Brown Bag Speaker Series at Hitchcock Academy

Hitchcock Brown Bag Speaker Series
Kicking Off With a Talk about “Brimfield Heroine” and “Mother of Oregon” Tabitha Moffat
 
Due to demand, Hitchcock Free Acadmey is proud to announce the revival of a popular, long-missed series of Brown Bag speakers. The series kicks off at 12pm on January 29^th with a talk about “Brimfield Heroine” and “Mother of Oregon” Tabitha Moffat.
 
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 mentioned in The Brimfield Historical Commission’s “101 Things to Know About Brimfield.”
 
Reservations are required (Registration closes Jan 27 at 6pm) and there is a $10 fee per person. Lunch begins at noon and the talk at 12:30. Registrants can choose to bring their own lunch or for an additional $10 (includes half sandwich, soup, and beverage. The talk will run approximately an hour.
 
This program is presented with support from The Shirley Frye Memorial Fund.
 
Hitchcock Academy is a community center located at 2 Brookfield Road in Brimfield serving the community with educational, recreational, and cultural programming. More information can be found at www.hitchcockacademy.org.