John Blankenbaker's Germanna History Notes

Note 782

Mrs. Brown, who arrived at Salem, Oregon, on Christmas Day in 1846, found that she was richer than she had expected, for in her glove was a coin worth one-sixteenth of a dollar.  That was the only cash that she had, and with it she bought three needles.  Then she traded some of her old clothes to a Native America for some buckskins, and worked the skins into gloves for gentlemen and ladies which she sold for thirty dollars.

A little later, she accepted the invitation of Rev. Harvey Clark and his wife to spend the winter with them.  Arriving there, she saw the necessity for some kind of school for the children in the community.  She proposed, and it was accepted, to use the log meeting house as a school.  She volunteered to work one year for nothing, with the patrons to meet the expenses.  Children came from some distance, so it was necessary to have a boarding school, with the cost set at one dollar per week.

By the summer of 1848, she had thirty boarders of both sexes, who ranged in age from four to twenty-one.  She managed them and taught the school with the assistance of a missionary's wife.  Rev. Clark donated 200 acres of his land claim for town lots, with the proceeds to go to toward the school.  Thus, was the City of Forest Grove born, and, with it, Tualatin Academy.

The Academy was organized 21 September, 1848, and it became Pacific University, which was incorporated in January 1854.  Nine years later, the University awarded its first degree to one Harvey W. Scott.

Thus, did the work of Tabitha Brown bear fruit.  Forest Grove and Pacific University are still there.  But Tabitha Brown would measure the results, not by the buildings, but by the students.

As we approach the New Year, will we resolve to do something to make this a better world?

Glad Tidings to All.