About 1841, owing to the death of Ewing Young, intestate, leaving a valuable estate and no heirs, the residents of the Oregon Country in the Willamette Valley saw the necessity of some form of government until the Oregon Question should be finally settled. As under the Conventions of 1818 and 1827 there was joint-occupancy between the United States and Great Britain, the Oregon Country was without any laws in force. It was commonly understood, at that time, that most of the Americans in Oregon favored a provisional organization--one which would exist until the laws of the United States should be extended over the Oregon Country. It was also commonly understood that the British residents in Oregon opposed a provisional government, as it might interfere with their allegiance to Great Britain. As there was a joint-occupancy, and the British were legally on an equality with the Americans, each had equal rights in the matter. February 17 and 18, 1841, a meeting of the inhabitants was held at the Methodist Mission. Although attempts were then made to form a government, several officers were appointed, and a committee appointed for framing a constitution and a code of laws, the movement failed. The matter lay dormant until the spring of 1843. The immigration of 1842, although small, and although about half of them went to California in the spring of 1843, materially increased the strength of the Americans in Oregon. After several preliminary meetings had been held, the momentous meeting of May 2, 1843, was held at Champoeg, when, by the vote of 52 in favor and 50 against, the Provisional Government of Oregon was created. Certain officers were elected and a legislative committee of six was appointed, the latter to report July 5, 1843. On the latter day most of the report was adopted, an executive committee of three persons, David Hill, Alanson Beers, and Joseph Gale, was chosen in place of a governor, and Oregon had at least a _de facto_ government, which, with some changes, continued until Oregon had a Territorial Government, in 1849. George Abernethy, the steward of the Methodist Mission, was elected Governor in 1845, and by re-election continued to be Governor until the arrival of Gen. Joseph Lane, the first Territorial Governor, in March, 1849. The Mission Party was one of the strongest and most influential political parties in Oregon until the election of Governor Joseph Lane as Delegate to Congress, June 2, 1851.[18] At the time of the formation of the Provisional Government, the residents of Oregon seem to have been divided into three classes, or parties: one favored a provisional government, favorable to the United States; another favored an independent government, which would be neutral as between the United States and Great Britain; the third believed that matters should remain _in statu quo_. For some reason Jason Lee and George Abernethy, and some others of the Methodist missionaries, seem originally to have belonged