Settlement of the West Narratives

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~orlane/history/histbris.htm

The narrative I have chosen to talk about is of Elijah Bristow, who was known to be the first white settler in Lane County, Oregon. This narrative stood out to me as it is a story which many Americans would of experienced as it is one of expanding West and being the first to discover and claim new land.

Growing up in early America and living in Virginia and Illinois, he was 'imbued with a spirit of adventure inherited from his ancestors'. This shows that the determination to move West and discover 'uninhabited' land was embedded into generations of the early American people. It seems that this dream, or 'Manifest Destiny' was one of the main driving forces which got Americans from coast to coast. Bristow went West, like his ancestors before him, and got to California, but like many Americans he was not satisfied so he decided to go north and find some land of his own. Another reason for his exploration North, was to find a location for a settlement to house his every growing family and to start a new community of his own. This can suggest that family also had a big part to play in going West as the men of the family wanted to be able to protect them all and be able to house them on their own land without paying a lot of money to have it, potentially creating the beginning of the 'American ideal'.

During his time exploring North, it is commented that there was 'not a white man's habitation to be found'. This can suggest that Bristow thought that the only habitations worth noting was of the white people, and maybe believed that the land was not owned by anyone, unless it was of an American. This seems to be the belief of many Americans as most of the continent was already inhabited by the Natives, but they still pushed West and claimed the land for their own.

When Bristow finally got to land which he thought was picturesque and suitable to settle, he exclaimed 'This is my claim! Here I will live, and where I die, here shall I be buried!' and then measured off and marked 'his claim of 640 acres of land, the amount usually claimed by early settlers in a new country'. This shows that normal Americans went West and claimed new land so often that there was a common amount of land that was claimed.

Overall, Elijah Bristow's story seems to be that of many Americans, before and after him, of ever expanding West across the continent and claiming land for their own the inhabit and build and life for their families. This story also gives and insight to how expansion West had on generations of Americans and how previous ones inspired the next to go ever further.