Below is a Tintype from my collection for your enjoyment.

Marion L. Wilmot 1/6 plate ruby ambrotype

Marion Lafayette Wilmot Left Illinois In 1852 joining a party of 40 and crossed the plains to California. He mined in Placer County until the fall of 1854 when he decided to return East. He went to San Francisco, and taking passage on the Yankee Blade, was in the disaster off Point Conception in which 300 of the 1300 passengers were lost. He was rescued, but $5000 in gold and all his personal belongings went to the bottom of the sea. He was taken to San Francisco by the steamer Goliath, and again engaged in mining. This did not prove a success, so he returned to San Francisco. There he took passage on the Clipper Westward Ho bound for China. He returned to California. He then shipped on a Peruvian bark for a year and at Valparaiso on the The Flying Dutchman for Baltimore; from this city he returned to Kentucky and then to Illinois.

He was married in the Spring of 1859 they settled in Bourbon Co., Kansas. There he followed farming until 1861, when he enlisted in the sixth Kansas Voluntary Infantry. He participated in the Battle of Osage, Dry Woods and many skirmishes. He was mustered out at Wyandotte, Kansas and returned to his home resuming his farming operations which he continued until 1864 when he once again crossed the plains ... his objective point being to settle in Oregon. Forty miles west of Fort Laramie, they had 21 horses stolen by the Indians and a spirited engagement followed in which 3 of the little band were killed and many others wounded. Mr. Wilmot received 10 arrows in his body and became separated from his companions. He was taken up by another train and kindly cared for until restored to his family and friends. In the summer of 1865, he bought 520 acres of land on Fall Creek {Lane County, Oregon}, where he farmed until 1871. He later was appointed Postmaster of Springfield. Mr Wilmot died in 1909, leaving no children

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