Miyo Iwakoshi

Miyo Iwakoshi was one of the first Japanese settlers in Oregon, arriving in the state in 1880. She became known as the "Western Empress" among Japanese settlers due to her willingness to help Japanese immigrants travel and reside in Oregon. Nitobe's biological parents are noted as "unknown" on her birth certificate. During this period, the Meiji Restoration of 1868 involved the Japanese government industrializing its agriculture, incentivizing foreigners like McKinnon to travel there and implement new techniques and expertise. One year later, they set sail for the Oregon Coast. They settled down in east Multnomah County, just on the outskirts of Gresham. McKinnon built the Orient Mill and named it after his wife. To build the mill they received some assistance from a friend, Captain Robert Smith. With the agricultural decline and social unrest in Japan due to the Meiji Restoration of 1868, a large population of issei immigrated to the United States in hopes for employment and new opportunities. By June, She had a successful silkworm colony that produced hundreds of yards of fine pure white silk thread. The silk produced was equal in quality to silk made in other countries and she hoped to highlight the possibility of larger-scale silk production in Oregon. An anti-Japanese sentiment group within Gresham, the Japanese Exclusion League, desired for any Japanese people to be buried in White Birch Cemetery rather than Pioneer Cemetery. It was assumed that she was buried outside of Pioneer Cemetery or in one of the other cemeteries. After further research, it was later discovered that she was buried close to McKinnon in Pioneer Cemetery, with a Japanese cedar marking her grave. By 1973, three of Miyo's grandchildren were deceased; a grandson and granddaughter were shot, and one grandson died in a car accident.