323 - The Belknap Settlement - Monroe, OR - Historic United Methodist Sites on Waymarking.com

IN MEMORY OF THE PIONEERS OF
THE BELKNAP SETTLEMENT
WHO SERVED GOD FAITHFULLY
IN AN UNTAMED LAND

I was able to obtain additional information on the Belknap settlement from the Benton County website and it tells us:

Oregon's Territorial Period of Service in Office (1849 – 1859)
The original governing body of Benton County was the Probate Court comprised of three elected judges. Shortly after Oregon was granted territorial status the County Court system was adopted and comprised of two elected commissioners and the elected County Judge. Many Oregon counties have maintained the County Court system to the current day.

Probate Court
George Belknap (1850-1852)
Belknap was born on August 30, 1817 in Hardin County, Kentucky and died on September 16 1897 in the Bellfountain area of Benton County, he was the last member of the original settlement to pass away. He married Keturah Penton on October 3, 1839 in Ohio, and moved to Iowa the year after. Belknap left Iowa, along with a significant portion of his family, to settle in Benton County in 1847 as part of what was referred to as the "Belknap Settlement" in the Monroe area. Several of his siblings were also members of the wagon train of 1847. He served as a Judge of the Probate Court from 1850 to 1852 and he and his wife were prominent supporters of Willamette University in Salem.

Further research found a couple of sources mentioning the Belknap Settlement. A book titled, History of Benton County, Oregon and written in 1885, explains:

... In the year 1847 the famous Belknap Settlement was founded, the first occupant being Jesse H. Caton who, in the fall of 1846 took up the claim now in the possession of his relict, Mrs. Shedd, and in the following spring moved with the thirty head of cattle and one horse thereto. Soon afterwards, in November, 1847, Jacob Hammer and his wife came to the section and were joint occupants of Mr. Caton's cabin with that gentleman. Mrs. Hammer, the pioneer lady of the precinct, performing the welcome duties of housekeeper. At the end of a year Mr. Hammer took up the donation claim on which he now resides, while to him is the credit of having brought the first bible into the neighborhood. The next settler, in the same year, was Ransom Belknap who took up his abode on the land on which he still resides, while about the same time L. D. Gilbert located where Samuel B. Cranston at present resides, and Orrin Belknap, also in the same locality. There came too at the same time Jeremiah Starr and his family who located near by./ In the following year, 1848, the colony received further augmentation. Jesse and George Belknap took up their residence thus emphasizing the necessity for calling it the Belknap Settlement, while, at the same period Chapman Hawley, located the land now occupied by his sons L. H. and S. R. Hawley, and Jesse, son of Chapman, with David Hawley, on the property now in the possession of Arthur Hawley. In this year too arrived John W, Starr, who took up the donation claim on which his wife and one son reside, and Levi H. Starr, who also located in the section.

Another genealogy website, Oregon Pioneers.com, further explains the identities and relationships between the Belknap family members.

Jesse Belknap, lived from 1792 to 1881 and was the father of George Belknap. Jesse fathered seven children, including George.

George Belknap lived from 1817 to 1897. he fathered 11 children.

George's brother, Reverend Corrington Gavitt Belknap, lived from 1830 to 1906 and was a prominent Methodist minister on the West Coast.