William W. Chapman - Oregon

Oregon

He left in May and arrived in November of what was still the unorganized Oregon Country. At this time the region was under the jurisdiction of the United States after the settling of the Oregon boundary dispute with Great Britain the previous year. In Oregon, Chapman settled first in what was then Marysville, and is now Corvallis, in the Willamette Valley. In 1848, he relocated to Salem, where he learned of the California Gold Rush while at court at Knox Butte. Chapman went to California for a brief time and had some success in the gold fields before returning in 1849 to Oregon, which had become the Oregon Territory in 1848.

He accompanied Joseph Lane, the newly-appointed governor of the territory, on his return trip to Oregon. Chapman was elected to the first session of the Oregon Territorial Legislature later in 1849, representing Champoeg County (now Marion) in the legislature's lower house. After the legislature finished its session, he moved to Oregon City and then Portland, both downstream of Salem on the Willamette River. Later in 1849, he took a trip to San Francisco, California, where he recruited Thomas J. Dryer to move to Portland and start a newspaper. He also purchased The Gold Hunter newspaper and moved the assets of the paper to Portland. In 1850, The Oregonian began publishing as a weekly newspaper in Portland. Dryer served as the publisher with Chapman as a co-founder. Chapman gave the paper its name. The assets of The Gold Hunter were used to start the paper.

Chapman purchased land in Portland from Stephen Coffin and Daniel H. Lownsdale in 1850, which he then cleared and built a home. This is now the site of the Multnomah County Courthouse. In Portland, he was a promoter of the city and helped to get Canyon Road built to ensure the city would become the commercial center of Oregon. Chapman practiced law, and in October 1851 he was held in contempt of court by Oregon Supreme Court justice Orville C. Pratt. Chapman was ordered to be sent to jail in the county seat of Hillsboro for 20 days and disbarred, but never went to jail and the order was revoked when Pratt was replaced on the court by justice Thomas Nelson. Chapman had accused Pratt of mistreating lawyers in an affidavit.

Chapman left Portland in 1853 for Fort Umpqua in Southern Oregon. There he engaged in cattle ranching while keeping his Portland law practice. He served as a lieutenant colonel in the militia during the Rogue River War that was fought from 1855 to 1856 against the Native Americans in Southern Oregon. After the war he returned to Corvallis in 1856 before moving to Eugene in 1857. Chapman was appointed as surveyor general of Oregon and served from 1857 to 1861 when he returned to Portland. He left this federal government position due to his opposition to the election of Abraham Lincoln as U.S. President. Oregon entered the Union as the 33rd state in 1859.