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With Wyeth's second expedition, in 1834, came the first
Methodist missionaries: Rev. Jason Lee, Rev. Daniel Lee, his nephew, and the
following laymen: Cyrus Shepard, a teacher; P. L. Edwards, a teacher; and a
man named Walker. They arrived at Fort Vancouver September 17, 1834. They
were also hospitably received by Dr. McLoughlin, and treated with every
consideration and kindness. On Dr. McLoughlin's invitation Jason Lee
preached at Fort Vancouver. Boats and men were furnished by Dr. McLoughlin
to the missionaries to explore the country and select a proper place for the
establishment of their Mission. In the McLoughlin Document, he says: "In
1834, Messrs. Jason and Daniel Lee, and Messrs. Walker and P. L. Edwards
came with Mr. Wyeth to establish a Mission in the Flat-head country. I
observed to them that it was too dangerous for them to establish a Mission
[there]; that to do good to the Indians, they must establish themselves
where they could collect them around them; teach them first to cultivate the
ground and live more comfortably than they do by hunting, and as they do
this, teach them religion; that the Willamette afforded them a fine field,
and that they ought to go there, and they would get the same assistance as
the settlers. They followed my advice and went to the Willamette."
Rev. Dr. H. K. Hines published a book in 1899 entitled,
"Missionary History of the Pacific Northwest." While, as is to be expected,
Dr. Hines' book is biased in favor of the Methodist missionaries, and Jason
Lee is his hero, nevertheless, he has endeavored to be fair and just to all.
In this "Missionary History," page 92, Dr. Hines says: "It was no accident,
nor, yet, was it any influence that Dr. McLoughlin or any other man or men
had over him [Jason Lee] that determined his choice [of a site for the
Mission]. It was his own clear and comprehensive statesmanship. Mr. Lee was
not a man of hasty impulse. . . . This nature did not play him false in the
selection of the site of his Mission." And on pages 452, 453, he says: "Some
writers have believed, or affected to believe, that the advice of Dr.
McLoughlin both to Mr. Lee in 1834, and to the missionaries of the American
Board in 1836, was for the purpose of pushing them to one side, and putting
them out of the way of the Hudson's Bay Company, so that they could not
interfere with its purposes, nor put any obstacle in the way of the ultimate
British occupancy of Oregon. Such writers give little credit to the
astuteness of Dr. McLoughlin, or to the intelligence and independence of the
missionaries of the American Board. Had such been the purpose of Dr.
McLoughlin, or had he been a man capable of devising a course of action so
adverse to the purposes for which his guests were in the country, he
certainly would not have advised them to establish their work in the very
centers of the great region open to their choice. This he did, as we
believe, honestly and honorably."
Jason Lee selected, as the original site of the Methodist
Mission, a place on French Prairie, about ten miles north of the present
city of Salem. When he and his party were ready to leave for their new home,
Dr. McLoughlin placed at their disposal a boat and crew to transport the
mission goods from the May Dacre, Wyeth's vessel, on which their goods had
come, to the new Mission. He loaned them seven oxen, one bull, and seven
cows with their calves. The moving of these goods and cattle to the Mission
required several days. He also provided and manned a boat to convey the
missionaries, personally. In his diary, Jason Lee says: "After dinner
embarked in one of the Company's boats, kindly manned for us by Dr.
McLoughlin, who has treated us with the utmost attention, politeness and
liberality."
March 1, 1836, Dr. McLoughlin and the other officers of
the Hudson's Bay Company, all British subjects, sent to Jason Lee, for the
benefit of the Methodist Mission, a voluntary gift of one hundred and thirty
dollars, accompanied by the following letter:
"Fort Vancouver, 1st March, 1836.
"The Rev. Jason Lee,
"Dear Sir: "I do myself the pleasure to hand you the
enclosed subscription, which the gentlemen who have signed it request you
will do them the favor to accept for the use of the Mission; and they pray
our Heavenly Father, without whose assistance we can do nothing, that of his
infinite mercy he will vouchsafe to bless and prosper your pious endeavors,
and believe me to be, with esteem and regard, your sincere well-wisher and
humble servant.
"John McLoughlin.
From its beginning, and for several years after, the
successful maintenance of the Methodist Mission in Oregon was due to the
friendly attitude and assistance of Dr. McLoughlin and of the other officers
of the Hudson's Bay Company in Oregon. Without these the Mission must have
ceased to exist. This applies also to the successful maintenance of all
other missions in the Oregon Country in the same period of time.13
In May, 1837, an addition to the Methodist Mission
arrived at Vancouver. It consisted of eight adults and three children. Of
these three were men, one of whom was Dr. Elijah White, the Mission
physician; five were women, one of whom was Anna Maria Pittman, whom Jason
Lee soon married. In September, 1837, the ship Sumatra arrived at Fort
Vancouver loaded with goods for the Methodist Mission. The Sumatra also
brought four more missionaries, two men, two women, and three children. Rev.
David Leslie and wife were two of these missionaries. All these missionaries
were entertained by Dr. McLoughlin, and provided with comfortable quarters
at Fort Vancouver.
In March, 1838, Rev. Jason Lee left for the Eastern
States, overland, on business for the Mission. His wife died June 26, 1838,
three weeks after the birth and death of their son. Immediately on her death
Dr. McLoughlin sent an express to overtake and tell Jason Lee of these sad
events. The express reached Jason Lee about September 1, 1838, at Pawnee
Mission, near West-port, Missouri. [Dr. H. K.
Hines, Missionary History, p. 90.] From this act alone could
anyone doubt that Dr. McLoughlin was a sympathetic, kind, thoughtful, and
considerate man? Or think that Jason Lee would ever forget? Later, in 1838
Dr. McLoughlin made a trip to London, returning to Fort Vancouver in 1839.
While Jason Lee was on this trip to the Eastern States,
the Missionary Board was induced to raise $42,000 to provide for sending
thirty-six adults, and sixteen children, and a cargo of goods and supplies,
on the ship Lausanne, to Oregon for the Methodist Mission. Among these new
missionaries were Rev. Alvan F. Waller, Rev. Gustavus Hines, and George
Abernethy, a lay member, who was to be steward of the Mission and to have
charge of all its secular affairs. This party of missionaries, who came on
the Lausanne, are often referred to as "The great reinforcement." The
Lausanne, with its precious and valuable cargoes, arrived at Fort Vancouver
June 1, 1840. As soon as Dr. McLoughlin knew of her arrival in the Columbia
River, he sent fresh bread, butter, milk, and vegetables for the passengers
and crew. At Fort Vancouver he supplied rooms and provisions for the whole
missionary party, about fifty-three people. This party remained as his
guests, accepting his hospitality, for about two weeks." Shortly after some
of this missionary party were endeavoring to take for themselves Dr.
McLoughlin's land claim at Oregon City. The Lausanne was the last missionary
vessel to come to Oregon.
Why this large addition to the Oregon Mission, and these
quantities of supplies, were sent, and this great expense incurred, has
never been satisfactorily explained. It seems to have been the result of
unusual, but ill-directed, religious fervor and zeal. The Methodist Oregon
Mission was then, so far as converting the Indians, a failure. It was not
the fault of the early missionaries. Until 1840 they labored hard and
zealously. The Indians would not be converted, or, if converted, stay
converted. Their numbers had been greatly reduced by the epidemics of
1829-32, and the numbers were still being rapidly reduced. And why the
necessity of such secular business as a part of a mission to convert Indians
to Christianity? The failure to convert the Indians was because they were
Indians. Their language was simple and related almost wholly to material
things. They had no ethical, no spiritual words. They had no need for such.
They had no religion of their own, worthy of the name, to be substituted for
a better or a higher one. They had no religious instincts, no religious
tendencies, no religious traditions. The male Indians would not perform
manual labor - that was for women and slaves. The religion of Christ and the
religion of Work go hand in hand.
Rev. Dr. H. K. Hines, in his
Missionary History, after setting forth certain traits of the Indians and
the failures of the Methodist missionaries to convert them, says (p. 402) :
"So on the Northwest Coast. The course and growth of a history whose
beginnings cannot be discovered had ended only in the production of the
degraded tribes among whom the most consecrated and ablest missionary
apostleship the Church of Christ had sent out for centuries made almost
superhuman efforts to plant the seed of the 'eternal life.' As a people they
gave no fruitful response." And, on page 476, he says: "Indeed, after Dr.
Whitman rehabilitated his imission in the autumn of 1843, the work of that
station lost much of its character as an Indian mission. It became rather a
resting place and trading post, where the successive immigrations of
i844-'45-'46 and '47 halted for a little recuperation after their long and
weary journey, before they passed forward to the Willamette. This was
inevitable." And on page 478 Dr. Hines says that Dr. McLoughlin "advised Dr.
Whitman to remove from among the Cayuses, as he believed not only that he
could no longer be useful to them, but that his life was in danger if he
remained among them."
J. Quinn Thornton in his
"History of the Provisional Government of Oregon," It says: "In the autumn
of 1840 there were in Oregon thirty-six American male settlers, twenty-five
of whom had taken native women for their wives. There were also thirty-three
American women, thirty-two children, thirteen lay members of the Protestant
Missions, thirteen Methodist ministers, six Congregational ministers, three
Jesuit priests, and sixty Canadian-French, making an aggregate of one
hundred and thirty-six Americans, and sixty-three Canadian-French [including
the priests in the latter class] having no connection as employees of the
Hudson's Bay Company. [This estimate includes the missionaries who arrived
on the Lausanne.] I have said that the population outside of the Hudson's
Bay Company increased slowly. How much so, will be seen by the fact that up
to the beginning of the year 1842, there were in Oregon no more than
twenty-one Protestant ministers, three Jesuit priests, fifteen lay members
of Protestant churches, thirty-four white women, thirty-two white children,
thirty-four American settlers, twenty-five of whom! had native wives. The
total American population will thus be seen to have been no more than one
hundred and thirty-nine." (This was prior to the arrival of the immigration
of 1842.)
In his Missionary History
Rev. Dr. Hines says (page 249) that in 1841 and 1842, prior to the arrival
of the immigration of 1842, the Oregon Methodist Mission "comprised nearly
all the American citizens of the country." And on page 239 he says: "Up to
1840 it [the Methodist Mission] had been entirely an Indian Mission. After
that date it began to take on the character of an American colony, though it
did not lay aside its missionary character or purpose." He also says that in
1840 there were only nine Methodist ministers in the Oregon mission. Some of
the lay members, of which J. L. Parrish was one, became ministers, which
probably accounts for the difference in the estimates of Thornton and of Dr.
Hines. In the summer of 1843 Rev. Jason Lee was removed, summarily, as
Superintendent of the Oregon Methodist Mission by the Missionary Board in
New York, and Rev. George Gary was appointed in his place, with plenary
powers to close the Mission, if he should so elect. He closed the Mission in
1844.
When the Lausanne arrived June 1, 1840, Dr. McLoughlin's
power and fortunes were almost at their highest point. During his residence
of sixteen years in the Oregon Country he had established the business of
his Company beyond all question, and to the entire satisfaction of its board
of directors. The Indians were peaceable and were friendly and obedient to
him and to his Company. He was respected and liked by all its officers,
servants, and employees. With them he was supreme in every way, without
jealousy and without insubordination. He had become, for those days, a rich
man, his salary was twelve thousand dollars a year, and his expenses were
comparatively small. He was then fifty-six years old. He had prepared to end
his days in Oregon on his land claim. His children had reached the age of
manhood and womanhood. Few men at his age have a pleasanter, or more
reasonable expectation of future happiness than he then had.
The half-tone portrait of Dr. McLoughlin, shown facing
page 62, was taken from a miniature, painted on ivory, in London, probably
when he was in London in 1838-9. It portrays Dr. McLoughlin as he was in his
happy days. This miniature now belongs to the widow of James W. McL. Harvey,
who was a grandson of Dr. McLoughlin. It was kindly loaned by her so that
the half-tone could be made for use in this address. |
