McMenamins presents History Pub:
In the spring of 1847, Matilda Koontz embarked on a grueling 2,000-mile journey on the Oregon Trail with her husband, Nicholas, and their sons, leaving behind her cherished life on a Missouri farm to support her husband’s dream of claiming free farmland in the Pacific Northwest. Fresh graves along the way proved the dangers of disease, accidents, starvation, and countless hazards threatening her family’s safety and survival.
Join author Julie McDonald Zander as she retraces Matilda Koontz’s journey to Oregon and how this “reluctant pioneer” became a pillar of early settler communities. Koontz’s home served as Washington Territory’s first courthouse and is the namesake of Matilda Jackson State Park.
Julie McDonald Zander is an award-winning journalist with 20 years of experience as a newspaper reporter and editor. Her debut novel about Matilda Koontz, The Reluctant Pioneer, won a silver Will Rogers Medallion and American Bookfest’s Best Book Award of 2025, and was a finalist for the Western Writers of America’s Spur Award for Best Historical Novel. Her nonfiction book about Koontz, Washington Territory’s Grand Lady, was a finalist for two national awards. Through her personal history company, Chapters of Life, she has published more than 90 individual, family, and community histories.
