Collection is open for research.
Gift of Gregory Tompkins, October 2020 (RL2020-052).
Sarah Ellen Hunsaker Tompkins was born in 1847 near Oregon City, Oregon, the daughter of Jacob T. Hunsaker (1818-1889) and Emily Collins Hunsaker (1820-1874). In 1873, she married Josephus Tompkins (1838-1928) in Oregon City, and the couple subsequently raised cattle in eastern Oregon for several years before returning to Oregon City. The couple had six children: Daniel, Emily, Jacob, Forbes, Morton, and Verna. Tompkins died in 1942; her obituary in the McMinnville Telephone-Register claimed that prior to her death, she had been the oldest living person who had been born in what would become Oregon.
Sarah Hunsaker Tompkins family papers, Coll 871, Oregon Historical Society Research Library.
The collection consists of materials relating to Sarah Hunsaker Tompkins (1847-1942) and her family. This includes a photocopy of her reminiscences about her marriage and move to eastern Oregon, and family photographs. Genealogical materials in the collection include obituaries for Tompkins and her husband, Josephus Tompkins (1838-1928); a list of family members; a biographical sketch of Tompkins' father, Jacob T. Hunsaker (1818-1889); an introduction to an album about the Hunsaker family (the album is not present in the collection); and a 1969 letter by Tompkins' son Forbes Barclay Tompkins (1882-1975), that he sent with some photographs to a relative.
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.