Asahel Bush letters

Collection

Identifier: Mss 581

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The collection consists of the correspondence of Asahel Bush. The bulk of the collection is typescript copies or microfilm of letters that were sent to Bush. These letters often discuss politics; events such as the Rogue River War, the Yakima War, and Oregon territorial elections; and the newspaper business. A large number of these letters are from Matthew P. Deady. Other significant correspondents in the collection include Jesse Applegate, George L. Curry, Joseph Lane, Delazon Smith, Samuel R. Thurston, and George H. Williams. Original letters in this collection include several that Bush sent, as well as ones from Applegate, Deady, B. F. Harding, Hugh D. O'Bryant, W. C. Johnson, W. H. Farrar, John T. Jeffreys, W. W. Buck, and three letters that are either unsigned or have illegible signatures. Other items in the collection include an original promissory note made to Bush for $5,000; microfilm of a letter book that, in addition to correspondence to Bush, includes some letters addressed either to Bush's descendants or to the Ladd and Bush Bank; an original note by Bush about an Indian commissioner named "Allen"; and correspondence of Bush's son, A. N. Bush, regarding the use of typescript copies of Bush's letters.

Dates

1837-1938
Majority of material found within circa 1850-1910

Creator

Bush, Asahel, 1824-1913 (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

The Oregon Historical Society owns the materials in the Research Library and makes available reproductions for research, publication, and other uses. The Society does not necessarily hold copyright to all materials in the collections. In some cases, permission for use may require seeking additional authorization from copyright owners.

Biographical Note

Asahel Bush was born in 1824 in Westfield, Massachusetts. He became an apprentice printer at age 15, and later studied law while supporting himself with newspaper jobs; he was admitted to the Massachusetts Bar in 1850. That same year, Samuel R. Thurston, the Oregon territorial delegate to U.S. Congress, recruited Bush to found a newspaper in Oregon that would further Thurston's political career, named "The Oregon Statesman." Bush emigrated to Oregon by way of the Isthmus of Panama, and arrived in Oregon City in September 1850. The first issue of the Oregon Statesman was published in March 1851. Although the paper was first based in Oregon City, in 1853 it moved to Salem, Oregon. Bush also served as Oregon's first territorial printer.

Bush also soon established himself as the head of a circle of Oregonians who, like him, were active in the Democratic Party, such as Matthew P. Deady, James W. Nesmith, and George L. Curry; this group came to be known as "the Salem Clique." Bush championed the cause of Oregon statehood. He was opposed to Oregon becoming a slave state, but also opposed allowing free Black Americans to live in Oregon.

In the late 1850s and 1860, Bush and the Salem Clique were affected by divisions within the Democratic Party over the slavery debate. These divisions led to competing Democratic presidential tickets in 1860: northern Democrats nominated Stephen A. Douglas and Herschel V. Johnson, while southern Democrats nominated John C. Breckenridge and U.S. Senator for Oregon Joseph Lane. Bush supported Douglas, while fellow clique member Deady favored Breckenridge. When the U.S. Civil War broke out, Bush was strongly pro-Union. However, the divisions among Oregon Democrats had diminished not only the Salem Clique's political influence, but the standing that Bush and the Oregon Statesman had held as a political power.

Bush sold the Oregon Statesman in 1863, but remained politically active. He later co-founded the Ladd and Bush Bank in Salem.

Bush married Eugenia Zieber in 1854; the couple had four children. Asahel Bush died in December 1913.

Sources: "Asahel Bush (1824-1913)," by Barbara Mahoney, Oregon Encyclopedia, https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/bush_asahel_1824_1913_/#.YtiFe3bMIuV; "Salem Clique," by Barbara Mahoney, Oregon Encyclopedia, https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/salem-clique/#.YtiFWHbMIuU; "Oregon Statesman," by Floyd J. McKay, Oregon Encyclopedia, https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/oregon_statesman/#.YtiKSXbMIuU; Corning, Howard McKinley, editor, Dictionary of Oregon History, 2nd edition, 1989.

Extent

0.55 Cubic Feet (1 legal document case; 5 reels microfilm)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

Correspondence of Asahel Bush (1824-1913), primarily typescript or microfilm copies of letters sent to him. Bush was an early emigrant to Oregon, editor of the Oregon Statesman from 1851 to 1863, and a significant figure in 1850s Oregon Democratic Party politics.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Original items most likely acquired in the late 19th or early 20th century (RL2022-120-RETRO; RL2022-123-RETRO). Typescript copies of letters acquired between 1938 and 1950 (RL2022-121-RETRO). Microfilm most likely acquired either in 1964 or 1965 (RL2022-124-RETRO).

Existence and Location of Originals

Originals of typescript and microfilmed materials are housed at the Bush House Museum, Salem, Oregon.

Related Materials

Other collections at the Oregon Historical Society Research Library that include papers of or related to Bush are: the Matthew P. Deady papers, Mss 48; the John C. Bell papers, Mss 194; the Samuel R. Thurston and Elizabeth Thurston papers, Mss 379; the James Willis Nesmith papers, Mss 577; the Addison Crandall Gibbs papers, Mss 685; the Galloway family papers, Mss 730; the Lewis Hubbel Judson papers, Mss 976; the Benjamin Freeman Kendall papers, Mss 1038; the Joseph Lane papers, Mss 1146; the Benjamin Stark papers, Mss 1155; the Justus Steinberger papers, Coll 686; and a vertical file, Genealogy - Bush family.