author

Samuel S. Forman

1765–1862

An early American traveler and memoirist, he is remembered for a firsthand account of a 1789–1790 journey down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. His recollections preserve a vivid glimpse of frontier travel in the young United States.

1 Audiobook

Narrative of a Journey Down the Ohio and Mississippi in 1789-90

Narrative of a Journey Down the Ohio and Mississippi in 1789-90

by Samuel S. Forman

About the author

Born in 1765, Samuel S. Forman is best known for the narrative of his journey down the Ohio and Mississippi in 1789–1790. That memoir was written later in life, in 1849, and published after his death as Narrative of a Journey Down the Ohio and Mississippi in 1789-90.

Because so little biographical material is readily confirmed, the surviving travel narrative matters all the more. It has endured as a valuable firsthand record of river travel and frontier experience in the early republic.

Forman died in 1862. A miniature portrait of him survives in the New York Public Library's digital collections, showing that his memory was preserved not only in print but also in portrait form.