For the past several months one of my curiosities has been the early Christian missionaries in the Oregon Territory. Who were they? When and how did they come? What did they bring with them and what did they do on arrival? How did they get along with each other? Why Oregon?
Summer intern Erik and I had some good times discovering obscure references, learning about the spats among denominations, and wondering what possessed sane people, mostly living in New England, to forsake all to preach the Gospel to the Indians.
It looks like it traces back to the “Second Great Awakening,” a period of religious fervor, primarily in New England, but extending to Europe as well, that gave us Jonathan Edwards and “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” and Joseph Smith and the Mormon religion. Jason Lee was caught up in it, and raised funds and fervor for Oregon. The Read The Article