Oregon Historical Society Research Library
Philip Foster papers
Foster, Philip, 1805-1884
Mss 996
2.1 cubic feet
4 legal document cases; 1 custom box 17.5x8x2 inches; 1 oversize folder (16x20) in shared flat box; 1 oversize folder (20x24) in shared flat box; 1 reel microfilm
1832-1975
1832-1887
Papers of and relating to Philip Foster (1805-1884), an early emigrant to Oregon. The papers include correspondence; records of businesses that Foster was involved with; legal documents, including records for the case Magruder v. Vanderpool; land records; records of the Clackamas School District No. 17 and the Eagle Creek Post Office; and histories about Foster, Oregon, and Maine. The papers are a mix of original documents and copies. Foster emigrated to Oregon from Maine, and was involved in several business enterprises, including the Barlow Road and a farmstead at Eagle Creek in Clackamas County, Oregon. He also served as the second treasurer under the Oregon Provisional Government, was postmaster for the Eagle Creek Post Office, and founded Clackamas School District No. 17.
English
Collection is open for research.
The bulk of the collection was purchased from or donated by E. L. Meyers and Mary Pearl Meyers in 1964 and 1967 (Lib. Acc. 10111), or copied from originals they loaned in 1962 (Lib. Acc. 9735). The Pomeroy & Foster account books in Box 3, Folder 12 were purchased in 1960 (Lib. Acc. 8851). Materials in Box 3, Folder 3 are copies from a loan from Mary E. Cody in 1975 (RL2026-044-RETRO). Six receipts were the gift of the University of Oregon, February 1977 (Lib. Acc. 14028). One receipt was the gift of Lewis L. McArthur, April 2001 (Lib. Acc. 24554).
Collection is arranged in three series:
- Personal, business, and family papers
- Legal, property, and government papers
- Historical background materials
Philip Foster was born in 1805 in Argyle, Maine, and worked in the lumber trade as a young man. In 1832, he entered into a logging partnership with Francis W. Pettygrove (1812-1887) in Calais, Maine. He also married Pettygrove's sister, Mary Charlotte Pettygrove (1811-1880), and the couple had seven children. The Foster family emigrated to Oregon with Francis W. Pettygrove, arriving at Fort Vancouver in May 1843. Foster and Pettygrove opened a general store in Oregon City. Foster also acted as agent for the Willamette Cattle Company and established a partnership with Walter Pomeroy that included operating a flour mill and building houses in Oregon City. In October 1843, Foster sent a shipment of salmon, salt, peas, and cedar shingles to Oahu, Hawaii, becoming one of the Oregon Territory's first exporters. Foster then partnered with Samuel Barlow to build a route for Euro-American emigrants to Oregon, which became known as the Barlow Road. Foster supervised the road's construction, maintained it, and administered toll collections after Barlow withdrew his interest. Foster established a land claim at Eagle Creek along the Barlow Road, and many emigrants to Oregon purchased provisions from his farm before continuing to Oregon City.
Foster was the second treasurer in the Oregon Provisional Government. He also established Clackamas School District No. 17 and the Eagle Creek Post Office, and served as postmaster. He died in 1884. His Eagle Creek farmstead is a historic site open to the public, with original and replica structures.
Sources: "Philip Foster (1805-1884)," by M. J. Cody, Oregon Encyclopedia (accessed April 2026), https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/foster_philip/; vital records via Ancestry.com.
The bulk of the collection was discovered around 1925 in a trunk in Eagle Creek, Oregon, by E. L. Meyers, the husband of Philip Foster's granddaughter, Mary Pearl Meyers. E. L. Meyers loaned the papers to the Oregon Historical Society for copying in 1962. In 1964, the Society purchased most of the original papers from the E. L. and Mary Pearl Meyers, and they donated additional original papers in 1967.
Due to fagility of many items in the collection, this collection may require assistance to view.
Philip Foster papers, Mss 996, Oregon Historical Society Research Library.
Collection was processed between 1965 and 2006 by Oregon Historical Society Research Library staff including Geoff Wexler, and reprocessed in 2026 by Jeffrey A. Hayes. Reprocessing included rehousing and encapsulation of some items for preservation purposes, rearrangement, and significant revision of the collection guide to reflect the rearrangement, conform to current standard, include more information about the papers on microfilm, and highlight items of particular note.
Other materials at the Oregon Historical Society Research Library relating to Philip Foster and his family include a bill to build a road from Salem to Foster's farmstead in Box 3, Folder 6 of the Oregon Imprints collection, Coll 400; a book, "Barlow Road, 1846," by Walter E. Meacham (call number 917.8 M46b); and the vertical file Genealogy - Foster, Philip family.
This collection was compiled by the Oregon Historical Society Research Library from multiple sources, and consists of papers of or relating to Philip Foster, an early emigrant to Oregon. The collection includes papers both from Foster's early life in Maine and his life in Oregon. The materials are a mix of original documents and copies, including photocopies and microfilm.
The bulk of the collection consists of correspondence, business documents, records of the Eagle Creek Post Office and Clackamas School District No. 17, legal documents, land records, and government papers. The correspondence is primarily letters to Foster, seventeen of which are from Francis W. Pettygrove. Other correspondents include Forbes Barclay, William Barlow, George L. Curry, Francis Ermatinger, Joseph Lane, John McLoughlin, Joseph N. Prescott, Samuel R. Thurston, and Foster's relatives. Of note among the correspondence is a letter to Foster (Box 1, Folder 11), dated October 21, 1855, and signed by Asa Lovejoy and others; it lodges a complaint that Foster confiscated hunting firearms from Native individuals whom Lovejoy describes as friendly with Euro-Americans. Business records in the collection include receipts, bills, and several account books and ledgers. They relate to Foster's involvement with the Barlow Road, his business partnerships with Francis W. Pettygrove and Walter Pomeroy, his involvement with the Willamette Cattle Company, and his farmstead at Eagle Creek. Land, legal, and government documents include records relating to Foster's property and land claims by other Oregonians, contracts, and tax receipts. The legal papers include original court documents from the 1851 case Magruder v. Vanderpool (Box 4, Folder 6), which resulted in the expulsion of a man named Jacob Vanderpool from the Oregon Territory under the territory's Black exclusion laws, the only such expulsion on record. The collection also includes an account book that may have belonged to Foster's brother, Isaac; and a small amount of correspondence between Foster's relatives and other people.
In addition to Foster's papers, the collection contains a history of Eagle Creek and Clackamas School District No. 17 by E. L. Meyers; a biographical sketch of Foster and his family, accompanied by a 1960s inventory of the collection, with an addendum from 1975; and a book about the history of Penobscot County, Maine, with an inscription to Foster from his brother Herman N. Foster.
Artifacts were separated to Museum Collections, Oregon Historical Society.
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.
Foster, Philip, 1805-1884
Foster, Philip, 1805-1884--Correspondence
Pettygrove, F. W. (Francis William), 1812-1887--Correspondence
Barlow Road (Or.)
Oregon Territory
Clackamas County (Or.)--History
Penobscot County (Me.)--History
Pioneers--Oregon
Business enterprises--Oregon--19th century
Postal service--Oregon--Clackamas County--19th century
Schools--Oregon--Clackamas County--19th century
Real property--Oregon--19th century
Pioneers
Oregon
Land Use
correspondence
ledgers (account books)
legal documents
receipts (financial records)
histories (literary genre)
Personal, business, and family papers
Series 1
1832-1975
1832-1887
Letters from family and friends in Maine, including three letters from Francis W. Pettygrove (originals and photocopies)
1834-1854
1
1
Letters from family and friends in Maine (originals, photocopies, and typescript copies)
1855-1881
1
2-3
Letters from family and friends in Maine (microfilm of originals and copies)
1834-1881
1
Maine business papers (originals)
1832-1839
1
4
Receipts and bills relating to Maine business (originals)
1832-1841
1
5
Maine business papers, receipts, and bills (microfilm of originals)
1832-1839
1
Letters to Foster, surname A-B (originals, photocopies, and typescript copy)
1843-1880
1
6
Letters to Foster, surname C-D (originals and photocopies)
1844-1881
1
7
Letters to Foster, surname E-F (originals and photocopies)
1845-1881
1
8
Letters to Foster, surname G-H (originals and photocopies)
1844-1868
undated
1
9
Letters to Foster, surname I-K (originals and photocopies)
1843-1880
1
10
Letters to Foster, surname L-M (originals and photocopies)
1843-1874
1
11
Letters to Foster, surname N-P (originals, photocopies, and photographs of originals)
1844-1882
1
12
Letters to Foster, surname R-V (originals and photocopies)
1850-1872
1
13
Letters to Foster, surname W-Y (originals and photocopies)
1844-1881
2
1
Letters to Foster in alphabetical order by surname, including Francis W. Pettygrove letters written in Maine (microfilm of originals and copies)
1837-1882
1
Handwritten copies of letters from Foster (originals and photocopies)
1843-1872
undated
2
2
Ledger for F. W. Pettygrove & Co. (Calais, Maine) and Foster's business in Oregon City, including index (original)
1837-1846
2
3
Ledger (original)
1837-1867
5
Includes records for: F. W. Pettygrove & Co. in Calais, Maine, and Galveston, Texas; Foster's business in New York City; Foster's general store in Oregon City, Oregon; Foster's mill and farm in Eagle Creek; Clackamas School District No. 17; and personal accounts.
Ledger (original)
1851-1853
2
4
Barlow Road papers (originals and preservation photocopy of original)
1846-1868
2
5
Business papers, including Barlow Road accounts (originals)
1845-1855
2
6
Papers relating to stray livestock on Barlow Road (originals)
1852-1866
2
7
Bills and receipts (originals and photographs of original)
1843
2
8
Bills and receipts (originals and photocopies)
1844
2
9
Bills and receipts (originals and photocopies)
1845-1849
2
10
Bills and receipts (originals and photocopies)
1850-1859
2
11-12
Bills and receipts (originals)
1860-1879
undated
3
1
Clackamas School District No. 17 records (originals and photocopy)
1850-1886
3
2
Clackamas School District No. 17 records (photocopies), with annotations
1854-1902; 1975
3
3
Eagle Creek Mill records (originals)
1850-1855
undated
3
4
Eagle Creek Post Office records (originals)
1867-1875
3
5
Eagle Creek Post Office records (originals and photostat reproduction)
1867-1875
Oversize 1
Eagle Creek Post Office ledger
1870-1874
undated
3
6
Oregon City general store records (originals and photocopies)
1843-1846
3
7-8
Papers relating to trade with Hawaii (originals and photocopies)
1842-1845
3
9
Livestock transactions (originals)
1844-1865
undated
3
10
Newspaper subscription receipts (originals)
1846-1884
3
11
Foster & Pomeroy account books (originals)
1844-1850
3
12
Foster & Pomeroy records (originals and photocopies)
1843-1845
3
13
Willamette Cattle Company records (originals, photocopies, and photostat reproductions)
1843-1844
3
14
Membership documents
1871-1872
3
15
Account book, possibly belonging to Foster's brother, Isaac Foster (original)
1842-1844
3
16
Letters to and from Foster's family (original and photocopies)
1885-1887
3
17
Letters to and from Foster's family (microfilm of copies)
1885-1886
1
Letters to Foster and family from unidentified authors (originals)
1861 June 13
1876 April 3
3
18
Poetry and miscellaneous papers (originals)
1846-1872
undated
3
19
Envelopes (originals)
circa 1850-1890
4
15-16
Legal, property, and government papers
Series 2
1843-1896
Foster family land records (originals)
1843-1881
4
1
Land records (originals)
1851-1896
4
2
Land claim survey records (originals)
1853
1875
undated
4
3
Land Donation Claim certificate for Alanson P. Smith and Harriet V. Smith (original)
1866 January 24
Oversize 2
Survey map of Fostertown (photostat reproduction)
1872 January
Oversize 2
David Waldo v. Administration of the Estate of Ewing Young records (originals)
1845-1847
4
4
Legal documents relating to ship Etoile du Matin (originals)
1849
4
5
Magruder v. Vanderpool records (originals and photostat reproductions)
1851
4
6
Lot Whitcomb estate papers (originals and typescript copy)
1854-1858
undated
4
7
Oregon Provisional, Territorial, and State government documents, including tax receipts (originals and photocopies)
1843-1871
4
8
Business contracts and legal documents (originals and photostat reproduction)
1844-1870
4
9
Historical background materials
Series 3
1844-1975
Historical information, including photostat reproductions of historic documents, typed documents, and commemorative newspaper issue
1844-1967
4
10
Biographical and historical information and accompanying inventory of Foster papers received from E. L. Meyers, with addendum for materials copied from Mary E. Cody loan
circa 1964-1975
4
11
Newspaper clippings
circa 1921-1939
4
12
Book by David Norton, "Sketches of the Old Town, Penobscot County, Maine, from Its Earliest Settlement, to 1879, with Biographical Sketches," with inscription to Foster by his brother Herman N. Foster
1881
4
13
History by E. L. Meyers, "They Called it Jack-Knife: History of Eagle Creek Community and School District No. 17," amended and enlarged edition
1961
4
14