“Mother of Pendleton”

—August 23, 1829 - July 21, 1913 —

Aura Morse Goodwin Raley was born in Kennebec County, Maine. At age 15 she move to Wisconsin, and in 1846 she married Moses Goodwin. In 1853 the couple joined a wagon train to Oregon, where they settled north of Vancouver, Washington. In 1864 the Goodwin's decided to relocate to the Boise mining district. Upon arrival at what is now Pendleton, they decided to take up a land-donation claim and traded Abe Miller a span of mules for the claim. They built the first house in Pendleton (located in the 100 block of South Main.)
The Goodwin's opened a stage station and hotel at their house on Main Street and built a toll bridge across the Umatilla River. Due to the large number of cats they kept, the station was often referred to as Goodwin's Cat Station. When the town of Pendleton was formed, they donated 2 1/2 acres for the original town plat. They also donated land for use as a cemetery (Pioneer Park), a County Courthouse block (located on Main Street at the time) and a city block for a future college (the current Courthouse block). Aura and Moses had three children; one died in infancy, and one was murdered while taking horses to a sale. Moses died suddenly in 1871, and a year later, Aura married Henry J. Raley. He became the manager of the Goodwin Hotel. Henry and Aura had one child, Cosbie. Mr. Raley died in 1876 at the age of 40.