Page:The History of Oregon Bancroft 1888.djvu/700

 assigned to Albany, and Simpson to Olympia, which by the lapse of the Puget Sound presbytery, erected in 1858, came again under the care of Oregon. A church was organized at Albany by Monteith, and a private classical school opened, which grew into the Albany collegiate institute under the care of the presbytery, a tract of live acres being donated by Thomas Monteith, one of the town owners, and brother of W. J. Monteith. The citizens erected a substantial building, and in spite of some drawbacks, the institution grew in reputation and means. Reasoner was not called upon to labor for the church, being advanced in years and a farmer. In 1868 H. H. Spalding, whom the congregational association had advised to accept an Indian agency, became a member of the presbytery, but he was not given charge of a church, being broken in mind and body by the tragedy of Waiilatpu. His death occurred at Lapwai, where he was again acting as missionary to the Nez Perces, August 3, 1874, at the age of 73 years. The first presbyterian church of Salem was organized May 20, 1869, with sixteen members. Their church edifice was erected in 1871, at a cost of $6,000. Within the last ten years churches have been organized and houses of worship erected in Roseburg, Jacksonville, and Marshfield in southern Oregon.

All that has been said above of presbyterians relates to the old-school division of that church. There were in Oregon, however, others, under the names of Cumberland presbyterians, associate presbyterians, and associate reformed. In 1851 James P. Millar, of Albany, N. Y., arrived in Oregon as a missionary of one of these latter societies; but finding here 200 members and half a dozen ministers of the two societies, he entered into a scheme to unite them in one, to be known as the United Presbyterian church of Oregon, constituting one presbytery, and being independent of any allegiance to any ecclesiastical control out of Oregon. The men who formed this church were James P. Millar, Thomas S. Kendall, Samuel G. Irvine, Wilson Blain, James Worth, J. M. Dick, and Stephen D. Gager. Or. Statesman, Dec. 18, 1852. In 1858 they founded the Albany academy, with Thomas Kendall, Delazon Smith, Dennis Beach, Edward Geary, Walter Monteith, J. P. Tate, John Smith, James H. Foster, and R. H. Crawford trustees. This school was superseded by the Albany institute in 1867.'' Or. Laws, Special, 1857-8, 9-10; Mess. and Docs, Pub. Instruction'', 1878, 81-2. A college, known as the Sublimity, was created by legislative act in January 1858, to be controlled by the United Brethren in Christ; but whether this was a school of the united presbyterians I am unable to determine.

The pioneer of the Cumberland presbyterians was J. A. Cornwall of Arkansas, who came to Oregon in 1846 by the southern route, as the reader may remember. Cornwall was the only ordained minister until 1851, when two others, Neill Johnson of Illinois, and Joseph Robertson of Tennessee, arrived. By order of the Missouri synod, these ministers met in 1847, at the house of Samuel Allen in Marion county, and formed the Oregon presbytery of the Cumberland presbyterian church, W. A. Sweeney, another minister, being present. Five ruling elders, who had partially organized congregations, were admitted to seats in the presbytery, as follows: John Purvine from Abiqua, Joseph Carmack from La Creole, Jesse C. Henderson from Yamhill, David Allen from Tualatin, and D. M. Keen from Santiam. There were at this time four licentiates in the territory; namely, B. F. Music, John Dillard, William Jolly, and Luther White. The whole number of members in communion was 103.

There was no missionary society to aid them, the ministers being supported by voluntary offerings. But in the spring of 1853 an effort was made to raise funds to found a college under their patronage, and in the following year a building was erected at Eugene City, costing 4,000, with an endowment fund amounting to $20,000. The school was opened in November 1856, under the presidency of E. P. Henderson, a graduate of Waynesville college, Pennsylvania, with fifty-two students. Four days after this auspicious inauguration the college building was destroyed by an incendiary fire. Not to be defeated, however, another house was procured and the school continued,