Genealogy: Bonanza Style

Last week a patron came in with a very curious genealogy problem.

His ancestor emigrated to the U.S. from Germany in the early nineteenth century. He married and settled in Pennsylvania; but when the man was in his fifties, his wife, apparently, “had enough of him.” She gave him $2,000 and told him to go away. So he went away-- to Oregon.  

Hmmmm…And what sources do you have for all of this? Family letters. Ok, whew!

In 1844, he bought 1280 acres of land (aka two sections) near Oregon City. Then two years later, he supposedly died. A will was left that bequeathed all his land to a doctor…. and witnessed by…. the same doctor.  

 

Uh oh. We have a Bonanza/Cartwright dilemma on our hands: Good man with lots of land. Bad man wants lots of land. Bad man tries to kill good man and steal all the good man’s land. 

Hmmmm… 

The wife then proceeds to dispute the will in the mid 1850s but is told by the Oregon government that all the records had been, you guessed it, burned. 

Hmmmm… 

The patron can't find anything more about his ancestor or any of the men associated with the land or the will. He can’t even find them in the censuses.

 Hmmmmm…

 
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 Question 1: Were all the records  really burned?

Question 2: What happened to the doctor?

Question 3: Is there a real probate?

Question 4: Where are the 1200 acres?  

“Well, we can look at a few things here,” I tell him. “But your best bet would be to go to the Clackamas County Courthouse for land and death records, and probates.”  

Oh! You debated whether to come here or the courthouse, and you’re from Tennessee, and you only have this afternoon. Greaaaattt…”  

First, I check the validity of the fire. The Oregon State Archives website states: "The first Clackamas County Courthouse was built in 1850 at Oregon City and burned down a few days after completion…"

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Awesome. 

With that solved, I show him the items in the library that would be most helpful. We find nothing. Nothing about his ancestor and nothing on the men mentioned in his letters or will. 

I'm seriously starting to wonder if the man was even ever IN Oregon!

 I then get an idea. There is an add-on for GoogleEarth where you can plot the township and ranges grid over a current day map. We do this and decide to try to figure out where the land is. In one of his letters it says “9 miles up the Willamette River.” Or something like that.  

So I go 9 miles UP the Willamette River from Oregon City. That puts us just south of Portland.

Hmmm…

 The patron goes 9 miles up a tributary of the Willamette from Oregon City. Not much out there. Besides, that’s not the main Willamette River.

Hmmm…

 Wait. You say it was 9 miles from the MOUTH of the river. Well then, that’s from the Columbia River. And that puts, us...right...at…Portland?”  Hey! Your ancestor was the first man to own Portland!

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Ok, not really. 

 Well this is all very confusing.  

We decide to look at old maps showing who owned the property in the 1860s for all the places 9 miles up and down and diagonal from the river…minus Portland.

 Nothing. Again. Well at least we’re consistent! 

We try a few more things, but with no luck. I suggest again contacting the County Courthouse or trying the microfilmed land records and probates through FamilySearch. 

So sadly, the man left with little findings on his one afternoon visit. However he probably learned a lesson… 

Moral of the story:
If you only have one afternoon in a state faraway from home,
go to the county court house.