In Defense of Solomon Riggs: Re-examining the 1913 Siletz Agency Letter (Part 2)
In Defense of Solomon Riggs: Re-examining the 1913 Siletz Agency Letter (Part 2) ← Part 1: Uncovering Charlotte Riggs: Solomon Riggs’ Aunt, Sold as a Slave | Part 3:The Wives of Solomon Riggs: Uncovering the Women Behind the 1913 Letter (Part three) → The 1913 agency letter framing Solomon’s care for Charlotte with suspicion. Placed against his land and census records, the document reveals how federal probate officials misread traditional Umpqua family care as financial opportunism. In Part 1 , we looked closely at the life and history of Charlotte Riggs—her journey, her origins, and what the historical records reveal about her time before and after coming to Grande Ronde. But Charlotte’s story doesn't end with her life; it extends into the archival record surrounding her estate. When reviewing the primary sources, it becomes clear that even a single page can hold an extraordinary amount of detail. A single letter written on July 28, 1913, by the Superintendent of the Sile...