FootNote
The new kid on the block, FootNote is known for digitizing historical
documents... many of which are genealogical gems. With naturalizations,
city directories, war records, newspapers, town records, etc... this new
kid is quickly being recognized as an alternative to Ancestry.
While we know our northern friends may not feel it, in the South, Spring is
here. So we thought we'd share a few of our gardening sites appropriate
for this time of the year. Along with gardening, there's grilling, and getting
ready to diet so that you can fit back into that bathing suit this summer!
Hitherto there has been no attempt to write
a History of Portland. Slight sketches of the history of the
city have, indeed, been written, but nothing that answers to
the importance of the subject has heretofore, been
undertaken. For conception and execution of the present work
the city is indebted to D. Mason & Co., a firm of
enterprising publishers of Syracuse, New York. Learning that
no general history of Portland had yet appeared, these
publishers offered to undertake the work and to collect the
materials for it. Aware, however, that it was necessary that
these materials should be subjected to local editorial
supervision, they requested me to perform that duty. Though
my own daily employments were very exacting, I consented to
do so. The result is now submitted to the public.
My own work therefore has been that of editor rather than
author. Some parts of the book I have written, and all of
it, except portions of the biographical matter, I have
revised with as much diligence as possible. Yet I cannot
hope that the book is free from errors. Much has been handed
down from memory, and inaccuracies therefore are
unavoidable.
Acknowledgments are due chiefly to O. F. Vedder, H. S. Lyman
and C. H. Carey for the matter of this volume. All these
have worked diligently in collection and preparation of the
materials. The biographical matter has been contributed by
many hands, and Mr. Vedder has bestowed much labor upon it.
The special work of Mr. Carey is the important and
exhaustive chapter on "Bench and Bar". Mr. Lyman's work runs
through a large part of the historical matter. The first
chapter, which is devoted to the "Early History of Oregon",
an excellent specimen of condensed historical writing, is
chiefly by Mr. Vedder.
In preparation of a work of this kind it is easy to realize
how much matter that we would have been glad to obtain has
now forever escaped even the most active and diligent
research. Yet a paragraph at the close of the history may be
properly repeated here, namely : "This history of Portland
is the product of research and labor extended in all
directions that promised results; it is probably as complete
as any that is likely to be prepared, and yet not so
complete by any means as it would be, were it practicable to
gather, to sift and to compare all facts of interest that
are yet retained in the memory of living persons or set down
in documents remaining in private hands. Unfortunately, the
mass of these materials is beyond the reach of those who
undertake to prepare a work like this, and writers or editor
must be content with such records and recollections as can
be gathered by diligence, through knowing that more has been
missed than obtained."
Yet it is believed that we have here a history sufficiently
full and accurate for preservation to future times of an
intelligible account of the origin of Portland and of its
growth to the proportions of a city.
