[Oregon]

[Group of Five Letters Mailed from Missouri and Carried Along the Oregon Trail for Delivery to Charles H. Burch, a "Pioneer of 1844" and One of Oregon's Earliest Settlers]

Missouri: 1845-1852. Five autograph letters, signed, totaling [15]pp., and approximately 3,750 words. Original mailing folds, some wear and minimal occasional loss at crossfolds, minor occasional chipping to edges, a few short separations along fold lines, occasional spotting and foxing. A well-thumbed collection. Good. Item #5178

A small but notable collection of five manuscript letters sent along the Oregon Trail to an early Oregon settler not long after he arrived in the far-flung northwestern territory. Charles Harold Burch was born in Chariton County, Missouri. Chariton was one of several Missouri counties settled mostly by southerners, in an area of the state known as "Little Dixie." Having lost both his mother and father by the age of ten, Burch resided with his paternal grandparents for the next six years. Yamhill County, Oregon, histories record that in 1844 a sixteen-year-old Burch departed Chariton County with an emigrant train heading west, riding a mule and continuing with the party until Fort Bridger, Wyoming. There he left the party with which he had traveled and came to Oregon, arriving as one of the earliest white settlers in the region. In 1846 Burch ventured to California where he served briefly in Company A of the California Mounted Rifleman, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel John C. Fremont and then pursued mining for some time. By 1851 he had returned to Yamhill County where he married Phoebe Buffum and commenced homesteading. Over the course of the following decades Burch expanded his farm and was elected as a state representative in 1878 and 1884. He died in Yamhill County, Oregon in 1904.

The letters, each dated in the spring and summer months, were likely sent to correspond with the departure season for emigrants headed west. The details of each letter are as follows:

1) [Autograph Letter, Signed, to Burch from His Sister, Charlotte H. Burch]. Verso of second leaf addressed to "Mr. Charles H. Burch / Oregon." Chariton County, Mo.: April 24, 1845. [3]pp., on a single folded sheet. Burch's sister Charlotte Elizabeth Burch Lock (1824-1857) writes with general family and community news primarily related to weather, illness, and the loss of a child. She notes that the weather had been remarkably wet, noting "the Missouri river is said to have been 8 or 10 feet higher than ever was seen before by a white man it covered the bottoms from bluff to bluff it swept all the fencing, and, even some houses, destroyed all crops, and a great deal of stock...."

2) [Autograph Letter, Signed, to Burch from His Sisters Charlotte E. Lock and Mary Jane Burch Wallace]. Verso of second leaf addressed to "Mr. Charles H. Burch / Oregon" and with manuscript note added "Present. by S.B. Burch." Chariton County, Mo.: April 1, 1847. [3]pp., on a single folded folio sheet. Sisters Charlotte Lock and Mary Jane Burch Wallace (1822-1859) write to their brother Charles primarily expressing religious exhortations but also repeatedly acknowledging the vast distance separating them from their brother.

3) [Autograph Letter, Signed, to Burch from His Sister Mary Jane Burch Wallace and Brother-in-Law William J. Wallace]. Verso of second leaf addressed to Burch at "Oregon City / Oregon." Livingston County, Mo.: August 2, 1851. Burch's sister Mary Wallace and her husband William J. Wallace write to Burch. William has just returned from the California gold fields, and relays details of trip on a sailing vessel that was "48 days on the Pacific." William indicates he has funds to send to Burch, and that relative Tyrus Burch hopes to go to Oregon the following spring. They send their respects to Benjamin Burch (likely Benjamin Franklin Burch (1825-1893) who emigrated to Oregon in 1845 and later became a prominent Oregon politician).

4) [Autograph Letter, Signed, to Burch from His Sister Charlotte E. Lock]. Verso of second leaf addressed to Burch at "Oregon City / Oregon" (faint but readable). Chariton County, Mo.: May 9, 1852. Charlotte's letter is largely concerned with religious advice for Charles, but she also spends time relating to Charles news from home and on a report of her on health. Most notably, she writes in a postscript: "Uncle J told us you had sold out in California and he knew not where you would go for this reason I send this to Oregon requesting some of them [family members] to direct to you if you are not there...."

5) [Autograph Letter, Signed, to Burch from His Sister Mary Jane Burch Wallace and Brother-in-Law William J. Wallace]. Verso of second leaf addressed to Burch at "Lafayette Yamhill Co. / Oregon territory." Livingston County, Mo.: June 10, 1852. Mary writes of the sickness that has plagued the community, indicating that they would not likely be able to emigrate to Oregon this season had they desired to do so due to her feeble health. Word has reached her of her brother's marriage, as she sends her love to Charles and "Sister Phebe." William's note in the same letter discusses the sale of Charles's land in Missouri, including the sale of an enslaved man "Ephraim." William indicates that Ephraim was sold to one man who "did not take to him" but that directly afterwards the man sold Ephraim again to another man for the same amount of $900.

A well-thumbed but ultimately well-preserved collection considering the miles these letters have traveled and the wilderness they survived in the far-northwestern territory of Oregon. Surviving letters carried along the Oregon Trail are exceedingly rare, especially from other Trans-Mississippi locations.

Price: $2,250.00