Oregon
On May 18, 1837, Willson and other recruits for the Methodist Mission arrived in what was known as the Oregon Country, a region whose control was under dispute primarily between Great Britain and the United States. At the mission, he worked as a lay worker as a doctor and carpenter, and was also sent with David Leslie to establish a new mission outpost in the Nisqually area of Puget Sound. Willson returned to the Willamette Valley in 1839 and claimed land at the site of present-day Salem. Willson married fellow missionary Chloe Clarke, who became the first teacher at the Oregon Institute in 1844. They had three children. Willson gave land to the Oregon Institute in 1846. He platted and named Salem that year, choosing the name because it means "City of Peace", and donated some land to serve as a park.
Read more about this topic: William H. Willson
Famous quotes containing the word oregon:
“In another year I’ll have enough money saved. Then I’m gonna go back to my hometown in Oregon and I’m gonna build a house for my mother and myself. And join the country club and take up golf. And I’ll meet the proper man with the proper position. And I’ll make a proper wife who can run a proper home and raise proper children. And I’ll be happy, because when you’re proper, you’re safe.”
—Daniel Taradash (b. 1913)
“When Paul Bunyan’s loggers roofed an Oregon bunkhouse with shakes, fog was so thick that they shingled forty feet into space before discovering they had passed the last rafter.”
—State of Oregon, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“The Oregon [matter] and the annexation of Texas are now all- important to the security and future peace and prosperity of our union, and I hope there are a sufficient number of pure American democrats to carry into effect the annexation of Texas and [extension of] our laws over Oregon. No temporizing policy or all is lost.”
—Andrew Jackson (1767–1845)