Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 25.djvu/121

Rh and the disappearance of all but one of the Episcopal schools.

The first effort of a member of the Episcopal Church to establish a school in Oregon came in 1852. In March, 1851, Rev. William Richmond set out from New York by way of Panama as a missionary to Oregon. He arrived in Portland in May of that year and a short time later took up a claim about eight miles northwest of the town of Yamhill. The next year he wrote the following to the "Spirit of Missions": On Tuesday I returned to my mountain cabin, found Mrs. Richmond well, and her school room, which she had commenced before I left home, covered in. The rest of the week was spent in labor on the school room. All the timber except the boards for the floor, was procured from our own claim, the cedar shingles made, the fir trees cut and split for boards, etc. Of course, it is a rude building, 16 by 16, forming our cabin. It will probably cost about $200, and I am in great want of assistance in paying for it. On Monday, the 16th of March, Mrs. Richmond commenced her school, six scholars being present." No information is available which indicates just how long this school continued, but it could not have been for many months. It has been claimed that Rev. Richmond founded this school in what is now Portland, but the above quotation would indicate that it was located on the claim in Yamhill county.

In 1853, before Oregon had been organized as a Missionary Diocese and when there were only three parshies in this district, a convocation was held at St. Paul's Parish at Oregon City on August 2, with not over a dozen delegates present. At this meeting a committee of six was appointed to consider and report on the subject of establishing a "Seminary comprising religion and learning, to be under the patronage of the church." This committee made a long report in which it emphasized the lack of moral and religious training in the public schools and the particular need for a church boarding school for boys in