Archives West Finding Aid
Table of Contents
George Abernethy Papers, 1833-1905
Overview of the Collection
- Creator
- Abernethy, George, 1807-1877
- Title
- George Abernethy Papers
- Dates
- 1833-1905 (inclusive)18331905
- Quantity
- 0.6 cubic feet, (2 document boxes), (1 oversize folder)
- Collection Number
- Mss 929
- Summary
- Papers of a provisional governor of the Oregon Territory, churchman, and merchant. Includes letterpress copybook, 1847-1850; additional correspondence, including correspondence with Neil M. Howison, captain of the schooner Shark, wrecked on the bar of the Columbia River; papers of the Brig Henry Association, ca. 1850; papers of George's son William Abernethy; legal, military, and business papers; receipts, biographical data, clippings and ephemera.
- 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.
Biographical NoteReturn to Top
George Abernethy was a churchman, a merchant, and the first and only provisional governor of Oregon. He was born in New York City on October 7, 1807 and married Anne Cope in 1830. He was recruited by Rev. Jason Lee to assume financial management of the Methodist mission in Oregon and accompanied him on the ship Lausanne, sailing around the Horn to Oregon in 1840.
Abernethy was in charge of the mission store at Willamette Falls, later Oregon City. This was his center of activity where he is said to have erected the first brick structure built in the state. He also obtained a printing press and aided in the establishment of the first newspaper in Oregon.
Abernethy promoted the lumbering and fishery businesses and established commercial connections with the Sandwich Islands (Hawaiian Islands), California and the Atlantic Coast. He was in the Sandwich Islands in 1845 when he was elected governor of the Oregon Territory, two years after the first Provisional Government was founded. He was re-elected to the office in 1847.
He had many business enterprises in Oregon City, but a flood destroyed most of his physical property in 1861. Afterwards, with considerably reduced circumstances, Abernethy moved to Portland, where he lived out his declining years. There, for a time, he formed a partnership with Michael Herr. Their business card stated they were "commission & forwarding agents, for the sale or forwarding of flour, grain, mill, feed, hay, fruit, pork, bacon, lard, etc., agents for the sale of Oak Point lumber...," with offices on Knott's wharf. Abernethy died in Portland on May 2, 1877.
George Abernethy's son William was born in New York state in 1832 and came to Oregon with his family in 1840. He married Sarah Fidelia Gray, and the couple had 10 children. He died in Forest Grove, Oregon, in 1917.
Content DescriptionReturn to Top
George Abernethy's papers cover the period 1834-1897 and include correspondence, legal documents, ephemera, business records, the papers of William Abernethy, George's son, and the Brig Henry Association. The papers cover business matters, political and personal activities.
Correspondents include John McLoughlin, Jason Lee, James Douglas, William Fraser Tolmie, Joel Palmer, Henry A. G. Lee, Peter Skene Ogden, and Jesse Applegate. Subjects include: mission finances, the Oregon boundary settlement, the Hudson's Bay Company, the U.S. war with Mexico, the Whitman Massacre, the Cayuse War, and other conflicts between Native Americans and settlers. Legal documents contain land and business agreements.
The letterpress copybook contains copies of approximately 250 letters, 1847-1850, dealing with Abernethy's business affairs. Although the book is physically well-preserved, the handwriting is often difficult to decipher.
Abernethy family papers (designated Mss 929-1) contain: correspondence, invoices, and statements pertaining to Abernethy's business interests, including partnerships with Michael Herr and plaster and cement business; deeds to land purchased by Abernethy, mostly in Oregon City; land records and sewing machine business correspondence of William Abernethy; letters from J. Quinn Thornton and Samuel R. Thurston; quitclaim deed for lots in Oregon City, from John and Margaret McLoughlin to J. Quinn Thornton; tax receipts; and maps.
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 reproduction 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.
Alternative Forms Available
Selected papers available on microfilm at the Oregon Historical Society Research Library
Preferred Citation
George Abernethy Papers, 1836-1897, Mss 929, Oregon Historical Society Research Library
Administrative InformationReturn to Top
Arrangement
The collection is arranged in two series as follows
- Series A: General papers, Mss 929, 1834-1897
- Series B: Abernethy family papers, Mss 929-1, 1833-1905
Acquisition Information
Letterpress copybook deposited by William Abernethy, 1893
Additional papers, gift of Camilla Abernethy, Oct. 20, 1967, Library Accession 10329
Materials in Mss 929-1, gift of Dorothy Gaines, August 1985, Library Accession 18505
Separated Materials
Daguerreotype of George Abernethy & Co. store, Oregon City, ca. 1855, transferred to the Cased Images Collection, Oregon Historical Society Research Library
Detailed Description of the CollectionReturn to Top
The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in the collection.
Series A: General papers, Mss 929, 1834-1897Return to Top
| Container(s) | Description | Dates |
|---|---|---|
| Box/Folder | ||
| 1/1-2 | Legal documents and
ephemera
Includes legal documents pertaining to a trespass case in 1846,
in which George Abernethy was a defendant; certificate of the re-election of
George Abernethy as Governor of the Oregon Territory, July 14, 1847; land deeds
and land grants, 1857-1873.
|
1834-1881 |
Correspondence |
||
| Box/Folder | ||
| 1/3 | General
Contains the following letters:
|
1844 |
| 1/4 | General
Contains the following letters:
|
January-October 1846 |
| 1/5 | General
Contains the following letters:
|
November-December 1846 |
| 1/6 | General
Contains the following letters:
|
1847 |
| 1/7 | Cayuse War
Contains the following letters:
|
January 1848 |
| 1/8 | General
Contains the following letters:
|
February 1848 |
| 1/9 | Cayuse War
Contains the following letters:
|
March-April 1848 |
| 1/10 | Cayuse War
Contains the following letters:
|
May-December 1848 |
| 1/11 | General
Contains the following letters:
|
1849-1850 |
| 1/12 | General
Contains the following letters:
|
1851-1897 |
| 1/13 | Letters from George Abernethy
Includes: letterpress copy of a letter from George Abernethy
to President James K. Polk regarding the conditions and political situation in
the Oregon Territory; letters from Abernethy to his brother, written from New
York, 1851-1855; and a letter from Abernethy, probably to his son-in-law Henry
Hodges, 1877, supposedly the last letter he wrote before his death.
|
1846-1877 |
| Box/Folder | ||
| 1/14 | Brig
Henry Association
papers
Includes land deeds and letters from the Association's agent in
Massachusetts to its agent in Oregon.
|
1850-1852 |
| 1/15-16 | Business records,
general
Includes ledger sheets, probably listing gold received from
various persons for purposes of refining, with location of mines.
|
1848-1872 |
| 1/17 | William Abernethy
papers
Includes personal letters; two orders from the Office of the
Chief Quarter Master, Dept. of Columbia, to William Abernethy to examine
certain properties; a statement from the U.S. Treasury Department to Henry
Hodges about the condition of Hodges's accounts as Quartermaster during and
following the Civil War; and Civil War letter from a friend of William
Abernethy in the army of General [William Stark] Rosecrans, Sept. 5, 1863, from
the Tennessee River, providing details of the campaign.
|
1863-1894 |
| 1/18 | Letterpress copybook of George
Abernethy |
1847-1850 |
Series B: Abernethy family papers, Mss 929-1, 1833-1905Return to Top
| Container(s) | Description | Dates |
|---|---|---|
| Box/Folder | ||
| 2/1 | Abernethy & Herr business papers |
1850-1865 |
George Abernethy papers |
||
| Box/Folder | ||
| 2/2 | Orders for merchandise, bills |
1870; 1874 |
| 2/3-4 | Business correspondence and bills |
1871-1873 |
| 2/5 | Deeds, land transactions |
1844-1868 |
| Box/Folder | ||
| 2/6 | Land records, general |
1864-1873 |
| 2/7 | Promissory notes and tax receipts |
1852-1872 |
| 2/8 | John McLoughlin to J. Quinn Thornton: quitclaim deed to
Oregon City lots |
1850 |
| 2/9 | J. Quinn Thornton correspondence |
1865; 1867 |
| 2/10 | William Abernethy: Land records, business
correspondence |
1858-1897 |
| 2/11 | Ephemera and general papers
Includes: pages on Coos County, Oregon, from
Lewis and Dryden's Railway Guide;
sonnet by Herbert H. Arnston to Daisy Abernethy, 1905; and lyrics to a music
hall song,
I'd choose to be a baby! sung by Joe
Murphy at the American Theater, San Francisco, ca.1860.
|
ca. 1860-1905 |
| Folder | ||
| Oversize folder | Oversize materials
Contains: certificate for George Abernethy as a member of the
New York State Artillery, 1833; land patent to George and Ann Abernethy in
Clackamas County, 1873, signed by President U.S. Grant; chart of the entrance
to the Columbia River, 1878; plat of Rosedale Addition to Astoria, Oregon,
ca.1889.
|
1833-1889 |
Names and SubjectsReturn to Top
Subject Terms
- Cayuse Indians--Wars
- Governors--Oregon--Correspondence
- Indians of North America--Oregon--Government relations
- Indians of North America--Oregon--Wars
- Pacific Coast Indians, Wars with, 1847-1865
- Whitman Massacre, 1847
Personal Names
- Abernethy, George, 1807-1877--Archives
- Applegate, Jesse A., 1811-1888--Correspondence
- Douglas, James, 1803-1877--Correspondence
- Lee, Jason, 1803-1845--Correspondence
- Lee, Henry A. G., 1918-1850--Correspondence
- McLoughlin, John, 1784-1857--Correspondence
- Ogden, Peter Skene, 1790-1854--Correspondence
- Palmer, Joel, 1810-1881--Correspondence
- Tolmie, William Fraser--Correspondence
Corporate Names
- Hudson's Bay Company
- Methodist Episcopal Church--Missions--Oregon
Family Names
- Abernathy family
Geographical Names
- Canada--Boundaries--United States
- Oregon City (Or.)--History
- Oregon--History--To 1859
- Oregon--Politics and government--To 1859
- United States--Boundaries--Canada
Form or Genre Terms
- Business records
- Letters
- Maps
Occupations
- Governors
Other Creators
-
Personal Names
- Abernethy, William--Archives (creator)
Corporate Names
- Abernethy & Herr (creator)
