Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 3.djvu/352

342 appointed superintendent of Indian affairs for Oregon and Washington, and held that position two years; in 1860 he was a candidate for presidential elector on the Douglas democratic ticket; that fall he was elected United States senator; in 1873 he was elected a member of Congress. He filled every position with conspicuous ability. He died June 17, 1885.

John P. Brooks taught the first school of any kind in Oregon City, under the patronage of the late Sidney W. Moss, in the year 1844–45; when he came to Oregon is not known. In the late forties and early fifties he was in business at Oregon City. He died many years ago, date unknown.

George Abernethy was at the head of the Provisional Government. He was born in New York in 1807, and came to Oregon in 1840. He had much to do with large milling and mercantile enterprises, and died in 1877.

Robert Newell was a typical "mountain man," and spent many years of his early life on the frontier in trapping. He was born at Zanesville, Ohio, in 1807. He came to Oregon in 1840 and brought a wagon from Fort Hall to Doctor Whitman's mission—the first to arrive there, and he brought it on to the Willamette Valley, making it the first wagon in Western Oregon. He was at Champoeg on May 2, 1843, and voted for civil government. He died at Lewiston, Idaho, in 1869.

John H. Couch was born at Newburyport, Massachusetts, February 21, 1811. In 1840 be [sic] brought the brig Maryland into the Columbia River, and up the Willamette to Oregon City. He made a second trip to the Columbia in 1843, and soon after engaged in the mercantile business at Oregon City. In 1845 he located a donation land claim near the then townsite of Portland, all of which was included within the corporate limits of that city many years ago. He was the treasurer of the Provisional Government,