Methodist Mission in Oregon facts for kids

The Methodist Mission was a big effort by the Methodist Episcopal Church in the 1800s. They wanted to share Christianity and Western culture with Native American groups in the Pacific Northwest. Jason Lee was the main leader for almost ten years. This effort was both religious and political.

The Methodists also played a part in the Oregon boundary dispute, which was about who owned the land. They sent requests to the United States Congress asking the U.S. to take control of the Pacific Northwest south of the Columbia River. The Methodist centers also became important places for European-American settlers to discuss politics. People from the mission helped create the Provisional Government of Oregon, which was a government set up by settlers in the Willamette Valley.

Jason Lee faced some challenges with managing the mission's money. Because of this, he was replaced as superintendent in 1843. To save money, many mission locations were closed, and their businesses were sold in 1844. Even though the main mission in the Willamette Valley continued its work, it became less important in the changing political scene of Oregon. The Methodist Mission did not succeed much in converting Native Americans west of the Rocky Mountains. However, it played a big role in the United States expanding westward.

How the Mission Started

In 1832, four Native American men from the Nez Perce and Salish tribes traveled to St. Louis, Missouri. They wanted to meet General William Clark from the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Their tribes trusted General Clark because their fathers had met him, and they heard stories about how great he was. They saw him as "the first great chief of the white man to visit their nation." They wanted to ask him about a "book" that they heard the Great Spirit had given to white people to teach them God's will.

Two years later, General Clark said that two of the four men got sick and died in St. Louis. The other two started their journey home, but it was later heard that one died on the way, and the other made it back. Some people wondered if this story was completely true, and thought both might have died on the journey.

A Methodist man named William Walker wrote an article about this visit in the Christian Advocate and Journal newspaper. This article inspired the Methodist Episcopal Church and other churches to start the first missions across the continent in Oregon Country. Willbur Fisk, the president of Wesleyan University, was the first church leader to respond. He suggested starting a mission among the "Flathead" people.

Jason Lee, a former student of Fisk's, and his nephew, Rev. Daniel Lee, volunteered to be ministers in Oregon. Jason Lee was a young teacher from Ontario, Canada, who had worked with Native Americans there. Bishop Elijah Hedding made Lee a minister in the Methodist Episcopal Church, which is now the United Methodist Church. Lee was put in charge of the new "Aboriginal Mission west of the Rocky Mountains" to preach to the Salish people. The Methodists also arranged for a businessman named Nathaniel Jarvis Wyeth to help them travel overland and ship supplies by sea.

Early Years of the Mission

In March 1834, Reverend Lee left Boston for St. Louis with Daniel Lee to meet Wyeth's group. Along the way, they hired two helpers, Cyrus Shepard and Philip Leget Edwards. After crossing the continent, the Methodists met Thomas McKay from the British Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) at Wyeth's new Fort Hall. McKay guided the group to Fort Vancouver, which was the main office for the HBC in the Columbia district.

At Fort Vancouver, Lee and his friends were welcomed by Chief Factor John McLoughlin, the director of the HBC. McLoughlin suggested that the Willamette Valley would be a better place for the mission than the area where the Flathead lived.

When the Methodists arrived in the Willamette Valley, they met the Kalapuya people who lived there. Starting in 1830, diseases like malaria had been affecting the Kalapuya and nearby Chinookan peoples of the Lower Columbia region. These diseases continued for many years and greatly reduced the Native American populations. After visiting different tribes, Daniel Lee wrote that they were "the most degraded human beings that we have met." He thought that "the time is not far distant when the last deathwail will proclaim their universal extermination." It is often said that on September 28, 1834, Reverend Jason Lee gave the first Protestant sermon on the Pacific coast. However, he was actually about fifty miles from the coast.

Mission Bottom Location

Lee did not follow the mission board's instructions and instead set up the mission 60 miles up the Willamette River from where it met the Columbia. This first mission became known as the Willamette Mission or Mission Bottom. The missionaries, who were not used to manual labor, slowly built log cabins and a school before winter. Lee commented, "Men never worked harder or performed less."

At Lee's request, the mission's name was changed to "Oregon Mission" on October 21, 1835. In March 1836, Reverend Lee wrote to Dr. Fisk, saying they needed skilled workers and farmers to help with daily tasks. This led to more members being sent in 1836 and 1837. That same year, the Methodists received a small gift from McLoughlin and other HBC employees, who hoped God would "bless and prosper your pious endeavours."

The Mission Bottom in 1834.

In May 1837, a group of seven adults and four children arrived at Fort Vancouver on the ship Diana. This group was led by Dr. Elijah White. It included White's wife, William H. Willson, Anna Maria Pittman, Alanson Beers, Susan Downing, and Elvira Johnson. Soon after, several marriages took place. Jason Lee married Anna Pittman, and Cyrus Shepard married Susan Downing in a double ceremony on June 16, 1837. A second group, including a teacher named Margaret Jewett Bailey and two more ministers, David Leslie and H. K. W. Perkins, arrived at the Mission on September 7, 1837.

As more members joined, the missionaries added a large granary (for storing grain) and a hospital to Mission Bottom. They also opened a small store. They traded extra manufactured goods for things like lumber or food with French-Canadian settlers and Native Americans. The mission also started to protect American immigrants in the area by appointing a judge and a police officer in 1838. John Sutter visited Mission Bottom for several weeks in 1838 while traveling to Alta California. Lee also preached and performed marriages and baptisms for the Catholic French-Canadian settlers in the French Prairie. There were no Catholic priests in the Willamette Valley yet, so the Methodists were the first to work with the French-Canadians. Catholic priests François Norbert Blanchet and Modeste Demers arrived in the region in 1838 and held the first Catholic mass at the St. Paul church in January 1839.

Mission Growth

By the end of 1837, Jason Lee was leading a group that had different opinions about his leadership. The community suggested he return east, saying it "would result advantageously to himself and the mission." Other missionaries also sent him a request asking him to resign as superintendent. In March 1838, Jason Lee and Phillip Edwards began a planned trip to the United States to find more workers for the mission. With them were two Chinookan teenagers, William Brooks and Thomas Adams, along with three of Thomas McKay's sons. Before leaving, Lee appointed David Leslie as the temporary superintendent.

The group first visited the new Wascopam Mission as they traveled up the Columbia River. While waiting for an escort from the HBC to the yearly fur trade meeting (rendezvous), the group spent several weeks at the ABCFM missionary posts run by Henry H. Spalding and Marcus Whitman. On this journey, they carried a petition signed by 36 pioneer farmers from both American and French-Canadian communities, as well as members of the Methodist mission. This petition asked the United States Congress to create a territory out of Oregon, south of the Columbia River. The petition warned that without the protection of the American government, a "good community" would not form, and only "the reckless and unprincipled adventurer..." would move to the region.

When they entered the United States in Missouri, a messenger from John McLoughlin told Lee that his wife, Anna Maria Pittman Lee, and their baby had died in June. While the Methodists and Chinooks were giving a speech in Peoria, Illinois, Thomas Adams became ill and stayed there to recover. His stories about the lands west of the Rocky Mountains helped inspire the Peoria Party, a group of settlers who decided to move west. Lee also gave lectures along the way and on the East Coast, which helped raise $42,000 for the mission. The lectures included speeches from William Brooks. Both speakers focused more on getting public donations than on gathering pioneers to move West. The Board continued this idea in an advertisement looking for farmers for the mission, wanting only "pious" (religious) men. While meeting with the Board, Lee asked for someone to replace him, but the Board kept him as superintendent. Other members of the Oregon Mission had often written to the Board about the need to "civilize" the various native peoples before they could be converted. Lee disagreed, saying that conversion needed to happen before "civilization."

Jason Lee sailed back to Oregon in 1840 on the ship Lausanne with a large group called the "Great Reinforcement." Besides the superintendent, the Lausanne brought 50 people, including needed skilled workers, teachers, and doctors, along with 12 children. With this arrival, the population of Mission Bottom was forty adults and fifty children. The additional missionaries and helpers, like those before them, allowed for more widespread operations across the Oregon Country. In a meeting on May 10, 1840, the missionaries were given their assignments. After returning, Lee ordered the Mission Bottom to be moved to the Mission Mill or Willamette station in what is now Salem. Two new stations were ordered to begin missionary work: the Clatsop Mission and Nisqually Mission. George Abernethy was put in charge of the mission's business services, allowing Lee to focus on spreading the Christian faith. The Methodist businesses grew a lot, with two timber mills and a grist mill (for grinding grain) opening on Mill Creek. These mills cost over $10 a day to run. The main mission store was moved to Oregon City in August 1842.

Planned Umpqua Mission

As early as February 1838, Jason Lee thought about starting a mission among the Umpquas and explored the area, but he could not find any of them. The planned station was to be near the HBC Fort Umpqua. After the Lausanne ship arrived in Oregon, Gustavus Hines and Rev. William W. Kone were assigned to work in that region. A group was formed in August 1840, including Jason Lee, a native guide, Hines, and White, to find a good location for the mission.

The group was greeted at Fort Umpqua by Jean Baptiste Gagnier and his wife Angelique, who was the daughter of an Umpqua chief. Angelique helped them communicate. While meeting with the Umpquas, one chief said that their reputation for being "a bad people" was not true and that they wanted a priest. The Umpquas had a negative reputation after most of a fur trapping group led by Jedediah Smith was killed in 1828. However, the Methodists never opened a station among the Umpquas. Hines concluded:

The Umpqua tribe, but a few years ago numbering several hundred, by disease and their family wars has been reduced to less than seventy-five souls. Under the impression that the doom of extinction is suspended over this wretched race, and that the hand of Providence is removing them to give place to a people more worthy of this beautiful and fertile country,...

Education Efforts

Once the buildings at Mission Bottom were finished, the Indian Mission School was built. This school was used to teach Native American children about Western society. Cyrus Shepard became the first teacher in March 1835. The students came from many different Native tribes, including Kalapuyas, Cayuses, Chehalis, Walla Wallas, Iroquois, Shastas, Tillamooks, Klickitats, Umpquas, Chinooks, and even Hawaiians. Children of French-Canadian settlers and Native wives also attended. Besides being the main source of labor for the growing farms, the students also hunted for the mission.

The first class had 14 Native students, but during the summer, up to 40 attended. Over the years, many students died from illnesses they had not been exposed to before, and some ran away. Relatives of students who died sometimes blamed the Methodists and occasionally tried to get revenge, but no violence was recorded. Shepard died on January 1, 1840, and the school declined without his teaching skills. The school moved to the Mission Mill in 1842 into a building that was being built. It had a budget of $40,000 and was planned to hold up to 300 students.

A song taught to the girls at the school shows how hard it was to teach religious ideas using Chinook Jargon, a trade language.

After almost ten years, the school's future was uncertain. An evaluation by mission members was not very positive. The most positive thing they could say was that "quite a number had experienced religion here and died when in school and hopefully gone to heaven." At that time, the students were farming 34 acres of peas, potatoes, wheat, and oats outside the school. Students who ran away were treated like "criminals." When caught, they were "put in chains, severely whipped, &c., &c., guarded and kept in a high enclosure, like prisoners."

Oregon Institute School

The Oregon Institute founded in 1842.

On January 17, 1842, a group of settlers met at Jason Lee's home in Salem. They formed the Oregon Institute as a school for European-American children in the area. This school eventually became Willamette University. A board of ten trustees was created, and they chose the Wallace House, three miles north of Salem, to be the school. Later in 1844, the school opened in the new building that was meant for Native American students. Chloe A. Clark Willson was the first teacher. This was considered the first school for European-American children west of Missouri. (Note: Early Oregon histories proudly said this was the first school for European Americans west of the Mississippi River, but St. Louis Academy was founded by Jesuits in St Louis, Missouri in 1818.)

Changes to Mission Activities

In 1841, there was a lot of concern that the mission's finances had been "injudiciously managed" (poorly handled). Also, Elijah White, John P. Richmond, Gustavus Hines, and other mission members sent criticisms of Jason Lee to the board over the years. While David Leslie continued to support Lee, it was not enough to overcome the negative reports. After being asked to provide a detailed financial history of the mission, Lee admitted he "was not accountant enough to understand..."

The Methodist Church did not take action until July 1843, when Rev. George Gary was appointed as the new superintendent. The board wanted "a more full and satisfactory account of this Mission, than our present information will permit." They told Gary "to curtail the secular departments of the mission..." (to reduce the mission's business activities). In early 1844, Lee decided to meet with the Missionary Board again. While in the Kingdom of Hawaii, he learned from Ira Babcock that he had been dismissed and replaced. Soon after reading the letter, the former superintendent traveled across Mexico and reached New York City in May 1844. During a meeting with his superiors in June, it was decided that Lee would not get his position back until a financial report from Gary arrived. Lee began collecting donations for the school he helped form, the Oregon Institute. He died in his hometown of Stanstead on March 12, 1845.

After a meeting on June 7, 1844, with other mission members, Gary decided to stop most of the operations. The Dalles and the Mission Hill stations were to remain open, and the others were closed. After the sales, the mission's focus shifted to the settlers and away from trying to convert the Native peoples of the region. The grain and timber mills were sold for $6,000 to a pioneer who had lived in Oregon for two years. The large herds of horses and cattle brought another $4,200 to the mission's funds. Most of the land claimed by the Methodists in Oregon City was sold to John McLoughlin for $6,000. The Clatsop mission was bought by its missionary, Rev. Parrish, who settled there. The Indian Labor School building was sold to the Oregon Institute board of trustees for $4,000. The Wascopam Mission was sold for $600 to Marcus Whitman in 1847. However, his death in the Whitman Massacre left the post unused, and it was returned to the Methodist Mission in 1849.

After reducing the mission's operations, Gary asked in August 1845 for a new superintendent to replace him. His successor, Rev. William Roberts, arrived in June 1847 after establishing a church in San Francisco. In 1848, the Methodists organized the "Oregon and California Mission Conference," which had six clergy members, four of whom were in Oregon. The Methodist Mission of Oregon, which had spent large sums of money, ultimately had results that were left in a "painful mystery." After 14 years of operation, the Methodists had 348 members in Oregon, most of whom were settlers. Before the Oregon and California Conference was divided in 1852, California already had more Methodist converts than Oregon.

What Remains Today

During the flood in 1861, all buildings at the Mission Bottom site were washed away except for the granary and hospital. Today, the site is protected as Willamette Mission State Park. Some of the original buildings from the Willamette station can be seen at the Mission Mill Museum in Salem.

A city street and a cemetery in Salem are named after Jason Lee. A statue of Jason Lee stands in the U.S. Capitol Building's Statuary Hall in Washington, D.C. It is one of two statues representing the state of Oregon.

See also

• Champoeg Meetings