Thompson and Teal family papers, circa 1808-1993

Genevieve Thompson Smith (1883-1974) and Bessie Thompson Teal (1867-1943) were daughters of Oregon pioneer and politician David P. Thompson (1834-1901) and his wife, Mary Meldrum Thompson (1842-1938). Genevieve Thompson Smith was an attorney, author, and playwright who married naval commander Norman Murray Smith. Bessie Thompson Teal married Portland, Oregon attorney Joseph Nathan Teal (1858-1929), with whom she had a daughter, Ruth (1895-1955). Ruth Teal was married twice – first to Carleton W. Betts, and then to Thomas P. Durell. She had a daughter with Betts, Audrey Teal Betts (1924-1994).

Genevieve Thompson Smith was born in Portland, Oregon, on December 2, 1883. She attended Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania, and then earned a law degree from the University of Oregon; she was later admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court. During World War I, she worked in the Russian section of U.S. Army Intelligence, and ran the Oregon chapter of the organization Fatherless Children in France. In 1921, she married naval commander Norman Murray Smith. In addition to her career as an attorney, she was an author and playwright. She also collected books and Native American artifacts, which she donated to the Multnomah County Library and the University of Oregon, respectively. She died in May 1974.