Reminiscences of Captain John A. and Jane Peeler Powell by Nell W. Reeves, undated
Overview
Account by Nell W. Reeves of Captain John A. and Jane Peeler Powell's overland journey from Illinois to the Willamette Valley in Oregon, consisting largely of quotations from Jane Powell's diary.
Dates
- Creation: Undated
Language of Materials
Materials in English.
Access Restrictions:
Access. Collection is open for research.
Conditions Governing Use
Copyright. Copyright in the Reminiscences Captain John A. and Jane Peeler Powell by Nell W. Reeves may be held by their authors, or the authors' heirs or assigns.
Copying. Papers may be copied in accordance with the library's usual procedures.
Extent
1 folderCollection contains an account by Nell W. Reeves of Captain John A. and Jane Peeler Powell's overland journey from Illinois to the Willamette Valley in Oregon, consisting largely of quotations from Jane Powell's diary. Reeves describes the wagon train and issues faced by it when crossing rivers, facing illnesses and deaths, and interacting with indigenous tribes over a five month period. Most interactions with indigenous tribes were positive with only one interaction that resulted in violence. She describes a friendly interaction with the Umatilla in 1851, only four years before the federal government restricted them to a reservation. She also describes several geographic landmarks, including the Blue and Cascade Mountains and Mount Hood.
BIOGRAPHY
Nell W. Reeves was born Nell Wilson in Oklahoma in 1892 to parents Ashley Rozell Wilson and Lucy Sweet Wilson. She had five sisters (Dicy, May, Leona, Hester, and Margaret) and five brothers (Wesley, Frank, George, Body, and Woodrow). She was also the grandniece of Captain John A. and Jane Peeler Powell, who moved from Illinois to Oregon in 1851. In 1911 she married Edward Henry Reeves a mechanical engineer from Texas. At some point the couple relocated to Madison, Connecticut. The couple had at least one daughter, Jane (Reeves) Kuhl. Edward Reeves was a major in the Connecticut National Guard and was later appointed the first director of the welfare department in the State of Connecticut by Franklin D. Roosevelt. Nell Reeves was active in the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Madison Garden Club, the Madison Historical Society, and a well known genealogist. Edward Reeves died in 1981. Nell Reeves died in 1991. The couple is buried together in North Madison West Side Cemetery in Connecticut.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Accession number: 53-41
The Reminiscences Captain John A. and Jane Peeler Powell by Nell W. Reeves were given to the Schlesinger Library by Mrs. Jane Townsend in October 1953.
Processing Information
Processed: October 1983
By: Martha Hodes
Updated and additional description added: October 2020
By: Mark Vassar
The Schlesinger Library attempts to provide a basic level of preservation and access for all collections, and does more extensive processing of higher priority collections as time and resources permit. Finding aids may be updated periodically to account for new acquisitions to the collection and/or revisions in arrangement and description.
Genre / Form
Topical
- Author
- Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America
- Language of description
- eng
- Sponsor
- Processing of this collection was made possible by the Elsie Rodd Fund in the Schlesinger Library.
- EAD ID
- sch01888
Repository Details
Part of the Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute Repository
The preeminent research library on the history of women in the United States, the Schlesinger Library documents women's lives from the past and present for the future. In addition to its traditional strengths in the history of feminisms, women’s health, and women’s activism, the Schlesinger collections document the intersectional workings of race and ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and class in American history.