Collection is open for research.
Gift of Clyde B. Aitchison, 1946.
The collection is arranged in three series:
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.
In 1849, Chenoweth traveled to The Dalles, Oregon, 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. Mary Chenoweth died in 1862; Justin Chenoweth died in Portland in 1898, where he had made his home for some years.
Justin Chenoweth papers, Mss 237, Oregon Historical Society Research Library
Collection was initially processed in 2005; typescripts were foldered separately to simplify access to reference copies of originals, and documents and general materials were sorted by subject. Subsequent changes included the removal of Oregon Historical Society administrative notes and correspondence concerning the collection; the addition of two reels of microfilm to the collection in 2018; and the incorporation of additional typescript copies of materials, also in 2018. Collection guide was revised to condense inventory and conform to current standard in 2024.
Other materials at the Oregon Historical Society Research Library that relate to Justin Chenoweth include a vertical file, Genealogy - Chenoweth Family, and an atlas by Chenoweth of a Wasco County, Oregon, land survey of 1872, call number VAULT 912.7915 C518 1872.
A separate collection of papers, the Justin Chenoweth and Chenoweth family papers, 1832-1896, Ax 123, is held at the University of Oregon Special Collections and University Archives, Eugene, Oregon.
This collection includes a diary and early Oregon correspondence (originals and typed transcripts) of Justin Chenoweth, pioneer and surveyor, and chronicles his work and family life during the years 1848-1862. The collection also includes accounts and receipts, some recorded in his diary, and some separately. Legal documents feature Chenoweth's work as a justice of the peace, as well as family land claims and transactions. The collection also includes two reels of microfilm, one of Wasco County land plats, and one of a Wasco County township atlas.
The Oregon Historical Society owns the materials in the Research Library and makes available reproductions for research, publication, and other uses. The Society does not necessarily hold copyright to all materials in the collections. In some cases, permission for use may require seeking additional authorization from copyright owners.
Original is a handscript leatherbound diary of Justin Chenoweth, which also 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 and Washington, including work as a teacher, mail carrier, and surveyor in Linn City, Oregon City, Cascades, and The Dalles.
Due to fragility of original letterbooks, researchers are asked to use typescript copies of materials in this series. Contact library staff for assistance.
Original is a blue-green 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.
Original is a 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.
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.
Docket of cases handled by Justin Chenoweth as justice of the peace, Territory of Oregon, Clackamas County. Includes case of the alleged murder of a Native person at The Dalles by George Mace.
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, typescript copies, and photocopies of documents from the National Archives.
Memorandum of agreement between F. A. Chenoweth and Cornelius J. Palmer, and other papers relating to property in Cascades, Washington Territory, "destroyed by Indians."
Given by Justin Chenoweth as superintendent of schools, Skamania County, Washington Territory, for School District Number 3.