A. T. Smith Diary transcript 1847

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A transcription of a 1847 diary in which Alvin Thompson Smith writes about topics such as his daily life living as a settler on the increasingly populated Tualatin Plains; his daily farm chores; his work at the mill; his religious life; his business ventures; his trips to the East Plains, North Plains, Vancouver, Yamhill, Willamette Falls, David Hills, and Portland; and his interactions with Harvey L. Clark (or Clarke), Alvin Brown, P. H. Hatch, Joseph Gale, a Mr. New Banks, a Mr. Pomeroy, a Mr. Owensby (and Smith's taking in of his nieces), a Mr. Harrison, Frederich Waymire, John Harrison, Joseph and Samuel Davis, William Geiger, Peter B. Littlejohn, Jacob Grusenvelt, David Harper, the "Tualatin Indians," David Harper, a Mr. Chapels, a Mr. Tuckers, Eli Harper, a Mr. Shuey, Thomas Naylor, a Mr. Wilks, Ellen and Catherine Owens. Smith notably writes about the infamous Whitman Massacre involving his friend Dr. Marcus Whitman.

Born in Connecticut in 1802, Alvin Thompson Smith, along with his wife Abigail Raymond, was amongst the first Euro-Americans to settle in the area on the Tualatin Plains that became Forest Grove, Oregon in the early 1840s. In his life, Smith was a missionary, a postmaster, a notable participant in the Champoeg Meetings, the builder of a 1856 house in Forest Grove that is today recognized by the National Register of Historic Places as the Alvin T. Smith House, and a contributor to an orphanage that became Tualatin Academy and later developed into Pacific University. Smith died in 1888 at the age of 85. This is one part of a collection of transcriptions of Alvin T. Smith's diaries from the years 1840-1853. The transcriptions, which are likely not identical to the diaries themselves and perhaps summarize some entries, were likely typewritten in the 1970s. The diaries are notable for their near daily entries. This year's diary was transcribed by M.S. Gilbert. The original diaries are held by the Oregon Historical Society (Mss 8).