The Zybach Collection · Series

Letitia Carson

A woman born enslaved in Kentucky who crossed the Oregon Trail in 1845, sued the man who administered her partner's estate — twice — and won, and proved a homestead claim on South Myrtle Creek in her own name.

Letitia Carson lived on the same ground as the Soap Creek oral histories, a century before the people in them were born. The difference is that nobody recorded her. What survives is paper: citizenship declarations from Ashe County, a probate file, two hundred sheets of a lawsuit, a homestead application, a deed, a headstone.

Bob Zybach and Janet Meranda have been assembling that paper since the 1980s and publishing it openly since 2014. This series mirrors what he publishes, describes it document by document, and adds the apparatus a reader needs to use it: a chronology, an index of people and places, and a register of every file with a link back to his copy.

A first reading · four sources

What does Letitia Carson’s court record show?

Follow a claim, an answer and two jury decisions. At each stop, compare what the document says with what you can conclude from it. Jan and John Meranda’s transcriptions let you read the record page by page.

Begin the guided reading →

Bob’s introduction and biography outline · Browse all the sources · Use the collection for research or teaching

A wide view across open farmland in a valley, with wooded hills rising behind. — Soap Creek Valley in 1993. David Carson claimed 640 acres here in 1845; the claim was cut to 320 in 1850 because Letitia was not legally his wife, and the estate that followed his death in 1852 is the reason most of the papers in this series exist. Photograph by Bob Zybach, from his own pages at orww.org.

Draft statement — pending review with the creator

Note on this collection

This series is about slavery, about a household the law refused to recognise, and about the racial exclusion clauses written into Oregon's first constitution. The 19th-century records use the language of their time, of Letitia Carson herself and of others; the clerks spelled her name a dozen different ways. The creator quotes his sources as they stand, including a Douglas County place name that was a racial slur until it was changed in the 1950s — he raises it in the course of arguing that two names there should be changed again in honour of the Carsons. Nothing is altered, and each reproduced work carries its own note. The family line reaches living descendants enrolled at Umatilla; the Library publishes nothing about anyone born after 1926.

The creator’s own front page

Here is what Bob Zybach says the site is for, and the outline of the biography he is writing — his words, as he set them at orww.org/History/Letitia_Carson/.

Welcome to the Homepage of the Letitia Carson Historical Website!

February 23, 2019 Update: Welcome! This site was launched in 2014 in conjunction with the planned release of Jane Kirkpatrick's historical novel about Letitia Carson, "A Light In The Wilderness," and creation of the ORWW Friends of Letitia Carson Facebook Page at that time: […]
The principal purpose of this website is to serve as a digital archive for historical research and documentation that can be used for future educational purposes. The website's design intentionally mirrors the working outline of a planned biography of Letitia Carson's life. A significant number of the hundreds of historical maps, illustrations, documents, texts, and photographs contained on this site are scans and transcripts of more than 200 original documents from the 1850s and 1860s specific to Carson's life -- with dozens of linked articles, reports, and other references to provide context. This website, as with most ORWW educational websites, is intended to be organic and improved over time with relevant research, editing, and student contributions.
Acknowledgements.
A long list of individuals made this project possible, including members of our own families. We will begin accumulating and posting a list in alphabetical order at some point prior to publication of Letitia Carson's biography.

Bob Zybach, ORWW Letitia Carson site, section index. ©2014-2019 Oregon Websites & Watersheds Project, Inc.

One address in his second sentence stands on his page as a placeholder rather than a working link. The Library has left his sentence and dropped the dead address, marking the gap.

The outline of the biography

The site is arranged as the working outline of the book. Each heading and each list of sections below is his.

Introduction: Letitia Carson, 1818 - 1888.
Illustrations.

Historical Paintings & Line Drawings; Photographs; Documentary Reproductions (including Maps & Survey Notes, Census Records, Legal Filings, etc.)
Chapter 1. The Kentucky - Missouri Slave Trade, 1775 – 1845.

Indian Slavery Law, 1775; African Country Origins, 1775; Code Noir, 1775; Cotton, Hemp & Tobacco, 1820; Patrols, 1820; Markings, 1820; Kentucky Slaveholdings & Markets, 1825; Living Arrangements & Conditions, 1825; Church, 1830; General Health of Slaves, 1830; Saturday Nights & Christmas Holidays, 1835; Platte County Slaveholdings & Markets, 1840; Platte City Politics, 1845.
Chapter 2. The Seven Carsons from Antrim County, 1775 – 1845.

American Revolution, 1775; French Revolution, 1788; The Rights of Man, 1791; Weather & Potatoes, 1795; Battle of Antrim, 1798; Flax, Sheep & Linen, 1815; The Seven Carsons Emigrate to America, 1818; North Carolina Citizenship, 1825; The Platte Purchase, 1836; The Mormon War, 1837; The Panic of 1838; David Carson, Platte County Patrol, 1839; Platte City, 1841; Carson vs. White, 1844; The Great Flood of 1844; The Oregon Question, 1844; US Citizenship & Letitia, 1845. See Documents: North Carolina.
Chapter 3. Oregon Trail Crossing, 1845.

The Oregon Question; Tetherow Wagon Train Politics; Fiddle Music & Marriages; Indians & Antelope; Mountain Men & US Dragoons; Buffalo & Prairie Storms; Martha is Born; Fort Laramie; The Meek Cut-off; Elijah White & Marcus Whitman; Wascopam Mission; The Barlow Cut-off; The Walk-up Indian Trail; Oregon City Arrival; Letitia & Martha; Champoeg, Tuality Plains & California Trail.
Chapter 4. Soap Creek Valley, 1845 – 1852.

Provisional Land Claims, 1845; Births & Marriages, 1846; The California Gold Rush, 1848; Territorial Law, 1849; Adam Carson is Born, 1849; Donation Land Claims, 1850; David “Jr.” & Andrew Carson Arrive, 1851; Uncle Tom’s Cabin is Published, 1852; Death of David Carson, 1852.
Chapter 5. David Carson Estate Sales, 1852 - 1859.

Greenberry Smith, Executor, 1852; Appraisals of Property, 1852; David Carson, "Jr.," 1853; Andrew Jackson Carson, 1853; Sales of Property & Character of Purchasers, 1853; Platte County Probate, 1853-1857; Oregon Land Surveys & Sales, 1855-1857; Final Determinations & Distributions, 1859. See Documents: Missouri; Oregon.
Chapter 6. Letitia Carson in Douglas County, 1853 – 1862.

The Murder of Elijah Hedding, 1844; The Whitman Massacre, 1847; The Murder & Mutilation of Peopeomoxmox, 1852; Upper Cow Creek Donation Land Claims, 1853; Auntie Tish, Midwife & Housekeeper, 1853; Rogue River Indian War, 1853; Starveout Creek Goldmining, 1854; Battle of Hungry Hill, 1855; Hardy Elliff Home and Fort, 1855; The New Military Wagon Road, 1858; Upper Cow Creek Valley, 1860. See Documents.
Chapter 7. Letitia Carson vs. Greenberry Smith, 1853 - 1857.

Carson Estate Auction, 1853; Tampico Post Office, 1853; Judge & Attorneys, 1854; Jurors & Neighbors, 1854; First Trial: Back Wages, 1855; Second Trial: Theft of Cattle, 1856; Oregon Constitutional Convention, 1857; Oregon Constitution, 1857; Oregon Statehood, 1859; Civil War, 1860. See Documents.
Chapter 8. South Myrtle Creek Homestead, 1862 - 1888.

The Homestead Act of 1862; The Emancipation Proclamation of 1863; Homestead Application No. 103, June 17, 1863; South Myrtle Creek Community, 1863; Mary Alice is Born, 1864; Homestead Certificate No. 14, June 19, 1868; US Homestead Patent ORRAA 008939, October 1, 1869; Martha Gets Married, 1868; Letitia & Lisette, 1869; Grandkids, Nieces & Nephews; Jack Gets into Trouble, 1877; Martha Moves to Umatilla, 1887; Jack is Given the Land, 1887; Letitia is Buried in Stephens Cemetery, 1888. See Documents.
Chapter 9. Umatilla Reservation Allotments, 1885 – 1922.

US Indian Land Allotment Act & Umatilla Reservation, 1885; Lavadour Walla Walla Allotment Claims, 1887; Jack Sells Family Farm, 1891; Miners Strike Gold on Carson Property, 1892; Martha is Buried in Umatilla County, 1911; Jack is Buried in Stephens Cemetery Next to His Mother, 1922.
Chapter 10. Physical Locations & Living Descendents, 2015

Antrim County; Ashe County; Platte City; The Oregon Trail; Soap Creek Valley; Upper Cow Creek Valley; South Myrtle Creek; Umatilla Reservation; Cemeteries.
Appendix A. Letitia Carson Chronology, 1845 - 1888.
Appendix B. David Carson Genealogy, 1775 – 1922.

David Carson & six siblings ("the seven Carsons") came to the US from northern Ireland ca. 1818. They emigrated from widespread Irish cottage industries being replaced by machinery, civil unrest, grinding poverty & unemployment by well developed international shipping trade routes -- particularly those connecting linens of Antrim County with US markets by way of the docks at Belfast. The Carsons were likely Presbyterians & probably literate & political.
Appendix C. Lavadour & Wallawalla Genealogy, 1775 – 1922.

It is possible, not documented, that Lisette Wallawalla was a daughter of Peopeomoxmox. If true, this would have provided powerful social & political ties with neighboring Cayuse, Umatilla, Klickitat, Chinook & Nez Perce. Joseph Laverdure was a Red River Metis who fished & trapped for the North West Company & Hudsons Bay Co. Their son Narcisse married Martha Carson, daughter of David & Letitia; a younger son, also named Joseph, married Martha's daughter & Letitia's granddaughter, Mary Alice Bigham. All three Lavadour families moved from Douglas County to Umatilla Allotments ca. 1887.
Appendix D. Carson Estate Sale Transcriptions, 1852 - 1859.

Jan & John Meranda have scanned & transcribed almost all documentary files related to the Carson Estate Sale by Greenberry Smith, following David's death, September 20-22, 1852. Lila Hyder provided scanned documentation regarding Carson's estate in Missouri, which the Merandas have also transcribed.
Appendix E. Carson vs. Smith Transcriptions, 1853 - 1857.

Jan & John Meranda have also scanned & transcribed virtually all files currently (ca. 2014) available from the State Archives regarding the two successful lawsuits filed by Letitia Carson vs. Greenberry Smith.
Appendix F. Letitia Carson Homestead Documentation, 1868 – 1892.

This file is comprised of maps, typed documents, newspaper articles & other documentation requiring little transcription. Focus is on Letitia's life on her own land, 1863-1888 & final disposition after her death. Also includes birth & marriage records of Martha & grandchildren.

Chapter 10 and the appendices reach living descendants. The Library reproduces his headings as he wrote them and stops there: it publishes no genealogy past the historical generation, and no address, contact or personal detail for anyone living.

Ways in

Documents The primary record, group by group: North Carolina citizenship papers, a Platte County deed, the Oregon and Missouri probate files, the two suits, the homestead. 251 files, 246 of them described one by one.
The creator’s writings What Bob Zybach has published about Letitia Carson since 1989 — newspaper columns, two long articles in The Umpqua Trapper, an encyclopedia entry, and the ORWW research report he wrote with Janet Meranda. Four of them are reproduced here page by page; the rest are catalogued and linked.
Chronology Every dated line, either from a document with a date on its face or from something the creator has written, each one carrying the page it came from.
People The historical people the record names — family, neighbours, appraisers, attorneys, judges — and where each of them appears.
Places Kentucky, Antrim, Platte County, Soap Creek, upper Cow Creek, South Myrtle Creek, the Umatilla Reservation. Where a place is already in the Soap Creek gazetteer, this page links there rather than making a second entry.
Photographs The creator’s own photographs of the ground, 1990 to 2024: Soap Creek, the graveyard, the homestead, Cow Creek, Umatilla County.
Maps General Land Office township plats and USGS quadrangles for each place the family lived, with the claim picked out on the creator’s own copies.
In the Library’s files The creator’s working folders, which the Library holds but does not publish: what is in them, how much of it there is, and what is excluded.

How big it is

251documents listed
246documents described
144of them transcribed
219pages reproduced
44,605words of text
235photographs registered
34maps registered
253dated statements
32people indexed
14places indexed

Counted on 4 September 2026 against the creator's own published directories. 'Described' means the Library has written a catalogue line for that file; 'transcribed' means the Merandas' transcription of it is reproduced here and linked from the file's entry.

Provenance

Creator: Dr. Bob Zybach; Oregon Websites and Watershed Project, Inc.
Research: With Janet Meranda; transcriptions by Jan and John Meranda
Published at: orww.org/History/Letitia_Carson/
Copied: Mirrored and described from his public pages, 4 September 2026
In this collection: Item-level: every published document described, his writings and the transcriptions reproduced page by page
Not published: His unpublished working folders (described at inventory level); present-day parcel records; photographs whose subject is a living person; anything about anyone born after 1926

About this series

What it is

The ORWW Letitia Carson project: primary records gathered from the Oregon State Archives, the National Archives, the Platte County courthouse and family hands; the creator’s own articles from 1989 to 2016; his photographs of the ground; and a library of reference works he hosts.

How the Library publishes it

On the same basis as the monographs. The creator publishes this material himself; the Library mirrors and indexes what he publishes, links his originals rather than making second copies of the big files, and adds a layer of its own — the registers, the chronology, the people and places — which is the Library’s work and is labelled as such. Rights, use and takedown.

What is held back

Present-day assessor records for the homestead ground, which describe private property now in other people’s hands. Photographs whose subject is a living person or family — recorded as folders, with counts and a link to the creator’s copy, not listed file by file. Third-party works in his reference library, which are identified by author, title and date and linked, never copied. And the commissioned portrait and the artwork on his own front page, which belong to the artists who made them.

The originals

Everything here is on the creator’s own site at orww.org/History/Letitia_Carson/. The court and probate files are held by the Oregon State Archives; the homestead papers by the National Archives; the Missouri probate by Platte County. A reader who needs the original rather than the scan should go to them.

Citing and rights

How to cite · Rights, use and takedown · Provenance · About the creator · The whole collection

Something wrong on this page? Submit a correction — the form opens with this page already filled in. Corrections are made in public: how that works.