LOC/E-F/E5. Pioneers

Abstract

The James Akin collection contains a diary recording events during the 1852 journey of the Richey, Ingram and Akin families to Oregon. The origins of this diary are unclear, since another James Akin diary is known to exist in the collections of the Wyoming state archives. Also included in the collection are secondary sources relating to the Akin diary and family history.

Abstract Welborn Beeson was a farmer in Jackson County, Oregon during the late 1800s. The Beeson family came overland to Oregon in 1853, settling in Jackson County along Wagner Creek. In 1851, when Welborn Beeson was fifteen years old, he began to keep a diary and continued to do so until his death in 1893. After serving in the Union Army during the Civil War, Beeson returned to farm in Jackson County, and was active in politics and in the social life of the area. The collection includes diaries,...

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The George Bond papers comprise a photocopy of a published typescript in which a segment of George Bond's diary in transcribed. The segment concerns the Bond family's 1853 overland journey to Oregon.

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J. H. (John Henry or Heine) Christ edited a book regarding the recollections of a Pony Express Rider, Isaac Van Dorsey Mossman, who worked for the Pony Express in the mid 1800s. The collection (1954-1955) contains manuscript and research material, correspondence, photographs, and publicity.

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Philip Condit diary describes his trip across the plains from Council Bluffs, Iowa to the Willamette Valley.

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Sylvanus Condit diary contains entries on trip across the plains from Council Bluffs, Iowa to the Willamette Valley.

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William Cornell was a pioneer from Alexandria, Ohio. This collection consist of a copy of his diary that describes his crossing of the plains in 1852 to Oregon.

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Isom Cranfill lived in various areas of Oregon, working as a cabinetmaker, farmer, and itinerant preacher. He was justice of the peace in Clackamas County in 1848 and ran a general store in Oregon City from 1849-1850. The collection consists mainly of diaries: 1847, 1860, and 1863–1877 (16 volumes). The 1847 diary is an account of his overland journey and the others are a record of daily activities in Oregon.

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Medorem Crawford helped lead emigrants overland to the Pacific Northwest in the early 1860s. From 1864 to 1869 he was Oregon collector of internal revenue, and from 1871 to 1875 he served as appraiser of customs. The collection is comprised of diaries, correspondence and account books. Some of the diaries describe overland journeys. The major part of the collection are the diaries for 1859-1861, 1863, 1864, 1869-1871, 1876-1877, 1885-1886.

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The collection contains Marianne Hunsaker D’Arcy’s autobiography, both in handwritten form, and typed. D’Arcy was among the first generation of Americans to settle in Oregon.

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The Durham family was based in Kentucky, although some family members moved out west. The collection (1846-1925) contains correspondence, telegrams, an obituary, an article clipping, and poetry.

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Jane Eakin was a pioneer whose diary describes a trip across the plains from Illinois to Eugene, Oregon in 1866.

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S. B. Eakin's diary describes a trip across the plains from Illinois to Eugene, Or. in 1866.

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The Ellmakers are a prominent pioneer family who first settled in Lane County, Oregon in the 1850s following their journey across the United States on the Oregon Trail. The Ellmaker family papers include personal papers of members of the Ellmaker family; maps, drawings, and photographs; artifacts; books and periodicals; and genealogical research and resources.

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The Orange Gaylord diary is a typed copy of Gaylord's accounts of his travels to and from the west during the years 1850-1853.

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Elizabeth Goltra traveled with her husband to Oregon from Missouri in 1853. This collection contains copies of the journal she kept during their overland crossing. Pages dealing with the history of the Goltra family are also included.

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Wyona Eliza Surfus Gordon was an Oregon pioneer and school teacher. The collection consists of a detailed typewritten memoir of an overland wagon trip from Kansas to Oregon in 1883.

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The Amelia A. Hadley journal includes entries regarding her 1851 journey from Galesburg, Illinois to Oregon City, Oregon.

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Sam "Uncle Sam" Handsaker was an Oregon pioneer and veteran of the Rogue River Indian Wars. The collection consists of a typed copy of "Across the Plains," which is a transcription of a section of Handsaker's journal (1853).

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The Abel Helman Papers comprise four folders that include a diary of Helman's overland trip from Ohio to California, a list of travel expenses, detailed description of weather reports of Ashland, Oregon, and a photostat copy of the journal of the Mountain Rangers from 1863 to 1866.

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W. Harry Hembree was a ship captain and master ship builder in Oregon. His family, and the Kellogg family, owned and built ships and created a freight transportation company in the Willamette Valley. The W. Harry Hembree Papers consist of the retelling of Hembree's grandfather's 1843 overland journey, a 1947 interview in which Hembree reminisces about his family and his life, and Hembree's 1912 log of the Althea voyage from Portland, Oregon to Alaska.

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Collection comprises a single manuscript that is W.A. Hockett's personal account of his journey across the Oregon Trail. The manuscript was typed by Hockett in 1914 and discusses events occurring in 1846-1847.

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The collection consists of the manuscript journal of William Hoffman, which chronicles Hoffman's journey across the Oregon Trail from Covington, Indiana to Jacksonville, Oregon in 1853.

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John Lawrence Johnson (1830-1916) was a pioneer who came to Oregon with his parents in 1851. The collection includes Johnson's diary of that journey as well as a letter from Johnson's uncle.

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Evans Smith McComas came from Iowa to Oregon to work in the mines in the 1860s. He later owned and edited newspapers. The collection consists of scrapbooks and the McComas diary, 1862-1867, which describes his journey on the overland trip to Oregon.

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Nathaniel Myer's diary recounts his travels from Van Buren, Iowa to the Rogue River Valley of Oregon. His diary includes descriptions of the weather and landscapes along with events.

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The William T. Newby Papers contain a variety of information about Newby's overland crossing from Missouri to Oregon on the Oregon Trial in 1843. Newby was a member of the wagon train made famous by Jesse Applegate. The collection provides weather observations, account summaries, and personal experiences of living in and journeying to Oregon from 1843-1864.

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The John H. Nicklin letter is a single letter, addressed to Nicklin's brother, describing the journey to and conditions found in Oregon in 1851. The letter focuses on the journey over the Oregon Trail and the available agriculture of the Willamette Valley.

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Benjamin Franklin Owen (1828-1917) was a pioneer on the overland trail to Oregon. The collection consists of Owen's journal, My Trip Across the Plains, March 31, 1853-October 28, 1853.

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William Henderson Packwood (1932-1917) was an Oregon pioneer, who in 1857, was the youngest delegate sent to Oregon's Constitutional Convention. The collection (1915) contains a letter to Fred Lockley regarding Packwood's boyhood, along with a typed memoir of the Packwood family's overland journey to Oregon in 1849.