Breaking Chains: Slavery on Trial in the Oregon Territory

NOTES

191 NOTES PROLOGUE 1 Lopez, “A Dark Light in the West: Racism and Reconciliation,” The Georgia Review, Fall 2010, 368. 2 Ibid., 369. FIRST SLAVES 1 The first known African American in the Oregon Country was believed to be Marcus Lopez, a native of the Cape Verde Islands and a cabin boy on Robert Gray’s Lady Washington. According to Elizabeth McLagan in A Peculiar Paradise, the ship dropped anchor on August 14, 1788, near Tillamook. While ashore on August 16 to get provisions, Lopez was killed in a dispute with Native Americans. The second African American was believed to be York, a black slave who traveled with the Lewis and Clark Expedition in 1805. Others had come too, including several with the Peter Burnett wagon train in 1843. 2 An 1847 Missouri law was typical. It assessed a penalty of up to $500 and six months imprisonment for anyone who would “teach or keep any school for the instruction of any negroes or mulattoes in reading or writing . . . .’’ Trexler, Slaves in Missouri, 1804-1865, 83-84. 3 Woodward, “Rise and Early History of Political Parties in Oregon III.” Oregon Historical Quarterly, 145. (Hereafter OH Quarterly.) 4 Schneider, Black Laws of Oregon, 31. Schneider based his judgment in part on editorials in newspapers throughout the country as reported in the Oregon Statesman (hereafter Statesman) on June 8, 1857, 2-3. The New-York Tribune, described by the Statesman as a “frantic abolitionist sheet,’’ said in an undated editorial: “We have a number of letters from Oregon, by the last mail, containing the startling information that this Territory hitherto sat down as a certain for Freedom, will, in all probability, present herself to the next Congress for admission into the Union with a constitution legalizing slavery.’’ 5 Trexler, Slaves in Missouri, 4. Also the 1860 U.S. Census, which listed no slaves in Oregon, overlooking local census takers who officially listed at least three slaves; other known slaves were identified as laborers or servants, or not listed at all. 6 Carey, History of Oregon, 571. 7 “Oregon City Once a Slave Mart in a Small Way,” Oregon Journal (hereafter Journal), January 8, 1920, 10. 8 Junkin, The Henckel Genealogy, 359. THE GOOD LIFE IN MISSOURI 1 Burke, On Slavery’s Borders, 310. Lafayette County had the greatest number of slaves: 6,374. 2 Slave couples were seldom officially married, and the status of the Holmeses’ marriage is unknown. 3 Affidavit, April 6, 1853, Robin Holmes vs. Nathaniel Ford, habeas corpus suit Polk County Circuit Court, case No. 21, filed April 16, 1852. Original transcript in office of Polk County Clerk, Dallas, Oregon. (Hereafter Holmes vs. Ford). Also, copy of transcript in Lockley, “The Case of Robin Holmes vs. Nathaniel Ford,” OH Quarterly, June, 1922, 112-37. 4 Ibid. 5 List of Howard County, Missouri, sheriffs, History of Howard and Cooper Counties, 354. 6 Stone, Little Dixie, Missouri, 73. 7 Lockley, interview with Ford’s grandson, John Thorp Ford, “Observations and Impressions of the Journal Man,” Journal, March 24, 1922. 8 Pauline Burch, affidavit of family history, filed in Linn County, Oregon, March 16, 1953, copy in possession of author. 9 U.S. Slave Census. 10 Burke, On Slavery’s Borders, 310. 11 History of Howard and Cooper Counties, 353. 12 Missouri Intelligencer, Fayette, Missouri, August 29, 1818. 13 Lockley, interview with John Thorp Ford. 192 d D Breaking Chains 14 John Thorp Ford, undated biography of Nathaniel Ford by his grandson, from Benton County Historical Museum (hereafter Benton Museum), Philomath, Oregon. The conflict resulted from clashes over land between Mormons and non-Mormons after Mormons moved into western Missouri in large numbers, beginning in 1831. Jackson County, Missouri, had great religious importance for the Mormons because founder Joseph Smith predicted Jesus would reappear there. NonMormons feared being overwhelmed by Mormons and skirmishes broke out, the worst of which was in October 30, 1838, at a place called Haun’s Mill, in which seventeen Mormons were massacred. The massacre followed an order issued by Governor Lilburn Boggs on October 27, 1838, declaring that “Mormons must be treated as enemies, and must be exterminated or driven from the State, if necessary, for the public good.’’ Ostling, Mormon America, 30-37. Smith and other church leaders were arrested and jailed on charges of treason. A general refused to carry out an order to execute Smith and the others, and Smith was allowed to escape. The Mormons left Missouri and moved to Illinois. Smith was...