A History of Oregon, 1792-1849: Drawn From Personal Observation and Authentic InformationGray, W. H. (William Henry)
History
A History of Oregon, 1792-1849: Drawn From Personal Observation and Authentic Information
Gray, W. H. (William Henry)
Frontier and pioneer life -- Oregon; Oregon Territory -- History
The Misses Ann Maria Pitman, Susan Downing, and Elvira Johnson were also
of this party. The first became the wife of Rev. Jason Lee, the second
of Cyrus Shepard, the third of Rev. H. K. W. Perkins, who came to the
country with the second re-enforcement to the mission, consisting of
Rev. David Leslie, wife, and three daughters; H. K. W. Perkins; and Miss
Margaret Smith, who afterward became the wife of an Englishman called
Dr. Bailey. This gave to the Methodist Mission, on the 21st of November,
1837, Rev. Jason Lee (superintendent of the mission) and wife, Mr. C.
Shepard and wife, Rev. Daniel Lee, Mr. P. L. Edwards, Rev. David Leslie
and wife, Dr. Elijah White and wife, Rev. H. K. W. Perkins and wife, Mr.
A. Beers and wife, Mr. W. H. Wilson, and Miss Margaret Smith,--nine men
and seven women,--with three daughters of Rev. D. Leslie. From causes
already mentioned, the moral strength of these early missionaries was
neutralized. The larger portion of them had no knowledge of the
influences that were sapping the foundation of their Christian effort,
and tending to destroy the confidence of such as were considered ungodly
outsiders. Instead of meeting sin, and vice, and lust which could not be
hid, and condemning and banishing it, the attempt was made to excuse and
cover up a fault in a professed brother, and reprove others for less
faults,--_the mote and the beam_. The legitimate result
followed,--though slow, yet certain. Here was a noble field, had all
the men sent to occupy it been of the right stamp! Still they toiled on,
or rather continued to occupy a place in the country, to form a nucleus
for a settlement. In this position they are entitled to much credit. The
roving sailor and the wild mountain hunter looked to this wilderness for
a home. The shrewdness of these men soon detected the assailable points
in the mission's character, and adapted themselves to circumstances, and
found it easy to profess compliance and receive the benefits of the
association. There were few or none among this early set of missionaries
that displayed much knowledge of human nature. They were totally
ignorant of savage life, manners, and customs; hence were easily made
the dupes of all.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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