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National Statuary Hall

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Published by OREGON STATUARY COMMITTEE

1947

STATE PRINTING DEPT.

r OREGON AND THE NATIONAL STATUARY HALL

WASHINGTON, D. C.

THE NATIONAL Statuary Hall in \"X!ashington, D. c., has had 'a colorful career. Built as the first Assembly Hall of the

United States House of Representatives, it was burned by the British on August 24, 1814, at which time the v'andalism was quite complete. It was rebuilt and in 1819 re-occupiedby the House and continued as such till 1859 when it was abandoned.

In it such men as Patrick Henry, George Mason, James Monroe, Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, John C. Calhoun, John Randolph, John Quincy Adams and many others or-ated and debated in the founding and critical days of our government.

Here James Madison took oath of office as the fourth president of the United States; here the Missouri Compromise was argued; here John Quincy Adams, as ex-president of the United States, and, later, as a Member of the House of Representatives from Massa­chusetts, died at his desk; and here, the person who announced to the House the death of John Randolph, himself dropped dead.

It was considered beautiful but impracticable as a home for the House of Representatives. Senator Morrill of Vermont said of it on January 13, 1864:

"Congress is the guardian of this fine hall, surpassing in beauty all the rooms of this vast pile.

Its noble columns from a quarry exhausted and incapable -of reproduction-

'Nature formed but one and broke the die in moulding'."

John Randolph of Roanoke said of it:

"Handsomest and fit for anything but the use intended."

It is described as a Greek theatre-semi-circular in design having pillars of Patomac marble with white marble capitals and a ceiling like the Pantheon of Rome. It was lighted by a grandiose chandelier much more picturesque than practical.

Charles E. Fairman, Art Curator, United States Capitol, in his book "Art and Artists of the Capitol of the U. S. A.", says: "Upon

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due consideration it seems to have been in the mind of the officials in charge of the construction of the Capitol, to make Statuary Hall in every particular the most impressive portion of the entire Capitol . . . . we can imagine that with the gallery complete and with the use of the hall for legislative purposes, and with the furnishings belonging to that period, it must have been unequaled as 'a legislative chamber by any then existing throughout the world."

After this hall was abandoned as the home of the National House of Representatives, it fell rapidly into disuse "draped with cobwebs and carpeted with dust."

Senator Morrill of Vermont was active in having it again put to 'a useful purpose. Speaking to this point on January 13, 1864, he said:'

"Its democratic simplicity and grandeur of style, and its wealth of 'association with many earnest and eloquent chapters of the history of our country, deserve perpetuity at the hands of the American Congress."

The appeal was heeded and on July 2, 1864,an act was passed by Congress. It reads in part:

"The President is authorized to invite each and all of the states to provide and furnish statues in marble or bronze, not exceeding two in number for each state, of deceased persons who have been citizens thereof, and illustrious for their historic renown, or for distinguished civil or milieary service, such as each state may deem to be worthy of this national com­memoration;-

and when so furnished, the same shall be placed in the Old Hall of the House of Representatives . . . . which is set apart . . . . as a national Statuary Hall for the purposes herein indicated."

After this Act was passed Senator Morrill followed it up, and on January 25, 1865, wrote a letter to President Lincoln reminding him of the Act and suggesting that he take action. Accordingly, on February 3, 1865, the Acting Secretary of St'ate, F. W. Seward,

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addressed a letter to the Governor of each state inviting each to send two statues .. Senator Morrill, ever keen for the proper use of the old hall, closed his speech with this plea:

"Will not the states with generous emulation proudly respond and thus furnish a new evidence that the Union will clasp and hold forever all its jewels-the glories of the past, civil, military and judicial-in one hallowed spot where those who will be here to aid in carrying on the government may daily receive fresh inspiration-and where pilgrims from all parts of the Union, as well as from foreign lands, may come -and behold a gallery filled with such American manhood as succeeding generations will delight to honor. . We may reasonably expect that the state contributions . will speedily furnish here in the capitol of the nation, a collec­tion of statuary that will reflect honor upon the illustrious dead and the republic found to be neither ungrateful to its distinguished sons nor unmindful of its obligations."

The records indicate that to date thirty-four (34) st-ates have sent two statues each, and six (6) states have each sent one statue, making a total of seventy-four (74) statues. Eight (8) states are unrepresented. They are Colorado, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, Washington and Wyoming.

Of the. seventy-four persons represented, fifty-six are indicated as being for civic services, sixteen for military services and two for historic renown.

The following list indicates the various occupations represented by those chosen, some representing several such, and the number in each multiple classifioation:

24 U. S. Senators . 19 Governors 12 Lawyers 9 Cabinet Members 7 Congressmen 5 Religionists 3 Physicians 3 Educators 3 Presidents

3 Vice Presidents 3 Chief Justices 3 Signers of the Declaration

of Independence 2 Pioneers 2 Inventors 1 Indian 1 Humorist

1 Woman (Frances E. Willard of Illinois)

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Pursuant to the invitation to place two statues in Sratuary Hall as set forth hereinabove, there was a House Joint Resolution passed 'by the Oregon Legislature of 1921 in part as follows: '

"Be It Resolved by the House of Representatives of the State of Oregon, the Senate concurring:

That, ih view of the valuable 'and effective services rendered this Commonwealth in the early and formative period of its history by Dr. John McLoughlin and Rev. ]lison Lee, it is the judgment of this Legislative Assembly that they should be named and they are hereby named for the distinguished honor of having their statues placed in the "Hall of Fame" of the National Capitol at Washington, D. c., as representatives of the State of Oregon ."

On March 26, 1945, the Governor approved a bill which reads in pad as follows:

"Be It Enacted by the People of the State of Oregon:

Section 1. That the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of the forty-third Legislative Assembly of the State of Oregon, the Governor and four (4) additional citizens of the State of Oregon, to be named by the three persons here­inabove specified, hereby are designated a Committee to carry out the provisions of this Act.

Section 4. The Committee created by this Act shall be and it hereby is granted full authority to proceed to enter into such contracts, and, in its discretion, to do all things necessary and proper to obtain and have installed in Statuary Hall in the National Capitol, statues, of Oregon citizens as hereinabove mentioned. In performing its duties under this Act, the Com­mittee is authorized on behalf of the State to accept gifts, grants and donations from any source, and, in its discretion, to take such steps as it may find necessary and deem advisable to obtain funds to accomplish the purposes of the Act."

Acting under the authority of this Act, the Committee com­posed of the Hon. Earl Snell, Governor; the Hon. Howard C. Belton, President of the Senate; the Hon. Eugene E. Marsh, Speaker of the House, both of the Forty-third Legislative Assembly; Hon. Leslie M. SCOtt, Srate Treasurer; Hon. Robert W. Sawyer, of Bend; Mrs. George T. Gerlinger of Portland and Dr. Burt Brown

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Barker of Portland, met and organized by electing Dr. Barker as Chairman, Mr. Sawyer as Vice Chairman; Mrs. Gerlinger as Secretary and Mr. Scott as Treasurer of said Committee. Thereupon said Committee held a series of meetings open to the public, and since it did not appear to the Committee that public opinion required the designation of a different illustrious citizen or citizens than either of those named in the House Joint Resolution No.1, of the thirty-first Legislative Assembly, which resolution designated Dr. John McLoughlin and the Rev. Jason Lee as the proper persons to be the representatives of the State of Oregon in the national Statuary Hall in Washington, D. c., the Committee confirmed the action of the thirty-first Legislative Assembly designating Dr. John McLoughlin and the Rev. Jason Lee as the proper and fitting persons thus to be honored.

Thereupon the Committee canvassed the field and considered a number of bids from sculptors from the various parts of the United States and, after many weeks, finally chose A. Phimister Proctor and his son; Gifford MacGregor Proctor, to be the sculptors to execute the statues in bronze.

The senior Proctor has a nation-wide reputation as an artist having executed the following works in Oregon:

Equestrian Statue of Theodore Roosevelt in Portland. Bust of Prince Campbell, late President of the University

of Oregon, said bust being in the Campbell Memorial Court at the University;

"The Pioneer" and "The Pioneer Mother", both on the campus of the University;

The "Western Sheriff" at Pendleton; The "Pioneer Circuit Rider" in the grounds of the Capitol

Building at Salem. Other works are the "Bronco Buster" at Denver, Colorado; "Trapper and Indian Fountain" at Wichita, Kansas; The "Pioneer Mother" at Kansas City-a group of two

horses, the pioneer, his wife and child and a gUide.

In addition to the above he and his son Gifford are now finish­ing a large group of mustangs for the campus of the University of Texas, at Austin, Texas.

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Jointly, also, they did the double equestrian statue of General Lee in Dallas, Texas.

Gifford MacGregor Proctor, the son, took his Bachelor's degree in Fine Arts at Yale University in 1934. In a nation-wide competition in 1935 he received the Prix de Rome Fellowship in sculpture of the American Academy in Rome, which gave him two years of study, research work and travel abroad. In all he has spent six years of study and travel in England, Europe and the Near East, of which five years were in Italy.

On returning from his foreign study he was commissioned to do twenty-four over life sized portraits for the Hall of Fame in the New York State Pavillion.

He has done four heroic sized American Eagles in granite for the Federal Office Building in New Orleans.

A portrait bust of Dr. Casey Wood which he did stands in the library of Ornithology of McGill University.

He was appointed Artist in Residence to Beloit College on a Carnegie Foundation for two years. Toward the close of this appointment he volunteered in World War II. He served nineteen months in the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) in North Africa and Italy, ultimately becoming Operations Officer for all secret operations mounted behind the enemy lines in North Italy. He was wounded but escaped capture and was awarded the Bronze Star Medal by Congress and decorated by Crown Prince Umberto of haly as Cavaliere in the Or dine SS Maurizio e Lazzaro.

The Committee also appointed the following persons as the Finance Committee with full power to raise the funds necessary for the completion and erection of the statues:

FLOYD W. CAMPBELL, Chairman Rev. WILLIAM WALLACE YOUNGSON, Secretary Judge CHARLES W. REDDING Mrs. E. J. ENGLISH DEAN B. WEBSTER Mrs. FRANK BLUM

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Dr. JOHN McLOUGHLIN Dr. John McLoughlin was born at Riviere-du-Loup in the

Province of Quebec, Canada, on October 19, 1784. He was of mixed Scottish, Irish 'and French ancestry. His grandfather, also John McLoughlin, came from Scotland, married Mary Short, an Irish woman, and settled on a farm near Riviere-du-Loup. To them was born a son John who succeeded his father on the farm. He was not content to marry into the farming ranks. Across the St. Lawrence river from the fmm of the son John lived Malcolm Fraser, a member of the landed gentry well known in the com­munity and a person of means. The son John, the farmer, woed and wed Angelique, the daughter of this Malcolm Fraser, the most prominent citizen of Murray Bay. Aneglique's mother was Marie Allaire, a French Canadian. Out of this union came a son John, the John of our interest being the third John in this indicated line. His mother was a Catholic and the young John was baptized Jean Baptiste at Kamourarka by the local priest; and he died in the hith of his mother and lies buried under the chapel of the Catholic Church of St. John the Apostle in Oregon City, Oregon. It is this succession of marriages and births which gave the subject of this sketch the mixture of Scottish, Irish and French blood, as indicated above.

Little seems to be known of the childhood of this young John McLoughlin. Doubtless he made frequent visits to the home of his grandfather Fraser where he seems to have been a welcome visitor. Here he frequently met two brothers of his mother, Alexander and Simon Fraser. Simon was 'a physician in the Black Watch Regiment of the earlier Napoleonic wars. Alexander was a fur trader and eventually became a wintering partner of the North West Company. In these two uncles one sees the finger-boards of the road young John McLoughlin was destined to follow.

When not more than fourteen years of age, the young man began his medical apprenticeship under Dr. James Fisher, one of the most prominent physicians of his day, with whom he studied for four and one-half years. He was admitted to practice at the age of nineteen. Thus we see the possible influence of Uncle Simon Fraser.

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Dr. JOHN McLOUGHLIN

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Very soon after having been given a license to practice young John cast his lot with the North West Company, apparently as a result of an attractive promise made to him through his Uncle Simon. Whether or not his Uncle Alexander may have stimulated Simon McTavish, the most powerful person in said company, to make the offer, seems unknown. But it does not seem a far cry to believe that the young doctor must have heard much of the fur trade in his boyhood associations in the home of his grandfather Fraser.

Thus in 1803 young Dr. McLoughlin began his services under a five-year contract with the North West Company on a salary of twenty pounds a year. At the end of the period (1808) he was re-engaged, apparently for three years, at 'a salary of two hundred pounds a year, which contract was again renewed for three years (1811-14) when he became a wintering partner of the company.

He seems to have been popular among his 'associates who were becoming annoyed at the manner in which the company was being conducted. It was fast becoming evident that an open clash with the bitter rival, the Hudson's Bay Company, was in the offing. The rivalry was so keen that the profits of both companies were nearing the vanishing point. Prudence seemed to indicate the necessity of a working agreement between the companies. The agents of the North West Company stood firm to drive ahead into disaster.

At this point, Dr. McLoughlin led the discontented wintering partners in a rebellion against the agents. In the end they were forced to open negotiations in London with the Hudson's Bay Company which ended in the coalition of the North West Company and the Hudson's Bay Company in March, 182l. Dr. McLoughlin was in London during the negotiations but seemingly did not figure directly in them.

A a result of this coalition most of the wintering partners of the North West Company entered into the services of the Hudson's Pay Company, which company set aside 40 per cent of its profits for the benefit of the North West Company. In the allocation of this profit Dr. McLoughlin became entitled to 2/85 thereof.

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Among the assets of the North West Company which fell to the Hudson's Bay Company was all the property west of the Rocky Mountains with headquarters at old Fort Astoria re-named Fort George. On July 10, 1824, Dr. McLoughlin was appointed head of this section known as the Columbia District. He had become a Chief Factor previously and was now ~iven the powers of a superintendent. This district was the most extensive one of the company covering all their property west of the Rocky Mountains.

. The significance of this appointment to the Northwest lies in the fact that the treaty of 1818 between Britain and the United States settled the dividing line between the present Canada and the United States between the Lake of the Woods and the Rocky Mountains, leaving the part west of the Rocky Mountains unsettled and open to future negotiations. This resulted in this district ultimately being open to joint occupancy and thus to go to the country which settled it.

Hence, Dr. McLoughlin became a most important personage because as the chief authority of the Hudson's Bay Company in this district, a distinctly British organization, he was looked upon as the representative of the British interests in the Northwest. He met the competition of the American traders in the waters of the Pacific Northwest with such stern and agressive measures that they found the trade unprofitable. But the experience of thos~ who came to this district overland was different. After dealing for ten years with the Indians of his district he felt the necessity of having missionary work done among them so that when Jason Lee and his little band of Methodist missionaries arrived in Oregon in 1834 he welcomed them and aided them in getting established along the Willamette river some ten miles north of the present Salem. The same was true when he returned to Oregon in 1840 from a visit to New England in 1838, and brought with him a large group of men, women and children to carryon the work among the Indians.

Within three years after the arrival of this enlarged missionary group, there came a change in the nature of the arrivals. In 1843 came the first overland train of settlers to Oregon. They were in no sense missionaries nor in the least interested in the salvation of

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the Indians. They came for agricultural purposes and were destined to run counter to the interests represented by Dr. McLoughlin who wished the country to remain unsettled and the home of fur bearing animals.

Even though it was evident that there was this conflict of interest, yet Dr. McLoughlin received these settlers pleasantly, made them loans and ministered to their needs. Such an attitude was naturally misunderstood by the directors of his company sitting in London and rather sharp criticism of his acts was voiced in the letters coming out of London. But McLoughlin parried skillfully and in the end pointed out that these settlers were entirely within their rights. The company conceded this but directed him to be less liberal in his loans to them.

The early pioneers were fortunate in that Dr. McLoughlin was in command in the Northwest when they came. It is not that a man less favorably inclined could have prevented them settling, but he could have greatly increased the hardships of their lot which were severe enough at best.

Dr. McLoughlin resigned his position in 1845 and built his home in Oregon City and took oath in May, 1849, and made his declaration to become an American citizen. He died in his home in Oregon City, September 3, 1857.

As evidence of the feeling of the pioneers toward Dr. Mc­Loughlin, the Board of Directors of the Oregon Pioneers Associa­tion passed a resolution at their annual meeting on January 18-19; 1886, asking the Legislature of the State of Oregon to appropriate funds "to erect a suitable monument to the memory of the late Dr. John McLoughlin of Oregon City, ,and to place it in the State House."

A committee was appointed to bring this to pass. The Hon. D. P. Thompson was Chairman. This committee recommended that a life size oil portrait of the Doctor be painted by Wilham Cogswell, a portrait painter temporarily residing in Portland. This committee concluded its report on February 18, 1886, as follows and recommended:

"The portrait being placed on exhibition at the coming re-union, and afterwards hung in an ,appropriate position in

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the Senate Chamber in the State House at Salem and thus do honor to the beloved Doctor, who, more than any other one man was a benefactor to the early pioneers of Oregon."

The money for the portrait was raised by the committee from citizens of Portland and presented to the Pioneer Association on June 15, 1887, by Judge M. P. Deady.

The House Journal of February 5, 1889, shows that this por­trait was presented to the State of Oregon at a joint meeting of the House and Senate held in the House at 7: 30 p. m., all members of both House and Senate being present. The Hon. John Minto presented the portrait on behalf of the Oregon Pioneer Association and it was accepted by His Excellency, Sylvester Pennoyer, Gov­ernor of Oregon, and hung behind the chair of the President of the Senate where it remained till it was burned in the fire which destroyed the Capitol building on April 25, 1935.

At the time the portrait was painted apparently an effort was made to have it authentic. Mr. D. P. Thompson, Chairman of the Committee, appointed to arrange therefor, reported on April 6, 1886:

"That he had collected from the McLoughlin family, Mr. Burchtel (a well known early photographer) and others, such photographs and daguereotypes of the Doctor as he was able to find, and had submitted the same to Mr. Cogswell, who, making a selection therefrom, had had the same enlarged for his use; and that Mr. Cogswell agreed to paint a three-quarter life size portrait therefrom for $450.00."

In presenting this portrait the Hon. John Minto said:

"At the request of the Oregon Pioneer Association, I appear before you in its behalf, for placement . . . . the portrait of the most potent friend and benefactor of those who planted the seeds of peace and social order in this fair land . . . . In recognition of the worthy manner in which Dr. John Mc­Loughlin filled his trying and responsible position, in the heartfelt glow of a grateful remembrance of his humane and noble conduct to them, the Oregon Pioneers leave this portrait with you, hoping that their descendents will not forget the friend of their fathers . "

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In accepting the portrait on behalf of the State of Oregon, the . Honorable Sylvester P~nnoyer, Governor, said:

"Then let this picture of the grand old man, whose numerous deeds of charity are inseparably woven in the early history of our state, ever enjoy the place of honor it now holds; and when our children and our children's children shall visit these venerable halls, let them pause before the portrait of this venerable man and do homage to his memory . . . ."

The cut which appears herein is from the painting which hung in the Capitol building at Salem.

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WILLIAM COGSWELL

Not too much seems to be known of the portrait painter, William Cogswell. It is recorded that he was born on July 19, 1819, a descendent of John Cogswell of Westburg, Leigh County of Wilts, England, who settled in Ipswich, Massachusetts in 1633.

Young Cogswell seems to have been self taught although he is known to have been for a short time in 1834 in the studio of a portrait painter in Buffalo, New York. His duties there were those of grinding colors in oils.

He painted portraits of three Presidents-Lincoln, Grant and McKinley. John D. Rockefeller, Jr., thought so well of one of his portraits of Lincoln that he bought it and gave it to Brown University where he is making a collection of Lincoln portraits. This one was purchased from a descendent of the painter. A second full-length portrait of Lincoln by Cogswell is in the White House. These portraits seem to have been painted from life and are among the few which were.

The portrait of General Grant and his family is his best known work due to the fact that it has been reproduced in a steel engraving of which thousands of copies were sold. The original now hangs in the National Capitol in Washington, D. C.-as does 'also a portrait of Salmon P. Chase.

Mr. Cogswell seems to have traveled extensively. He visited Australia and the Hawaiian Islands. While in Honolulu he painted the portraits of King ~alakama and Queen Liliuokalani. He lived at various times in New York, PhiLadelphia, Chicago, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Louisville, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

He made his first visit to California atout 1850 where he remained about a year. On his return to the East he walked across the Isthmus of Panama accompanied by a native who carried his baggage:

Other portraits done by him are of H. T. Blow, Joseph Charles, Jay Cook, General Sheridan, Mr. and Mrs. Mark Hopkins, Pro­fessor Agassiz, Governor and Mrs. Leland Stanford and six governors of the state of California. Doubtless it was the record of such a list of portraits which encouraged the committee headed by Mr. Thompson, to have him do the portrait of Dr. McLoughlin. He died in Pasadena, California, December 24, 1903.

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JASON LEE "Jason Lee was descended from a sturdy Old England and New

England ancestry", we are told by his biographer, Cornelius J. Brosnan.

An old country forbear, John Lee, migrated to America in 1634 and became one of the early settlers of Newton near Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Daniel Lee, the father of Jason Lee, when a youth of twenty­two years, saw his first Revolutionary action, the battle of Lexing­ton. Later (June 1776) he enlisted with his brother in the Wads­worth Brigade and went to re-inforce General Washington in his operations in and around New York City, and was in the battle of White Plains October 26, 1776, where his brigade suffered losses.

On January 8, 1778, Daniel Lee married Sarah Whitacre, the daughter of a hrmer near the town of Stafford, Connecticut. Sarah also was descended from old and sturdy New England stock. After marriage they lived for some years on a farm near Willington, Connecticut; but later, probably about 1798, they migrated to a farm of 400 acres of virgin timber near the present town of Stanstead, Quebec. When Daniel Lee moved north his land was considered to be part of Vermont and remained so till the international survey ran the dividing line between Vermont and the Province of Quebec through this settlement of Connecticut and Vermont pioneers. When the line was ultimately established, , Daniel Lee's log house was north thereof and, hence, in the Province of Quebec. In this log house on June 28, 1803, Jason Lee was born, the youngest of fifteen children, nine boys and six girls. The father died wheri Jason was three years of age. He received his early education in the village school in Stanstead. At the age of thirteen, young Lee was self supporting. He followed the occupation of a farmer boy in a new country. As he expressed it, "He was brought up to hard work" and "had seen the day when he could chop a cord of sugar maple in two hours."

He was converted by a Wesleyan Missionary in 1826. In his diary he spoke of his conversion-"I saw, I believed, I repented." He continued to work as a manual laborer for three years there-

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JASON LEE

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after or till 1829. In this year he entered Wilbraham Academy, at Wilbraham, Massachusetts, a rising Methodist institution where "he had the care of all the boys in a large sleeping hall" in which Lee had Room No. 13.

Bishop Osmon C. Baker, a classmate of Jason Lee, leaves the following pen picture of him:

"Jason Lee was a large, athletic young man, six feet and three inches in height, with a fully developed frame and a con­stitution like iron. His piety was deep and uniform, and his life, in a very uncommon degree, pure and exemplary. In those days of extensive and powerful revivals, I used to observe with what confidence and satisfaction, seekers of religion would place themselves under his instruction. They regarded him as a righteous man whose prayers availed much; and when there were indications that the Holy Spirit was moving in the heart of the sinner within the circle of his acquaintance, his warm Christian heart would incite him to constant labor until deliverance would be proclaimed to the captive."

After graduation at Wilbraham in 1830, Lee served as a teacher in the Stanstead Academy and preached in the adjoining towns and continued in this capacity till the opening came to go to Oregon. While contemplating how he was to get to Oregon, he saw in a Boston newspaper that Captain Nathaniel Wyeth of Cambridge, Massachusetts, had returned from Oregon and was planning to go there again the following spring. He hastened to Boston and arranged to accompany Wyeth on his second trip which was to leave Independence, Missouri, in April, 1834.

The meeting with Wyeth was in November, 1833. Between that time and the date set for the departure to Oregon, Jason Lee went about New England, accompanied by two Indian boys whom Wyeth had brought with him from Oregon, preaching and address­ing various missionary groups where collections were taken for his work in Oregon. The Indian boys proved a great drawing card and the meetings drew record crowds. One such meeting was h~ld in Lynn, Massachusetts. The Zion Herald published a graphic account thereof in part as follows:

"Last Sabbath evening there was . . . . an address by Rev. Jason Lee, Missionary to the Flat Heads. It was one of

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the most pleasant meetings ever held in Lynn of a missionary character. Long before the time appointed to commence, the house was thronged to over-flowing and the audience hung upon the lips of the speakers with such an interest that it could not be mistaken. The collection did honor to Lynn-it amounted to $100.00."

Monday, April 28, 1834, the cavalcade headed by Nathaniel Wyeth, of which Jason Lee and his party of four companions were a part, headed out of St. Louis for Oregon. Lee, in a letter written en route, said that Wyeth's party was "the most profane company I think that I was ever in."

En route Lee preached at Fort Hall, "a brief, but excellent and appropriate exhortation" on July 27, 1834, noted as "the first formal Protestant religious observance to be held in the vast interior lying west of the Rocky Mountains." Captain Wyeth remained to finish Fort Hall and Lee and his party proceeded to Fort Boise under the escort of Thomas Mc~ay, and his Hudson's Bay brigade. From this point they journeyed alone to Fort Walla Walla, arriving September 1. While here, Wyeth and his party rejoined them and together they proceeded to Fort Vancouver where they arrived September 15, 1834, warmly welcomed by Dr. John McLoughlin.

At the suggestion and under the guidance of Dr. McLoughlin, Jason Lee and his companions, Daniel Lee, his nephew, and Messrs. Courtney N. Walker, Cyrus Shepard and Philip L. Edwards located their mission on the east bank of the Willamette river about ten miles north of the present city of Salem. Daily instruc­tions were given the Indian boys and girls by Mr. Shepard in the fall of 1835. By the end of 1836 there were nineteen Indians in the school ·and fifty-three in the Sunday School. All instruction was in English. In addition to the book lessons, the girls were taught to cook and sew and the boys to work the farm.

But Lee soon became convinced that he must have reinforce­ments and among them should be women. The first reinforcements were on May 28, 1837, and among them were four women and three children. One of the women was Miss Susan Downing who was then engaged to Cyrus Shepard and soon became his wife. Another one was Miss Anna Maria Pittman who became the wife

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of Jason Lee on July 16, 1837. These marriages marked the beginning of Christian marriages in the Oregon Territory.

On September 7, 1837, the second reinforcement arrived for Mr. Lee. It was headed by Rev. David Leslie and was composed of himself, wife and three young daughters, the Rev. H. K. W. Perkins and Miss Margaret J. Smith, a teacher. But still Mr. Lee felt the need to go East in order that he might in person make clear the importance of this Pacific Northwest, both as a missionary and 'a colonizing field.

Accordingly on March 26, 1838, Lee started on his return trip to New York, carrying with him a petition signed by thirty-six Americans including every member of the mission. This mem­orable document is said to have been inspired by Jason Lee. The petition set forth the virtues of the Oregon Territory and its com­mercial advantages, and urged "the United States to take formal and speedy possession." The document is dated March 16, 1838, and was presented to the Senate on January 28, 1839, by Senator Linn. Thus early did Lee interest himself in the political welfare of Oregon.

While on his journey he received the sad news of the death of his wife in childbirth. But he continued his journey speaking at Alton, Illinois, St. Louis, Carlinville, Jacksonville, Springfield, Peoria and Chicago. In New York he impressed the Board of Managers of the Missionary Society of the Methodist Church with the importance of the work. As a result they had him go on three extended speaking tours, one in and about Philadelphia and Washington; another in New England, from Connecticut to Canada, and the third through New York State. He spoke to crowded houses. In Hartford, Connecticut, by way of illustration, "hundreds went away unable to gain admittance into the church"; and thousands thus had Oregon and its importance brought to their attention.

The Missionary Society chartered the sailing vessel, "Lausanne" to carry a large party of missionaries (fifty-one persons in all), and their supplies to Oregon. This group was purely for missionary purposes. On October 9, 1839, the party set sail. Jason Lee had, on July 28th preceding, married Miss Lucy Thompson at Barre,

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Vermont. The Lausanne dropped anchor at Fort Vancouver June 1, 1840, after a voyage of almost eight months. Dr. McLoughlin greeted them most cordially 'and entertained them at the Fort, providing comfortable accommodations such as a. private sitting room and special dining tables.

Jason Lee called the group together, gave each an assignment to various posts throughout the territory and sent them on their various ways, to Nisqually, Clatsop, Umpqua, The Dalles, Oregon City and to the old mission on the Willamette, all posts which subsequently cecame key points of pioneer settlements. Such was the keen insight of Jason Lee into the future development of Oregon.

The site of the so called "Old Mission" on the Willamette was fast proving to be unsatisfactory. It was low, malarial .and subject to inundation. Lee had brought with him machinery for both a sawmill .and a gristmill. There was no location for them at the old mission, while at Chemeketa, a location about ten miles to the south, was a stream with sufficient water in winter to operate them. Thus it was that the machinery for the mills was sent there immediately. When the sawmill was ready it began to cut lumber for a house for Jason Lee, in 1841, and for another called the "Parsonage" for the missionary teachers, and finally, for the new Indian school buildings. This later became Willamette University. The mission was scarcely re-located before death again struck at Jason Lee. The winter of 1840-41 had been a very severe one and several members of the missionary group were ill, and on March 20, 1842, the second Mrs. Jason Lee departed, leaving a three weeks old daughter.

But soon the mission fell into evil ways. The Indian population had been terribly depleted by the introduction of diseases of the white man to which the Indians succumbed in great numbers. Dissatisfaction arose among the missionaries and their various assignments. Complaints continued to reach the missionary head­quarters in New York. Many of these. were from dissatisfied missionaries who had returned to New York from Oregon. The letters from the Board touching these complaints convinced Lee that he should return to New York in the hope of making satis­factory explanations.

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Accordingly, in late November, 1843, Lee bade farewell to his Chemeketa friends and associates and headed for New York with his only daughter, now nearly two years old, in company with Gustavus Hines and wife.

Meanwhile, the Board in New York had determined to remove Mr. Lee and elected as his successor, Rev. George Gary. News of this reached Lee when his ship touched at Honolulu. Realizing the precariousness of his situation he drew his will, provided for the appointment of a guardian of his daughter and made careful provision for her education. This completed, he sailed alone on a small vessel for New York where he -arrived on May 27, 1844 .

. He appeared before his Board on July 1 and continued before same till July 10, 1844. In the end the Board exonerated him of the charges which had been preferred by his dissatisfied associates. But it was too late to return him to Oregon. The Board had previously appointed Rev. George Gary his successor and he was then in Oregon.

Lee left soon afterwards and went to be with a sister at Stan­stead, his boyhood home. He soon was stricken with an illness from which he died on March 12, 1845. He was buried in the graveyard at Stan stead where his body remained till on June 15, 1906, his ashes were moved to the Lee Mission Cemetery in Salem, Oregon.

On October 26, 1920, an oil painting of Jason Lee was pre­sented to the State of Oregon. The portrait was done by Mr. Vesper George of Boston, Mass. The funds for the same were provided by the Oregon Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The portrait was hung behind the chair of the Speaker of the House of Representatives in the State Capitol building in Salem, Oregon, where it hung till destroyed when the building burned on April 25, 1935.

The portf'ait was presented by the Hon. Thomas A. McBride, Justice, Oregon Supreme Court. He said in part:

"The precious jewel of a Commonwealth; the one thing above all others which it should treasure, is the memory of those grand and self-sacrificing men and women who I-aid the foundations of its greatness and prosperity.

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"One of these treasured m("mories is the life and work of Jason Lee-the founder of American civilization in Oregon. . . . . Lee combined the fervor of the missionary, the foresight of a seer, and the patriotism of a loyal citizen."

The portrait was accepted on the part of the State by the Honorable Ben W. Olcott, Governor of Oregon. He said in part:

"Unhesitatingly I s'ay that Jason Lee was Oregon's most heroic figure:-By every right of achievement, by every right of peaceful conquest, this portrait of Jason Lee should adorn the halls of the Capitol Building in our state as long as those capitol buildings stand."

The CUt 'appearing herein is from the painting which hung in the Capitol Building at Salem.

VESPER LINCOLN GEORGE

Vesper Lincoln George was born in East Boston, Massachu­settS, Jun; 4, 1865. He was a pupil of Constant, Lefebvre and Doucet in Paris. He became an instructor at the State Normal Art School, Boston; 'also at the Lowell Textile School, Lowell, MassachusettS; also principal of the Evening School of Design, Boston.

He was the founder of the Vesper George School of Art in Boston which school he conducted till his death, May 10, 1934.

He was a member of the Architectural League of New York and also of the Boston Art Club.

He executed many portraits of prominent persons throughout the United States 'among which was that of Jason Lee. He was also well known for landscapes in both oil and water color, and for many murals in various public buildings in various states of the Union.

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