1996 #2 - Austin Genealogical Society

AGS Quarterlv Wolurns )(XXVI 1. No. 2 (June 9996)
Austin. TX
John Owens Greene of the Oregon Territoy, Letters 1853-1863, edited 1996 by Phoebe Greene Simpson,
1421 Elm Brook Drive, Austin TX 78758-2245. 8% x 11”; 58 pp, single side, spiral bound. Includes Preface, illustra-
tion and reproductions. Privately published by editor.
As genealogists, we treasure the writledprinted record; not one of us will deny the keen thrill experienced when we
discover any written or printed record pertaining to or originated by a family ancestor, even a distant relative. More-
over, the explosion of the computer age all around us portends a decreasing availability of certainly the more personal
of such records in the days and years ahead. Electronic files are very dispassionate.
AGS member Phoebe Greene Simpson has taken a step more of us should consider’doing. In her family’s possession
has been a collection of letters hand-written by her great uncle, John Owens Greene in the period from 1853 to 1863,
principally to his brother, Dr. Peter Thomas Greene, Phoebe’s great grandfather. The two had traveled to the Califor-
nia gold fields from Indiana in 1850. Dr. Greene shortly returned to Indiana while John Owens continued to Oregon
Territory. Phoebe has selected eight letters written by John Owens (seven from Oregon; one from New Albany IN),
plus two others written to him by his father, Edmund Greene, for inclusion in this volume. She has reproduced the
actual letters, the originals of which appear to be in excellent condition and quite readable. But with gracious consider-
ation for the reader, she furnishes printed transcriptions preceding each letter. A portrait of Edmund’s three sons
(including brother Jacob Wesley) is included, as is a family tree of the Edmund Greene family. A clipping from the
New Albany Tribune dated Tuesday, March 27,1930 (Fifty Years Ago in New Albany) furnishes what was already
then a backward glance to 1880 and some of Greene’s experiences; the article was authored by his daughter Alice.
The letters, of course, are the centerpiece of this volume. They are written, as personal letters would be, in an informal
manner, but they are neither trite nor crude; Mr. Greene’s intelligence and good judgment are always apparent. Yes,
the second letter, dated Oct. 20, 1853 from Jacksonville, Oregon Territory, comments. with some acerbity about
matrimony: “I could marry here but I will be sawed into boot jacks if I like to go in for life among strangers who have
come here for no other reason but to marry the first chance.” In the same letter he mentions corresponding with a
Miss Dorcas (back in Indiana?) and considered marriage, but in his next letter a month later, “You are to let marrying
go to the devil.” He was busy panning gold.
Certainly gold was important and was mentioned. Phoebe includes a copy of a gold bullion deposit memorandum
from the Philadelphia Mint to Jno. 0. Greene for $1,146.58 in receipt of 61.56 ounces of gold. Mr. Greene’s letters
mention much more, though--commodity prices, the weather, acquaintances, and so on. It must have been an
adventuresome time now also gone with the wind, but these letters can waft us back to those days even better than a
well-written novel.
Phoebe is due high compliments on a very excellent job of editing her material into a manageable and meaningfbl
record, and our sincere thanks for providing for her family’s posterity (and ours) by archiving this valuable resource.
May we all be inspired to follow her example in handling our own genealogical information. The review copy of
“Greene” is being placed in the Genealogy Collection, Texas State Library, through Phoebe’s kind generosity.
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