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,...

Abstract

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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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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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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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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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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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.

Abstract Joel Palmer (1810-1881) began his political career in Indiana, where he served as a state legislator until he came to Oregon in 1847. Shortly after his arrival, Palmer became Superintendent of Indian Affairs, a post he held until 1857. He also served as an Oregon state representative and senator, and was a losing candidate in the 1870 governor's race. The Joel Palmer Papers comprise correspondence, official records of the Oregon Superintendency, U.S. Office of Indian Affairs, documents...

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This collection contains the history of Philander Powell's trip across the plains from Arkansas to California during April 19, 1860-October 10, 1860.

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Grace Guile Purse was a physician in Washington, D.C. early in the twentieth century. In 1920 Purse pursued genealogical research in an effort to join the Daughters of the American Revolution.

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The James Henry Bascom Royal papers include a journal of an overland trip from Illinois to Oregon, June 5, 1853-October 27, 1853; diaries, June 17, 1849-February 24, 1853 and December 19, 1853-July 4, 1855; and two letters from James H. Wilbur.

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Mrs. Lydia A. Rudd traveled overland from Missouri to Oregon in 1852; Notes by the Wayside En Route to Oregon is her journal from May 6, 1852-October 27, 1852.

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Viola Springer was from Sullivan County, Missouri and was an Oregon pioneer. The Viola Springer journal describes in detail her trip from Princeton, Montana to Harney Valley, Oregon in 1885-1886.

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Sarah Sutton traveled to Oregon with her husband, John Sutton, their four children and other family and friends from Cass County, Illinois to Grand Ronde Valley, Oregon. Collection includes one volume of Sarah Sutton's printed diary of crossing the plains pasted into a ledger book.

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The Taylor family papers include a journal of an overland trip from Rockford, Illinois to Oregon in 1853 by Rachel Taylor; a diary of D. H. Taylor on military service against Indians, January 1862-May 1862; and a genealogy of the Taylor family and related families.

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Solomon Tetherow was a wagonmaster of an expedition to Oregon. Solomon Tetherow's journal of the Oregon Emigrating Society of 1845 contains copies as well as photo negatives of the journal.

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John Joseph Villair (1876- ) was an Oregon pioneer and resident of Josephine County. The collection consists of a typed transcription of Villair's reminiscences as told to John C. Kuhns (1887-1901).