Page:Oregon, her history, her great men, her literature.djvu/150

148 Oregon's First Custom House. Gen. John Adair was the first collector of customs for the Oregon District. He was appointed October 9, 1848, and occupied an office

OREGON'S FIRST CUSTOM HOUSE

in a rented building in Upper AtoriaAstoria [sic]. His salary was $1,000 per annum, besides fees and per cent of duties collected. The building was destroyed by fire, and the Government erected the edifice above, this being Oregon's first custom house.

The Baptist Church in Oregon. The first Baptists came to the Pacific coast in 1843; and a Baptist church was organized at West Union, near Hillsboro, May 25, 1844. The first resident Baptist minister on this coast was Rev. Vincent Snelling, who came to Oregon in 1844. The first missionaries on the Pacific Coast, sent by the American Baptist Home Missionary Society, were Rev. Hezekiah Johnson and Rev. Ezra Fisher, who arrived December 1845.