Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 19.djvu/12

 2 R. A. BOOTH Christian religion was the all embracing philosophy that en- nobled manhood and gave boundless possibilities to human action. It was natural, therefore, that he should seek his commis- sion from the Church. He received it at the hands of the con- stituted authorities of the Methodist Episcopal Church. His antecedents were Presbyterian but according to the usage of the Methodists he was licensed to exhort by William S. Bow- dish, in 1840, and two years later he was licensed to preach by Aaron Adams, Presiding Elder, and joined the Black River Conference, in the State of New York. On September 27, 1846, he sailed from New York on the Bark Whitton via Cape Horn, for the Columbia River and reached Oregon City June 22, 1847. Then the work of the Methodist Church of the Northwest was under the "Oregon Mission" and George Gary, who was once Presiding Elder in the Black River Conference, was superintendent. The "Oregon and California Mission Conference" was or- ganized at Salem in 1849. Here Wilbur answered the roll call and was elected secretary. The boundaries of this con- ference were co-extensive with the Pacific Coast country but there were few ministers and consequently many points were not occupied. Six men constituted its membership. Two of this number were appointed to work in California and four in Oregon. Of the former was William Taylor, later the naming evangel of South America and Africa. This con- ference appointed Wilbur to Oregon City and Portland. Here he began to make history that stands out prominently among the events of the Oregon Country, for it was his thought, energy and largely his hands that built the first church and the first school in Portland the Taylor Street Methodist Church and the "Portland Academy and Female Seminary." He advocated the needs, solicited the funds, aided in clearing the ground, in hewing the logs and driving the nails that made these buildings possible. The academy was completed November 17, 1851. It was incorporated in 1854 and Wilbur was one of its first trustees. Both of the acad-