While Bonney’s “Recollections…” is brief, approx. 24 pages, it contains a wealth of early western history and a litany of early explorers, frontiersmen, politicians, con men, preachers, and settlers who helped build the Oregon Territory, hidden within those few pages.
This book is an effort to tease that history and the people from between the lines of Benjamin’s recollections. In short, nearly every detail mentioned, from their journey across the Oregon Trail to the establishment of home and community, raises questions in my mind, driving me to dig deeper and learn more about their lives.
So, this version of the “Recollections of Benjamin Franklin Bonney” is not simply a retelling of his tale, but a dissection of the things, places, and people he mentions. It is the background of his story.
Memories to Histories: The Annotated “Recollections of Benjamin Franklin Bonney”
$35.00
Benjamin’s memories of traveling the Oregon Trail and establishing a life in the new Oregon Territory. But more than that, it illustrates how I think about memories, diaries, reminiscences… when I read them, I think about the connections to the people they meet, the ones they marry, and their encounters with people who were so important to the settlement of the West. I take the people, places and things that Benjamin mentions, research each one, and thus, the combined story creates a rich tapestry of Northwest history.
