Digital Commons@WOU

The Butler Family Letters are a collection of 70 original letters written between 1835 and 1863 by some of the pioneers who settled in Polk County, Oregon, and founded Monmouth University (now Western Oregon University).

The letters were written by Peter and Rachel Butler's family and friends who left Monmouth, Illinois, in 1853 to cross the Oregon Trail and settle in Polk County, Oregon. The majority of the correspondence was written to the Butler family and friends who stayed behind in Illinois -- in particular John M. Butler, the third eldest son of Peter and Rachel Butler, his wife Eliza and her sister Matilda. Peter and Rachel Butler, along with six of their children and numerous grandchildren, joined friends from the Disciples of Christ Church who left Illinois in 1850 and 1852 for the Oregon Territory’s Willamette Valley. Upon arrival, their primary goal was to settle a new community. The settlers named the town Monmouth in honor of their original home in Illinois. Peter Butler’s eldest son, Ira F.M. Butler and his son-in-law Thomas Hutchinson were two of the original eleven charter signers who in 1856 officially established Monmouth University. The Disciples of Christ Church and Monmouth University shared the same building until 1871.

The majority of the correspondence was written to the Butler family and friends who stayed behind in Illinois -- in particular John M. Butler, the third eldest son of Peter and Rachel Butler, his wife Eliza and her sister Matilda. John was tasked with executing the Illinois business affairs of the Butler family members who had settled in the Oregon Territory -- selling land for his father and brothers in their name, and executing his father’s will after Peter’s death in 1856. Many of these letters contain instructions to pass them along to family who stayed in the Midwest.

The Butler Family Letters describe the challenges of daily life faced by Oregon's early pioneers. The letters describe farming and agriculture, the cost of living, death, birth, illness and homesickness, the economic impact of goldmine discoveries, settler conflicts with Native Americans and how the Oregon Territory was influenced by national politics. A handful of letters discuss the internal politics of the Oregon Territory leading up to statehood and the debates over whether Oregon should become a slave-state. Letters and addendums also provide a unique glimpse into the life of the children and adolescents who helped settle the Oregon Territory.

For more information on the transcriptions, including local geography, please see the Transcription Notes.