Justin Chenoweth papers, 1848-1898 PDF
Overview of the Collection
- Creator
- Chenoweth, Justin, 1825-1898
- Title
- Justin Chenoweth papers
- Dates
- 1848-1898 (inclusive)18481898
- Quantity
- 0.45 cubic feet (1 document case)
- Collection Number
- Mss 237
- Summary
- Handwritten diary, letterbooks, and documents relating to Justin Chenoweth's travel to Oregon and work as a surveyor, mail carrier, and justice of the peace in Oregon and Washington Territory, primarily from the years 1848 to 1862. Includes family correspondence.
- Repository
- Oregon Historical Society Research Library
1200 SW Park Avenue
Portland, OR
97205
Telephone: 503-306-5240
Fax: 503-219-2040
libreference@ohs.org - Access Restrictions
-
The collection is open to the public.
- Languages
- English
- Sponsor
- Funding for encoding this finding aid was provided through a grant awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Historical NoteReturn to Top
Born in Clark County, Illinois, in 1825, Justin Chenoweth received an education in civil engineering, and employed his skill as a surveyor for public and private purposes in the Oregon Country. Chenoweth worked officially along the West Coast as a United States surveyor for the Vancouver land office, and also surveyed land in Portland, and in Wasco County, where Chenoweth Creek bears his name.
Justin Chenoweth traveled to The Dalles, Oregon in 1849 as a civilian member of the First U.S. Mounted Rifles, and found work in Linn City as a teacher. In Oregon City, he served as clerk of the Oregon Territory, as territorial librarian, and as a schoolteacher. His diary and first letterbook recount some of that time.
Chenoweth settled on a claim west of The Dalles, where he married Mary H. Vickers in 1852. He served as justice of the peace, superintendent of schools for Skamania County, Washington Territory, and as a mail carrier, ferrying mail across the Columbia River between The Dalles and Cascades. The Chenoweths had four children. His wife Mary passed away in 1862. Justin Chenoweth died in Portland in 1898, where he had made his home for some years. He and his wife are buried at Pleasant Hill cemetery, near Sherwood.
Content DescriptionReturn to Top
This collection includes the diary and early Oregon correspondence of Justin Chenoweth (both originals and transcripts), pioneer and surveyor, and chronicles his work and family life during the years 1848-1860. Included in the diary and in additional pieces are accounts and receipts. Legal documents feature Chenoweth's work as a justice of the peace, and family land claims and transactions. A file containing microfilm of Wasco County land plats and townships was later added to the collection.
Use of the CollectionReturn to Top
Restrictions on Use
The Oregon Historical Society is the owner of the materials in the Research Library and makes available reproductions for research, publication, and other uses. Written permission must be obtained from the Research Library before any publication use. The Society does not necessarily hold copyright to all of the materials in the collections. In some cases, permission for use may require seeking additional authorization from the copyright owners.
Preferred Citation
Justin Chenoweth Papers, MSS 237, Oregon Historical Society Research Library
Administrative InformationReturn to Top
Detailed Description of the CollectionReturn to Top
Series A: Diary, 1848-1852Return to Top
Container(s) | Description | Dates |
---|---|---|
Box/Folder | ||
1/1 |
Diary
Handscript leather bound diary of Justin Chenoweth includes
financial accounts. It commences with a narrative account of a trading trip
from Darwin, Clark County, Illinois down the Wabash, Ohio, and Mississippi
Rivers with brothers Robert and Charles and continues with a very brief account
of travel from Fort Leavenworth, Kansas (June 4, 1849) with the U. S. Mounted
Rifles, to Oregon City, Oregon (November 15, 1849). The diary concludes with
Chenoweth's early experiences in Oregon, including work as a school teacher,
mail carrier and surveyor in Linn City, Oregon City, Cascades, and The
Dalles.
|
1848-1852 |
1/2 |
Diary (typescript)
|
1848-1852 |
Series B: Correspondence, 1849-1860Return to Top
Container(s) | Description | Dates |
---|---|---|
Box/Folder | ||
1/3 |
Letterbook
Bluegreen print wallpaper-covered compilation of handscript
letters. Follows Justin Chenoweth's journey from to Oregon. Correspondents
include Wilson P. Blain, C. M. Chenoweth, John Chenoweth, Maria Drake, Virginia
Drake, James Durham, W. B. Hudson, A. L. Lovejoy, B. C. Pratt, Major R. B.
Reynolds, Albert Shaw, and Thomas Smith. Ends with poem, "Hail! all hail! the
plow!" by Justin Chenoweth, July 1850.
Restricted due to condition-- please use typescript copies.
|
1849 March 29-1850 July 23 |
1/4 |
Letterbook
(typescript)
|
1849 March 29-1850 July 23 |
1/5 |
Letterbook
Brown paper-covered handscript letterbook on blue paper.
Correspondents include M. H. Barnhart, Nathan Benson, D. P. Bradford, Emily
Chenoweth, John Chenoweth, L. P. Chenoweth, Nathaniel Coe, C. B. Culver, John
Ferguson, Mary A. Friar, G. G. Johnson, W. S. Ladd, Sarah Perry, D. J.
Schuebely, Albert Shaw, S. R. Thurston, Captain J. O. VanBergen, William Welch,
W. B. Wells, and Angeline White. Includes several sonnets to Mary [Friar],
1851, and letters to the editor. Restricted due to condition-- please use
typescript copies.
|
1850 August 13-1860 February 9 |
1/6 |
Letterbook
(typescript)
Typescripts -- Typescript copies of letters from the 1850-1860
letterbook.
|
1850 August 13-1860 February 9 |
1/7 |
Letters to Justin
Chenoweth
Correspondents include M. R. Hathaway, G. W. Johnson, A. Lee
Lewes, Dan F. Radford, and J. Quinn Thornton on topics ranging from surveying
to matters relating to Chenoweth's civil duties.
|
1850-1856 |
1/8 |
Letters to Justin Chenoweth
(typescripts)
|
1850-1856 |
Series C: Documents and general materials, 1850-1898Return to Top
Container(s) | Description | Dates |
---|---|---|
Box/Folder | ||
1/9 |
Accounts and receipts
|
1850-1858 |
1/10 |
Accounts and receipts (typescripts)
|
1850-1858 |
1/11 |
Docket
Docket of cases handled by Justin Chenoweth as Justice of the
Peace, Territory of Oregon, Clackamas County. Includes case of the alleged
murder of an Indian at The Dalles by George Mace.
|
1853 |
1/12 |
Docket (typescript)
|
1853 |
1/13 |
Land claim
documentation
Documentation submitted by Justin Chenoweth regarding his land
claim in The Dalles, Oregon (1860) and his father's (John Chenoweth) Bounty
Land Claim for service in the War of 1812. Typescript and photocopies of
documents from the National Archives.
|
1860; 1897-1898 |
1/14 |
Land claim
documentation (typescript copies)
|
1860; 1897-1898 |
1/15 |
Memorandum of
agreement
Memorandum of agreement between F. A. Chenoweth and Cornelius J.
Palmer, and other papers relating to property in Cascade, Washington Territory,
"destroyed by Indians."
|
1855-1856 |
1/16 |
Memorandum of
agreement (typescript)
|
1855-1856 |
1/17 |
Notice: Skamania school district
boundary
Given by Justin Chenoweth as Superintendent of Schools, Skamania
County, Washington Territory, for School District Number 3.
|
1862 |
1/18 |
Notice: Skamania school district
boundary (typescript)
|
1862 |
1/19 |
Miscellaneous: notes, recipes,
draft of love letter
|
undated |
1/20 |
Miscellaneous: notes, recipes,
draft of love letter (typescripts)
|
undated |
1/21 |
Microfilm
Contains two reels - one of Wasco County plats, and one of a Wasco County township atlas.
|
undated |
Names and SubjectsReturn to Top
- Subject Terms :
- Frontier and pioneer life -- Oregon
- Oregon National Historic Trail
- Overland journeys to the Pacific
- Pioneers -- Oregon -- Correspondence
- Pioneers -- Oregon -- Diaries
- United States - History -- War of 1812 -- Land grants
- Personal Names :
- Chenoweth, Forrest A., 1858-1926
- Chenoweth, John
- Chenoweth, Charles
- Chenoweth, Justin, 1825-1898 - Correspondence (creator)
- Chenoweth, Justin, 1825-1898 - Diaries (creator)
- Chenoweth, Robert
- Palmer, Cornelius J.
- Family Names :
- Chenoweth family
- Geographical Names :
- Skamania County (Wash.) -- School District #3 -- Boundaries - 1862
- West (U.S.) -- Description and travel
- West (U.S.) -- History -- 1848-1860
- Form or Genre Terms :
- Bookkeeping records
- Diaries
- Dockets
- Legal documents
- Letters
- Microfilms
- Poems
- Receipts
- Recipes