Why are we the land of Linn?

By Cathy Ingalls, Albany Regional Museum board member

Fenderich, C. & Lehman & Duval Lithrs, P. (1837) Dr. Lewis Field sicLinn, senator from Missouri / from life & on stone by Chs. Fenderich, Washington. United States, 1837. [Washington D.C.: Publisher not identified, Philadelphia: Printed by Lehman & Duval Lithrs. Phila] [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2017657767/.

Linn County, West Linn and the Linnton neighborhood in north Portland are all named for a man who never visited the state.

Three other states, Iowa, Kansas and Missouri, have counties names for Dr. Lewis Fields Linn although he never spent time in those places, either.

Linn, who lived from Nov. 5, 1796 – Oct. 3, 1843, was a physician and politician, who represented Missouri in the U.S. Senate for nearly a decade.

He was one of the many Americans entranced with the concept of Manifest Destiny, the belief that white settlers were destined to move west.

The Oregon Country appealed to many of those potential emigrants.

While serving in the U.S. Senate, Linn drafted a bill proposing the settlement and occupation of the Oregon Territory.  Without the bill’s passage, the United States might not have acquired what is now Oregon, Washington and Idaho.

Also Linn was instrumental in the development of military posts on the frontier to protect travelers and settlers from attacks by Native Americans.

A man before his time, he established postal roads and pushed for drainage of swamps.

He worked for the development of Iowa so much so that settlers referred to him as “their” senator.

Linn was born near Louisville, Ky., becoming an orphan at a young age.

His mother was first married to Israel Dodge, having a son Henry, who raised his half-brother, Lewis.

Because he lost his parents early, Linn at first received a poor education. But later in Louisville, he studied medicine, and as a teenager served as a surgeon under his brother during the War of 1812.

Following the war, Linn attended Philadelphia Medical College.

Historic American Buildings Survey, C. (1933) Senator Lewis F. Linn House, Merchant Street, Sainte Genevieve, Ste. Genevieve County, MO. Ste. Genevieve County Sainte Genevieve Missouri, 1933. [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/mo0129/.

After he received permission to practice, Linn moved to Ste. Genevieve in the Missouri Territory.

There, he was recognized for his role in combating two cholera epidemics.

He saw thousands of cases of dysentery, malaria and other diseases traced to life along the Mississippi River. During times of low water, disease skyrocketed because of tributary blockages, resulting in water stagnation, which attracted mosquitoes.

The slow-moving water also limited transportation that prevented goods and medicine from reaching settlers.

During the 1833 cholera epidemic, one of Missouri’s senators, Alexander Buckner, died. With encouragement from others, Gov. Daniel Dunkin appointed Linn to finish Buckner’s term.

Linn was a strong Jacksonian Democrat and worked alongside Thomas Hart Benton for who Benton County is named.

Linn was appointed chairman of the Committee on Private Land Claims, and he was on the Committee on Agriculture.

Linn worked hard to find funding to use in the removal of sandbars and to drain swamps in low-lying areas, but he wasn’t very successful.

Unfortunately, he didn’t live long enough to try to accomplish his goals.

He died at home in Ste. Genevieve. A grateful state legislature had  the words “Missouri’s Model Senator” engraved on his tombstone where he is buried at the Old Catholic Cemetery, also known as Memorial Cemetery.

More information about Linn can be found at the Albany Regional Museum, 136 Lyon St. S.

The Albany Regional Museum is open to the public Tues-Fri 11-4 as of 2/16/2021. You can call 541-967-7122 or email, info@armuseum.com with any questions or request for assistance.