Scope and Contents note
The W. Harry Hembree Papers contain three recollections of Hembree's family and his work in Oregon as a ship captain and master builder. There is a seven page typed copy of Hembree's retelling of the 1843 overland journey that his paternal grandfather's family took from Fort Boise, Idaho to Lafayette, Oregon. This retelling, entitled The Blue Bucket Mine, includes Hembree's description of the trail after he retraced the overland journey route in the early 1900s. It is accompanied by a typed transcription of the diary of Jesse Harritt, who looked after the livestock on the 1843 overland journey.
The second item in the collection is a typed copy of the recollections of W. Harry Hembree in a four page interview by Mabel C. McClain in Portland, Oregon on March 1, 1947. The 1947 interview includes Hembree's discussion of his family's overland journey to Oregon, the family's work in shipbuilding and navigation of Oregon waterways, and a paragraph on the slaves that his grandfather owned. The third item is a typed copy of Hembree's log of the roundtrip cruise of the Althea from Portland, Oregon to Alaska in 1912, which is thirty-one pages. The log includes descriptions of places along the route, encounters with Native Americans, whale sightings, accidents, and narrow escapes.
Dates
- 1912-1947
Creator
- Hembree, W. Harry (Person)
Conditions Governing Access note
Collection is open to the public. Collection must be used in Special Collections and University Archives Reading Room. Collection or parts of collection may be stored offsite. Please contact Special Collections and University Archives in advance of your visit to allow for transportation time.
Conditions Governing Use note
Property rights reside with Special Collections and University Archives, University of Oregon Libraries. Copyright resides with the creators of the documents or their heirs. All requests for permission to publish collection materials must be submitted to Special Collections and University Archives. The reader must also obtain permission of the copyright holder.
Biographical/Historical note
W. Harry Hembree was a ship builder and captain. His paternal grandfather was in the French Navy and traveled to America by private ship, selling his ship to the United States for 6,000 acres of land. In America, Hembree's grandfather owned eighty slaves, which were freed before the journey to Oregon. Hembree's grandfather, father and uncle traveled to Oregon from Missouri by wagon train, arriving in La Fayette, Oregon in 1843. The family became farmers and also built stores in La Fayette and McMinnville. Hembree's stepfather, Jason Kellogg, traveled to Oregon in 1849 from Maine. He worked as a fisherman in Maine, but came to Oregon and worked as a fur trapper. By the 1860s, the Kellogg family had built a boat and begun transporting freight along the Tualatin River. The family hauled freight with a barge along Lake Oswego, to the Willamette River, and to Portland. The Kellogg's cleared the rivers and built locks in the lake in order to run boats and barges along these waterways. They ran a successful company from 1875 to 1920, running a boat along the Cowlitz River. The Kelloggs maintained a variety of boats in the Portland area during the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century.
During the late 1800s, W. Harry Hembree went to high school at the Portland Academy. After high school he worked with his family on boats, before attending Willamette University for two years. Hembree traveled to Oakland, California, to work for the Mining Engineering School. Later, Hembree worked as a captain in Oregon delivering freight along the Willamette River. In his later years, Hembree became interested in pioneer wagon train journeys, and read accounts of journeys and attempted to retrace the route of a particular journey from Ft. Boise to Oregon.
Extent
0.1 linear feet (1 folder)
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
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.
Arrangement note
Collection is organized into the following series: Overland Journey, 1843; Reminiscences; Althea Voyage, 1912.
General Physical Description note
1 folder
Processing Information
Collection processed by staff.
This finding aid may be updated periodically to account for new acquisitions to the collection and/or revisions in arrangement and description.
- Alaska Subject Source: Local sources
- Althea (Yacht)
- Businesses and Corporations Subject Source: Archiveswest
- Diaries Subject Source: Archiveswest
- Harritt, Jesse
- Hembree, W. Harry
- Interviews Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Logs (records) Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Navigation -- Oregon Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Northwest, Pacific -- Description and travel Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Oregon Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Overland Journeys to the Northwestern United States Subject Source: Archiveswest
- Overland journals Subject Source: Genre Terms: A Thesaurus for Use in Rare Book and Special Collections Cataloguing
- Overland journeys to the Pacific Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Pioneers Subject Source: Archiveswest
- Reminiscences Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Shipbuilding -- Oregon -- Willamette River Valley Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Shipping -- Oregon -- Willamette River Valley Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Transportation Subject Source: Archiveswest
- Voyages and travels Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Title
- Guide to the W. Harry Hembree Papers
- Status
- Complete Description
- Author
- Finding aid prepared by Vida Germano
- Date
- ©2004
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Finding aid written in English.
- Sponsor
- Funding for encoding this finding aid was provided through a grant awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Repository Details
Part of the University of Oregon Libraries, Special Collections and University Archives Repository
