Colver, Samuel, 1817-1891

Samuel Colver was an Oregon pioneer who lived in Southern Oregon. He was born on September 10, 1815 in Union Co., Ohio, the son of Samuel and Rachel (Curry) Colver. Early in life he studied law at Plymouth College in Indiana. Afterward, he served as a Texas Ranger and served with General Sam Houston at the Battle of San Jacinto, and later served as an Indian scout. When he returned to Ohio he traveled the countryside performing a mesmerism show. In 1850, he and his brother Hiram moved their families to Oregon via the Oregon Trail. Colver became an Indian Agent in the Rogue River Valley, where he was a signer of the Table Rock Treaty that effectively ended the Modoc Indian War. He also served as a U.S. Marshall. Samuel and Hiram founded the small community of Phoenix, Oregon. Samuel Colver was married to Huldah, who was born in Ohio in 1823. They had two children, Isabel and Lewellyn. Lewellyn was killed in 1884 by a man who mistook him for a burglar, and Isabel died in 1886. Grief-stricken over the loss of both of his children, Samuel Colver was confined for a month to an asylum. He died mysteriously in 1891; he had been missing for several weeks and his horse was found dead near a lake. Huldah Colver died in 1907.