Letitia Carson, one of the first black women in Oregon, got a raw deal after her husband David died in 1852. Instead of inheriting his property, an estate sale was conducted to sell all the property the couple owned. She managed to buy back some essentials, but even the cattle she claimed as her own were lost. After moving away from her home in Benton County, Oregon, and relocating to Douglas County, Oregon, she still wished to recover from her loss.
Eventually, several years later, she got a lawyer who sued for her against the administrator of her late husband’s estate, Greenberry Smith. Smith lost both cases, and had to pay Letitia back the settlement amount (minus fees) from the proceeds of the estate sale.
The above is fact, but there are some stories on the internet that are inaccurate. One story is part of website created by Hailey Brink, Letitia Carson Legacy Project - linked to from an OSU website and from Oregon Black Pioneers website. The one being interviewed, Bob Zybach, told me that there are some inaccuracies in this quote:
“At the time of his death in 1852, slavery was illegal in Oregon, and so was being black. In fact, black people were not legally allowed to reside here until the 1920s, and interracial marriages were illegal until the early 1950s! Carson's widow - Letitia - wasn't considered to be a member of his family (or even his property) by unscrupulous white neighbors that were interested in obtaining the family's land and possessions for themselves. Letitia fought for her rights through the courts and received a small measure of satisfaction after a battle that lasted nearly 5 years.”(1) [Bold text is mine]
Fact Check
(1) At the time of his death in 1852, (2) slavery was illegal in Oregon, (3) and so was being black. In fact, (4) black people were not legally allowed to reside here until the 1920s, and (5) interracial marriages were illegal until the early 1950s!
The numbers are mine. (1) and (2) are correct. (3) I believe was incorrect because the law allowed blacks already in the state to stay. Only one black man was kicked out. (4) is incorrect. Black exclusion laws came and went sporadically throughout Oregon provisional, territorial, and state timelines. In 1860, Oregon was 2% black. Bob was way off on this. (5) Wrong. Interracial marriages were legal until the state law of 1862. A google search and by examining sites such as Wikipedia “Oregon Black Exclusion Laws” would help clear up the misinformation.
The “unscrupulous white neighbors that were interested in obtaining the family's land and possessions for themselves” is untrue. Bob Zybach told me that he only meant that about Greenberry Smith and Joseph Hughart. Another researcher only named Greenberry Smith as the bad neighbor. One can speculate about which neighbor came from the proslavery south, but it is speculation, not fact. You see, leaving mistakes online like this promote racial misunderstandings. While I am interested in Letitia Carson, one of the first black women in Oregon, because of this quote, those who celebrate Letitia also denigrate the other neighbors of Letitia, including my ancestor. This seems to be common. I don’t think one should paint all the neighbors with a broad brush like this.
Instead of scapegoating the “white neighbors”, I think the responsibility lies with the laws on the books at the time. Though they were not often enforced, they existed, and people living in Oregon at that time share a common responsibility to obey the laws of the land. Looking back from the twenty-first century at those laws is disgusting, but that’s the way it was.
About the time Letitia’s husband’s estate sale was getting ready, widower David Davis was dating and then marrying widow, Sarah Bowman. Sarah came to Oregon in 1844 with her parents and her brothers, sisters, and all their families. With the wagon train was wealthy free black, George Washington Bush. The families loved George so much that when he was excluded from entering Oregon because of its black exclusion law, that most of the families changed course and followed George up into the area north of the Columbia River. Sarah’s family was one of just three that went into Oregon. (2) Oregon’s exclusion law was changed in 1845, so Letitia Carson was allowed in, yet other laws remained unjust. Maybe by divine coincidence do we find Sarah, in 1852, witnessing another unjust black exclusion.
You see, people have a choice to abide by the laws, to enter or leave an area. People living in the area are expected to go along with the laws where they live, this includes all the people, not only the neighbors that are impacted by such laws. The laws of Oregon at the time, in 1852, allowed an estate administrator to use the law as he saw it. Had he been more compassionate, he could have figured out how to give Letitia her due in spite of the law. Had he creatively determined Letitia to be at least a worker in the household, and estimated her wages, he could have avoided his two trials years later.
Neighbors were thieves?
[The Lincoln County Leader]
Offbeat Oregon: Neighbor’s theft of widow and orphans’ home was too much for jury (3)
In his sensationalized account, author, John Finn, makes many suppositions. We’re the neighbors thieves for participating the David Carson estate sale? The answer is given by google AI:
“If an administrator is sued after an estate sale, the buyers of the estate property may face legal challenges, including potential lawsuits or claims related to the property's title or ownership, depending on the outcome of the lawsuit against the administrator”.
“Good Faith Purchaser: If the buyers are considered "good faith purchasers" (meaning they bought the property without knowledge of any issues with the title or sale), they might have stronger legal protections”.
Since there were no further complaints within the window after the second court hearing, and there was no retroactive ruling, the purchasers of the estate several years before were not required to return what they bought. Even Finn says that the purchasers did not intend to steal from widow Letitia. Some, who had what was bought did return some things back to Letitia. Nowadays, I don’t see people demonizing people who buy foreclosures, even though they are pain for those caught up in them.
In the headline, Finn says the two kids are orphans, but I don’t know how Letitia’s children from her common law marriage are somehow disconnected from her. Maybe it makes the headline more dire. In his article, Finn says, “she [Letitia] would have been David’s widow, if the two of them had been allowed to marry”. Well, the law in Oregon allowed interracial marriage, it was outlawed in 1862. Had someone given legal advice to the couple, and had they got married in Oregon before 1852, the probate process would have been smoother.
In the end, I believe the laws are to blame when they seem unjust. Blaming the people affected by the laws is a cop out.
If all we know about Letitia Carson is from legal action, then it is gives a small perspective on her life. We know little about her day to day life with her family or neighbors. I’m guessing she stood out among her white neighbors, but that doesn’t mean she stood out in other ways.
Here is the 1850 census in the Soap Creek area of Benton County, Oregon with the Carson’s living next to the Davis family.
Here is a picture of her neighbors in 1852. Though the census was in 1860, just take eight years off the ages of the people in the census. It pictures the blended family of Davis and Bowman children after David Davis married Sarah Bowman. These people are living next to David and Letitia Carson in 1852. By 1860, the Davises are registered next to Greenberry Smith’s family.
As I said, I believe the existing Oregon law was problem, not necessarily the settlers in the area. They were at the mercy of those elected or appointed to rule and apply those existing laws.
I don’t know how these neighbors interacted day after day. Perhaps this Sarah Davis was Letitia’s friend - for real, or as pictured by Jane Kirkpatrick in her historic fiction novel, A Light In the Wilderness. Certainly, since Sarah and her family knew and traveled with another early black immigrant, George Washington Bush, she had stories to tell, knowing black exclusion in his case. I have a hunch that neighbor ladies would talk, in the case of Kirkpatrick’s Sarah, they would pick up where they left off from the previous conversation. Since they both had kids, perhaps there was a school connection, perhaps baby sat for each other. I don’t know, but look at Sarah’s son, William Bowman in the 1870 Polk County, Oregon census:
William Bowman’s daughter, Letitia was about one year old in 1870. However, she died later in 1874. It could be that Letitia made an impression on the younger William Bowman.
(6)
(1) http://www.orww.org/History/Letitia_Carson/Library/Correspondence/Zybach-Bogle_19910106.pdf
(2) https://www.geni.com/people/David-Kindred/6000000000035617602
(4)[put “what happens to buyers if an administrator is sued after estate sale?” in a google search box for AI results]
Census copies from the Family Search website
(6) https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/10413793/letitia_a-bowman
