The Benton County Genealogical Society will host a presentation on the Letitia Carson Legacy Project from 11 a.m.-noon Saturday at Philomath Museum.
The program will explore the story of one of Oregon’s first Black pioneers who settled in Benton County’s Soap Creek Valley in the mid-1800s.
Born into slavery in Kentucky, Carson made the 2,100-mile Oregon Trail journey in 1845 with her Irish husband, David Carson, giving birth along the way. The couple settled in Soap Creek Valley in spring 1846, but Letitia was forced off the land in 1852…