Samuel Kimbrough Barlow (December 7, 1795 – July 14, 1867) was a pioneer in the area that became the U.S. state of Oregon, and was key in establishing the Barlow Road, the most widely chosen final segment to the Oregon Trail.

Biography

Barlow was the son of William Henry Harrison Barlow and Sarah Kimbrough, born in Nicholas County, Kentucky.* Barlow, William (1912)
Reminiscences of seventy years
'' Oregon Historical Quarterly''. He trained as a tailor, and in 1818 moved to Bloomington, Indiana, where he married and started a family, perhaps in 1822. He and his wife, Susannah Lee, had six children: Sarah, James, John, Eliza Jane, Eli, and William. Barlow was convicted of manslaughter in August 1827, for killing George Matlock with an ax on October 16, 1826. He was sentenced to one year of hard labor. Scores of people, including the victim's brother, pleaded for Barlow's pardon and quashing of his sentence since he did it to prevent harm to his wife and children. Indiana Governor

James B. Ray James Brown Ray (February 19, 1794 – August 4, 1848) was an Indiana politician and the only Indiana Senate president pro tempore to be elevated to governor of the state of Indiana. Ray served during a time when the state transitioned from per ...

pardoned him on December 6, 1827. In 1845, when he was 53, Barlow's family arrived in Oregon. His party of seven wagons joined Joel Palmer's group of 23 wagons and explored and, after considerable difficulty, blazed a wagon trail over the

Cascade Range The Cascade Range or Cascades is a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia through Washington and Oregon to Northern California. It includes both non-volcanic mountains, such as the North Cascades, ...

, which became the Barlow Road in 1846. They arrived in Oregon City, Oregon on Christmas night. Along the way Barlow made an early ascent of

Mount Hood Mount Hood is a potentially active stratovolcano in the Cascade Volcanic Arc. It was formed by a subduction zone on the Pacific coast and rests in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located about east-southeast of Portlan ...

, though he did not reach the summit; he and Palmer were scouting a way for their wagon train to cross what is now Barlow Pass. On October 7, 1845, to see over trees and get a westward view to find a way off the mountain, they climbed to the 9,000 foot level of the mountain. In the summer of 1850, Barlow was appointed

Justice of the Peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

for Clackamas County (which was much larger then) by acting Governor Kintzing Prichette. On September 17, 1850, Barlow purchased the

donation land claim The Donation Land Claim Act of 1850, sometimes known as the Donation Land Act, was a statute enacted by the United States Congress in late 1850, intended to promote homestead settlements in the Oregon Territory. It followed the Distribution-Preem ...

of Thomas McKay, which he later sold to his son William. The land eventually became the town of Barlow, Oregon, named for William, not Samuel. In 1854 Barlow, along with

Cyrus Olney Cyrus Olney (October 11, 1815 – December 12, 1870) was an American politician and lawyer in what would become the state of Oregon. He was the 6th justice of the Oregon Supreme Court serving while the region was still the Oregon Territory. A nati ...

, Granville O. Haller,

Thomas J. Dryer Thomas Jefferson Dryer (January 8, 1808 – March 30, 1879) was a newspaper publisher and politician in the Western United States. A member of the Oregon Territorial Legislature in 1857, Dryer is best remembered as the founder of ''The Oregonian, ...

, Wells Lake, and T.O. Travailliot were reported as making the first ascent of Mount Hood, though the report has been disputed. Barlow is buried beside Susannah Lee Barlow at Barlow. There is also a high school east of Gresham, Oregon, Sam Barlow High School, named after him.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barlow, Sam Kimbrough 1867 deaths People from Nicholas County, Kentucky History of transportation in Oregon Oregon Country Oregon pioneers 1795 births

Biography

See also

References