Oregon Trail Certificate

OREGON TRAIL CERTIFICATE

The Oregon Trail Project of Idaho is a non-profit organization dedicated to collecting, archiving and publishing data about the Oregon Trail.

The project will issue Oregon Trail Certificates to anyone whose ancestors traveled on the Oregon Trail. Many of these pioneers have gone unnoticed in our history and this is a way to gather information about them. Applicants will be helping to preserve the history of the Oregon Trail and that of its travelers.

The goal of the Oregon Trail Project is to publish the following: 1. A listing of Oregon Trail descendants with their pedigree charts to the ancestor (at least). 2. A listing of people who traveled the Oregon Trail. Include names other than family names - may be indirectly verified. Include place names that have come down through the family. 3. A collection of Oregon Trail journals and reminiscences collected through the issuing of Oregon Trail Certificates. 4. An Oregon Trail Cookbook, (please send in your family recipes that you feel originated on the Oregon Trail.) 5. Demographic studies on Oregon Trail travelers and their descendants. 6. A clearinghouse of names, collected in the Oregon Trail Project.

To do this, please send us all the information that you might have on the Oregon Trail, even if it does not pertain to your family directly. Your piece of information will join thousands of other pieces, creating a bigger, more complete and more informative picture of the Oregon Trail.

Items you may wish to include are: 1. Where a family originated, where they joined the Oregon Trail. 2. Landmarks on the Oregon Trail mentioned in letters or journals. 3. How they traveled (handcart, wagon, single horse, etc.) 4. Other names mentioned in journals, letters. 5. Where they settled (trails mentioned - California Trail, Goodall's Cutoff). 6. Deaths, births, marriages mentioned in letters, journals, Bibles.

Any information you have will be significant. Opportunity will be provided to register names of indirect relatives or non-family names that are known to you.

The Oregon Trail Project was conceived as a way to stimulate interest and pride in family history and lore. We invite you to study your family's historical treasures to find information about its move west prior to 1911. If you are stumped, the Idaho Genealogical Society offers help at $10 per hour. Write to them at P.O. Box 1854, Boise, ID 83701-1854 with your queries.

HOW DO I GET AN OREGON TRAIL CERTIFICATE?

ELIGIBILITY: To qualify for an Oregon Trail Certificate the applicant must prove DIRECT descent from a person who traveled any part of the Oregon Trail by wagon, handcart, horseback, stagecoach, or on foot, between 1811 and 1911. A separate certificate will be issued for each ancestor proven. Couples may be included on the same certificate. COST: Each certificate is $10.00 INSTRUCTIONS: Step 1: Complete each section of the application. Step 2: Complete the pedigree chart enclosed, starting at the top of the page with yourself and working backwards, generation by generation. Step 3: Make a COPY of your acceptable proof. DO NOT send originals. Step 4: Make check in the amount due payable to the Oregon Trail Project. Mail to: IGS, PO Box 1854, Boise, Idaho 83701-1854. ACCEPTABLE SOURCES OF PROOF: Attach a copy of, at least, one proof document per generation to prove lineage. The purpose of these proofs is to show the family moving west. A. Census entries may be used to show how individuals moved from state to state, from year to year. B. Land records at destination, showing date and place. The record may show that land was purchased in the east but claimed in the west or give some other clue as the method and area of travel. C. Birth records such as Bible entry, baptismal or church record. Again, dates and places may give a record of westward movement. A delayed baptism may indicate the inaccessibility of proper clergy at the event and may give a more detailed description. D. Death records are valuable for the same reasons as birth record in recording a westward movement and may be similar in their descriptions. Also included in this category are tombstone inscriptions and newspaper articles or obituaries, both past and present. E. Marriage records, again, often note place, situation, date and may often cite other people who were there. Newspaper articles, usually from the couples hometowns, are often in existence. F. Published material such as obituaries (he was the son or grandson of immigrants who traveled west on the Oregon Trail, 1850), published family histories, county histories or published genealogies, personal papers, diaries or journals or letters, with dates and places noted. G. Family stories that have been handed down through the generations. Because so much Oregon Trail history was made by common folks who were just getting on with the daily task of living without benefit of reporters there to record the events, family stories or diaries are sometimes all that survive. If your family has such a tradition, write it down, then perhaps try to back it up with one of the above proofs, possibly census records or photographs, and submit them. By doing this, you are not only earning yourself a certificate, but creating a written history of your family that didn't exist before.

PLEASE NOTE: 1. Always use the maiden names of all females. 2. Do not send cash through the mail. 3. Never send originals. We cannot return anything. 4. Make all checks or money orders payable to the Oregon Trail Project. 5. Family group sheets and pedigree charts only, are not acceptable unless accompanied by documented proofs. 6. Be sure to indicate the address to which you wish the certificate to be mailed, if it is different than your own. Any application not accompanied by this information will automatically be sent to whomever mails it in. 7. Certificates will be processed promptly with a turnaround time of approximately six weeks. Anyone requesting faster service will be accommodated to the best of our ability. 8. Proof of descent need to be sent only once, but if you make subsequent requests for certification using the same pioneer, you must complete additional applications, making reference to the original certificate application. Each certificate will be numbered, so referring to the number is sufficient.

Checklist - Have you: Completed all sections of the application? Enclosed the application form? Completed and enclosed the pedigree chart (line of descent)? Enclosed copies of your acceptable proof? Enclosed a check for $10.00 for each application?

MAIL ALL APPLICATIONS and PAYMENT TO: IDAHO GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY, Oregon Trail Project, P.O. Box 1854, Boise, ID 83701-1854