Joseph Conant Avery (June 9, 1817 – June 16, 1876) was the founder of Corvallis, Oregon. Avery was the first postmaster for the community, and served as 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, ...

and the government of 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 ...

. Avery House (formerly Avery Lodge) at

Oregon State University Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering c ...

was named after him.

Early life

Avery was born in

Tunkhannock, Pennsylvania Tunkhannock is a borough in Wyoming County, Pennsylvania, 31 miles (50 km) northwest of Wilkes-Barre. In the past, lumbering was carried on extensively. Today, many residents are employed by the Procter & Gamble plant in nearby Washington To ...

on June 9, 1817.Corning, Howard M. ''Dictionary of Oregon History''. Binfords & Mort Publishing, 1956. He was educated in

Wilkes-Barre Wilkes-Barre ( or ) is a city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Luzerne County. Located at the center of the Wyoming Valley in Northeastern Pennsylvania, it had a population of 44,328 in the 2020 census. It is the s ...

before moving to

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

in 1839. Avery then married Martha Marsh in 1841 before they immigrated to Oregon Country in 1845.

Oregon

After wintering at Oregon City, the family moved south the next year. Joseph Avery settled at the mouth of Marys River where it flows into 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 ...

in the central part of 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 ...

of what would become the state of

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...

. At that location he operated a ferry across the Willamette and established a farm. In 1848, Avery went to the gold fields of

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

and mined for a brief time before using his gold to purchase mercantile goods. Avery then returned to Oregon where he opened a store on his land claim where he then established a town site. He surveyed and platted the area and named it Marysville in 1850. In 1848, Avery was elected and served in the final session of 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 ...

that began in December. He was elected to 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 ...

in 1850 through 1852, serving as a Whig and representing Benton County.Oregon Legislative Assembly (4th Territorial) 1852 Regular Session.
Oregon State Archives. Retrieved on January 30, 2008. In 1853, Avery was appointed as a postal agent servicing both

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

and Oregon territories. In 1856, Avery returned to the Territorial Legislature as a Democrat.Oregon Legislative Assembly (8th Territorial) 1856 Regular Session.
Oregon State Archives. Retrieved on January 30, 2008. Joseph Avery, the father of 12 children, died on June 16, 1876. He was buried at the Masonic Cemetery in Corvallis.

Naming controversy

After the demise of the ''Expositor'' newspaper at Eola in

Polk County Polk County is the name of twelve counties in the United States, all except two named after president of the United States James Knox Polk: * Polk County, Arkansas * Polk County, Florida * Polk County, Georgia * Polk County, Iowa * Polk Count ...

, Avery acquired the ''Expositors equipment and provided Corvallis with its first printing press. He was later accused of using this press to operate the pro-slavery ''Occidental Messenger''. Although surviving copies of the Occidental Messenger do not identify Avery as the paper's owner and do not indicate that he had control of the paper's editorial content, several contemporary sources identify Avery as the central force behind the Occidental Messenger's publication.Joseph C. Avery profile
averylodgehistoricalreport.pdf. Accessed November 6, 2022. This connection to the pro-slavery movement led to an inquiry in 2017 by

(OSU) about whether to retain the Avery name on a residence hall. OSU decided to re-name the building.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Avery, Joseph C. Members of the Provisional Government of Oregon Members of the Oregon Territorial Legislature 19th-century American politicians 1817 births 1876 deaths People from Tunkhannock, Pennsylvania Oregon pioneers Oregon postmasters Oregon Whigs Oregon Democrats Politicians from Corvallis, Oregon

Early life

Oregon

Naming controversy

See also

References