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The
Butler Family Letters is a collection
of 70 original letters written by some
of the pioneers who settled in Polk County,
Oregon to found Western Oregon University.
This collection was donated to the Archives
in 1993 by Mr. Lawrence Butler of Atchinson,
Kansas. Some of these letters had been
transcribed in 1976 and were published
locally under the title Letters from Polk
County, Oregon to Monmouth, Illinois 1853-1863
(available at Hamersly Library).
The letters were written
by members of the Peter and Rachel Butler
family, and their friends and relations
who left Monmouth, Illinois in 1853 to
cross the Oregon Trail and settle in Polk
County, Oregon. There, they joined friends--all
of whom belonged to the Disciples of Christ
church-- who had left Illinois earlier
in 1850 and 1852 for the purpose of establishing
a town and a university in Oregon's Willamette
Valley. Addressed to their relatives back
home, the letters are an invaluable primary
resource for understanding the challenges
of daily life faced by Oregon's early
pioneers. The letters describe farming
and agriculture; cost of living; deaths,
births and sicknesses; mining discoveries;
conflicts with Native Americans; national
politics; and how much the pioneers missed
their relatives in Monmouth, Illinois.
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