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Manuscript collections

ISOM CRANFILL Papers

Ax 127

Biography

Isom Cranfill was a minister in the Regular Predestinarian Baptist Church. He was born in North Carolina in 1877, moved to Tennessee and Illinois, and in 1847 came overland to Oregon. He was justice of the peace in Clackamas County in 1848 and ran a general store in Oregon City, 1849-1850. Cranfill later moved to Peoria, Albany, Roseburg, Lookingglass, and Eugene, working as a cabinetmaker, farmer, and itinerant preacher. Diaries of his son, Jasper Cranfill, are separately collected.

Scope and Content

The collection consists mainly of diaries: 1847, 1860, and 1863-1877 (16 vol.). The 1847 diary is an account of his overland journey; the others are a record of daily activities in Oregon. In 1870, Cranfill was charged with doctrinal and polity irregularities by the Mount Zion Church in Roseburg. A copy of the charge, and Cranfill\'s reply, are included in the collection. In connection with this incident, Cranfill edited and published three numbers (vol. 1, no. 1, Feb. 1970; vol. 1, no. 2, July 1870; vol. 1, no. 3, May 1872) of Zion\'s Messenger (Portland and Roseburg, 1870-1872). These have been removed to the Oregon Collection (286. 405 Z67).

The collection also includes financial materials; 9 issues of Signs of the Times, 1897-1903; and two account books.

Several works are based in part on the Isom Cranfill papers:

Miller, Clifford R. Baptist Beginnings in Oregon (PhD, History, University of Oregon, 1955)

Warden, Albert T. Baptists in Oregon (Portland, 1969)

Inventory

1847-1903

1 box
1.5 lin. ft.

Box/folder

1/1 Inventory Diaries
1/2 1847 (overland journey account, original and typescript) Box 1 1860, 1863-1877 (16 vol.)
1/3 Charge and Defense
1/4 Financial Materials
1/5 Signs of the Times; Devoted to the Old School Baptist Cause

  • vol. 65, no. 10 (May 15, 1897)
  • vol. 65, no. 15 (Aug. 1, 1897)
  • vol. 65, no. 19 (Oct. 1, 1897)
  • vol. 66, no. 12 (June 15, 1898)
  • vol. 67, no. 5 (Mar. 1, 1899)
  • vol. 70, no. 24 (Dec. 15, 1902)
  • vol. 71, no. 1 (Jan. 1, 1903)
  • vol. 71, no. 2 (Jan. 15, 1903)
  • vol. 71, no. 3 (Feb. 1, 1903)

1/5 Misc.

  • Vol. 1. Account of a general store, Oregon City, OR., 1852-1873
  • Vol. 2 Accounts, 1852-1855
Maintained by: N. Helmer, spcarref@uoregon.edu
Last Modified: 10/30/2006