Note: - OR TRAIL PIONEER - 1851
Peter SMITH and his wife, Rachel CRAWFORD SMITH came across the OR Trail from Madison, Indiana. They arrived in OR in the fall of 1851 and settled Donation Land Claim #3491 in what is now southwest Portland, in the vicinity of Patton and Scholls Ferry roads and extending southward to Hamilton Street. By 1870, the family removed to the Dairy Creek,/Forest Grove area of Washington County.
- "We Claimed This Land: Portland's Pioneer Settlers"
by Eugene E. Snyder; Binford & Mort Publishing, Portland, OR copyright 1989
"With Peter, we are on firmer ground because he acquired his 319 acres as a Donation Land Claim, and reliable Land Office records are available for DLCs. Peter was born in 1810 in VA (more precisely, in the part that separated from VA in 1861, because of a difference of opinion about the Civil War, and became the State of West VA in 1863). Peter came to OR on 1851. A year before, in Indiana, he married Rachel, so he was entitled to 320 acres. Claimants often accepted a tract smaller than that for which they might have qualified, in order to get a desirable location amidst the claims that had already been taken. Peter's tract, upon which he settled in November 1851, is in what is now southwest Portland, in the vicinity of Patton and Scholls Ferry roads and extending southward to Hamilton Street. By 1868, Thomas Humphrey, probably related to H. M. Humphrey whose DLC was just to the north, had purchased most of Peter's land.
At least five Peter Smiths appear in various Portland and OR archives, but not one of them has a birth year or year of arrival in OR that corresponds with that of our subject. So, but for the bare facts just stated, Peter and Rachel must live and die in obscurity."
NOTE - arthor did not find 1880 & 1870 Washington County, OR census which shows the Peter Smith family in the Forest Grove/Dairy Creek area.
- 1880 United States Census Dairy, Washington County, OR
Rachael SMITH Female
Birth Year <1822>
Birthplace IN
Age 58
Occupation Housekeeping
Marital Status M <Married>
Race W <White>
Head of Household Peter SMITH
Relation Wife
Father's Birthplace KY
Mother's Birthplace KY
Source Information:
Census Place Dairy, Washington County, OR
Family History Library Film 1255084
NA Film Number T9-1084
Page Number 328C
- Sister of Philemon Crawford of Crawfordsville, OR

SMITH, PETER CRAWFORD, RACHEL
Jefferson 12-5-1850

http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=:26427 00&id=I10542

• Married: 5 DEC 1850 in Jefferson County, IN ²

1. baby son SMITH b: 1 SEP 1851
2. Nira (Mira) Elizabeth SMITH b: 16 OCT 1852 in Washington County, OR
3. Thomas Benton SMITH b: 17 NOV 1854 in Washington County, OR
4. George Robert SMITH b: 16 APR 1856 in OR
5. James C SMITH b: 17 AUG 1856 in Washington County, OR
6. John Allen SMITH b: ABT 1857 in OR
7. Jesse E Vawter SMITH b: 10 FEB 1861 in Washington County, OR
8. William T Franklin SMITH b: 5 FEB 1863 in Washington County, OR

1. Type: Internet
   Text: www.pinardfamily.com
2. Type: Indiana State Library Genealogy Division
   Text: Indiana State Library Genealogy Division
   "S - T"
   Indiana Marriages Through 1850