Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 15.djvu/165

 SAMUEL ROYAL THURSTON

First Delegate to Congress from Oregon Territory. He was elected

June 6, 1849; took his seat in Thirty-first Congress,

beginning December 3. 18-19.

DIARY OF SAMUEL ROYAL THURSTON

INTRODUCTION BY GEORGE H. HIMES.

(This diary was found among Mr. Thurston's effects by his wife, who was living at Oregon City at the time of his death. She gave it and numerous letters which he had received, principally from his constituents in Oregon, to her daughter, Blandina, who became the wife of Alfred W. Stowell. After his wife's death Mr. Stowell agreed to give the diary and letters to the Oregon Historical Society, in due time. Meanwhile he loaned them to Judge J. C. Moreland, Clerk of the Supreme Court of Oregon, in whose possession they were when Mr. Stowell died on Janu- ary 17, 1906, leaving no directions regarding their future dispo- sition. A few years later, after consulting with the heirs of Mr. Stowell, Judge Moreland delivered the valuable historical ma- terial to the Oregon Historical Society.

Mr. Thurston was the first delegate to Congress from Oregon Territory, and was elected on June 6, 1849, receiving 470 votes out of 943 the total vote of the territory. The other candidates received the following votes: Columbia Lancaster, 321 ; James W. Nesmith, 104 ; Joseph L. Meek, 40 ; Rev. John S. Griffin, 8 473. At the date of this election the "Oregon Country" embraced all of the present states of Ore- gon, Washington, Idaho, and the parts of Montana and Wyo- ming west of the summit of the "Rocky or Oregon Mountains,'' as alluded to in Robert Greenhow's map of 1844, to accompany his "History of Oregon and California." Mr. Thurston was born in Monmouth, Kennebec County, Maine, in 1816; was graduated at Bowdoin College in 1843 ; admitted to the bar of Maine in 1844 ; removed to Burlington, Iowa, in 1845 ; prac- ticed law and edited a newspaper there until the spring of 1847 ; crossed the plains that year with his wife and one child, reach- ing Oregon City in October ; began the practice of law at once ; in 1848 removed to Washington County, and was a member of the last legislature of the Provisional Government beginning on December 5, 1848, closing February 16, 1849 ; was delegate in Congress (elected as above noted) and served from Decem- ber 1, 1849, to March 4, 1851 ; died at sea off Acapulco, Mex- ico, April 9, 1851, and was buried at that city. On January 16, 1852, a bill was passed by the legislature of Oregon Terri- tory appointing Adam Van Dusen, of Astoria, William M. King, of Portland, and Dr. William H. Willson, of Salem, a committee to provide for the reinterment of Mr. Thurston's remains in Oregon soil, and appropriating $1,500 to provide for the expense. Early in February, 1853, this committee sent Mr. B. F. McLench, a brother-in-law of Mr. Thurston, to