Methodist Mission
Encyclopedia
The Methodist Mission was founded in Oregon Country
in 1834 by the Reverend Jason Lee
. The mission was started to educate the Native Americans
in the Willamette Valley
and grew into an important center for politics and economics in the early settlement period of Oregon
.
In 1831, several Nez Perce Indians were said to have traveled to St. Louis, Missouri
and met with General William Clark of the Lewis and Clark Expedition
to inquire about the “white man’s God” from the General. This spurred a missionary movement to convert the Native Americans to Christianity. In 1834 the Methodist Church sent the Reverend Jason Lee, his nephew the Reverend Daniel Lee, Cyrus Shepard, Philip Leget Edwards
, and Courtney M. Walker overland to preach to the Flathead Indians (Salish). The group contracted with entrepreneur Nathaniel Jarvis Wyeth
to travel overland with his party and to ship supplies around Cape Horn on Wyeth’s ship May Dacre. However, Lee ignored the missionary board’s instructions and traveled to Oregon Country
where he set up a mission in the Willamette Valley
. This came after advice from the Hudson’s Bay Company’s John McLoughlin
that the Willamette Valley was a better spot than to the north where the Flathead lived. The mission was 60 miles up the Willamette River
from its junction with the Columbia River
. Here the mission built a cabin, barn, and fencing before the first winter set in.
. He would also perform marriages and baptisms for that group as no Catholics priests were yet in the Willamette Valley. This would continue until François Norbert Blanchet arrived and held the first Mass on the French Prairie on January 6, 1840.
Soon after building the Mission, Lee and his men built the Indian Mission School to be used to teach the Native American children the ways of Western society. Philip Edwards was the first teacher of the group which totaled around 30 students. These students came from both Native tribes and from the families of the French Canadian settlers, many of whom had married Native Americans. In 1835, the first class had 14 Native students, with seven dying while five ran-away from the school. The following year saw 25 students, with 16 becoming sick, and only one convert for the school.
In 1837, Dr. Elijah White
and seven other missionaries arrived aboard the ship Hamilton to reinforce the Mission. Others joining from this group include Alanson Beers
and William H. Willson
, and several women. The women included White and Beers wives, Elvira Johnson, Susan Downing, and Anna Maria Pittman. Five children also arrived with the party, with the entire group arriving in May. On June 16, 1837, two marriages resulted from the new arrivals, with Cyrus Shepard marrying Susan Downing and Jason Lee marrying Anna Pittman. Two more ministers, David Leslie
and H. K. W. Perkins, arrived at the Mission on September 7, 1837.
In March 1838, Jason Lee and Phillip Edwards left the Mission to travel back east and recruit more people for the Mission in hopes of helping to settle the Oregon Country
. On this journey they carried a petition signed by 29 pioneers including Ewing Young
, asking the United States Congress
to create a territory out of Oregon and extend its jurisdiction over the region. While Lee was away, his wife died in child birth. Lee also lectured along the way and on the East Coast
, leading to the raising of $42,000 for the cause and 40 adults (with 50 children) to sail to Oregon and the Mission. This second group came to the Mission in October 1839 aboard the ship Lausanne, which increased the number of people at the Mission to sixty. This second group of reinforcements was known as the “Great Reinforcement” and had 32 men and women, along with 18 of their children. These additional missionaries allowed the Methodist Mission to open branches at Nisqually north of the Columbia River, on the Clatsop Plains near the mouth of the Columbia, and at the falls on the Willamette River near what is now Oregon City. Notable arrivals with this group included Doctor Ira L. Babcock, George Abernethy
, Alvin F. Waller
, Josiah Lamberson Parrish
, Gustavus Hines
, Lewis H. Judson, W. W. Kone, Joseph H. Frost, and J. P. Richmond.
at the present-day Willamette Mission State Park
, in an area known as Mission Bottom. At this location the missionaries built the Mission, and operated a small retail store that traded with the French Canadian settlers and the Native Americans. The Mission would exchange surplus manufactured goods for items such as lumber or food stuffs. In 1837, the missionaries added a large granary and hospital to the compound.
Beginning in 1840, the Methodists began to move from Mission Bottom. That year Jason Lee moved to the Mission Mill site in what is now Salem, while some others transferred to the Willamette Falls branch. In 1841, the Indian Manual Labor School was re-located to Chemeketa near Salem. The remaining buildings at Mission Bottom were sold off after Lee was replaced by George Gary in 1844. With the flood in 1861
, all the old mission buildings at the site were washed away except the granary and hospital.
along the Columbia River. Daniel Lee and H. W. Perkins established The Dalles Mission on March 22, 1836, under the direction of Jason Lee. The mission there became known as Wascopam, after the Native American name for the spring water at that location. Alvin Waller was transferred to this branch in 1840 from the Willamette Falls location, and the Wascopam Mission was at first successful in converting the Native Americans. The mission consisted of a schoolhouse, garden, stable, barn, and two dwellings along with a cleared pasture adjacent to the wood huts used by the Native American villagers. Missionaries used Pulpit Rock
at the site to preach to the natives.
In 1847, the Wascopam Mission was sold for $600 to Marcus Whitman
, but was returned to the Methodist missionaries after the Whitman Massacre
later in 1847. However, the mission was abandoned and the buildings decayed until the United States Army
burned the structures after erecting Fort Dalles
. The federal government then paid the Methodists $24,000 for the land, but $23,000 was later paid out by the Methodists when it was shown through lawsuits that they had never obtained good title to the land.
station of the Mission, the missionaries built a storehouse to use in the trade of goods. In August 1842, the main mercantile of the Mission was transferred to this location in what became Oregon City
. At this location George Abernethy
from the Mission was placed in charge of the retail operation. In 1844, the Methodist Mission ceased all secular business such as the mercantile trade at Oregon City.
at the mouth of the Columbia River after the arrival in May 1840 as part of the Great Reinforcement. At the site the Clatsop
, the local tribe, assisted the missionaries in the construction of their house. The missionary outpost was unsuccessful, and Frost was unable to convert any Natives during his three years at the post. In 1843, Reverend Parrish was placed in charge of the mission, replacing Frost. The next year the mission was discontinued and Parrish purchased the facility from the missionary board.
, near where the Mission Mill Museum
is located.
introduced diseases that the natives had little or no immunity to, and their populations plummeted as a result. Estimates place the death toll near 90% of the Native Americans in the Lower Columbia region from the 1829 outbreak.
With few natives to Christianize, it was only a matter of time before the mission had little purpose.
In Salem on January 17, 1842, at Jason Lee’s home a group of settlers met and formed the Oregon Institute as a school for the Euro-American children in the area. A ten person board of trustees was created with Wallace House three miles north of Salem to serve as the school. At that time the Mission was building a new three-story structure to serve as the school for the Native Americans, but with the Mission closing the building was sold to the Institute in 1844 for $4,000. That year the school opened with Chloe A. Clarke Wilson as the first teacher of the first school west of the Mississippi River for Whites. This school would become Willamette University
in 1853.
Oregon Country
The Oregon Country was a predominantly American term referring to a disputed ownership region of the Pacific Northwest of North America. The region was occupied by British and French Canadian fur traders from before 1810, and American settlers from the mid-1830s, with its coastal areas north from...
in 1834 by the Reverend Jason Lee
Jason Lee (missionary)
Jason Lee , an American missionary and pioneer, was born on a farm near Stanstead, Quebec. He was the first of the Oregon missionaries and helped establish the early foundation of a provisional government in the Oregon Country....
. The mission was started to educate the Native Americans
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
in the Willamette Valley
Willamette Valley
The Willamette Valley is the most populated region in the state of Oregon of the United States. Located in the state's northwest, the region is surrounded by tall mountain ranges to the east, west and south and the valley's floor is broad, flat and fertile because of Ice Age conditions...
and grew into an important center for politics and economics in the early settlement period of Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
.
Foundation
In 1831, several Nez Perce Indians were said to have traveled to St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
and met with General William Clark of the Lewis and Clark Expedition
Lewis and Clark Expedition
The Lewis and Clark Expedition, or ″Corps of Discovery Expedition" was the first transcontinental expedition to the Pacific Coast by the United States. Commissioned by President Thomas Jefferson and led by two Virginia-born veterans of Indian wars in the Ohio Valley, Meriwether Lewis and William...
to inquire about the “white man’s God” from the General. This spurred a missionary movement to convert the Native Americans to Christianity. In 1834 the Methodist Church sent the Reverend Jason Lee, his nephew the Reverend Daniel Lee, Cyrus Shepard, Philip Leget Edwards
Philip Leget Edwards
Philip Leget Edwards was an American educator from the state of Kentucky and first teacher in what became the state of Oregon. After teaching in Missouri, he traveled to the Oregon Country with Jason Lee and helped establish the Methodist Mission...
, and Courtney M. Walker overland to preach to the Flathead Indians (Salish). The group contracted with entrepreneur Nathaniel Jarvis Wyeth
Nathaniel Jarvis Wyeth
Nathaniel Jarvis Wyeth was an American inventor, ice harvester, and explorer and trader in the far west.-Early life:Wyeth was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to Jacob and Elizabeth Wyeth...
to travel overland with his party and to ship supplies around Cape Horn on Wyeth’s ship May Dacre. However, Lee ignored the missionary board’s instructions and traveled to Oregon Country
Oregon Country
The Oregon Country was a predominantly American term referring to a disputed ownership region of the Pacific Northwest of North America. The region was occupied by British and French Canadian fur traders from before 1810, and American settlers from the mid-1830s, with its coastal areas north from...
where he set up a mission in the Willamette Valley
Willamette Valley
The Willamette Valley is the most populated region in the state of Oregon of the United States. Located in the state's northwest, the region is surrounded by tall mountain ranges to the east, west and south and the valley's floor is broad, flat and fertile because of Ice Age conditions...
. This came after advice from the Hudson’s Bay Company’s John McLoughlin
John McLoughlin
Dr. John McLoughlin, baptized Jean-Baptiste McLoughlin, was the Chief Factor of the Columbia Fur District of the Hudson's Bay Company at Fort Vancouver. He was later known as the "Father of Oregon" for his role in assisting the American cause in the Oregon Country in the Pacific Northwest...
that the Willamette Valley was a better spot than to the north where the Flathead lived. The mission was 60 miles up the Willamette River
Willamette River
The Willamette River is a major tributary of the Columbia River, accounting for 12 to 15 percent of the Columbia's flow. The Willamette's main stem is long, lying entirely in northwestern Oregon in the United States...
from its junction with the Columbia River
Columbia River
The Columbia River is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, Canada, flows northwest and then south into the U.S. state of Washington, then turns west to form most of the border between Washington and the state...
. Here the mission built a cabin, barn, and fencing before the first winter set in.
Operations
In the early years of the Mission, Lee would preach to the Catholic French Canadian settlers of the French PrairieFrench Prairie
French Prairie is a prairie located in Marion County, Oregon, United States, in the Willamette Valley between the Willamette River and the Pudding River, north of Salem...
. He would also perform marriages and baptisms for that group as no Catholics priests were yet in the Willamette Valley. This would continue until François Norbert Blanchet arrived and held the first Mass on the French Prairie on January 6, 1840.
In 1837, Dr. Elijah White
Elijah White
Dr. Elijah White was a missionary and agent for the United States government in Oregon Country during the mid-19th century. A trained physician from New York State, he first traveled to Oregon as part of the Methodist Mission in the Willamette Valley...
and seven other missionaries arrived aboard the ship Hamilton to reinforce the Mission. Others joining from this group include Alanson Beers
Alanson Beers
Alanson Beers was an American pioneer and politician in the early days of the settlement of the Oregon Country. A blacksmith by trade, he was a reinforcement for the Methodist Mission in what would become the state of Oregon...
and William H. Willson
William H. Willson
William Holden Willson was a pioneer of the U.S. state of Oregon and the founder of its capital city, Salem. A native of New Hampshire, he immigrated to the Oregon Country in 1837 to work at the Methodist Mission, and there would participate in the Champoeg Meetings...
, and several women. The women included White and Beers wives, Elvira Johnson, Susan Downing, and Anna Maria Pittman. Five children also arrived with the party, with the entire group arriving in May. On June 16, 1837, two marriages resulted from the new arrivals, with Cyrus Shepard marrying Susan Downing and Jason Lee marrying Anna Pittman. Two more ministers, David Leslie
David Leslie (Oregon politician)
Reverend David Leslie was an American missionary and pioneer in what became the state of Oregon. A native of New Hampshire, he joined Jason Lee as a missionary at the Methodist Mission in the Oregon Country in 1836. In that region he participated in the early movement to start a government and his...
and H. K. W. Perkins, arrived at the Mission on September 7, 1837.
In March 1838, Jason Lee and Phillip Edwards left the Mission to travel back east and recruit more people for the Mission in hopes of helping to settle the Oregon Country
Oregon Country
The Oregon Country was a predominantly American term referring to a disputed ownership region of the Pacific Northwest of North America. The region was occupied by British and French Canadian fur traders from before 1810, and American settlers from the mid-1830s, with its coastal areas north from...
. On this journey they carried a petition signed by 29 pioneers including Ewing Young
Ewing Young
Ewing Young was an American fur trapper and trader from Tennessee who traveled Mexican southwestern North America and California before settling in the Oregon Country. As a prominent and wealthy citizen there, his death was the impetus for the early formation of government in what became the state...
, asking the United States Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
to create a territory out of Oregon and extend its jurisdiction over the region. While Lee was away, his wife died in child birth. Lee also lectured along the way and on the East Coast
East Coast of the United States
The East Coast of the United States, also known as the Eastern Seaboard, refers to the easternmost coastal states in the United States, which touch the Atlantic Ocean and stretch up to Canada. The term includes the U.S...
, leading to the raising of $42,000 for the cause and 40 adults (with 50 children) to sail to Oregon and the Mission. This second group came to the Mission in October 1839 aboard the ship Lausanne, which increased the number of people at the Mission to sixty. This second group of reinforcements was known as the “Great Reinforcement” and had 32 men and women, along with 18 of their children. These additional missionaries allowed the Methodist Mission to open branches at Nisqually north of the Columbia River, on the Clatsop Plains near the mouth of the Columbia, and at the falls on the Willamette River near what is now Oregon City. Notable arrivals with this group included Doctor Ira L. Babcock, George Abernethy
George Abernethy
George Abernethy was an American pioneer, notable entrepreneur, and first governor of Oregon under the provisional government in what would become the state of Oregon in the United States...
, Alvin F. Waller
Alvin F. Waller
Alvin F. Waller was an American missionary in Oregon Country and an early leader at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon. He was a native of Pennsylvania and helped found the first Protestant church west of the Rocky Mountains in 1843 in Oregon City.-Early life:Alvin Waller was born in Abington,...
, Josiah Lamberson Parrish
Josiah Lamberson Parrish
Reverend Josiah Lamberson Parrish was an American missionary in Oregon Country and trustee of the Oregon Institute at its founding. A native of New York, he also participated in the Champoeg Meetings that led to the formation of the Provisional Government of Oregon in 1843...
, Gustavus Hines
Gustavus Hines
Reverend Gustavus Hines was an American missionary in Oregon Country. Working for the Methodist Mission in what became the state of Oregon, the New York native became involved in early attempts to form a government at the Champoeg Meetings in 1841...
, Lewis H. Judson, W. W. Kone, Joseph H. Frost, and J. P. Richmond.
Mission Bottom
The Methodist Mission was originally located on the Willamette RiverWillamette River
The Willamette River is a major tributary of the Columbia River, accounting for 12 to 15 percent of the Columbia's flow. The Willamette's main stem is long, lying entirely in northwestern Oregon in the United States...
at the present-day Willamette Mission State Park
Willamette Mission State Park
Willamette Mission State Park is a state park in the U.S. state of Oregon, located about four miles north of Keizer adjacent to the Wheatland Ferry and east of the Willamette River...
, in an area known as Mission Bottom. At this location the missionaries built the Mission, and operated a small retail store that traded with the French Canadian settlers and the Native Americans. The Mission would exchange surplus manufactured goods for items such as lumber or food stuffs. In 1837, the missionaries added a large granary and hospital to the compound.
Beginning in 1840, the Methodists began to move from Mission Bottom. That year Jason Lee moved to the Mission Mill site in what is now Salem, while some others transferred to the Willamette Falls branch. In 1841, the Indian Manual Labor School was re-located to Chemeketa near Salem. The remaining buildings at Mission Bottom were sold off after Lee was replaced by George Gary in 1844. With the flood in 1861
Great Flood of 1862
The Great Flood of 1862 or Noachian Deluge was the largest flood in the recorded history of Oregon, Nevada and California, occurring from December 1861 to January 1862. It was preceded by weeks of continuous rains that began in Oregon in November 1861 and continued into January 1862...
, all the old mission buildings at the site were washed away except the granary and hospital.
The Dalles
Jason Lee’s nephew Daniel Lee established a branch mission at The DallesThe Dalles, Oregon
The Dalles is the largest city and county seat of Wasco County, Oregon, United States. The name of the city comes from the French word dalle The Dalles is the largest city and county seat of Wasco County, Oregon, United States. The name of the city comes from the French word dalle The Dalles is...
along the Columbia River. Daniel Lee and H. W. Perkins established The Dalles Mission on March 22, 1836, under the direction of Jason Lee. The mission there became known as Wascopam, after the Native American name for the spring water at that location. Alvin Waller was transferred to this branch in 1840 from the Willamette Falls location, and the Wascopam Mission was at first successful in converting the Native Americans. The mission consisted of a schoolhouse, garden, stable, barn, and two dwellings along with a cleared pasture adjacent to the wood huts used by the Native American villagers. Missionaries used Pulpit Rock
Pulpit Rock (The Dalles, Oregon)
Pulpit Rock is a rock about tall located in The Dalles, Oregon, United States. Prior to Euro-American settlement the rock was carved by natural elements in an open area on a slight slope. Historically the rock was located near the Methodist Mission's Wascopam Mission. The missionaries were known...
at the site to preach to the natives.
In 1847, the Wascopam Mission was sold for $600 to Marcus Whitman
Marcus Whitman
Marcus Whitman was an American physician and Oregon missionary in the Oregon Country. Along with his wife Narcissa Whitman he started a mission in what is now southeastern Washington state in 1836, which would later become a stop along the Oregon Trail...
, but was returned to the Methodist missionaries after the Whitman Massacre
Whitman massacre
The Whitman massacre was the murder in the Oregon Country on November 29, 1847 of U.S. missionaries Dr. Marcus Whitman and his wife Narcissa Whitman, along with eleven others. They were killed by Cayuse and Umatilla Indians. The incident began the Cayuse War...
later in 1847. However, the mission was abandoned and the buildings decayed until the United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
burned the structures after erecting Fort Dalles
Fort Dalles
Fort Dalles was a United States Army outpost located on the Columbia River at the present site of The Dalles, Oregon, in the United States. Built when Oregon was a territory, the post was used mainly for dealing with wars with Native Americans...
. The federal government then paid the Methodists $24,000 for the land, but $23,000 was later paid out by the Methodists when it was shown through lawsuits that they had never obtained good title to the land.
Willamette Falls
At the Willamette FallsWillamette Falls
The Willamette Falls is a natural waterfall on the Willamette River between Oregon City and West Linn, Oregon, in the United States. It is the largest waterfall in the Pacific Northwest and the eighteenth largest in the world by water volume. Horseshoe in shape, it is wide and high with a flow...
station of the Mission, the missionaries built a storehouse to use in the trade of goods. In August 1842, the main mercantile of the Mission was transferred to this location in what became Oregon City
Oregon City, Oregon
Oregon City was the first city in the United States west of the Rocky Mountains to be incorporated. It is the county seat of Clackamas County, Oregon...
. At this location George Abernethy
George Abernethy
George Abernethy was an American pioneer, notable entrepreneur, and first governor of Oregon under the provisional government in what would become the state of Oregon in the United States...
from the Mission was placed in charge of the retail operation. In 1844, the Methodist Mission ceased all secular business such as the mercantile trade at Oregon City.
Astoria
Joseph H. Frost and William Kone were sent to the Clatsop PlainsClatsop Plains
The Clatsop Plains are an area of wetlands and sand dunes between the Northern Oregon Coast Range and Pacific Ocean in northwestern Oregon in the United States. They stretch from near the mouth of the Columbia River south to the vicinity of Tillamook Head near Seaside...
at the mouth of the Columbia River after the arrival in May 1840 as part of the Great Reinforcement. At the site the Clatsop
Clatsop
The Clatsop are a small tribe of Chinookan-speaking Native Americans in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. In the early 19th century they inhabited an area of the northwestern coast of present-day Oregon from the mouth of the Columbia River south to Tillamook.-Language:Clatsop in the...
, the local tribe, assisted the missionaries in the construction of their house. The missionary outpost was unsuccessful, and Frost was unable to convert any Natives during his three years at the post. In 1843, Reverend Parrish was placed in charge of the mission, replacing Frost. The next year the mission was discontinued and Parrish purchased the facility from the missionary board.
Mission Mill
The mission moved to present-day SalemSalem, Oregon
Salem is the capital of the U.S. state of Oregon, and the county seat of Marion County. It is located in the center of the Willamette Valley alongside the Willamette River, which runs north through the city. The river forms the boundary between Marion and Polk counties, and the city neighborhood...
, near where the Mission Mill Museum
Mission Mill Museum
Mission Mill Museum is a historic museum located in Salem, Oregon, United States. It features working displays of a woolen mill—the Thomas Kay Woolen Mill—and several historic Salem buildings that have been relocated to the mill site.-Mill history:...
is located.
Demise
Disease wiped out most of the native population in the Willamette Valley beginning in 1829. The Columbian ExchangeColumbian Exchange
The Columbian Exchange was a dramatically widespread exchange of animals, plants, culture, human populations , communicable disease, and ideas between the Eastern and Western hemispheres . It was one of the most significant events concerning ecology, agriculture, and culture in all of human history...
introduced diseases that the natives had little or no immunity to, and their populations plummeted as a result. Estimates place the death toll near 90% of the Native Americans in the Lower Columbia region from the 1829 outbreak.
With few natives to Christianize, it was only a matter of time before the mission had little purpose.
Legacy
In Salem on January 17, 1842, at Jason Lee’s home a group of settlers met and formed the Oregon Institute as a school for the Euro-American children in the area. A ten person board of trustees was created with Wallace House three miles north of Salem to serve as the school. At that time the Mission was building a new three-story structure to serve as the school for the Native Americans, but with the Mission closing the building was sold to the Institute in 1844 for $4,000. That year the school opened with Chloe A. Clarke Wilson as the first teacher of the first school west of the Mississippi River for Whites. This school would become Willamette University
Willamette University
Willamette University is an American private institution of higher learning located in Salem, Oregon. Founded in 1842, it is the oldest university in the Western United States. Willamette is a member of the Annapolis Group of colleges, and is made up of an undergraduate College of Liberal Arts and...
in 1853.
- John MintoJohn Minto (Oregon pioneer)-External links:* from salemhistory.net...
buys much of the land.