CHAPTER LXII METHODIST CHURCH HISTORY In the spring of 1833 Rev. Wilbur Fisk issued an appeal in the Chris- tian Advocate and Journal arid also in Zioiz'g Herald, asking for volun- teers to go as missionaries to the Indians in the Oregon Country.Meet- ings were held in the various Methodist churches on the Atlantic seaboard, and funds were raised to pay the expense of sending missionaries to the country beyond the Rocky Mountains. Jason Lee was selected as the leader of the missionary party and received his appointment on July 17, 1833.His father, Daniel Lee, was born in Connecticut, as was his mother, whose maiden name was Sarah Whitaker.Mr. and Mrs. Lee moved to Vermont, where they lived for fifteen years, and later moved to Stanstead, in Canada, in 1800.Jason Lee was born at Stanstead in 1803. Jason Lee was 6 feet 3 inches high.He spent his youth and early manhood working in the woods of Canada. He was converted when he was twenty-three years old.The following year he entered Wesleyan Academy, at Wilbraham, Mass., of which Dr. Wilbur Fisk was president. He offered his services to the Missionary Society of London to go as a missionary to the Indians of Canada.While waiting to hear from the Wesleyan Missionary Society of London, he was offered the position of superintendent of missions for the Oregon Country, which he accepted. He appointed as his assistant, his nephew, Rev. Daniel Lee. The missionary board in New York appropriated $3,000 for the work in Oregon. Jason Lee spent the winter of 1833 preaching in the churches along the Atlantic seaboard.In the spring of 1834 he went to St. Louis with his nephew, Daniel Lee, from which point they went on horseback to Independence, Mo., to join Nathaniel Wyeth's overland expedition to Oregon. Jason Lee employed Cyrus Shepard of Lynn, Mass., as a layman helper.At Independence he hired P. L. Edwards to serve as a teacher to the Indians. The party left Independence on April 30, 1834.The summit of the Rocky Mountains was reached on June 15th.Reverend Lee preached his first sermon west of the Rocky Mountains at Fort Hall on July 27, 1834. That same evening two of the men working for Thomas McKay ran a horse race, one of them was thrown and killed, and next day Jason Lee conducted his funeral, reading the burial service of the Methodist church. This was the first funeral service held west of the Rockies by an American clergyman. On September 28, 1834, Jason Lee preached both morning and evening at Fort Vancouver, to a congregation consisting of Americans, Scotch, English, Canadian-French, Irish, Kanakas, Indians and half- 556 COLUMBIA RIVER VALLEY 557 breeds.On October 19 he preached on French Prairie, and on Decem- ber 14 he baptized four adults and seventeen children at Fort Vancouver. Dr. John McLoughlin furnished Jason Lee and his associates with boats and Indian boatmen, as well as supplies, to investigate the various points under consideration for the proposed mission. Jason Lee had originally intended to locate his mission among the Flathead Indians, but upon careful investigation he decided to locate it in the Willamette Valley.This decision was based largely on the advice given by Dr. John McLoughlin. In writing about the coming of Jason Lee, Doctor McLoughlin 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 Flathead country.I observed to them that it was too dangerous for them to estab- lish a mission; that to do good to the Indians they must establish them- selves 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; 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." Doctor McLoughlin furnished ten cows to Mr. Lee, the loan to be returned from the progeny of the cows.Cyrus Shepard spent the winter teaching at Fort Vancouver.In the spring he began his work teaching the Indian children in the Methodist Mission school. With characteristic kindness, Doctor McLoughlin wrote Jason Lee a letter, enclosing a contribution ofi5O.The letter reads as follows: "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." In July, 1836, the Board of Missions sent out additional workers. They arrived in Oregon in May, 1837.The new workers were Dr. and Mrs. Elijah White, Mr. and Mrs. Alanson Beers, Miss Anna Maria Pittman, Miss Susan Downing, and Miss Elvira Johnson. Jason Lee established mission settlements on Mission Bottom near Salem, at The IJalles, at Astoria, at Oregon City, and at Nisqually on Puget Sound.Rev, and Mrs. David Leslie and Rev, and Mrs. H. K. W. Perkins and Miss Margaret Smith came out as assistant missionaries in September, 1837.Rev. Daniel Lee and Rev. H. K. W. Perkins were assigned to the mission work at The Dalles.They began their work there on March 22, 1838. On July 16, 1837, at the Methodist Mission, about ten 558 COLUMBIA RIVER VALLEY miles north of Salem, in the presence of a few white people and about forty Indian children, the first marriage ceremony in the Pacific Northwest was celebrated.Rev. Daniel Lee performed the marriage ceremony for his uncle, Jason Lee, and Miss Anna Maria Pittman.Rev. Jason Lee then performed the marriage ceremony for Cyrus Shepard and Miss Susan Downing.Charles Roe and Nancy, who belonged to the Callapooia tribe, were next married.After his marriage, Charles Roe was baptized and received into the church. Webley Hauxhurst was then baptized and united with the church.In telling of his experiences in founding the mission at The Dalles, Daniel Lee says: "We arrived at The Dalles on Wednesday, the 22nd of March.About three miles below The Dalles, we found a valuable spring of water, some rich land and a good supply of oak and pine timber with an elevated and pleasant location for a house, with a fine and extended view of the Columbia River.Here, about the 1st of April, our house was begun.The Indians assisted in cutting the timber and bringing it to us.Jason Lee arrived, on his way to the United States, accompanied by Mr. Edwards and a Mr. Ewing of Missouri and two Indian boys of the Chinook tribe, W. M. Brooks and Thomas Adams, who had been, for some time, students at the Mission school at Walamet Station. The object of his visit to the United States was to obtain additional facilities to carry on more efficiently the mission work in the Oregon territory.On April 9th, having hired horses of the Indians to go to Walla Walla, he took an affectionate leave of Mr. Perkins and myself and set off on his arduous journey. The same day Mr. Perkins embarked in a canoe for Walamet Station to bring his wife to The Dalles.He returned in safety on the 5th of May. The building of the hous went on amidst many interruptions and it was finished before winter.Several trips were made to Walamet and Vancouver for supplies, and one journey was made to Fort Walla Walla to get horses, and one overland to the Walamet Station to secure cattle.Immediately on arrival we began to hold meetings with the Indians on the Sabbath.Their behavior at worship was very serious and most of them would kneel in time of prayer.In the month of June our joy was turned to heaviness by the death of Mrs. Jason Lee.An express with the melancholy and heart-rending intelligence was sent over the mountains, which overtook him in about sixty days at the Shawnee Mission.His deceased wife was buried with her little son on June 28th, her funeral sermon being preached by Rev. David Leslie.She was the first white woman to die in Oregon.In August, Mr. Leslie and Mrs. White came to our station at The Dalles on a visit, Mrs. White having her baby with her. On their return, as they were passing down the lower rapids of the Cascades, their canoe was upset.Mr. Leslie laid hold of Mrs. White and throwing his arm over the canoe, while an Indian the same instant seized him by the wrist and, after being carried a mile, they escaped safe to land.Mrs. White's baby boy was found entangled in the baggage but it was dead.Some Indians from the interior, on their way to Fort Vancouver, took Mrs. White and Mr. Leslie into their. canoe and paddled them to Fort Vancouver.During the following winter Daniel Lee stayed at The Dalles station with an American named Anderson, who COLUMBIA RIVER VALLEY 559 had been employed by the Methodist Mission to oversee the Indians in the work of fencing the mission farm, clearing the land and producing crops.During the winter of 1838 Reverend Perkins, with his wife and baby, spent some time at Fort Vancouver, where he preached each Sunday.