Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 7.pdf/230

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think of me." Reference is made to the contemplated voyage to Oregon, but passage had not yet been secured.

Letter from Anna Maria Pittman to her brother, George W. Pittman, dated New York, June 9, 1836, as she was getting ready to sail to Oregon. The postage from the city to Troy, N. Y., the residence of her brother, was 18 cents. Anything relating to Miss Pittman is of special interest, because she was one of the Methodist missionary party which left Boston in July, 1836, arrived in Oregon in May, 1837, and was married to Rev. Jason Lee, "Under the Firs," at the old mission station, about ten miles north of Salem, July 16, 1837,—the first American marriage west of the Rocky Mountains. The portrait above alluded to can be seen on the walls of the Society's rooms in the city hall, Portland.

Letter from James Churchman, dated "Philad'a 7 Day Morg. 2 Mo. 22, 1834," to his sister "Anne Churchman, Byberry, Penn'a." Mr. Churchman, having studied law, contemplates going to Kentucky to practice; and in writing to his sister gives some of the impressions he has formed respecting his contemplated field of effort. Among other things, he says: "Indeed, a neighborhood where they know how to appreciate a Henry Clay, must be no contemptible place."

Letter from James Churchman, dated "Cincinnati, 5 Mo. 14-34," to his sister Anne, "Byberry Post Office, near Holmesburg, Philadelphia County, Pa."; postage, 25 cents. This letter gives a minute description of the mode of traveling between the points named seventy-two years ago; and of the conditions the author found in Cincinnati upon his arrival there, his profession being very much overcrowded. James Churchman was a prominent lawyer in California and Nevada in early days, and was the father of Dr. Ney Churchman, of Portland, who kindly placed the letter in the custody of the Society.

Letter from Gen. Philip H. Sheridan to Col. J. W. Nesmith, dated "Head Qrs. 11th Div., 14th Army Corps, Camp Mill Creek, Tenn., Dec. 5, 1862." In this letter Sheridan asks Nesmith's aid in securing his confirmation as brigadier general of volunteers, to which he had been promoted on the previous 1st of July.

Letter of Gen. O. O. Howard, dated March 23, 1876.

Letter from Mrs. Jessie Benton Fremont to Mrs. Annie W. Mears, Portland, Oregon, dated Los Angeles, California, 15th February, 1898, relating to the family motto of her father, Col. Thomas Hart Benton, and of his attitude towards monopolistic tendencies. Given to the Society by Mrs. Mears.

The Californian, Vol. 2, No. 44, San Francisco, Wednesday, March 15, 1848, by B. R. Buckalew; is 17½x24 inches, four pages, four columns to the page; subscription price, $5 a year. This paper contains the first printed reference to the discovery of gold at "the sawmill recently erected by Capt. Sutter, on the American Fork."