Toni Morrison's novel Beloved. Later life Gaines ran for the U.S. House of Representatives in 1855, but lost to Lane. Governor Gaines' appointment to the governorship indirectly lead to the death of several of his family, including his daughters Harriet and Florella, who died in 1850. In 1851 his wife Elizabeth went for a ride on the Clatsop plains and was thrown from her horse, which had become frightened by a wagon. Mrs. Gaines was crushed beneath the wagon's wheels and died from the injuries she sustained. After this tragedy his remaining children were sent back to relatives in the East. About 15 months after his wife's death, Gaines remarried, joining in matrimony with Margaret B. Wands, one of five schoolteachers recently sent to the state. John P. Gaines died December 9, 1857, and is interred in the Old Pioneer Cemetery at Salem, Oregon. Footnotes External links Biography from Salem (Oregon) Online History "Gaines" in The Political Graveyard John Pollard Gaines Papers, 1832-1864 (finding aid to collection at the New York State Library) 1795 births 1857 deaths Governors of Oregon Territory American military personnel of the War of 1812 American military personnel of the Mexican–American War Members of the Aztec Club of 1847 Mexican–American War prisoners of war held by Mexico Members of the Kentucky General Assembly Burials at Salem Pioneer Cemetery Oregon pioneers Oregon Whigs American slave owners Whig Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Kentucky 19th-century American politicians People from Augusta County, Virginia