Tabitha Moffatt Brown (May 1, 1780 – May 4, 1858) was an American pioneer colonist who traveled the

Oregon Trail The Oregon Trail was a east–west, large-wheeled wagon route and emigrant trail in the United States that connected the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon. The eastern part of the Oregon Trail spanned part of what is now the state of Kans ...

to the Oregon Country. There she assisted in the founding of

Tualatin Academy Tualatin Academy was a secondary school in the U.S. state of Oregon that eventually became Pacific University. Tualatin Academy also refers to the National Register of Historic Places-listed college building constructed in 1850 to house the acade ...

, which would grow to become

Pacific University Pacific University is a private university in Forest Grove, Oregon. Founded in 1849 as the Tualatin Academy, the original Forest Grove campus is west of Portland. The university maintains three other campuses in Eugene, Hillsboro, and Wo ...

Forest Grove, Oregon Forest Grove is a city in Washington County, Oregon, United States, west of Portland. Originally a small farm town, it is now primarily a commuter town in the Portland metro area. Settled in the 1840s, the town was platted in 1850, then incorpor ...

. Brown was honored in 1987 by the

Oregon Legislature The Oregon Legislative Assembly is the state legislature for the U.S. state of Oregon. The Legislative Assembly is bicameral, consisting of an upper and lower house: the Senate, whose 30 members are elected to serve four-year terms; and the ...

as the "Mother of Oregon."

Early life

Born on May 1, 1780, in Brimfield, Massachusetts, Brown was the daughter of Lois Haynes Moffatt and Dr. Joseph Moffatt. She married the Reverend Clark Brown (1771–1817) on December 1, 1799. The pair raised three boys and one girl together until the reverend died in 1817. He was a Congregational minister, and later became an Episcopalian minister. The oldest son was Orus, followed by Manthano, John Mattacks, and finally a daughter, Pherne. John died at age six. Prior to John and Clark's deaths, the family lived in various locales, including

Charles County, Maryland Charles County is a county in Southern Maryland. As of the 2020 census, the population was 166,617. The county seat is La Plata. The county was named for Charles Calvert (1637–1715), third Baron Baltimore. Charles County is part of the Was ...

, where Clark is buried. Later the family moved to

Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...

to follow Brown's brother-in-law Captain John Brown, a sea captain. She supported the family by teaching.

Oregon journey

Orus Brown went to the Oregon Country in 1843 and returned two years later to retrieve his family, his sister's family, and his now elderly mother and uncle. Manthano remained behind in

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to th ...

. The trip began in April 1846 and the families remained united until they reached

Fort Hall Fort Hall was a fort in the western United States that was built in 1834 as a fur trading post by Nathaniel Jarvis Wyeth. It was located on the Snake River in the eastern Oregon Country, now part of present-day Bannock County in southeastern Ida ...

in what is now

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyomi ...

. While there they decided to use the

Applegate Trail The Applegate Trail was an emigrant trail through the present-day U.S. states of Idaho, Nevada, California, and Oregon used in the mid-19th century by emigrants on the American frontier. It was originally intended as a less dangerous alternative t ...

as they were informed it was a shortcut. Orus continued alone on the traditional route of the

. A winter storm flooded parts of new path with rain, which delayed their arrival at the

Willamette Valley The Willamette Valley ( ) is a long valley in Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. The Willamette River flows the entire length of the valley and is surrounded by mountains on three sides: the Cascade Range to the eas ...

. As winter set in, the family had still not reached the valley and they sent Pherne's husband Virgil Pringle to seek help from the settlers of the valley. On his way to Oregon City, Pringle ran into Orus, who was on his way to help with supplies. The two then returned and brought the rest of the family to the settlements on December 25, 1846.

Later life

Once in the Oregon Country, Tabitha Brown traveled between Oregon City and her daughter's home in Salem, and eventually settled in Forest Grove. She arrived fairly poor in the Willamette Valley, having only a single picayune, which she used to purchase sewing supplies.Shirley, Gayle C. ''More than Petticoats, Remarkable Oregon Women.'' Helena, MT. Falcon Publishing. 1998, pp. 35-38. Some of her spare clothing was bartered with several

Kalapuya The Kalapuya are a Native American people, which had eight independent groups speaking three mutually intelligible dialects. The Kalapuya tribes' traditional homelands were the Willamette Valley of present-day western Oregon in the United Sta ...

to acquire buckskin. Brown began manufacturing gloves, which were purchased by fellow settlers and loggers, and soon she had earned $30. Later she helped found an

orphanage An orphanage is a residential institution, total institution or group home, devoted to the care of orphans and children who, for various reasons, cannot be cared for by their biological families. The parents may be deceased, absent, or ab ...

with

Harvey L. Clark Harvey L. Clarke (October 2, 1807 – March 25, 1858) was an educator, missionary, and settler first on the North Tualatin Plains which would become Glencoe, Oregon, and then on the West Tualatin Plains that would become Forest Grove, Oregon. ...

. During the first year Brown had 30 wards to watch over, several being as old as 21, while their parents went south during the California Gold Rush. Then with Clark and the Rev. George H. Atkinson, they founded Tualatin Academy, which would grow to become

in Forest Grove. Brown died in Salem while living with her daughter on May 4, 1858. She is buried in Salem at the

Pioneer Cemetery In the United States, Canada, Australia, and elsewhere, a pioneer cemetery is a cemetery that is the burial place for pioneers. American pioneers founded such cemeteries during territorial expansion of the United States, with founding dates spa ...

Legacy

There was a tree dedicated in her memory at

Champoeg Champoeg ( , historically Horner, John B. (1919). ''Oregon: Her History, Her Great Men, Her Literature''. The J.K. Gill Co.: Portland. p. 398.) is a former town in the U.S. state of Oregon. Now a ghost town, it was an important settlement in the W ...

State Park, although at some point it was cut down. A World War II

Liberty Ship Liberty ships were a class of cargo ship built in the United States during World War II under the Emergency Shipbuilding Program. Though British in concept, the design was adopted by the United States for its simple, low-cost construction. Ma ...

built in 1942 was named in her honor. Brown's great-granddaughter, Mary Strong Kinney, was an Oregon State Senator.

References

External links

Salem Online HistoryLibrary of Congress
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Tabitha 1780 births 1858 deaths Oregon Trail People from Forest Grove, Oregon Burials at Salem Pioneer Cemetery People from Salem, Oregon Oregon pioneers Pacific University people People from Brimfield, Massachusetts Symbols of Oregon