Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 16.djvu/94

86 to take his place, and at its close resigned. His work and the hard conditions attending it had told on his strength and he felt the necessity of a less arduous life. Wishing to settle near the center of the Valley within easier reach of the churches most needing ministerial aid, he accepted the pastorate of the Santiam church, located at what is now Sodaville, Oregon. The removal from Oregon City was made in December, 1855, ox teams being provided by members of the Santiam church. They were six days on the road, having stopped over Sunday at Parrish Gap.

The Santiam church numbered at that time about thirty-six members. In a revival conducted by Ezra Fisher and Rev. William Sperry in 1853, there had been fifty additions to the church, but half the membership were dismissed to form what is now the Brownsville church.

In 1856 the Willamette Association met with the Santiam church. The log school house being of insufficient size, the gathering was held in a new barn fitted up for the occasion. Heretofore the Willamette had been the only Baptist Association in the state. That year it was divided into three, the Santiam church, because of its location, going into the Corvallis Association.

Ezra Fisher was a strong anti-slavery man. As time went on he found himself in a church and association whose members were largely from southern states. For the sake of harmony, his policy at first was to say little. But as the slavery question grew larger and Oregon was threatened with admission as a slave state, he felt that it was no time for silence. In public and privately he exerted his influence to the utmost against slavery. When the adoption of a Constitution was before the people, his fight was a valiant one. A well-educated man from Kentucky said that he had met no one since leaving the East who reminded him so much of Henry Clay, and added, "He is as earnest and logical as Henry Clay himself." Few awaited the returns of Nov. 9, 1857, with more anxiety of mind than Ezra Fisher, and none was made more glad by Oregon's decision.