Letitia Carson-Oregon's Pioneer Black Woman by Jennene Johns

Letitia Carson-Oregon's Pioneer Black Woman by Jennene Johns

This is an article written by Jennene Johns, co-owner of Johns Ranch in present-day Azalea, Oregon. Johns Ranch is located on the Elliff DLC where Letitia lived and worked after leaving David Carson's estate. During the time the legal suits were being filed, Letitia and the children had left their home of seven years and moved to the upper Cow Creek Valley in Douglas County. It is thought that she may have traveled south with the Nidey family, pioneers of 1852 who wintered in Santiam City (present-day Jefferson) and traveled south to Cow Creek Valley in late March and early April 1853. The distance from Letitia’s home on Soap Creek to the Hardy Elliff cabin (Johns Ranch in present-day Azalea), where the Nidey’s first camped, is about 160 miles, or about one week’s travel at that time. The route taken was the main road from Sacramento Valley to the Columbia River and has been known at various times in its history as the California Trail, the South Road of the Oregon Trail, the Scott-Applegate Trail, and Territorial Road. Now it is mostly I-5and 99-W. The Elliff Donation Land Claim is central to Letitia Carson's story and sits nearby Myrtle Creek, and her long-time Douglas County home.

Jennene Johns

Jan Meranda Personal Collection

LCLP

Unknown

Jennene Johns, Jan Meranda, Zachary Stocks

Copyright: Jennene Johns

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English

Article

Resource-9

Douglas County, Oregon