The Search for Letitia Carson in Douglas County

The Search for Letitia Carson in Douglas County Written by Bob Zybach, PhD

Who Is Letitia Carson? (Douglas County Family Names: Bigham; Carson; French; Lavadour/ Laverdure; McGinnis; Morrisette; Rondeau).

Introduction: This is the first of a continuing series of articles exploring the history and genealogy of Letitia Carson, a Douglas County resident from the time of the Rogue River Indian Wars in the mid-1850’s, until her death in 1888. Her son, Andrew J. “Jack” Carson, lived in Douglas County nearly his entire life; first arriving as a young boy with his mother in the 1850’s, and living here until his death in 1922. Letitia’s daughter Martha and her oldest grandchildren also lived in Douglas County for a good portion of their lives, before moving to Umatilla County in the late 1880’s as members of the Lavadour family. Part I of this series details my personal background and interest in Letitia and also gives a brief summary of her life. In February 1991, while attending classes at Oregon State University, I wrote a series of four weekly articles for the local Corvallis Gazette-Times newspaper in recognition of Black History Month. Each article featured an important black pioneer in Oregon history, and one of the articles was about a woman named Letitia Carson. A fellow OSU student, Janet Meranda, became very interested in Letitia’s story, particularly as we later collaborated on an archaeological research project that included the Carson’s original Benton County land and homesite. 3

After finishing the project, Jan convinced me that our research should be used to write an article about Letitia for the Oregon Historical Quarterly, which I agreed to do and which has yet to be completed, but is still in the works. During the next 18 years or so, Jan would periodically remind me of my agreement and I would attempt to make a little progress toward keeping it. Then, about three years ago, Jan was able to convince noted historical novelist Jane Kirkpatrick to write a book about Letitia’s life -- which also convinced me that I needed to get back to work on the article. After completing another year of fairly steady research with Jan’s assistance and insistence, and upon learning the actual history of Letitia’s homestead claim in Douglas County, I soon realized we would need to complete at least two articles instead of one; conduct far more research to complete them, due to all of the new leads and information we had obtained; and that a full-fledged book-length biography was needed, too. Jane Kirkpatrick’s 25th historical novel, A Light in the Wilderness, based on Letitia Carson’s life, was published in September 2014. Jan and I hope to be putting the finishing touches on Letitia’s biography in 2015 or 2016.

Timeline of Letitia Carson’s life with significant dates highlighted:

Letitia Carson was born sometime between 1814 and 1818 as a slave in Kentucky. Nothing is known of her early life, or how she got to Missouri at some point before 1845. It is very possible she was involved in the hemp or tobacco farming industries, whether as a field hand or as a house servant, or both. She most likely was a Baptist or a Methodist and may have attended Sunday services in her owner’s church, or possibly with an all-black congregation, or maybe some of both. In May 1845, Letitia began a 6-month journey across the Oregon Trail with David Carson, a 45-year old Platte County, Missouri landowner born in Ireland. David had most likely been raised as a Presbyterian in northern Ireland’s Antrim County until he came to America with his older brothers and sisters and their families at age 18 or so, but he had been a Platte County “sooner”

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in the late 1830’s — when he obtained his 160-acre farm—owned a town lot in Platte City, and had just become an American citizen in October of 1844. On June 9, 1845 somewhere near the crossing of the South Platte River, where the Oregon Trail begins to follow the North Fork, Letitia gave birth to the couple’s first child, Martha Josephine Carson. Soon after arriving in Oregon, the family of three settled down in a cabin they built on David’s 640-acre Soap Creek Valley “Provisional Land Claim”; where they were increased to four members with the birth of son Adam Andrew Jackson (“Jack”) Carson in 1849. Oregon also became a Territory in 1849, and Territorial law regarding slavery and black citizenship immediately replaced the more restrictive provisional government laws. In 1850, the Oregon Donation Land Act reduced Carson’s claim to 320-acres because Letitia was not legally David’s wife (and could not thereby own an equal share of the previously claimed and adjacent 320 acres) -- but even so, couldn’t have legally owned it anyway because she was black. In September 1852, David died after a short illness, leaving Letitia and the two children behind. A rich neighbor, Greenberry Smith, soon had himself appointed Executor of Carson’s estate and immediately declared that, as slaves, Letitia and the children were themselves property, and therefore not entitled as heirs. This was Oregon, though, so they weren’t individually appraised or put up for sale as they would have been in Missouri. During the next three years, at a time when slavery was a major political issue in both Oregon and in the United States, Letitia sued Smith twice in an effort to recover an equitable portion of David’s estate for herself and her children -- and prevailed both times! These results were politically newsworthy, and unprecedented. The hearings were attended by many prominent local and state citizens — and yet were barely acknowledged in the local or state press at that time. And still, to this day, few people are aware of these events. Why that is can only be conjectured, but it is likely to change soon. After David’s death, and during the trials, Letitia left her Soap Creek home of seven years and moved to the upper Cow Creek Valley in Douglas County. Here she served as a midwife to the El-

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Mr. Greenberry Smith was born in Virginia and moved to Indiana with his parents when he was quite young. After coming of age, he moved to Clay County, Missouri where he took up farming. In 1845, he too, decided to go west to Oregon Territory and he ended up in Benton County on Soap Creek becoming a neighbor to David & Letitia Carson. ~Information source: Portrait & Biographical Record of Williamate Valley,Oregon, 1903

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liff family and was involved with the Rogue River Indian Wars that were taking place at that time. When she moved from Cow Creek (where she first lived in 1853 or so) to South Myrtle (where she lived by 1864) is unknown. On August 17, 1857, Oregon adopted its Constitution, including that it was illegal for black citizens to own land in Oregon or to marry white citizens. Also, slavery was illegal. Oregon remains the only state constitution in the US to have been adopted before acquiring actual statehood, or to include racial exclusionary laws among its resolutions. On February 14, 1859, Oregon became a State and formally adopted its 1857 Constitution. Letitia and her children – possibly by design -- are not found in 1860 census records, although they most likely continued living in Douglas County during that time. It is very possible that she had a fair amount of savings, both from her court judgments in Benton County, and from her likely domestic services for travelers along the California Road, local landowners, successful miners, government roadbuilders, and other possible income sources. On April 12, 1861 the American Civil War began. May 20, 1862. The Homestead Act -- “An Act to Secure Homesteads for Actual Settlers on the Public Domain” -- was signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln. January 1, 1863. Lincoln signs the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing all slaves in the US. June 17, 1863. Martha is 18 and pregnant, Jack is almost 14, and Letitia Carson files a Homestead Act claim for 160 acres on South Myrtle Creek in Douglas County, Oregon. Letitia files as a “widow” and single mother of two children; although the Act includes “freed slaves,” she doesn’t identify herself as such. On November 26, 1864, Letitia’s first grandchild of record, Mary Alice Bigham, is born. April 15, 1865. Lincoln is assassinated. January 19, 1868. Martha Carson marries Narcisse Lavadour, whose family had settled a few miles south of the Carsons on an old Indian townsite, present-day Milo. June 19, 1868. Letitia Carsons’ homestead claim is certified. She is among the very first 71 people in the entire US so recog-

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Jane Kirkpatrick, author of A Light in the Wilderness, and Gwen Carr, Vice President of the Oregon Black Pioneers, at the gravesite of Letitia Carson on September 7, 2013. Carson is buried in the Stephens Graveyard along South Myrtle Creek, a few miles west of her long-time Douglas County home (photograph by B. Zybach). 9

nized, and perhaps as high as No. 14 on that list. She is also the only black woman in Oregon known to have successfully completed such a claim, and one of a very few such black women across the entire US, despite totals of more than 3 million applicants and 1.6 million successful claims before the Act ended in 1934. Letitia lived another 20 years on her land. Her daughter Martha and her eldest granddaughter, Mary Alice, married Lavadour brothers and raised their children a short distance from her farm, where she became a grandmother and great-grandmother. In the summer of 1887 the two Lavadour-Carson families moved to the Umatilla Reservation, in large part to take advantage of the new “Dawes Act” Allotment claims that could be made on the reservation during that year. Jack stayed behind with his mother, not being qualified to claim an allotment and likely not that interested in moving in any instance, and Letitia deeded her land to him. In February 1888, Letitia died and was buried a few miles from her Homestead, on the Benjamin Stephens Donation Land Claim, in the Stephens* family graveyard. Martha and Mary Alice Lavadour provided Letitia with many grandchildren and great-grandchildren -- ancestors to several accomplished artists, leaders, and members of the Confederated Umatilla Tribes to this time. Jack never married or had children and apparently lived with his mother for much of his adult life. He died in 1922 and is buried in the Stephens graveyard, next to his mother.

“Being one of the “Poor Whites” from a slave state I can speak with some authority for that class—many of those people hated slavery, but a much larger number of them hated free negroes even worse than slaves.” —Jesse Applegate, Oregon emigrant from Missouri in 1843.

*5.5 miles further down the road is Letitia Cemetery

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One of the many documents found that gives details about the Carson vs. Smith case.

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Part II. Letitia Carson in Upper Cow Creek Valley 1853-1861 (Douglas County Family Names: Bigham; Carson; French; Lavadour/Laverdure; McGinnis; Morrisette; Rondeau).

Part I of this series detailed my personal background and interest in Letitia and also gave a brief summary of her amazing – and amazingly obscure -- life. It also announced the imminent publication of Jane Kirkpatrick’s 21st historical novel (and 26th book), “A Light in the Wilderness”, based on Letitia’s story. Jane’s novel was released on September 2, 2014 to great reviews; on September 11 an estimated 200 people attended a reading she gave at the Douglas County Library; and on September 12 she was hosted by Umpqua Community College to give the keynote address at the annual “Extraordinary Living” conference in which 250 people were registered. Letitia Carson is becoming better known by the day! Kirkpatrick’s novel ends in Benton County, however, where Letitia lived her first seven years in Oregon. That is where she had raised her children, Martha and Adam (“Jack”), until the death of their father, David “Uncle Davey” Carson, in September 1852. At some point, possibly in March 1853, Letitia and her two children moved to Douglas County, where they were to remain for more than 30 years. In 1886, Martha and her five children and grandchild moved with her husband, Narcisse Lavadour, to the Umatilla Indian Reservation to claim land under the Dawes Act. Letitia died a few years later, in 1888, and Jack remained a Douglas County resident until his death in 1922. When David Carson died in 1852, a wealthy white neighboring landowner named Greenberry Smith became executor of his estate; in part because there was no will. As executor, Smith’s position had been that Letitia and her children were the property of David Carson and had no rights as heirs to his estate. In fact, in Missouri -- where Smith and the Car-

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sons had both lived prior to emigrating to Oregon in 1845 – Letitia and her children would have been considered valued property of the estate and routinely sold or distributed accordingly. Letitia’s position was that slavery was illegal in Oregon, therefore – at the least – she was owed back wages; also, the cattle were hers, not David’s, and Smith had no right to sell them in a public auction at an estate sale. During the time the legal suits were being filed, Letitia and the children had left their home of seven years and moved to the upper Cow Creek Valley in Douglas County. It is thought that she may have traveled south with the Nidey family, pioneers of 1852 who wintered in Santiam City (present-day Jefferson) and traveled south to Cow Creek Valley in late March and early April 1853. The distance from Letitia’s home on Soap Creek to the Hardy Elliff cabin (Johns Ranch in present day Azalea), where the Nidey’s first camped, is about 160 miles, or about one week’s travel at that time. The route taken was the main road from Sacramento Valley to the Columbia River and has been known at various times in its history as the California Trail, the South Road of the Oregon Trail, the Scott-Applegate Trail, and Territorial Road. Now it is mostly I-5 and 99-W. Jane Kirkpatrick is the first person to write extensively about Letitia’s experiences crossing the Oregon Trail in 1845 and regarding her two successful lawsuits against Greenberry Smith in Benton County, but George Abdill is the only person to specifically write about her time in Douglas County; and he did so more than 30 years ago, in the Umpqua Trapper: “From the evidence at hand, it would appear that David Carson was both Letitia’s owner, master and husband, and the father of her mulatto daughter and son. The trail then fades in the antiquity of time until “Aunt Tish” Carson and her children appear in Douglas County. For many years she reportedly made her home with the Hardy Elliff family near Galesville (present vicinity of Azalea) in the upper Cow Creek Valley, where she worked for the Elliff family and also served as the community midwife.” In 1853 the Umpqua Valley was hit with a plague of locusts, making it difficult and expensive to provide feed for livestock, and

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thereby obtain cheap meat, milk, and transportation. The problem was exacerbated by the heavy traffic on the road that year caused by the gold mining boom in southern Oregon and northern California; the military units contending with the August and September events of the Table Rock Indian War; and the influx of Oregon Trail pioneers traveling northward in the fall. A story from that time is that Letitia was staying with the Nidey family women and girls at a time when all of the men were away from camp (or away from the Elliff cabin, depending on the version). At some point the girls – including Nidey niece Melvina Baker – were playing outside their tent when they were accosted by a group of Indian men on horseback, acting in a hostile manner. Letitia is said to have emerged from the tent, a “large coalblack woman with a deep voice,” brandishing a carving knife or a cleaver and frightened the men away, thereby saving the girls. The Indians were said to be shocked by the appearance of a big, loud, threatening person with black skin and a weapon, and reacted as if seeing a ghost or evil spirit. This is a story that has survived for more than 160 years and likely has a basis in fact. It is difficult to determine how “large” or “deep-voiced” Letitia actually was, though; partly because stories often become exaggerated over time, and partly because the Baker girls were so tiny – Melvina was less than five-feet tall as an adult, and her younger sister – an original source of this story – was only four-foot six inches fully grown. Local Indian families were typically not much larger than the Bakers at that time, so Letitia would not have had to be very large at all to dwarf everyone – especially with an axe or a cleaver in hand! Another version has Melvina driving the men away due to her knowledge of Chinook wawa. All known versions have Letitia as a principal character. Due in part to all of the military and commercial traffic in 1853, $20,000 was appropriated to Maj. Benjamin Alvord and surveyor Jesse Applegate to improve the section of road from Galesville to Canyonville, considered the most difficult and dangerous portion of the entire route between the Sacramento Valley and the Columbia River. This sum created significant local employment during the year, in addition to all of the commercial traffic related to military actions, gold mining, and immigration.

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On November 15, 1853, 18-year-old Melvina Baker married 28-year-old Hardy Elliff. The following month, on December 16, Hardy and Melvina filed a 320-acre Donation Land Claim along the Territorial Road – including the Nidey’s original campsite and Elliff’s cabin. According to the Elliff’s granddaughter, Bess Clough, (in 1961), their first child was born nine months later, in August 1854. Clough said, “Her first child, Alice, was born in the fall of 1854 in the Elliff cabin with the help of Mrs. Fanny Levens, a midwife, and Letitia “Aunt Tish” Carson, a Negress who lived with the Elliffs.” On May 12, 1855, a jury of Letitia Carson’s former Benton County peers (all white males) determined that Letitia was due $300 for her services to David Carson and another $229.50 to cover court costs and legal fees. Sixteen months later, on October 25, 1856, a federal judge and local jury awarded her an additional $1399.75, including $199.75 for costs and fees, for the unlawful sale of her cattle. During the August and September 1853 Indian War, Hardy Elliff had served as a Captain in the Oregon Militia and had commanded forces under Gen. Joseph Lane at Table Rock. In early October 1855, racial warfare between Indians and whites in southern Oregon abruptly resumed, resulting in the murder and mutilation of several families (both Indian and white), widespread looting of cattle, and the burning of most of the barns, haystacks, and outbuildings in Cow Creek Valley, among other locations in the Rogue and Applegate Valleys. The open warfare culminated in the deadly “Battle of Hungry Hill” on October 31 and November 1, less than 20 miles from the Elliff home. The winter of 1855-1856 was particularly harsh, with deep snows and heavy freezes. Gov. Curry had called for a militia to fight the Indians, resulting in two battalions of mounted volunteers. The Elliff home became “Fort Elliff” to local families who stayed there during the initial hostilities, but according to Bess Clough, “...Hardy took Melvina, baby Alice, Aunt Tish Carson, and small son Jack, ‘freed Negro slaves’... (no mention of Martha) to the Galesville Stockade where they spent nine months forted up from the Indians.” During this time Capt. Laban Buoy and Company B,

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Lane County, were stationed at “Camp Elliff” for the winter. Their assigned duty was to keep the Territorial Road open to military and commercial traffic from Galesville to Canyonville. By springtime warfare had all but ended and most of the remaining Indians in southwest Oregon were sent north to reservations along the Oregon Coast and in Yamhill County. The ethnic cleansing of southwest Oregon was complete, having been accomplished in five years. In 1856 the Elliff’s second child, Florence, was born. Letitia was almost certainly the midwife and was apparently living with the Elliffs and 7-year-old Jack at that time, although it seems possible that 11-year-old Martha may have been staying elsewhere. On March 6, 1857 the US Supreme Court ruled in Dred Scott vs. Sandford that African Americans, whether free or enslaved, could not become American citizens or bring suit in a federal court. On November 9, 1857, Oregon adopted its State Constitution by popular vote, making it illegal for black people to become permanent residents of Oregon, to own property or engage in business here, or file a suit in a court of law. Also, slavery was illegal. In 1858 the US Army employed Col. Joseph Hooker to improve the military road system of southern Oregon. Hardy Elliff and his brother Tom were given a contract for $8,000 to build 13 miles of road from Jacksonville to Cow Creek. Letitia may have still been living with the Elliffs at that time, and by then had gained a reputation as a midwife for the upper Cow Creek community. On February14, 1859, Oregon actually became a State and formally adopted its 1857 Constitution. Letitia and her children – possibly by design -- are not found in Mrs. Harry Hiday’s 1974 transcription of the 1860 Douglas County US Census records, although they most likely continued living in Douglas County during that time. The following year, on April 12, 1861, Confederate forces fired upon Fort Sumter in South Carolina and the Civil War had officially begun.

“There is not a man living who wishes more sincerely than I do, to see a plan adopted for the abolition of [slavery].” –George Washington

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Questions for Historical Society members: 1) Do any of Letitia’s apple trees still exist from her 1887 orchard on South Myrtle Creek?

2) Mary Alice Bigham kept her father’s surname until she was married. Does anyone know (or can find out) if she was raised by her mother’s family or her father’s family? She is listed as 5/16 Indian and her mother Martha is listed as white and living together in the 1880 census.

3) Lavadour family members were French Canadian-Walla Walla trappers, miners, and farmers that are the namesakes of Lavadoure Creek, Lavadoure Grange, Lavadour Gap, and (maybe) Lavadour School in Douglas County. Are there any known photographs of this family in local archives or museums that were taken in Douglas County before 1888?

4. Capt. Laban Buoy was stationed at “Camp Elliff” (or “Fort Elliff”) during the winter of 1855-1856. Do any daily records or official reports of this occupation exist?

5. Col. Joseph Hooker was put in charge of military road building in 1858. Do any records of this enterprise exist: surveys, expenditures, diaries, or correspondence?

6. We find reference to “Andrew Carson” in Cow Creek precinct for the 1860 census, but nothing on Letitia, Martha or Jack. Were they hiding, or do other records exist?

Here is where to learn more about Letitia: http://www.orww.org/History/Letitia_Carson/

The author, Bob Zybach, has a PhD from Oregon State University in Environmental Sciences. He has been Program Manager for Oregon Websites and Watersheds Project, Inc. (www.ORWW.org), a nonprofit 501 c(3) based in Philomath, Oregon, since 1996.

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Transactions of the Oregon Pioneer Association, 1876

The following transcript was written by Honorable Stephan Staats. He was also a pioneer emmigrant of 1845, and so he was speaking from his own experiences when he wrote this speech, “The Occasional Address.” This speech was given at the 5th annual reunion of the Oregon Pioneer Associataion. The article is in his own words an “...address descriptive of the emigration of 1845..” Luckily, he and others went via the old trail to The Dalles, some others went with Joseph Meeks through a new trail, and old Joe Meeks lost his way, and his followers got frustrated enough they talked about hanging him! That is not to say that Mr. Staats group did not meet with hardships. He mentions David Carson after telling about a horrible snow storm that hit them as they made their way over Mt. Hood. Almost everyone had lost their cattle in the storm that day in 1845. “...but there was one exception; ‘Old Uncle Davy Carson’ an old mountaineer and a fellow traveler with us from Missouri, a man of more than ordinary courage and endurance. He had a favorite cow which he singled out and determined to drive with him to camp wherever that might be, and he succeeded, and long after his arrival in Oregon, enjoyed the benefits to be derived from such a precious milker. Now as to the other lost cattle, early in the morning after the storm, Uncle Davy Carson, with a few trusty and dauntless spirits took the back trail in search of them, and after a toilsome and tedious ascent, found them huddled together, high up between two ridges running down from old Mt. Hood, with its covering of perpetual snow; and so completely bewildered, that it was almost impossible to start them from their sheltered camp but they must go; and go they did, but not until Uncle Davy became so wearied with excessive exertion that he must resort to some means to refresh himself. So after casting about for a time, a bright idea struck him, (though he was in the habit of being similarly stricken), he espied a bell suspended from the neck of a poverty stricken cow, and immediately made for it; it was soon stripped from the cow and in a few minutes the lacteal fluid from the gentle beast had filled to the brim, and soon Uncle Davy was 18

himself again. The refreshing beverage restored him to new life and animation, and he shortly came shouting into camp with not a (cow) hoof missing. But Uncle Davy is gone, peace to his ashes; a kind thought to his memory, and may some abler pen than mine, at some future time recount the nobleness of his actions in all his intercourse with his fellow man.

The Search for Letitia Carson in Douglas County will be continued...

The Letitia Carson Pioneer Apple Tree was named in her honor; it is thought that Letitia planted the tree on the property where she lived with David Carson on Soap Creek in Benton County. Researchers named the tree while completing a cultural resource inventory of the property which came to be owned by Oregon State University after the U.S Army was done using it for Camp Adair during World War II. After the war the Army transferred the property to Oregon State University. Considering that Letitia had an orchard of approximately 100 trees on her South Myrtle Creek property one wonders if she planted some of those apples there.

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USES COOK STOVE FOR SAFETY DEPOSIT BOX C. A. (Jack) Carson, a well known Canyonville resident, desiring to be absent from his home for a short time and not desiring to carry his “bank roll” along, placed $225, all crisp greenbacks, in the firebox of his cook stove, says the Roseburg Review. Returning a few days later, and having forgotten the hidden wealth, he started a fire for the purpose of practicing a little of the culinary art. An hour or so later he remembered having cached his hard earned savings in the stove. A hasty search of the ashes failed to produce even the corner of a five stop—the “dough” is floating on to heaven.

–The Grants Pass Courior, March 3, 1919 (Jack Carson is Letitia’s son)

Thank You! Hawks Realty

The Douglas County Historical Society wishes to thank Hawks Realty for donating a copy machine to the society. We hope that we can clean up the ‘charge roller’ and that soon we’ll be able to print the Trapper via this machine. This will in turn save us hundreds of dollars in printing charges per issue. Of course, this means that those dollars can go to other uses that are just as much if not more needed. 20