Marion Durham Collection on Tabitha Brown

Accession

Identifier: ACC-2023-3

Staff Only

Content Description

Papers relating to Oregon pioneer Tabitha Moffat Brown, collected by her third-great niece, Marion Lewis Riggs Durham. Marion Durham's grandmother, Elinor Cook Lewis, found Tabitha Brown's 1854-1858 accounts of her journey to Oregon in a family home near Nunda, New York, in the early 1900s. Tabitha Brown's account, which was in the form of a series of letters, was later edited and published under the title, "The Brimfield Heroine." The original letters by Tabitha Brown have been lost since that time, but this collection includes what is probably their earliest transcript, typed and annotated by Elinor Lewis. Materials in the collection include: Transcripts by Elinor Lewis (typed circa 1920s?) of letters by Tabitha Brown dated 1854-1858; Letters between Moffat-Brown Family descendants and third parties (including Pacific University) regarding Tabitha Brown, dated 1938-2006; a typed genealogy of the Brown Family; a program from the Brown Family Reunion held in Forest Grove in 2006; published articles and clippings relating to Tabitha Brown, dated 1920-1954; two pages from The Oregonian on Tabitha Brown dated 1935 (oversized roll); and a letter and notes by Marion Durham describing the materials' provenance and notes on family history, dated 2023.