, the home of Coleman and Augusta Younger, brother-in-law and sister of Mary Ringo. Mary Enna Ringo, daughter of Martin and Mary Ringo, became an outstanding teacher in the San Jose school system for over fifty years.
Buried next to Ringo is J. P. Parker. Parker's tombstone tells all that is known about his life and death.
Additional Information
The Ringos had with them John Livingston, the personal slave of Martin's father, Judge Ringo. He was given his freedom on the promise that he go ahead to the Willamette Valley and find land for his master. When Martin accidentally shot himself in what is now Wyoming, his widow decided to take her young children to stay with her kin in California. Livingston, eager to keep his newly won freedom, went on to Oregon and established a claim in Clarkes, Oregon. Judge Ringo came to Oregon in1865. Livingston went on to become the wealthiest black man in Clackamas County.
After a few years in California, the Ringo family eventually made it up to Oregon and settled near Judge Ringo and Livingston near the Molalla River. Today the Clarkes Cemetery holds the remains of many Ringos, including Martin's widow and several children, as well as John Livingston and his wife. One Ringo child that is missing is Martin's son, John. Emotionally scarred for life having witnessed his father shoot himself, John went on to a life as a hired gun, known in the southwest as "Johnny Ringo."
For more information on William (John) Livingston, a childhood friend of Samuel Clemens (better known as Mark Twain), visit the End of the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center website.
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