The Methodist Mission to Oregon operated from 1834-1844.  This page documents the names and stories of individuals involved with the mission and its stations around the Pacific Northwest.  For more information about the history of the Mission, click here.  Names of students have mostly been taken from the Mission Record Book (Sept 1834 – Dec 31, 1838) housed by the General Commission on the Archives and History of the United Methodist Church, Madison, New Jersey unless otherwise noted.  Spellings are transcribed faithfully from the manuscript.

Students

Tribal Affiliation: Klikatak
Arrived at mission school:20 June 1838
*Spelling as found in the Oregon Mission Record Book

Tribal Affiliation: Half blood
Arrived at mission school: 22 Oct 1837
*Spelling as found in the Oregon Mission Record Book

Angelique Carpentier (c.1828 – ) and her sister Sophie (c.1826 – ) were the daughters of Charles Carpentier and were placed in the mission after their mother died.

Angelique was married to Charles Roe in about 1856-1857 and murdered by him.  He hung for his crime in 1859 (see 9 April 1859 Oregon Argus article about his hanging here).

Resources:

“Trial of Roe.” Oregon Statesman 22 Feb 1859 pg 2 – describes murder trial of Charles Roe for murder of his wife Angelique Carpentier Roe, although she is not named in the article, there is some background information.

Early Oregonians index entry.

St. Paul Mission Historical Society Bio Card for Sister Sophie:

Tribal Affiliation: Yamhill
Arrived at mission school: 3 Feb 1838
*Spelling as found in the Oregon Mission Record Book

Tribal Affiliation: Half Breed
Arrived at mission school: 5 March 1836
*Spelling as found in the Oregon Mission Record Book

Also known as: Charles Morehead
Tribal Affiliation: Calapooya
Arrived at mission school: 29 Nov 1834
Left mission school: Absconded (ran away) 19 Apr 1836

*Spelling as found in the Oregon Mission Record Book

Also known as: Jesse Lee
Tribal Affiliation: Walla walla
Arrived at mission school: 26 Nov 1836
*Spelling as found in the Oregon Mission Record Book

Tribal Affiliation: Yamhill
Arrived at mission school:17 July 1837
*Spelling as found in the Oregon Mission Record Book

Tribal Affiliation: Qulaitu
Arrived at mission school: 13 March 1838
*Spelling as found in the Oregon Mission Record Book

Tribal Affiliation: Yamhill
Arrived at mission school: 2 Jan 1838
*Spelling as found in the Oregon Mission Record Book

Tribal Affiliation: Half blood
Arrived at mission school: 13 Mar 1837
*Spelling as found in the Oregon Mission Record Book

Tribal Affiliation: Father: Iraquois/ Mother: Chenook
Arrived at mission school: 22 Oct 1837
*Spelling as found in the Oregon Mission Record Book

Tribal Affiliation:  Yamhill
Arrived at mission school: 8 Apr 1837
*Spelling as found in the Oregon Mission Record Book

Tribal Affiliation: Klickatak
Arrived at mission school: 20 June 1838
*Spelling as found in the Oregon Mission Record Book

Tribal Affiliation: Iraquois
Arrived at mission school: 18 Oct 1835
Left mission school: Died 12 Oct 1837, age 15 years, consumption

*Spelling as found in the Oregon Mission Record Book

Tribal Affiliation: Kiouse
Arrived at mission school: 6 Sept 1836
Left mission school: 17 March 1837

*Spelling as found in the Oregon Mission Record Book

Tribal Affiliation: Yamhill
Arrived at mission school: 11 Dec 1837
*Spelling as found in the Oregon Mission Record Book

Joseph Shangretta. Original Photograph Oregon Historical Society Collections OHS, #CN 022577.

Also Known As: Joseph Shangarati
Tribal Affiliation: Iraquois
Arrived at mission school: 18 Oct 1835

*Spelling as found in the Oregon Mission Record Book

Joseph Shangretta (ca. 1823-1904) went to the Mission at Mission Bottom in the fall of 1835 after his father’s death. Lewis Shangretta was a retired fur trapper who had settled his family at Campment du Sable (Champoeg) in the early 1830s. He died from a ruptured blood vessel late in August 1835. On October 18th that same year, Lewis Shangretta’s children, Joseph, Nicholas and Isabel – along with four other members of the Shangretta household came to live at the Mission.

Shangretta was a Mary’s River Kalapuya and Iroquois, whose father came out west with the Hudson’s Bay Company. Like most other Willamette Valley Native Americans, he was relocated to the Grand Ronde Reservation in 1855-1856. A respected tribal elder, Shangretta was the 1st judge of the Grand Ronde Indian Court, a position he held from 1891-1895. During his life, Shangretta was a carpenter, a judge, a police officer and a child welfare officer on the Grand Ronde Reservation.

Tribal Affiliation: Falls of Wallamette
Arrived at mission school: 20 Feb 1838
*Spelling as found in the Oregon Mission Record Book

Also known as: David Tucker
Tribal Affiliation: Unknown
Arrived at mission school: 18 Oct 1835
Left mission school: Absconded (ran away) 31 Mar 1836

*Spelling as found in the Oregon Mission Record Book

Tribal Affiliation: Silelah
Arrived at mission school: 26 April 1835
Left mission school: Died 19 Aug 1835

*Spelling as found in the Oregon Mission Record Book

Also known as: Orzo Morrill
Tribal Affiliation: Cheenook
Arrived at mission school: 9 Nov 1835

*Spelling as found in the Oregon Mission Record Book

Tribal Affiliation:Kil-a-mook
Arrived at mission school: 26 Apr 1835
Left mission school: Taken away 17 June 1835

*Spelling as found in the Oregon Mission Record Book

Also known as: Thomas Adams
Tribal Affiliation: Walamette
Arrived at mission school: 1 Mar 1836
Left mission school: 27 Oct 1835

*Spelling as found in the Oregon Mission Record Book

Also known as: Lucy Hedding
Tribal Affiliation: Calapooya
Arrived at mission school: 16 Nov 1834
Left mission school: Died 5 Oct 1836

*Spelling as found in the Oregon Mission Record Book

Also known as: Ann Webster
Tribal Affiliation: Calapooya
Arrived at mission school: 29 Aug 1835
Left mission school:Died 28 Apr 1837 age about 12 years

*Spelling as found in the Oregon Mission Record Book

Also known as: Wilbur Fiske
Tribal Affiliation: Kiouse
Arrived at mission school: 16 July 1836
*Spelling as found in the Oregon Mission Record Book

Tribal Affiliation:Unknown
Arrived at mission school: 18 Oct 1835
Left mission school: Died 13 Dec. 1835

*Spelling as found in the Oregon Mission Record Book

Tribal Affiliation: Klikatak
Arrived at mission school: 20 June 1838
*Spelling as found in the Oregon Mission Record Book

Also known as: Amos Amaden
Tribal Affiliation: Unknown
Arrived at mission school: 18 Oct 1835
Left mission school: Absconded 31 March 1836

*Spelling as found in the Oregon Mission Record Book

Tribal Affiliation: Half breed
Arrived at mission school: 4 Jan 1837
*Spelling as found in the Oregon Mission Record Book

Tribal Affiliation: Klamhiul
Arrived at mission school: 18 Oct 1835

*Spelling as found in the Oregon Mission Record Book

Tribal Affiliation: Yamhill
Arrived at mission school: 17 Jan 1838
*Spelling as found in the Oregon Mission Record Book

Also known as: Nicholas Shangarati
Tribal Affiliation: Iraquois
Arrived at mission school: 18 Oct 1835
Left mission school: Died 27 Nov 1835

*Spelling as found in the Oregon Mission Record Book

Tribal Affiliation: Walla walla
Arrived at mission school: 5 May 1838
*Spelling as found in the Oregon Mission Record Book

Tribal Affiliation: Yamhill
Arrived at mission school:16 Jun 1837
Death: Feb 1839

*Spelling as found in the Oregon Mission Record Book

Description taken from Missionary Teacher: A Memoir of Cyrus Shepard by Rev. Z. A. Mudge, from Mrs. Whitcomb: “Thus appeared Sally Soule, the loved Indian girl of ten years, who had resided in the mission family three years, I think, previous to her death, which occurred in February, 1839, while the girls were under my care.  She was, if I mistake not, of the Yam Hill tribe, from the Yam Hill country, a few miles from the mission on the opposite side of the river.  Her English name was given her in respect for the excellent lady of Bishop Soule.  I can relate none of the particulars of her introduction into the mission family, as I was not then in the country, but I soon discovered on my arrival, that in the circle of girls being educated by the missionaries, was one who was frequently styled the ‘old maid.’  I , of course, felt a little curiosity to learn the cause of this epithet being applied to her, who was the youngest and smallest of the group, and regarded her for a short time with some degree of suspicion.  I soon discovered, however, that if there was among the girls’ tasks an article of sewing which required especial care, it was given to Sally Soule; that when the others, in their moments of recreation, were running about for berries, or gathering gum to masticate, she was in the house observing the ladies work, of which she was fond.  I also observed that when the other girls soiled or tore their clothes, or were carlessly dressed, she, the ‘old maid,’ was neatly attired; and when the children around were loudly talking and jesting, this little pattern of excellence would be silent, or simply smiling to show she was not heedless of their enjoyment.  Yet she was not a stupid child.  She loved to play, but her spirits were less noisy and more useful than those of her mates.  On her toy babies she displayed her taste for neatness, and the propriety of which every article of their dress would be arranged, was one cause of her being styled the ‘old maid.;  I cannot say that she received much instruction in this kind of amusement; for, as regards myself, I seldom had occasion to assist her, otherwise than to indulge her very modest request for thread and pieces, for which one of her sweet smiles, which I was sure to receive, amply repaid me.  As this little girl was thus lovely in her plays, the reader will suppose, almost without any intimation from me, that she made a right use of her books.  She certainly did.  She studied and learned her lessons; and when the children in the school had carelessly destroyed their books, Mr. Shepard would hold up hers before them, and exclaim, ‘See here is Sally Soule’s book, which she has had so much longer than you have had yours, and it is scarcely injured.”  Being a great favorite with the children, it was very amusing, when they had permission  to play outside the house, to see the anxiety of every one to have her for a mate.  No sooner would the word ‘yes’ be pronounced, than you would hear all their voices at once, crying out, ‘I must have Sally.’  ‘No,’ says another, ‘she is going with me.’ ‘She went with you before and now I’m to have her.’  ‘Come go with me Sally,’ says another, ‘ and I’ll give you something.’  Thus would they generally contend, until some older person interfered, and appointed her place.   She loved them all, and was happy and pleasant with any one which was, perhaps, the reason why her society was so much desired…She was ill, to our knowledge, but ten days before her decease, although her disease, the dropsy of the chest, must have existed for months, and perhaps for years.  I had observed, during the winter, that she was more sedate and less playful than fomerly, and often, as I unhappily concluded, dull; yet I did not have the least apprehension that she was sick.  She made no complaint, attended to her work and books, until she was sent to me from the school for medicine.  On calling our physician he pronounced her very sick; but mistaking the nature of her disease, his efforts for her recovery were not well directed, although, had it been otherwise, it is probable a cure could not have been effective…

Tribal Affiliation: Chasta
Arrived at mission school: 28 Oct 1836
*Spelling as found in the Oregon Mission Record Book

Tribal Affiliation: Kiouse
Arrived at mission school: 6 Sept 1836
Left mission school: 15 March 1837, age 1 1/2

*Spelling as found in the Oregon Mission Record Book

Tribal Affiliation: Yamhill
Arrived at mission school: 8 Apr 1837
*Spelling as found in the Oregon Mission Record Book

Also known as: John Mark
Tribal Affiliation: Calapooya
Arrived at mission school: 7 Nov 1834
Left mission school: 27 Oct 1835

*Spelling as found in the Oregon Mission Record Book

Tribal Affiliation: Unknown
Arrived at mission school: 18 Oct 1835
Left mission school: Died 14 Dec 1835

*Spelling as found in the Oregon Mission Record Book

Also Known As: Sophie Charponka (spelling in Mission Book)
Tribal Affiliation: Half Breed
Arrived at mission school: 8 Sept 1835
*Spelling as found in the Oregon Mission Record Book

Sophie Carpentier (c.1826 – ) and her sister Angelique Carpentier (c.1828 – 1859 ) were the daughters of Charles Carpentier and were placed in the mission by their father, Sophie in 1835 and Angelique several years later.  Cyrus Shepard described them as “half breed sisters, with sparkling black eyes and long curling hair.”

Sophie was married to Cesaire Beaudoin in 1844.

Resources:

Early Oregonians Index Entry

St. Paul Mission historical Society Biography Card

Also known as: Harriet Newell
Tribal Affiliation: Chenook
Arrived at mission school: 7 June 1836
*Spelling as found in the Oregon Mission Record Book

Also known as: Feholin Bingham
Tribal Affiliation: Walamette
Arrived at mission school: 12 Nov 1835
*Spelling as found in the Oregon Mission Record Book

Tribal Affiliation: Half breed
Arrived at mission school: 28 Dec 1836
*Spelling as found in the Oregon Mission Record Book

Also known as: Elijah Hedding
Tribal Affiliation: Walla walla
Arrived at mission school:13 Aug 1836
*Spelling as found in the Oregon Mission Record Book

Toayahnu (1823-1844)

Toayahnu “Elijah Hedding” was born in the Walla Walla area. He was the son of the Walla Walla leader, Piupiumaksmaks. Toayahnu’s father brought him to the Mission Bottom Station to attend the school there on August 13, 1836. Upon arrival at the Mission, Toayahnu was given the English name Elijah Hedding, after the bishop of the Church who had appointed Jason and Daniel Lee to the Oregon Mission. By all accounts, Toayahnu took his education seriously and in 1842 he returned home and sought to teach others of his tribe the information he had learned.

Between 1842 and 1844, Toayahnu walked between the two worlds of his people and the white settlers, making plans to take over the leadership role from his father and brokering cattle for horse trades between several of the Plateau tribes and the white settlers. In 1843, he was married to Lahart, a Wasco, at the Wascopam Station. The marriage did not survive, due in part to some animosity between the Walla Walla and Wasco. It may also have been that Toayahnu had already been promised by his father to marry the daughter of one of the Cayuse leaders, Tiloukaikt.

Toayahnu’s life was cut short when he was murdered in fall 1844 at Sutter’s Fort, California. He, along with his father, several Nez Perce, and up to 36 men, traveled to Sacramento at the invitation of John Sutter, to trade horses and furs for cattle. The details of what happened are varied and controversial, but the basics are that there was a disagreement between Toayahnu and American Grove Cook. Mr. Cook accused the Indians of stealing one of his mules, which Toayahnu denied. The result of the argument was that Toayahnu was shot to death. This tragedy was compounded when in the summer of 1846, Piupiumaksmaks with a party of more than 50 men returned to Sutter’s Fort. White settlers assumed it was for vengeance, but Piupiumaksmaks and his party remained in Sacramento until mid-1847 with no hostilities. The group returned to Fort Nez Perce and unwittingly brought measles with them, which swept the tribes in the area and were a factor in what has become known as the Whitman Massacre.

See portrait of Toayahnu’s father here. Part of the Collections of the Royal Ontario Museum.  Portrait of Piupiumaksmaks

Also known as: Osmon Baker
Tribal Affiliation: Walla walla
Arrived at mission school: 13 Aug 1836
*Spelling as found in the Oregon Mission Record Book

Also known as: Clarrissa Perkins
Tribal Affiliation: Kiouse
Arrived at mission school: 6 Sept 1836
Left mission school: Died 23 March 1837 Age about 10 years old

*Spelling as found in the Oregon Mission Record Book

Wattiat Hauxhurst. Photo Source: Tillamook Pioneer Museum

Also known as: Mary Hawkshurst
Tribal Affiliation: Yamhill
Arrived at mission school: 17 Jan 1837
*Spelling as found in the Oregon Mission Record Book

Wattiat Hauxhurst (1820 – 1907)

Wattiat, or Mary as she was named when she came to the Mission, was born on April 16, 1820. The daughter of Staywin, who is described as a chief of the Yamhill Indian Tribe on Wattiat’s death certificate, she grew up among the Yamhill Indians and came to the Mission Bottom site on January 17, 1837, at the age of 16. At the time of her arrival, the Valley’s Native People were facing a deadly malaria outbreak in which approximately ¾ of the Native population perished. As Wattait was the only member of her family that came to the Mission, it is possible the rest had died. It is equally possible that like a few other tribal leaders, Staywin may have sent his daughter to the Mission to learn from the newcomers. About six weeks after her arrival, on February 28, she married Webley J. Hauxhurst. Over her life, she gave birth to 13 children.

Webley John Hauxhurst (1809-1874) was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Quaker parents, and came to Oregon from California in 1834 with Ewing Young along with 10-12 others. In the summer of 1835, he opened the first grist mill in French Prairie. On January 1, 1837 Hauxhurst stayed the night at the Mission and attended a religious class meeting for Native children. At age 31, he became the Mission’s first white convert, and he was baptized in July 1837. By all accounts, the relationship between the Hauxhursts was fairly close at the beginning, and though they did file a petition for divorce in 1846, there is no evidence that they separated.

Hauxhurst participated in the 1843 meeting at Champoeg where attendees voted to establish a Provisional Government for Oregon. In 1846 the couple moved to the Mill Creek area of what is now Salem, where he helped move freight on the Willamette River between Portland and Salem, and served on the board of trustees for Willamette University. At some point, the family moved to Tillamook County on the Oregon Coast. Webley and Wattiat Hauxhurst remained in Tillamook County until their deaths.

Also known as: John Lindsey
Tribal Affiliation: Kiouse
Arrived at mission school: 6 Sept 1836
*Spelling as found in the Oregon Mission Record Book

Tribal Affiliation: Walamette
Arrived at mission school: 29 Jan 1837
*Spelling as found in the Oregon Mission Record Book

Stum-Ma-Nu, c. 1836. Smithsonian American Art Museum 1985.66.153,326

Tribal Affiliation: Cheenook
Arrived at mission school: 9 Nov 1835
*Spelling as found in the Oregon Mission Record Book

Stum-Ma-Nu, according to a biography published in the History of the Indian Tribes of North America (see reference below), was born in a Chinook village on the Columbia river, about 7 miles below its mouth in about 1819.  Orphaned at age 2, he was raised by an uncle who taught him fishing and how to use ocean-going canoes.  After consulting with Dr. John McLoughlin, Stum-Ma-Nu made the decision to apply for admission to the mission school with his brother.  He was particularly noted for having a strong mechanical mind and talent for making tools and furniture.

When the missionary Jason Lee made a trip back to the East Coast, Stum-ma-nu accompanied him and spoke at missionary meetings throughout New York and Philadelphia.  He never returned from this journey, taking ill and dying in New York on May 29, 1839.

Resources:

  • Portrait in the Smithsonian American Art Museum
  • Text of biography printed in History of the Indian tribes of North America, with biographical sketches and anecdotes of the principal chiefs. Embellished with one hundred and twenty portraits, from the Indian gallery in the Department of war, at Washington by Thomas L. McKenney and James Hall. Philadelphia [E. C. Biddle, 1836-1844]  Digitized by the University of Washington.
  • Obituary published in the North American (Philadelphia) 5 June 1839:  Died. On Wednesday morning, the 29th inst. of May 1839, after a short illness, William Brooks.  The deceased came with the Rev. Jason Lee to this city from the Oregon Territory, some months since, and has traveled with him in his visits to various places since his arrival, and spoken at missionary meetings with great effect.  He was an estimable youth, beloved by all who were acquainted with him…. Published in Brosnan, Cornelius J. Jason Lee: Prophet of the New Oregon New York: MacMillan, 1932.

Also known as: B.F. Hall
Tribal Affiliation: Kiouse
Arrived at mission school: 16 July 1836
*Spelling as found in the Oregon Mission Record Book

Missionaries

Adelia Judson Tarkington Olley Leslie (1811-1890)

Adelia Judson Tarkington Olley Leslie, the sister of Lewis H. Judson, was born in Amenia, New York. She had planned to travel with her first husband, Robert Tarkington, and their infant son to support the Mission, but both father and son died from fever before the voyage. The Church would not let a single woman join the Mission unless she was a qualified teacher, but she was determined to go. She requested sponsorship from her brother who refused. She then searched the Mission roster for an unmarried traveler, which she found. She married James Olley, a carpenter, shortly before the group sailed in 1839.

The couple worked at Willamette Station until 1842, when he drowned while logging on the Willamette River. Not wanting to become dependent on her brother, Adelia Olley took a job as the Leslie’s housekeeper. During this time David Leslie’s wife died and Adelia took care of the children. An intimate relationship formed, and in 1844 they were married. The pair had two more children, who both died at an early age. The two found solace in each other for 25 years until Rev. Leslie died in 1869. Adelia Leslie spent the rest of her years teaching, working for the Methodist Church and volunteering at the Methodist Women’s Social Club. Adelia Judson Tarkington Olley Leslie lived an interesting, fruitful and hardship-filled life until her death at age 79.

Alanson Beers (1800-1853)

Alanson Beers was born in Weston, Connecticut, the son of Isaac Beers, a Revolutionary War soldier and wife his Jemima Rowell. In Weston, Beers trained as a blacksmith. Prior to immigrating to Oregon, Alanson married Rachel, with whom he had six children. Rachel Beers is credited with bringing the Mission Rose to the state.

Beers came to Oregon in 1837. After arriving with his wife and three children, he built a house and blacksmith shop at Mission Bottom. Later, he worked for the Oregon Mission Manual Labor School, teaching young Native men blacksmithing skills and working the Mission’s farm. In 1843 at meetings to form a Provisional Government, Beers was selected to the legislative committee to draft Oregon’s original laws under that government. On July 5, 1843, he was elected to the three-member First Executive Committee. He was chosen to represent the interests of the Methodist Mission in the government.

At the close of the Mission, Beers opted to receive a farm, equipment, a blacksmith shop and $1,000 from the Mission Board in lieu of passage back to Connecticut. In 1846, he partnered with George Abernethy to buy lumber and grist mills near Oregon City, calling the enterprise the Oregon Milling Company. Prior to his death he built a house in Salem, which the Oregon Institute bought for $300 after his death and named Beers House. Alanson Beers is buried at the Lee Mission Cemetery in Salem, Oregon.

Almira David Raymond and William W.  Raymond

Almira David was born on December 1, 1813, and converted to Methodism in 1832, though by her own accounts, she “lost the favor of God” several times until finally committing herself whole-heartedly to the Church. She heard Jason Lee speak while he was in New York, after which she became determined to join the Oregon Mission. She applied, but was not qualified as a teacher, so her only option was to go as the wife of someone joining the Mission. On May 20, 1839, Almira David agreed to marry William Raymond, a young man from Syracuse, New York, who had contracted to go to the Mission as a farmer.

The Raymonds arrived in Oregon with the Great Reinforcement. Upon arrival, they were dispatched to Chemeketa to help with the construction of the sawmill. Though he came as a farmer, Mr. Raymond served as the bookkeeper for the lumber and grist mills at the Willamette Station. They worked at Chemeketa until they were reassigned to Clatsop Station in July 1842 to run that farm.

Before Jason Lee went East in 1843, he indicated that he would release the Raymonds, though neither William nor Almira wanted to be let go. Mr. Raymond sent a letter with Lee to the Board requesting that he and his wife be allowed to remain with the Mission. The Raymonds were ultimately released when Reverend Gary closed Clatsop Station in 1844. After the closure, the couple went to work for the Oregon Institute, with Mr. Raymond taking charge of the boarding department. Sometime before 1850 the family relocated back to Clatsop County and in 1852 Mr. Raymond was appointed to be an Indian Agent there. Mrs. Raymond spent her time raising their children – they had nine in 13 years, though two of them died at birth.

Alvan F. Waller (1808-1872)

Alvin Waller was born in Abington, Pennsylvania. He was ordained as a Methodist minister and preached on the Eastern Seaboard of the United States. After his acceptance into the Methodist Church, he met his wife Elpha White and the two married in 1833 and she accompanied him on assignments in New England. In 1839, Waller was inspired by Jason Lee’s presentation in Elba, New York, and was recruited to join the Mission. The Wallers sailed for Oregon in 1839 aboard the Lausanne as part of the “Great Reinforcement.” They brought their two children and then had three more in Oregon.

Waller was first stationed at The Falls (Oregon City), and was then transferred to the Wascopam Station. While at The Falls he claimed large tracts of land for the Mission and built a sawmill. His land claims at The Falls, a great source of power, were in contention with Dr. John McLoughlin of Hudson’s Bay Company. Waller was successful in maintaining a portion of the land, selling the rest to McLoughlin.

When the Mission closed in 1847, Waller moved his family to Salem, and he took the position of pastor of the First Methodist Church. He helped construct the church by hauling rocks for the foundation. Willamette University was his true love. He was one of its first trustees and served as such until his death in 1872. As an agent of the school, he solicited funds, controlled building and repairs, and developed policies. Waller supervised fundraising for and construction of the building named for him, Waller Hall.

Courtney Meade Walker (1812-1887)

Walker was born in Nicholasville, Kentucky. His father, a lawyer, served in both the State and Federal Senates. Well educated, Walker held many roles out west including that of surveyor, clerk, teacher and lawyer.

Jason Lee hired Walker near Independence, Missouri, where Lee, Shepard and Daniel Lee were to begin their journey with Nathaniel Wyeth. Walker signed on with the Mission to be its business agent for one year. He left the Mission after a year, but stayed in Oregon the rest of his life.

Walker worked for Nathaniel Wyeth running Fort William, a trading post on what is now Sauvie Island. He later worked for Wyeth’s competition, the Hudson’s Bay Company at Fort Hall. In 1839-40, Walker returned to the Mission as a teacher. In 1849 he was elected to be the Chief Clerk of the Oregon Territorial Government. He also served as a U.S. Indian Agent, primarily for the Siletz Tribe.

Margaret McTavish married Walker in 1840. She was the daughter of John George McTavish of the Hudson’s Bay Company. They had six children together, and lived on a land claim in Yamhill County. After his children were grown and his wife passed away, Walker lived in Tillamook County where he served as County Clerk and surveyed the first county road.

Reverend David Leslie (1797-1869)

Born in New Hampshire in the town of Washington,  David Leslie lost his parents when he was young.

Leslie was the son of Methodist minister George Leslie, and received his education first in Salem, Massachusetts, and later at the Wilbraham Academy. There Leslie studied languages, especially French. He received a license to preach for the Methodist Episcopal Church at the age of 23. Leslie and Jason Lee knew each other from their time in New England, and Lee specifically recruited Leslie to join the Mission to Oregon. In 1836, Leslie agreed to go and he, his wife Mary, and their three daughters came over with the Second Reinforcement.

David Leslie was an excellent organizer, served as second in command of the Mission, and was in charge when Lee was back east. Leslie took a leadership position, forming what later became the Oregon government, and in 1839 was named justice of the peace. He presided over one of the meetings to form a Provisional Government, and was also appointed magistrate of the area south of the Columbia. When Oregon became a territory of the United States, Leslie served as chaplain of the first Territorial Legislature. Education was an interest of Leslie’s, and he was on the committee to establish the Oregon Institute. He eventually succeeded Lee as president of its Board of Trustees. He maintained that position through its transition into Willamette University, and until he died. When new leadership came to the Mission, Leslie moved his family to a piece of land outside the Mission known today as Bush’s Pasture Park. Here Leslie built a house where he spent the last of his years.

In 1841, Leslie was faced with tragedy when his wife Mary died, leaving him with five daughters needing his care. He decided to take time off and returned with his daughters to the East. While en route on the Columbia River his daughter, Satira, sneaked off the ship in order to marry. Leslie decided to let two of his daughters, Helen and Aurelia, stay with the newly married couple and took the other two, Sarah and Mary, to a boarding school in the Sandwich Islands. Sarah died while at the boarding school.  Mary returned to Oregon to marry, dying in 1857. Sadly, Satira and Aurelia drowned at the Falls in Oregon City in 1843. In 1844, Leslie married Adelia Judson Tarkington Olley, and they took in Judson’s son Robert.

Elijah White (1806-1879)

Elijah White was born in New York. He received his education, including medical training, at a school of medicine in Syracuse, New York. Prior to 1836 he married, and the couple had a son named Jason as well as adopting another son. In 1836, White accepted an appointment to join the Oregon Mission. He chose to offer his service as the Mission’s physician after reading an article about it in the Christian Advocate. He trained William Willson in medicine during the voyage to Oregon. White brought his wife, Sarepeta, and their two sons to Oregon. After arrival, his older adopted son George drowned. Dangerous waters also took the life of his infant son. White’s wife and child were traveling with David Leslie on the Columbia when their canoe overturned, and while Leslie was able to rescue Sarepeta, the child was lost.

In 1840, Dr. White returned to the States. His last act for the Mission was the amputation of Cyrus Shepard’s leg. There are conflicting reports on his resignation. Some accounts blame White’s disagreement with Jason Lee’s direction/vision for the Mission and the Oregon Mission Manual Labor School. Others claim that his immorality forced Lee to let him go.

White returned to Oregon in 1842 to serve as a U.S. Indian Agent. He organized a wagon train for the first major party to come over the Oregon Trail, but he was removed from leadership at some point during the journey. The title of U.S. Indian Agent came with little clout as boundary lines had not yet been settled with Britain. His role as an Indian Agent was to foster peaceful relations between the settlers and the tribes. Instead, the wagon train he organized in 1842, the immigrants from which mainly settled in The Dalles area, did much to destabilize relations with the tribes in that area.

White had political ambitions and had involved himself in the formation of the Provisional Government. He was a member of the Committee of Twelve named in 1843 to consider military and civil protections for Willamette Valley settlers. In 1845 White located a pass through the coastal mountains to the head of Yaquina Bay at present day Newport. The same year he returned to the States to deliver an Oregon Provisional Government memorial to the U.S. Congress. He returned to Oregon in 1850 and worked to promote Pacific City near present-day Ilwaco, Washington. Eleven years later in 1861 White was commissioned as a Special Indian Agent for the territory west of the Rocky Mountains and soon went to California. He died in Sacramento.

George Abernethy (1807-1877)

George Abernethy was born in New York, and was well schooled in mathematics, accounting and management. He joined the Mission as its steward, bringing along his wife, Ann Pope, and their two children. He was also a member of the first Board of the Oregon Institute.

After the Mission closed, Abernethy went into politics. He was elected to be the 1st Provisional Governor in 1845 and re-elected in 1847. During his term, he sent Jesse Quinn Thornton to again lobby Congress to claim Oregon as a U.S. territory. This time the effort was successful. In addition to politics, Abernethy focused on business and purchased the Willamette Falls Mission store in 1844. He also purchased a lumber mill and a grist mill in Oregon City. With the 1850 Donation Land Claim Act, he secured title to valuable property at Oregon City. His store thrived despite the Hudson’s Bay Company’s virtual monopoly on selling goods to settlers. The 1861 flood, however, destroyed most of his business, and his business never fully recovered.

Reverend Gustavus Hines (1809-1873)

Gustavus Hines was born in Herkimer County, New York, to Betsy Round and James Hines and was the brother of Harvey Kimball Hines, who was also a significant minister in Oregon beginning in the early 1850s. He entered the ministry in 1832, at the age of 23, as part of the Genesee Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, which covered parts of western New York and Pennsylvania and consisted of three districts: Susquehanna, Cayuga and Buffalo.

Hines arrived in Oregon in 1840 with his wife Lydia, their daughter, who died at a young age, and his wife’s sister, Julia. He served at the Willamette Mission Station, where he was in charge of the Indian School, and he and his family lived for some time in the Parsonage. Hines preached with Jason Lee and Henry K.W. Perkins at the first Oregon camp meeting in 1843, where renowned mountain man, Joe Meek, converted. On July 5, 1843, Hines chaired the public meeting of settlers that accepted the first organic law for Oregon. After Jason Lee’s death, Hines and his wife raised Lee’s daughter. Hines returned to the States between 1845 and 1853. After being appointed a U.S. Indian Agent he moved back to Salem. There he was involved as a trustee for Willamette University, and he worked on the committee that designed Waller Hall. Hines also wrote several books before dying in Oregon City at the age of 64.

Laura Giddings Brewer (1817-1853) and Henry Bridgman Brewer (1813-1886)

Laura Lucretia Giddings was born in Franklin, Connecticut. At age 10, her mother died and that loss has been credited with her decision to join the Methodist Church at the young age of 11. At 20, she attended Wilbraham Academy, where she and Henry Brewer met. Upon graduating, she taught school in New York.

Henry Bridgeman Brewer was born and raised in Wilbraham, Massachusetts. He was from a wealthy farming family and was educated in the public schools and then at Wilbraham Academy. He converted to Methodism in 1831. When he heard Jason Lee speak in 1839, he decided to apply to join the Mission. Upon finding out that the Mission Board wanted to send mostly married people to the Mission, Brewer asked for Laura Giddings’ hand and the couple married on September 3, 1839, roughly a month before leaving for Oregon.

In Oregon, Henry and Laura Brewer served as farmers, teachers and translators (both learned either Chinook Jargon or Wasco-Wishram) at the Wascopam Mission at The Dalles until 1847, when the Station was transferred to the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. After the transfer, Brewer and his family returned to Massachusetts. In the spring of 1849, they bought a farm in Wilbraham. After Laura’s death in 1853, Henry Brewer continued to live on their farm, until he relocated to Pelham, Massachusetts, where he remained until his death.

Henry K. W. Perkins (1814-1884) and Elvira Johnson Perkins (1813-1896)

Henry Kirke White Perkins was born in Penobscot, Maine, and was educated at the Maine Wesleyan Seminary. He joined the Oregon Mission in 1837, and was first stationed at Mission Bottom. At some point between September 1837 when Perkins arrived and March 1838 when he was dispatched to start the station at The Dalles, Henry Perkins and fellow missionary Elvira Johnson were married. During Perkins’ six years at Wascopam he learned the Walla Walla language, and translated an elementary work and portions of the Scriptures into Walla Walla.

In 1843, the Perkins welcomed a daughter, and in 1844 the family left Oregon for Maine. The couple had three more children between 1848 and 1853. After preaching in Maine for several years, they moved to Massachusetts, where Reverend Perkins preached independently in Boston and the surrounding area. For years, Perkins labored among the poor and the homeless with funding from several philanthropic men. While engaged in such work, he contracted a severe cold from which he died.

Elvira Johnson was born in Pittston, Maine, and as a young woman went into teaching. She was sent to the Oregon Mission in 1836 as a part of the First Reinforcement. Her fellow missionaries said that she epitomized the missionary spirit. She was a willing worker, most amiable and was very well thought of.  She passed away 12 years after her husband, in Malden, Massachusetts, at the age of 83.

 

Dr. Ira Babcock (ca. 1808-1888)

Ira Leonard Babcock was born and raised in the state of New York, where he trained as a medical doctor. In 1840, he came to what was then the Oregon Country from New York, with his wife, Nancy and their child, to serve as a doctor for the Oregon Mission. Originally sent to Wascopam, Babcock was reassigned to the Willamette Station when Dr. White was dismissed.

Babcock was selected on February 18, 1841, to be the supreme judge, setting property disputes among the American settlers in the Willamette Valley. At this time there was a need for a probate court to deal with the estate of Ewing Young, a wealthy rancher who had died without leaving a will. In 1842, Babcock helped organize the Oregon Institute. In 1843, he left Oregon and took his family to the Sandwich Islands for a year. After a brief return, he and his family finally left Oregon, moving to Bath, New York, in 1848. He went on to join the United States Army, serving as a surgeon.

John Plaster Richmond (1811-1895)

John P. Richmond was born in Middleton, Maryland. He was the son of Francis Preston Richmond and Susanna Stottlemeyer Richmond. He graduated from Pennsylvania University with a degree in medicine, and became an ordained minister in the Illinois Conference of the Methodist Church. In 1835, he married America Talley. He and his wife joined the Mission after hearing Jason Lee speak. Upon his arrival he was immediately sent to Nisqually Station, where he served for nearly three years.

The Richmonds relocated to Huntsville Township, Illinois, in 1843 due to poor health and his belief that his work in Oregon was not warranted. His wife, America, and their four children accompanied him. After the death of America, he married Kitty Gristy in 1859. Richmond went on to serve in the Illinois State Senate (1849-52 and 1859-60), the Illinois State House of Representatives (1855-56) and cast an electoral vote for the 1856 presidency.

Joseph Henry Frost (1805-1864) and Sarah Ruhamah De Bell Frost Beggs (1816-)

Born in Rochester, New York, Joseph Henry Frost was an ordained minister, serving the New York Conference when he was asked by the Mission Board to join the Great Reinforcement. He married Sarah Ruhamah De Bell on January 1, 1834, on her 18th birthday.

In June 1840, Reverend Frost, Sarah and their young son Emory, were sent to establish the Mission Station at Clatsop. In September of that year, Reverend Kone and his wife joined the Frosts at Clatsop. While her husband had a difficult time working with the Clatsop Indians, partly due to his inability (or refusal) to learn their language, Sarah Frost became fairly fluent in Chinook in her three years at the Station. By the summer of 1843, Reverend Frost was in seriously ill health and requested release from his contract. He and his family returned to New York, where Frost worked as a minister until his death. After Frost’s death, Sarah married Rev. J.H. Beggs in 1866. Sarah Beggs spent her later years living with her nephew, Dr. De Bell and his family on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota.

Josiah Lamberson Parrish (1806-1895)

Born in Onondaga County, New York, Josiah Parrish was the son of Benjamin and Sally Lamberson Parrish. Growing up, he learned the blacksmithing trade, and was also drawn to the Methodist Church ministry, serving as a local preacher in Allegany County, New York. He also worked for a time on the Erie Canal. He married Elizabeth Winn in 1833.

Parrish came to the Mission in 1840, with his wife and three children, and served as a blacksmith, farmer and saddle and wagon maker. After spending some time at Willamette Station, he was relocated to Clatsop Station in 1843. At this point, the Parrishes were the only missionaries stationed at Clatsop, so although he was a layperson, he preached to the area’s Native people. The work suited him, and during his nearly three years in the area, he learned the Chinook language.

After the Mission closed, Parrish was a circuit rider on the west bank of the Willamette River. President Taylor appointed him to be an Indian Agent due to his experience at Clatsop Station. After his retirement, he volunteered at the State Penitentiary and at Chemawa Indian School. He was also invited to drive in the first spike of the Oregon and California Railroad in 1889. His wife Elizabeth died in 1869, and Parrish married Jane Lichtenhaler in 1870. She was a graduate of the Willamette College of Medicine, and was the second female doctor in Oregon. Lichtenhaler died in 1887, and at age 82 Parrish married his third wife, M.A. Pierce.

Lewis Hubbel Judson (1809-1880)

Lewis Judson was born in Amenia, New York. His father was a carpenter who owned a factory that produced spinning wheels and other wooden articles. Lewis Judson did not become a carpenter right away but instead taught school throughout New England. In 1831, he married Elmira Roberts. He was always a religious person and in 1839 he became interested in joining the Mission.

He arrived in Oregon with the Great Reinforcement, accompanied by his wife and their three children. A fourth child, Robert, was born in the Lee House. Judson had many trades: wheelwright, cabinet maker, carpenter and surveyor, and he oversaw the construction of the Mission’s sawmill along Mill Creek – near the present junction of Liberty Road and High Street in Salem. Judson also built the Mission’s flour mill, which was in operation by 1843, and helped in the construction of many buildings at the Mission site including the Lee House, Parsonage and the Oregon Institute building. Judson created the by-laws of the Oregon Institute and served as one of its trustees. He was also one of the first four magistrates in Marion County, and a county surveyor.

After Elmira died in 1844, Judson married Nancy Hawkins and they had three children together. He and his family relocated to the Clatsop Plains (Astoria). During his ten years there, Judson’s wife filed for and was granted a divorce, claiming that he beat her and mistreated their children. After relocating back to Salem, he worked as an engineer and a surveyor for the city. He later continued his missionary work as a circuit rider. Judson spent his last days with his sons and died in Salem.

Margaret Jewett Smith Bailey Waddle Crane (1812-1882)

Margaret Jewett Smith was born in Saugus, Massachusetts. Against the desires of her family, who were not Methodists, she attended Wesleyan Academy and secured an appointment to go to the Oregon Country as a mission teacher in the company of Reverend Leslie, his family, and Henry K.W. Perkins in 1837.

Margaret Smith was a strong-willed woman who found fault with many of the actions taken by the Mission’s leadership. As the only unattached white woman at the Mission, Smith was under pressure to marry one of the two single missionaries –W. Willson or Rev. Perkins. Her outspokenness, quarrels with Reverend Leslie, and refusal to marry fellow missionary, William H. Willson, led to problems. According to Smith’s accounts, to force a marriage Willson falsely stated that he and Smith had been intimate. Hoping to avoid expulsion, she confessed to “the crime of fornication.” When her confession was made public in 1839, her position as teacher was terminated. In March of the same year, she married Dr. William J. Bailey, an English settler, and moved to French Prairie. She soon discovered that her husband had a violent temper, particularly after drinking. His abuse led to divorce on April 12, 1854.

Also in 1854, Margaret Smith published an autobiographical novel under her married name. The Grains: Passages in the Life of Ruth Rover, with Occasional Pictures of Oregon, Natural and Moral, was the first novel published in Oregon. Margaret Bailey’s second marriage was to Francis Waddle in 1855; they were divorced three years later. She then moved to Washington Territory and married a Mr. Crane. She died in poverty in Seattle.

Orpha Langton Carter McKinney (1806-1873) and David Carter (?-1850)

Orpha Langton, born in Burlington, Connecticut, was the daughter of Arba Langton and Thankful Newton. She joined the Mission as its stewardess (bookkeeper) – one of the only positions at the Mission for which a single woman could apply. She had only begun her work for the Mission, when on February 16, 1841, she married David Carter.

David Carter, who was orphaned very early in life, was brought up and educated by a minister and his family, and as a young man, apprenticed to be a carpenter. Early in 1836, learning of an opportunity to work on a vessel sailing from Boston to Honolulu, he packed his carpenter’s tools and a few Bibles and took the job. Upon reaching the Sandwich Islands, Carter left the ship and found work with a Mr. Horace Holden. In 1840, the Lausanne stopped at Honolulu bound for the Oregon Mission. Hearing of this Carter decided that the opportunity to enter the missionary field was at hand and petitioned Jason Lee to join.

The Carters were assigned to the Wascopam Station, where Mr. Carter worked on the buildings as carpenter, and Mrs. Carter managed the books. They were at The Dalles until November 1841, when they were reassigned to The Falls and finally to the Willamette Station. They had two children and in 1846, they moved to a land claim south of Salem. In 1848, not long after the birth of their third son, David Carter went to the goldfields in California. Not finding gold, Carter returned to Salem, and with Joseph Holman, operated the town’s second store.

David Carter took his own life in 1850, and Orpha Langton married John McKinney, a prominent figure, circuit rider and political leader in Linn County, Oregon. Orpha Langton passed away in Brownsville, Oregon.

Philip Leget Edwards (1812-1869)

Philip Edwards was born in Breckinridge County in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. At 22, he moved to Missouri and became a teacher. In 1834, Edwards was living in Richmond, Missouri, when Jason Lee hired him to help establish the Mission in Oregon. Though engaged in farming for much of his time at the Mission, Edwards did teach at the Mission for its first 6-7 months. From 1835 to 1836 he taught both Native Americans and the children of French-Indian settlers at a small school at Champoeg. He was part of the Willamette Cattle Company in 1837, traveling to California with Ewing Young and others to purchase cattle and drive them back to the Willamette Valley, in an attempt to break the HBC’s livestock monopoly.

Edwards went back east with Jason Lee in 1838 and never returned to Oregon, instead marrying Mary Allen in 1840 and settling down for a time in Missouri. After returning to Missouri, he became a lawyer and was an officer in the militia fighting against the Mormons. In 1842, he published the Sketch of the Oregon Territory, Or, Emigrants’ Guide. Edwards was elected to the Missouri House of Representatives in 1842, and in 1844, he was a delegate to the Whig Presidential Convention, serving as chairman of the state’s delegation. Edwards, his wife and their two daughters moved west in 1850, settling in Nevada County, California. There he served as a Whig legislator in the California State Assembly in 1854.

William Holden Willson (1805-1856) and Chloe Aurelia Clarke Willson (1818-1874)

William Holden Willson was born in New Hampshire, and was raised in New York. As a young man, he worked as a ship’s carpenter, and went to sea on a three-year whaling voyage prior to coming west as a missionary. In 1837, he answered Jason Lee’s request for skilled reinforcements and became one of the first lay workers sent to the Oregon Mission. During the trip west and after his arrival at the Mission, he acquired informal medical training from Dr. Elijah White and began a long career as an unlicensed doctor and pharmacist.

In 1839, Willson and David Leslie were sent to establish a new mission outpost in Nisqually near the Puget Sound. In 1840 he was joined there by Rev. Richmond and his wife and the teacher Chloe Clarke.

Chloe Aurelia Clark was born in Connecticut, and educated at the Wilbraham Academy, the seminary that trained a number of the Oregon missionaries. Many of her friends were surprised, given her social standing and her education, that she would want to leave the East Coast to become a missionary in Oregon, but that’s what she did. In 1839, Clarke sailed out of New York as one of about fifty recruits for the Oregon Mission.

Chloe Clarke was sent to the Nisqually Mission, where she served as the station’s teacher. She and William Willson were married on August 16, 1840. The Willsons relocated from Nisqually Station to The Falls in 1841. Due to a personal loss and an offer for Chloe Willson to work as the Oregon Institute’s first teacher, the Willsons left Oregon City and moved to Salem in 1844. When the Institute opened, Chloe Willson was both teacher and housemother for five primary grade students.

William Willson served as secretary at the May 1843 meeting at Champoeg that established the Provisional Government, and was elected treasurer of that body. He also helped to form the Oregon Rangers, the first military unit in the area. He was defeated in his 1851 run for Congress by Joseph Lane. Willson is known as the founder of Salem, as he named and platted the town. The wide downtown streets are credited to him as an effort to limit the spread of fire. The name Salem was appropriate for Willson, as his ancestors came from Salem, England, and settled in Salem, New Hampshire.

In 1856, William Willson died suddenly while working at the drugstore he ran in downtown Salem. After his death, Chloe Willson returned to the East to put her daughters in school. She came back to Salem in 1863, and took the position of Governess of the Ladies Department at Willamette University (similar to a Dean of Women). She lived in a large house near campus, and female students boarded with her. In 1871 Chloe Willson moved to the Portland home of her daughter and son-in-law, Frances and Joseph Gill, where she died three years later at age 56.  In 1880, her former house was moved two blocks to the university and housed the Willamette Women’s College, later named Lausanne Hall.

William W. Kone

In June 1840, Rev. Frost was sent to establish a Mission Station at Clatsop, and in September, Reverend Kone, of the North Carolina Conference, and his wife joined Frost. There was little mission activity at this Station. The Kones established their house at the Station farm, where Kone raised a large crop and took care of the cattle brought from the Willamette Station. Kone’s missionary efforts were largely abandoned as he worked to maintain the Station. The Kones welcomed a son in 1841. Neither husband nor wife was suited to “frontier” life and they were dismissed from their post in November 1841.