Emigrant Diaries and Journals
Introducing Paper Trail,
A Guide to Overland Emigrant Names and
Documents
Paper Trail is the website database created by the
Oregon-California Trails Association (OCTA) from thousands of trail-related
documents of the 19th century. Whether people traveled west for gold, land,
religious freedom or new opportunity, they wrote diaries, letters, articles, and
recollections about the journey. From over 3500 original documents Paper Trail
organizes information into an easy to search database, featuring over 74000
searchable names. Reports include dates, routes, travel parties, locations, and
interesting features. It also lists where you can locate each document or its
copy. Includes a 6+ page survey form for each document. Name searches are free.
Reports require a modest subscription fee.
Fur Traders:
Fur Traders and Mountain Men: is an excellent site. I could
personally spend hours there. One of its many features is a full
listing of original diaries and journals that can be read online,
printed or downloaded.
Diaries, Journals, Memoirs and Letters provides an alphabetical list of known manuscripts and their location
1839:
1839 Diary of Asahel Munger missionary to Oregon
1841:
1841 Trail Reminiscenses by Martha (Williams) Reed
A Tour of The Oregon Country by Joseph Williams
1842:
Compilation of
Diary Entries for 1842 by Stephenie Flora
1843:
Alexander
Blevins Interview
Jesse Looney Letter written in 1843 and sent east to family via Lt. Charles Fremont
Compilation of Diary Entries for 1843 by Stephenie Flora
1844:
1844 Reminiscenses by Thomas C. Shaw
1845:
Oregan
Overland: Three Roads of Adversity by Ross Smith; an indepth study of the 1845 Meek Cutoff and
the Riggs family who traveled it
1845 Oregon Settlements by John Minto
Oliver Harris Diary This diary is not a trail diary but is significant because Oliver Harris was a pioneer to Highland County,Oh and was the father of Eliza Shepherd Harris, a pioneer of 1845. The diary gives insight into life prior to the emigration
1846:
Oregan
Overland: Three Roads of Adversity by Ross Smith; an indepth study of the 1846
Barlow Road and the 1846 Southern Route and
the Smith family who traveled them
Reminiscences of Crossing the Plains in 1846 by Mary Elizabeth Munkers Estes
1847:
1847 Diary of Coon Family
1847 Poem
of Journey to Oregon by Abraham Miller Jr.
My Trip to Oregon by Calvin Geer
Emma Ruth Ross Slavin Reminiscence including many family notes at the end
John Bonser Family Journey contributed by Ann Carraway
1848:
1848 William Porter Diary
William Porter Letter Home
1850:
1850 Gold Rush Diary of George Bonniwell
1851:
1851 Overland Journal of the Americus Savage Family
1852:
1852
Reminiscences of John G. Abbott
1852 Overland Journey of the Isaac Constant Family
1852 Overland Account of Finley Family
1852 Overland Journey to Oregon by Luzerne Humphrey contributed by Thomas Lee Jacobs
1852 Reminiscence of George W. Hunter
1852 Reminiscence of Anne Eliza Kemp contributed by Greg Bennette. Also check out his Genealogy Page because there is so much information you don't want to miss.
1852 Overland Journey of Ezra Meeker Free download also available on Google Books
1852 Journal of Lafayette Spencer
1852 Reminiscence of Iowa (Wiggington) Taylor
1852 Letter of Dr. Thomas White written in 1853 to neighbor in Indiana. Provides good description of journey and life at Butteville where he settled upon arrival. contributed by Bob Mowrer
1852 Journal of A Trip Across the Plains To Oregon by Samuel Woodruff contributed by Don Dubois
1852 History of Nathan Willis Fisk and of the Early Pioneer days in Crossing The Plains in The year 1852 contributed by Jane Harris
1853:
My Life Story by Alice Rockefeller Meachum Foster
A "Biogofy" of Charles W. Beale by Charles W. Beale, edited by Sarah Jane Bennett Mertz. Contains information on the Beale and Hutchings families as well as mention of the emigration of 1843 and 1853.
Diary of Benjamin
Franklin Owen, one of eight young ment who left the group of emigrants later
known as
the Lost Wagon Train of 1853 contributed by Lee Gentemann
Emigrants to Oregon, a poem written describing the 1853 emigration of the Batchellor family
Oscar Fitzallen Wilson Letter, written to a friend in PA describing the emigration to Oregon in 1853
Reminiscences of Colonel William Thompson, note that although this reminiscence states that Thompson came in 1852 the names and events he mentions actually appear to be a reference to 1853.
1854:
Philip
Condit letters, written in 1853 and 1854 to his brother-in-law, R.C. Gordon
noting preparation for journey to OR, published in Forest Grove News-Times in
July 1959
Philip Condit Diary - Ohio to Oregon in 1854, abstract, published in Forest Grove News-Times in July 1959
1879:
Kate
and Jennie Smith Diaries of 1879: Overland Journey to Washington Territory
contributed by Tom Jacobs
Archer and Whitlock Correspondence in 1879 from Oregon City to U.K.
1896:
Reminiscences
of the Joseph, Oregon 1896 Bank Robbery by Russell Alfred McCully,
contributed by his grandson, Russell Miller
1910:
1910 Diary of Ocenia Edmiston Rutledge
describing trip from Twin Falls to Lebanon, OR by wagon
My name is Stephenie Flora. Thanks for stopping by. Return to [
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