Missouri

Mss1212_B1F1_001
Item
1833-1838

Leather-bound diary of the Reverend Jason Lee, Methodist missionary who traveled on the Oregon Trail to Oregon Country in 1834. The first entry is dated August 19, 1833 and the last entry is dated June 1, 1838. Lee first describes his overland journey on the Oregon Trail, leaving Independence, Missouri in April 1834 and arriving at Fort Vancouver, Washington in September 1834. Subjects include obstacles faced on the Oregon Trail, various people met along the journey, and the party's leader, Captain Nathaniel Wyeth. Upon arriving at Fort Vancouver, Lee writes of meeting Dr. John McLoughlin, and heeding McLoughlin's advice that he build his mission 60 miles to the south in the Willamette Valley in Oregon Country. He then writes of building a mission house for the Methodist Episcopal Church, and of his attempts at converting local Native peoples to Christianity. [Lee originally intended to do missionary work among the Flathead Indian tribe, but the area where he eventually settled in the Willamette Valley, near present-day Salem, was home to bands of the Kalapuyan people. Lee used language common to justifying the nineteenth century missionary movement, including using disparaging and inaccurate terms and/or descriptions of Native peoples.]

Lee, Jason, 1803-1845

Letter from E.W. Sohon to the Editors of Zion's Herald, 1834

Mss1212_B1F4_002
Item
1834-04-11

Part of Jason Lee papers

Typed letter by E.W. Sohon to the editors of Zion's Herald, a Methodist publication. Written in St. Louis on April 11, 1834 and published in Zion's Herald on May 21, 1834. Letter is titled, "Flat Head Mission." Sohon writes that Reverend Jason Lee and other missionaries have arrived in St. Louis on their way to Oregon to build the Flathead Indian mission. He writes of Lee addressing a meeting, and of Lee's views concerning the importance of missions and the work they undertake with native tribes. Daniel Lee, nephew of Jason Lee, and other speakers echo these beliefs. [Lee originally intended to do missionary work among the Flathead Indian tribe, but the area where he eventually settled in the Willamette Valley, near present-day Salem, was home to bands of the Kalapuyan people. Sohon uses language common to justifying the nineteenth century missionary movement, including using disparaging and inaccurate terms and/or descriptions of Native peoples.]

Sohon, E. W.

War Story

Mss37_004
Item

Part of Thomas Alexander Wood recollections

"War Story" in a typescript document by Thomas Alexander Wood. In it, Wood describes his time serving as a chaplain for the Union Army, stationed in Illinois and Missouri, during the American Civil War.

Wood, Thomas Alexander, 1837-1904