Justin Chenoweth papers, 1848-1898  PDF

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.