Collection is open for research.
Gift of Margaret Scott Chambossé under the name Mrs. Halsey K. Chambossé, August 1972 (Lib. Acc. 24014) and acquired before 1972 (RL2022-007-RETRO).
Levi Scott was born in 1797 in Monroe County, Illinois. By 1844, he was living in Iowa. That year, he and his son, John M. Scott (1827-1905), emigrated to Oregon. In 1846, Scott, along with Jesse Applegate and Lindsey Applegate, helped establish a route through southern Oregon for emigrants; this trail would become known as the Applegate Trail. In 1850, Scott founded the town of Scottsburg along the Umpqua River. He was a member of the territorial legislature from 1852 to 1854, and a delegate at the state constitutional convention. Scott died in 1890 in Malheur County, Oregon.
Levi Scott's 1844 letter is described in "Overland passages: a guide to overland documents in the Oregon Historical Society," entry 179.
Levi Scott papers, Mss 2340, Oregon Historical Society Research Library.
The collection consists of correspondence and land documents of Levi Scott. Correspondence includes: an 1844 letter from Scott to his family, written in Missouri, in which Scott reports that he has lost all eight oxen he had, but will continue his journey to Oregon; a photostatic reproduction of an 1852 letter from Scott to his son-in-law, William Buntin, asking if Buntin intends to come to Oregon; and an 1852 letter from Scott's son, John M. Scott, to Buntin. Other items in the collection are: a survey of land in Morgan County, Illinois, 1830; a deed for land in Morgan County, Illinois, 1835; and a document granting William Buntin the power to lease or sell Scott's land in Iowa, 1852.
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.