Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 2.djvu/116

100 out for Oregon in the summer of 1834. Kelley soon returned by sea to Boston, but Young remained, and from that time until his death, in February, 1841, his name has a conspicuous place in the pioneer life of Oregon. He left considerable property, to which there were no legal claimants or known heirs; and as there was no probate court, the administration of the property became a perplexing question. Most of the American settlers were present at the funeral, and after the burial service the discussion turned upon the necessity of civil government, "a new reason for which," says Thornton in his monograph, written for the Pioneer Society of Oregon, "was seen by all in the condition in which the estate of the deceased had been left." So a meeting was organized on the spot. Rev. Jason Lee was again chosen chairman, and Rev. Gustavus Hines was made secretary. To the committee of arrangements named at the previous meeting the name of George W. Le Breton was added; a committee of seven was likewise recommended, whose business it should be to draft a constitution and a code of laws for the settlements south of the Columbia River, and the meeting proceeded to instruct the committee to recommend the following officers, viz.: A governor; a supreme judge, with probate powers; three justices of the peace; three constables; three road commissioners; an attorney-general; a clerk of the courts; a recorder; a treasurer, and two overseers of the poor.

The committee to form a constitution and to draft a code of laws was composed of the following persons, viz.: Rev. F. N. Blanchet, Rev. Jason Lee, Rev. Gustavus Hines, David Donpierre, M. Charlevon, Robert Moore, J. L. Parrish, Etienne Lucier, and William Johnson. It will be seen from these names that there was an attempt at co-operation among the different elements of population then in Oregon. Roman Catholic and Protestant