Collection is open for research.
Gift of Joyce Gray, August 2000 (Lib. Acc. 24353).
Erastus A. Smith was born in 1868 in Arkansas. In 1879, he came to Oregon with his family, and they lived in Clackamas and in Oregon City. Smith served in the Oregon National Guard in the mid-1890s, and entered McMinnville College in 1897. The following year, he enlisted as a corporal in the 2nd Oregon Volunteer Infantry Regiment and served in the Philippines during the Spanish-American War. After his military service, he returned to McMinnville College and graduated in 1903. In 1907, he graduated from the Rochester Theological Seminary in Rochester, New York, and began work at the Arleta Baptist Church in Portland, Oregon. He subsequently held pastorates in Puyallup, Washington; Revelstoke, British Columbia; Oregon City, Oregon; Hillsboro, Oregon; and at the Lents Baptist Church in Portland. He died in 1950.
Sources: Obituary in the Oregonian, October 22, 1950; collection materials.
Erastus A. Smith papers, Coll 994, Oregon Historical Society Research Library.
The collection consists of the papers of Erastus A. Smith, a Baptist minister from Oregon, which relate to his religious and military careers. Religious papers consist of letters of recommendation for Smith; a certificate for his ordination at the Arleta Baptist Church in Portland, Oregon; and two commission certificates from the American Baptist Home Mission Society. Military papers in the collection consist of a certificate from the Oregon National Guard, naming him a sergeant in Company F of the 1st Infantry Regiment; Smith's discharge papers from the 2nd Oregon Volunteer Infantry Regiment; two pension certificates; and incomplete reminiscences by Smith that describe his life both immediately before and during the Spanish-American War.
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.