Official logo of the Oregon Pioneer Association, named such from 1873.
The Oregon Pioneer Association (originally known as the Oregon Pioneer Society), first established in October 1867, was a fraternal and lineage society and historical organization for early American settlers of the Oregon Territory.
The Association, a non-governmental organization, had both fraternal and academic aspects. Its members gathered at conventions and published annual addresses dealing with pioneer life. The group thrived throughout the decades of the 1870s and 1880s, eventually giving way due to the attrition of its members to a new organization known as the Sons and Daughters of Oregon Pioneers, established in 1901. The OPA appears to have terminated in approximately 1928.
History
Establishment
Seal of the OPA, which the group began using during the 1890s.
The Oregon Pioneer Society (OPS) was organized in Salem, Oregon at a meeting held October 8 and 9, 1867, in the Oregon State Capitol building's hall of the house of representatives.[1] The individual given chief credit for organization of the Society was William H. Gray, who was simultaneously involved in the establishment of a historical research organization, the Oregon Pioneer and Historical Society, with an office located in Astoria.[1]
Membership in the Oregon Pioneer Society was open to any individual who came to Oregon during the period that the Oregon Territory was under join occupancy of the United States and Great Britain, or who had been born in or settled in the Oregon Territory prior to January 1, 1854.[1]
The OPS held annual gatherings, typically in approximate conjunction with the June 15 anniversary of the Oregon Treaty of 1846, which formally ended the Oregon boundary dispute between the United States and Great Britain.[1] Annual conventions were held at various locales throughout the state, at which keynote addresses dealing with themes of pioneer history were delivered by leading participants.[1]
The Society maintained an archive including a list of its members, details of their place of birth and move to Oregon.[1]
Renaming
For more than half a century the Oregon Pioneer Association published pamphlets containing speeches delivered to its annual meetings and other historical materials.
On October 18, 1873, the Oregon Pioneer Society was reorganized as the Oregon Pioneer Association (OPA).[1] The group continued to hold annual meetings each June, usually around the June 15 "Pioneer Day" holiday,[2] with stenographic reports of these meetings published in pamphlet form for the historical record.[1]
In 1874 the Oregon Pioneer Association offered to merge with the Oregon Historical Society, but the offer was declined,[1] apparently due to the latter group's intention to limit itself to historical study rather than fraternal interaction.
The OPA remained financially and socially viable well into the decade of the 1880s.[1] There followed a 15-year decline, as death took its toll and the membership and associated dues revenue which supported the Oregon Pioneer Association plummeted.[3]
Due to its declining numbers inevitably resulting from the deaths of eligible members, the Oregon Pioneer Association was largely supplanted in 1901 by the Sons and Daughters of Oregon Pioneers, a new fraternal and historical association with less stringent eligibility requirements for its members. The OPA proper continued in existence, holding annual meetings through 1928.
Presidents
From the time of reorganization in 1873 until 1921,[5] the presidents of the OPA were:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Hubert Howe Bancroft, The Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft: Volume XXX: History of Oregon: Volume II, 1848-1888. San Francisco, CA: The History Company, 1888; pg. 603.
↑ A campaign to make June 15 an Oregon state holiday called "Pioneer Day" was promoted by the OPA. The idea is credited to Secretary of State Stephen F. Chadwick, who advanced the notion in a letter to OPA President John W. Grim on November 19, 1873. See: Transactions of the Nineteenth Annual Reunion of the Oregon Pioneer Society for 1891. Portland, OR: A. Anderson & Co., 1891; pg. 32.
↑ George H. Himes, "Oregon Pioneer Association," in The Oregon Native Son and Historical Magazine, vol. 1, no. 1 (May 1899), pp. 7-9.
↑ Transactions of the 50th Annual Reunion of the Oregon Pioneer Association, Portland, June 15, 1922... Portland, OR: Chausse-Prudhomme Co., 1925; pp. 452-453.
Hubert Howe Bancroft was an American historian and ethnologist who wrote, published, and collected works concerning the western United States, Texas, California, Alaska, Mexico, Central America, and British Columbia.
The Territory of Oregon was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from August 14, 1848, until February 14, 1859, when the southwestern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Oregon. Originally claimed by several countries, Spanish "El Orejón" was part of the Territorio de Nutca (1789–1795), later in the 19th century, the region was divided between the British Empire and the US in 1846. When established, the territory encompassed an area that included the current states of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho, as well as parts of Wyoming and Montana. The capital of the territory was first Oregon City, then Salem, followed briefly by Corvallis, then back to Salem, which became the state capital upon Oregon's admission to the Union.
Matthew Paul Deady was a politician and jurist in the Oregon Territory and the state of Oregon of the United States. He served on the Oregon Supreme Court from 1853 to 1859, at which time he was appointed to the newly created federal court of the state. He served as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Oregon in Portland, as the sole Judge until his death in 1893. While on the court he presided over the trial that led to the United States Supreme Court decision of Pennoyer v. Neff concerning personal jurisdiction.
The Oregon Spectator, was a newspaper published from 1846 to 1855 in Oregon City of what was first the Oregon Country and later the Oregon Territory of the United States. The Spectator was the first American newspaper west of the Rocky Mountains and was the main paper of the region used by politicians for public debate of the leading topics of the day. The paper's motto was Westward the Star of Empire takes its way.
The history of Oregon, a U.S. state, may be considered in five eras: geologic history, inhabitation by native peoples, early exploration by Europeans, settlement by pioneers, and modern development.
The Oregon Lyceum or Pioneer Lyceum and Literary Club was founded in Oregon City, Oregon Country around 1840. The forum was a prominent fixture for the leading pioneer settlers during its brief existence. It would begin publishing the first American newspaper west of the Rocky Mountains in 1846 and had several names during its existence.
William Henry Gray (1810–1889) was a pioneer politician and historian of the Oregon Country in the present-day U.S. state of Oregon. He was an active participant in creating the Provisional Government of Oregon. Gray later wrote the book A History of Oregon, 1792-1849 and was instrumental in the establishment of the Oregon Pioneer Society.
François "Francis" Xavier Matthieu was a French Canadian pioneer settler of the Oregon Country. He was educated in American values by a radical schoolteacher. Matthieu became involved in the 1837–1838 armed rebellion against British rule in Canada, for which he was forced to flee his native Quebec for safety in the United States, where he worked as a carpenter and a fur trader.
The Provisional Government of Oregon was a popularly elected settler government created in the Oregon Country, in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. Its formation had been advanced at the Champoeg Meetings since February 17, 1841, and it existed from May 2, 1843 until March 3, 1849, and provided a legal system and a common defense amongst the mostly American pioneers settling an area then inhabited by the many Indigenous Nations. Much of the region's geography and many of the Natives were not known by people of European descent until several exploratory tours were authorized at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries. The Organic Laws of Oregon were adopted in 1843 with its preamble stating that settlers only agreed to the laws "until such time as the United States of America extend their jurisdiction over us". According to a message from the government in 1844, the rising settler population was beginning to flourish among the "savages", who were "the chief obstruction to the entrance of civilization" in a land of "ignorance and idolatry".
Dr. Elijah White (1806–1879) 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. He returned to the region after a falling-out with mission leader Jason Lee as the leader of one of the first large wagon trains across the Oregon Trail and as a sub-Indian agent of the federal government. In Oregon he used his authority to regulate affairs between the Natives and settlers, and even between settlers. White left the region in 1845 as a messenger for the Provisional Government of Oregon to the United States Congress, returning in 1850 before leaving again for California in the early 1860s.
Albert E. "A.E." Wilson was an American pioneer and merchant in Oregon Country. Raised in the United States, he moved to what would become the U.S. state of Oregon where he operated stores, was involved in politics, and was elected as the first judge of the Provisional Government of Oregon.
Francis A. Chenoweth was an American lawyer and politician in the Pacific Northwest. A native of Ohio, he lived in Iowa and Wisconsin before immigrating to the Oregon Territory. There he served in the legislature of the Oregon Territory and then the Washington Territory, including serving as Speaker of the Washington House of Representatives. A Democrat, he then served on the Washington Supreme Court before returning to Oregon where he was elected to the Oregon House of Representatives and was selected as Speaker of the body for one session.
David Logan was an American attorney and politician in the territory of and later state of Oregon. A native of Illinois, he moved to Oregon in 1850 where he served in the Oregon Territorial Legislature and in the Oregon Constitutional Convention. A founder of the Oregon Republican Party, he also served as mayor of Portland.
Edward D. Hamilton was an American attorney, military officer, and politician in what became the state of Oregon. A native of Virginia, he lived in Ohio before fighting in the Mexican-American War. A member of the Whig Party, he served as Secretary for the Oregon Territory in the 1850s. Later he practiced law and was a judge in Portland.
Felix Hathaway was an American carpenter and pioneer in what became the state of Oregon. A native of New England, he settled in the Oregon Country where he helped construct the first American-built ship in what became the state of Oregon. His home was used for the first meeting of the Provisional Legislature of Oregon in 1844.
Sylvester Confucius Simpson was an American educator and attorney in the state of Oregon. A native of Missouri, he served as the first Oregon Superintendent of Public Instruction and was later the secretary to Oregon Governor Stephen F. Chadwick before moving to California. A Democrat, he also served as the chief clerk in the Oregon State Senate.
John Sellwood was a pioneer Episcopal minister who settled in the U.S. state of Oregon on a 321-acre (130 ha) donation land claim on the east bank of the Willamette River upstream from Portland.
Sherry Ross was an Oregon pioneer and the namesake of Ross Island and Ross Island Bridge in Portland, Oregon.
John Turner was an American fur trapper and guide who first entered Oregon Country in 1828 and became an early resident of the Willamette Valley. Later he moved to California where he was part of the second attempt to rescue the Donner Party.
Horace Lyman was a reverend and professor of mathematics in the U.S. state of Oregon.
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