Asa Lawrence Lovejoy (March 14, 1808 – September 10, 1882) was an American pioneer and politician in the region that would become the U.S. state of

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

. He is best remembered as a founder of the city of

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous ...

. He was an attorney in Boston, Massachusetts before traveling by land to Oregon; he was a legislator in the

Provisional Government of Oregon The Provisional Government of Oregon was a popularly elected settler government created in the Oregon Country, in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. Its formation had been advanced at the Champoeg Meetings since February 17, 1841, ...

, mayor of

Oregon City ) , image_skyline = McLoughlin House.jpg , imagesize = , image_caption = The McLoughlin House, est. 1845 , image_flag = , image_seal = Oregon City seal.png , image_map ...

, and a general during the

Cayuse War The Cayuse War was an armed conflict that took place in the Northwestern United States from 1847 to 1855 between the Cayuse people of the region and the United States Government and local American settlers. Caused in part by the influx of disease ...

that followed the

Whitman massacre The Whitman massacre (also known as the Walla Walla massacre and referred to as the Tragedy at Waiilatpu by the National Park Service) was the killing of the Washington missionaries Marcus Whitman and his wife Narcissa, along with eleven others ...

in 1847. He was also a candidate for Provisional Governor in 1847, before the

Oregon Territory The Territory of Oregon was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from August 14, 1848, until February 14, 1859, when the southwestern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Oregon. O ...

was founded, but lost that election. Lovejoy continued his political career during territorial period as a member of both chambers of the

Oregon Territorial Legislature Oregon's Territorial Legislature was a bicameral legislative body created by the United States Congress in 1848 as the legislative branch of the government of the Oregon Territory. The upper chamber Council and lower chamber House of Representati ...

; he served as the first Speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives in 1849. He was also a delegate to the Oregon Constitutional Convention held in 1857 that paved the way for Oregon's entry into the Union. He was part owner of the ''Oregon Telegraph'' newspaper, and worked on railroad development in the

Willamette Valley The Willamette Valley ( ) is a long valley in Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. The Willamette River flows the entire length of the valley and is surrounded by mountains on three sides: the Cascade Range to the eas ...

after leaving politics.Lovejoy Fountain Park.
Portland Parks & Recreation. Retrieved on September 28, 2007. Lovejoy Street in

Northwest Portland Northwest Portland is one of the sextants of Portland, Oregon, United States. Northwest Portland includes the Pearl District, most of Old Town Chinatown, the Northwest District, and various residential and industrial neighborhoods. A range of ...

and the Lovejoy Fountain in

Downtown Portland Downtown Portland is the city center of Portland, Oregon, United States. It is on the west bank of the Willamette River in the northeastern corner of the southwest section of the city and where most of the city's high-rise buildings are found ...

are named in his honor.

Early life

Lovejoy was born in

Groton, Massachusetts Groton is a town in northwestern Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, within the Greater Boston metropolitan area. The population was 11,315 at the 2020 census. It is home to two prep schools: Lawrence Academy at Groton, founded in 1 ...

, on March 14, 1808.Biographical Sketch of Asa Lovejoy.
Oregon State Archives. 2009. Retrieved on June 20, 2016. His parents were Betsy Lovejoy (née Lawrence) and Doctor Samuel Lovejoy.Corning, Howard M. ''Dictionary of Oregon History''.

Binfords & Mort Publishing Binford & Mort Publishing is a book publishing company located in Hillsboro, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1930, the company was previously known as Metropolitan Press and Binfords & Mort. At one time they were the largest book publisher in th ...

, 1956. In the Eastern United States, he attended college at both

Cambridge College Cambridge College is a private college based in Boston, Massachusetts. It also operates regional centers in Lawrence, Massachusetts, Springfield, Massachusetts, Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, and Rancho Cucamonga, California. History Founding Cam ...

and

Amherst College Amherst College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts. Founded in 1821 as an attempt to relocate Williams College by its then-president Zephaniah Swift Moore, Amherst is the third oldest institution of higher educati ...

, before studying law and passing the

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and nor ...

bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar ( ...

to become an attorney. After leaving BostonFrom Robin's Nest to Stumptown.
End of the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center. Retrieved on September 28, 2007. he moved west to

Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...

, but left the bottom lands of that state for the unorganized

Oregon Country Oregon Country was a large region of the Pacific Northwest of North America that was subject to a long dispute between the United Kingdom and the United States in the early 19th century. The area, which had been created by the Treaty of 1818, co ...

due to poor health.Flora, Stephenie
Emigrants to Oregon in 1842.
Oregon Pioneers. Retrieved on September 28, 2007.

Oregon Country

Lovejoy first traveled to the

in 1842 over the

Oregon Trail The Oregon Trail was a east–west, large-wheeled wagon route and emigrant trail in the United States that connected the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon. The eastern part of the Oregon Trail spanned part of what is now the state of Kans ...

. He was part of a wagon train led by

Elijah White Dr. Elijah White (1806–1879) was a missionary and agent for the United States government in Oregon Country during the mid-19th century. A trained physician from New York State, he first traveled to Oregon as part of the Methodist Mission in th ...

that arrived at the

Whitman Mission Whitman Mission National Historic Site is a United States National Historic Site located just west of Walla Walla, Washington, at the site of the former Whitman Mission at Waiilatpu. On November 29, 1847, Dr. Marcus Whitman, his wife Narcissa ...

in what is now eastern Washington State. During this trip he was briefly held captive with another immigrant by Native Americans before arriving at the Whitman's. At the mission, Lovejoy agreed to join

Marcus Whitman Marcus Whitman (September 4, 1802 – November 29, 1847) was an American physician and missionary. In 1836, Marcus Whitman led an overland party by wagon to the West. He and his wife, Narcissa, along with Reverend Henry Spalding and his wife, E ...

on a trip to return east during the winter. Lovejoy returned to Oregon in 1843, as part of the Great Migration that helped open up the Oregon Trail to large migrations, settling in the

. Upon returning to the region, Lovejoy set up a law practice in

Oregon City ) , image_skyline = McLoughlin House.jpg , imagesize = , image_caption = The McLoughlin House, est. 1845 , image_flag = , image_seal = Oregon City seal.png , image_map ...

, the seat of government during the

Provisional Government A provisional government, also called an interim government, an emergency government, or a transitional government, is an emergency governmental authority set up to manage a political transition generally in the cases of a newly formed state or ...

period.

Portland

In 1843, Lovejoy and traveling companion William Overton split a claim to a tract along the

Willamette River The Willamette River ( ) is a major tributary of the Columbia River, accounting for 12 to 15 percent of the Columbia's flow. The Willamette's main stem is long, lying entirely in northwestern Oregon in the United States. Flowing northward b ...

.OHP Glossary Asa Lovejoy.
The Oregon History Project. Retrieved on September 28, 2007. This site would later become part of

downtown Portland Downtown Portland is the city center of Portland, Oregon, United States. It is on the west bank of the Willamette River in the northeastern corner of the southwest section of the city and where most of the city's high-rise buildings are found ...

. Overton held the land, as Lovejoy settled elsewhere. Overton soon sold his share to

Francis Pettygrove Francis William Pettygrove (1812 – October 5, 1887) was a pioneer and one of the founders of the cities of Portland, Oregon, and Port Townsend, Washington. Born in Maine, he re-located to the Oregon Country in 1843 to establish a store in O ...

and Lovejoy and Pettygrove held their famous

coin toss A coin is a small, flat (usually depending on the country or value), round piece of metal or plastic used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in order to ...

in 1845 to decide the name of the city which was being platted on the claim. Each desired to name the area after his hometown. Pettygrove, from

Portland, Maine Portland is the largest city in the U.S. state of Maine and the seat of Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 in April 2020. The Greater Portland metropolitan area is home to over half a million people, the 104th-largest metropo ...

, won the toss, and the town site became known as Portland, Oregon. The two would

plat In the United States, a plat ( or ) (plan) is a cadastral map, drawn to scale, showing the divisions of a piece of land. United States General Land Office surveyors drafted township plats of Public Lands Surveys to show the distance and bea ...

sixteen blocks of the town that year; Lovejoy later sold his stake to

Benjamin Stark Benjamin Stark (June 26, 1820October 10, 1898) was an American merchant and politician in Oregon. A native of Louisiana, he purchased some of the original tracts of land for the city of Portland. He later served in the Oregon House of Representat ...

in 1845. Also in 1845, Lovejoy married Elizabeth McGary. They would have five children: William, Amos, Ada, Elizabeth, and Nellie. In 1846, he was the last administrator of the

Ewing Young Ewing Young (1799-February 9, 1841) was an American fur trapper and trader from Tennessee who traveled in what was then the northern Mexico frontier territories of Santa Fe de Nuevo México and Alta California before settling in the Oregon Country. ...

estate, whose death had precipitated the formation of the Provisional Government of Oregon.Turnbull, George Stanley. ''History of Oregon Newspapers''. Binfords & Mort: Portland, Or. (1939). p. 36.

Political career

In 1844, Asa Lovejoy was elected to the

Provisional Legislature of Oregon The Provisional Legislature of Oregon was the single-chamber legislative body of the Provisional Government of Oregon. It served the Oregon Country of the Pacific Northwest of North America from 1843 until early 1849 at a time when no country had ...

to represent Clackamas District.Oregon Legislators and Staff Guide, 1844 Meetings (3rd Pre-Provisional).
Oregon State Archives. Retrieved on June 20, 2016. Lovejoy ran for the newly created office of governor that replaced the

Executive Committee A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more ...

in 1845 with the adoption of the Second

Organic Laws of Oregon The Organic Laws of Oregon were two sets of legislation passed in the 1840s by a group of primarily American settlers based in the Willamette Valley. These laws were drafted after the Champoeg Meetings and created the structure of a government in ...

.Carey, Charles Henry. (1922). ''History of Oregon''. Pioneer Historical Publishing Co. pp. 393-394.

George Abernethy George Abernethy (October 7, 1807 – March 2, 1877) was an American politician, pioneer, notable entrepreneur, and first governor of Oregon under the provisional government based in the Willamette Valley, an area later a part of the American sta ...

won the election after he received the most votes with 228, followed by Osbourne Russell with 130, William J. Bailey with 75, and finally Lovejoy with 71 votes. Though he lost the election for governor, he was elected as mayor of Oregon City that year. Lovejoy returned to the legislature in 1846 and served as Speaker of the body.Oregon Legislative Assembly (2nd Provisional) 1846 Regular Session.
Oregon State Archives. Retrieved on June 20, 2016. In 1847, Lovejoy ran against Abernethy for governor a second time.Lyman, Horace S. (1903) ''History of Oregon: The Growth of an American State''. North Pacific Publishing Society, New York. Vol. III. p. 438. Lovejoy lost the election 536 to 520. From 1847 to 1848, he served as adjunct general during the

, the war resulting from the

Whitman Massacre The Whitman massacre (also known as the Walla Walla massacre and referred to as the Tragedy at Waiilatpu by the National Park Service) was the killing of the Washington missionaries Marcus Whitman and his wife Narcissa, along with eleven others ...

. Lovejoy was elected in 1848 to what would be the final session of the Provisional Legislature, which was held in late 1848 into early 1849. However, Lovejoy now representing Vancouver District north of the

Columbia River The Columbia River ( Upper Chinook: ' or '; Sahaptin: ''Nch’i-Wàna'' or ''Nchi wana''; Sinixt dialect'' '') is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia ...

resigned before the session started.Oregon Legislative Assembly (4th Provisional) 1848-1849 Regular Session.
Oregon State Archives. Retrieved on June 20, 2016. In September 1848, he traveled with a group to California during the

California Gold Rush The California Gold Rush (1848–1855) was a gold rush that began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California f ...

, but returned aboard the brig ''Undine'' in January 1849 after six weeks in California. During the same session he resigned from, he was selected by the Provisional Legislature as Supreme Judge of the government on February 16, 1849, but never served and the

Provisional government A provisional government, also called an interim government, an emergency government, or a transitional government, is an emergency governmental authority set up to manage a political transition generally in the cases of a newly formed state or ...

was dissolved the following month with the arrival of the territorial government. Once the government of the

arrived in March 1849, a new legislature with two chambers was established. Lovejoy was elected to the first session of this legislature, first serving in the lower chamber Oregon House of Representatives.Oregon Legislative Assembly (1st Territorial) 1849 Regular Session.
Oregon State Archives. Retrieved on June 20, 2016. Representing Clackamas District again, he also became the first Speaker of the

. In 1851, he returned to the legislature, serving in the upper chamber Council. The following year, he remained in the Council, but now elected as a Whig Party politician. In 1854, he was back in the House of Representatives, and in 1856 he served in one final session, now as a Democratic Party member. In 1857, Lovejoy represented

Clackamas County Clackamas County is one of the 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, the population was 421,401, making it Oregon's third-most populous county. Its county seat is Oregon City. The county was named after the Nati ...

at the Oregon Constitutional Convention in Salem. The convention created the

Oregon Constitution The Oregon Constitution is the governing document of the U.S. state of Oregon, originally enacted in 1857. As amended the current state constitution contains eighteen sections, beginning with a bill of rights.

in preparation for the territory becoming a U.S. state. Lovejoy, still a Democrat, served as the chairperson of the boundaries committee and also served on the committee responsible for matters concerning the legislature. The convention finished on September 18, 1857, and submitted the finished document to a vote of the public on November 9. This vote approved the Constitution and on February 14, 1859, Oregon entered the Union as the 33rd state.

Later life and legacy

thumb The thumb is the first digit of the hand, next to the index finger. When a person is standing in the medical anatomical position (where the palm is facing to the front), the thumb is the outermost digit. The Medical Latin English noun for thumb ...

In his later years he was involved in a variety of business ventures in Oregon, including as a major shareholder in the ''Oregon Telegraph'' newspaper and vice-president of the Willamette Steam Navigation Company. Lovejoy died on September 10, 1882, at the age of 74 and was buried in the

Masonic Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

section at

Lone Fir Cemetery Lone Fir Cemetery in the southeast section of Portland, Oregon, United States is a cemetery owned and maintained by Metro, a regional government entity. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the first burial was in 1846 with the cem ...

in Portland.Some Interesting Burial Facts.
Lone Fir Cemetery. Retrieved on January 15, 2008. Lovejoy Street in Portland is named after him, and the character

Reverend Timothy Lovejoy Reverend Timothy "Tim" Lovejoy, Jr. is a recurring character in the animated television series ''The Simpsons''. He is voiced by Harry Shearer, and first appeared in the episode "The Telltale Head". Rev. Lovejoy is the minister at The First Ch ...

in ''

The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, ...

'' is named after this street.Levy, Shawn. Matt Groening: On what's so funny about Portland. ''

The Oregonian ''The Oregonian'' is a daily newspaper based in Portland, Oregon, United States, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the U.S. west coast, founded as a weekly by Thomas J. Dryer on December 4, 18 ...

'', September 3, 1999. The fountain at Lovejoy Fountain Park in downtown Portland is named in his honor.

References