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The first book that caught my eye is an oversized book– four inches thick—that looks like a survivor of the 2004 library flood in our history. Many of the pages show damage but it is still a source worth checking out. It is An Illustrated History of Central Oregonpublished in 1905 and covers seven counties of central Oregon. It includes a history of the state as well as each of the counties. This is a well-organized and indexed book with much to offer.

One of the nice things about writing this blog series is that I keep learning new things. That is why Genealogical Material in Oregon Donation Land Claims caught my interest. I have not heard about donation land claims before and wanted to find out what it was about. We have seven volumes of these records that were abstracted from land grant applications and compiled by the Genealogical Forum of Portland, Oregon. These cover land claims granted to settlers of the Oregon Territory before 1853. Each abstract includes a wealth of information for the first 2500 grantees, including name, residence, birth date, marriage place and date, wife’s name, and more. 

Our shelves contain several state and county histories of Oregon and a number of books on pioneer families. One of the county books is First There Was Twogood: A Pictorial History of Northern Josephine County by Larry L. McLane, described as “a pictorial and brief historical review of the miners and the pioneer families who came to the northern section of Josephine County in search of wealth, a new way of life, or the solitude of the canyons and mountains.” It is packed with black-and-white historic photos and well worth a review for anyone with Oregon ancestors.