Hitchcock Brown Bag Speaker Series: Tabitha Moffat

Wed, Jan 29 | 12pm

Registration will close on Mon, Jan 27 at 6pm

Join local historian and Hitchcock Trustee Mike Defalco for a talk about "Brimfield Heroine" Tabitha Moffat. Moffat was born in Brimfield in 1780 and later in life (in her 60s) journeyed with her children on the Oregon Trail. Once there, she started a school for children that later became Pacific University. She wrote a letter to her family back in Brimfield talking about her experiences on the Trail which became known as the “Brimfield Heroine Letter”. It described attacks by Native Americans, near starvation and other assorted dangers. In the 1970s, the Oregon State Legislature proclaimed her the "Mother of Oregon".

The talk will also include the story of Moffat's husband Clark Brown who arrived in town in the 1790s to serve as the Congregational Church pastor and immediately became part of a major controversy which resulted in an ecclesiastical trial known as the Brown Church War.

These accounts are also detailed in The Brimfield Historical Commission’s “101 Things to Know About Brimfield” which will be available for purchase ($15).

After lunch, the talk will begin at 12:30pm and run approximately an hour. It will include a PowerPoint presentation.

Lunch (optional) will include a half sandwich, soup, and beverage. Participants may also bring in their own lunch.

$10 | $20 with lunch

Reservations are required (lunch registration closes Jan 27 at 6pm)

This program is presented with support from The Shirley Frye Memorial Fund.