Sam Barlow

Infobox Person
name= Sam K. Barlow


image_size=140px
caption=
birth_date= birth date|1792|1|24|mf=y
birth_place= Nicholas County, Kentucky
dead=dead
death_date= death date and age|1867|7|14|1792|1|24|mf=y
death_place= Canemah, Oregon
occupation= Toll road owner/operator, Justice of the Peace
spouse= Susannah Lee

Samuel Kimbrough Barlow (January 24, 1792 – July 14, 1867) was a pioneer in the area that became the state of Oregon in the United States and was key in establishing the Barlow Road, the most widely chosen final segment to the Oregon Trail. cite book
last = McArthur
first = Lewis A.
title = Oregon Geographic Names
origyear = 1928
edition = Seventh Edition
year = 2003
publisher = Oregon Historical Society Press
location = Portland, Oregon
id = ISBN 0-87595-277-1
pages = 52-53 ]

Biography

Barlow was the son of William Henry Harrison Barlow and Sarah Kimbrough of Kentucky. He trained as a tailor, and in 1818 moved to Bloomington, Indiana, where he married and started a family, perhaps in 1822. With his wife, Susannah Lee, he had at least four children: Jane Ellen, James, John, and William. cite web
url = http://www.barlowgenealogy.com/BOB/SKBHouse.html
title = The Historic Barlow House, and the Barlow Road
publisher = Barlow Genealogy
accessdate = 2007-10-04 ]

In August 1827 Barlow was convicted of manslaughter for killing George Matlock with an ax on October 16 1826 and sentenced to one year of hard labor. Scores of people, including the victim's brother, pleaded for Barlow's pardon and quashing of his sentence since he did it to prevent harm to his wife and children. Indiana's Governor Ray pardoned him on December 61827.

In 1845, when he was 53, Barlow's family arrived in Oregon. His party of seven wagons joined Joel Palmer's group of 23 wagons and explored and, after considerable difficulty, blazed a wagon trail over the Cascade Range, which became the Barlow Road in 1846. They arrived in Oregon City, Oregon on Christmas night.

Barlow made an early ascent of Mount Hood, though he is not known to have reached the summit - he and Palmer were scouting a way for their wagon train to cross what is now Barlow Pass. On October 7 1845, to see over trees and get a westward view to find a way off the mountain, they climbed to the 9,000 foot level of Palmer Glacier. [ Joel Palmer, [http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.gdc/lhbtn.th030_0021 "Palmer's Journal of Travels Over the Rocky Mountains, 1845–1846"] (1847), Library of Congress catalog F592 .T54 vol. 30. (viewable online)]

In the summer of 1850, [ Gov. Lane resigned June 1850 (cite web
url = http://bluebook.state.or.us/notable/notlane.htm
title = Notable Oregonians: Joseph Lane - Governor
work = Oregon Blue Book
publisher = Oregon Secretary of State
accessdate = 2007-11-08) followed by acting Governor Kintzing Prichette, who appointed Barlow Justice of the Peace. Prichette served just two months (see Greenstreet below), so the appointment must have occurred between June and August 1850. ] Barlow was appointed Justice of the Peace for Clackamas County (which was much larger then) by acting Governor Kintzing Prichette. cite web
url = http://www.rootsweb.com/~genepool/barlowrd.htm#barlow
title = Sam Barlow and The Barlow Road
author = Evelyn L. Greenstreet
accessdate = 2007-11-08 ]

On September 171850, Barlow purchased the donation land claim of Thomas McKay, which he later sold to his son William. The land eventually became the town of Barlow, Oregon, named for William, not Samuel.

In 1854 Barlow, along with Cyrus Olney, Granville O. Haller, Thomas J. Dryer, Wells Lake, and T.O. Travailliot were reported as making the first ascent of Mount Hood, [Horner, John B., (1921) Oregon: Her History, Her Great Men, Her Literature. J.K. Gill: Portland. p. 39.] though the report has been disputed.Fact|date=March 2008

Barlow is buried beside Susannah Lee Barlow at Barlow.

References

Persondata
NAME= Barlow, Sam
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=Barlow, Samuel Kimbrough
SHORT DESCRIPTION= Toll road owner/operator, Justice of the Peace
DATE OF BIRTH= January 24, 1792
PLACE OF BIRTH= Nicholas County, Kentucky
DATE OF DEATH= July 14, 1867
PLACE OF DEATH= Canemah, Oregon