Eliza; The First Pioneers now available in Cannon Beach | community

In 1836, Eliza Hart Spalding, and Narcissa Prentiss Whitman, were the first two women to make the death defying, and perilous journey from New York to Vancouver Washington.

In 1847, ten-year-old Eliza Spalding Warren became the unwitting heroine of the infamous Whitman Massacre.

Tom Jiroudek, husband, father, musician, singer/songwriter, photographer, business owner, and now author, lives on the upper-left edge of the Oregon Coast. This is a historical and biographical novel of my wife’s ancestors, seven long years from the beginning to publishing.

Bringing the alchemy of vivid writing and rich detail into play, Jiroudek shapes history into something akin to poetry. At the end of this engrossing family memoir the reader will come away with a greatly enhanced understanding of the pioneers’ struggle for fulfillment through the precarious pursuit of place.

-Lawrence E. Houseman, Professor Emeritus of American Literature, Author of Desire and Disillusionment: American Fiction since 1890.

Written in five parts, Eliza covers the Spalding’s journey from coast to coast, establishing their mission, their relation with the Nez Perce, the Whitman Massacre of 1847, and in the epilogue, we find out what became of the survivors. Eliza focuses on the important roles that women played in establishing the Northwest, a story seldom told, and credit rarely given.

Available on Amazon, the Bald Eagle Coffee House in Cannon Beach, or the Cannon Beach Book Company.

Contact Tom Jiroudek at, [email protected]