Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 24.djvu/50

 34 Joseph J. Hill The bearing of the above on the settlement of Ewing Young's estate. In view of the foregoing, it might be interesting to call to mind a few of the events of early Oregon history. As indicated in the Quarterly for Sep- tember, 1920, Ewing Young settled in Oregon in 1834 where he died, intestate, in 1841 with several thousand dollars' worth of property and with no known heirs. His property was taken over by the provisional government of Oregon and held in trust until 1855 when it was finally /turned over to a young man signing himself Joaquin Young, who satisfactorily proved that he was the natural son of Ewing Young and Maria Josefa Tafoya, a New Mexican woman. One of the principal documents used in proving his claim was the certification of his baptism, recorded by the priest at Taos in the parish baptismal record book. The record reads : "In this parish church of Taos on the 12th of April, 1833 (mil ochocientos treinto y tres) 22, I, the priest Don Antonio Jose Martinez, baptized solemnly, applied the holy oil and sacred baptism to a boy four days old and I gave as name Jose Joaquin, the natural son of Maria Josefa Tafoya . . . God parents Richard Cam- bell and Maria Rosa Gripalba, who said that his natural father Joaquin John, a foreigner, dwelling in this place, invited them." An affidavit signed by Charles Beaubien, C. Carson, and Manuel Lefebre stated that Joaquin John was the name by which Ewing Young was known in New Mexico. Thus the identity of the young man was suf- ficiently proved and the proceeds from the estate of Ewing Young were delivered to him. But the whereabouts of Ewing Young during the sum- mer of 1832 seems never to have occurred to anyone as an item of consequence in the identification of the young man or in the awarding of the property of Ewing Young to him. In view of the fact that Ewing Young left New Mexico in October of 1831, as we have shown above, on See accompanying plate.