Webley John Hauxhurst Jr. (January 23, 1809 – January 23, 1874) was a pioneer in

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 ...

. He helped build the first

grist mill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and Wheat middlings, middlings. The term can refer to either the Mill (grinding), grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist i ...

in Oregon, participated in the

Willamette Cattle Company The Willamette Cattle Company was formed in 1837 by pioneers in the Willamette Valley of present-day Oregon, United States. The company was formed with the express purpose of purchasing cattle in Mexican California. Nearly 750 head of cattle and ...

, and was a participant at the Champoeg meeting where he voted for the creation of a provisional government.

Early life

Hauxhurst was born in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, on January 23, 1809, to

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...

parents.Corning, Howard M. (1989) ''Dictionary of Oregon History''. Binfords & Mort Publishing. p. 109. As a young man he became a sailor, and later deserted his ship while in California. He spent three years there in

Monterey, California Monterey (; es, Monterrey; Ohlone: ) is a city located in Monterey County on the southern edge of Monterey Bay on the U.S. state of California's Central Coast. Founded on June 3, 1770, it functioned as the capital of Alta California under bo ...

working as a carpenter before leaving.

Oregon

Webley John Hauxhurst traveled to Oregon Country in 1834. He came with

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. ...

and

Hall J. Kelley Hall Jackson Kelley (February 24, 1790 – January 20, 1874) was an American settler and writer from New England known for his strong advocacy for settlement by the United States of the Oregon Country in the 1820s and 1830s. A native of New Hamps ...

from California, arriving at

Fort Vancouver Fort Vancouver was a 19th century fur trading post that was the headquarters of the Hudson's Bay Company's Columbia Department, located in the Pacific Northwest. Named for Captain George Vancouver, the fort was located on the northern bank of the ...

on 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, C ...

on October 17. The next year, 1835, he helped to build the first grist mill 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 east, ...

to mill grain. This mill he would later sell to

Thomas McKay Thomas McKay (1 September 1792 – 9 October 1855) was a Canadian businessman who was one of the founders of the city of Ottawa, Ontario. Biography McKay was born in Perth, Scotland and became a skilled stonemason. He emigrated to the C ...

, the stepson of Doctor

John McLoughlin John McLoughlin, baptized Jean-Baptiste McLoughlin, (October 19, 1784 – September 3, 1857) was a French-Canadian, later American, Chief Factor and Superintendent of the Columbia District of the Hudson's Bay Company at Fort Vancouver fro ...

, the

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business div ...

Chief Factor at Fort Vancouver. Hauxhurst was also an investor in the Willamette Cattle Company in 1837 that brought over 600 head of cattle to Oregon from California. Originally, he was also going to accompany the group and help drive the cattle to Oregon, but changed his mind after the ship

Loriot Bernhard-Viktor Christoph-Carl von Bülow (12 November 1923 – 22 August 2011), known as Vicco von Bülow or Loriot (), was a German comedian, humorist, cartoonist, film director, actor and writer. He was best known for his cartoons, the s ...

was delayed in sailing. On Saturday, February 28, 1837, Webley Hauxhurst was married.Lenzen, Connie
Methodist Church Records in Oregon.
Genealogical Research in Oregon. Retrieved on February 26, 2008. The Reverend

Jason Lee Jason Lee may refer to: Entertainment *Jason Lee (actor) (born 1970), American film and TV actor and former professional skateboarder *Jason Scott Lee (born 1966), Asian American film actor * Jaxon Lee (Jason Christopher Lee, born 1968), American v ...

of the

Methodist Mission The Methodist Mission was the Methodist Episcopal Church's 19th-century conversion efforts in the Pacific Northwest. Local Indigenous cultures were introduced to western culture and Christianity. Superintendent Jason Lee was the principal leader fo ...

then located at Mission Bottom married Miss Mary to Webley at the Mission house. Mary was a Native American from the Yamhill tribe. "He married the daughter of Chief Staywich or Staymire, of the Yamhill Indians." Hauxhurst would then become the mission's first white convert. In 1843 in the aftermath of Ewing Young's death in 1841, the settlers of the region began discussions about forming a government as a continuation of the Champoeg Meetings. Then in May of that year, there was large meeting at

Champoeg Champoeg ( , historically Horner, John B. (1919). ''Oregon: Her History, Her Great Men, Her Literature''. The J.K. Gill Co.: Portland. p. 398.) is a former town in the U.S. state of Oregon. Now a ghost town, it was an important settlement in the W ...

on the 2nd where a vote was taken on whether or not to form a government. Hauxhurst participated in this meeting and voted for the creation of 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, a ...

that would last until 1849. In March 1844 he enlisted with the

Oregon Rangers The Oregon Rangers was the first organized militia of the white settlers located in the Willamette Valley in the contested region of the Oregon Country, later the U.S. state of Oregon. First established in 1844, the force was never called out to ...

, a volunteer militia, as part of the Provisional Government's attempt to protect settlers from possible Native American attacks.Brown, J. Henry (1892). ''Political History of Oregon: Provisional Government.'' The Lewis & Dryden Printing Co.: Portland.

Later life

In 1844, Joel Turnham threatened to hurt Hauxhurst and his wife, but was shot and killed by Deputy J. E. Pickernell before any harm could be done to the Hauxhursts. Then in July 1846 the couple was divorced.Kidd, Julie
Early Newspaper Divorce Notices.
Multnomah County, Oregon GenWeb. Retrieved on February 26, 2008. They had 21 children together. After selling the grist mill, he moved to the Mill Creek area of what is now

Salem, Oregon Salem ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of Oregon, and the county seat of Marion County, Oregon, Marion County. It is located in the center of the Willamette Valley alongside the Willamette River, which runs north through the city. The river ...

. While there he helped haul the first circus to Oregon and from 1862 to 1866 moved freight on 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 ...

between

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

and Salem. In Salem he would serve on the board of trustees for

Willamette University Willamette University is a private liberal arts college with locations in Salem and Portland, Oregon. Founded in 1842, it is the oldest college in the Western United States. Originally named the Oregon Institute, the school was an unaffiliated ...

before moving to

Tillamook County Tillamook County is one of the 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, the population was 27,390. The county seat is Tillamook. The county is named for the Tillamook or Killamook people, a Native American tribe who we ...

on the

Oregon Coast The Oregon Coast is a coastal region of the U.S. state of Oregon. It is bordered by the Pacific Ocean to its west and the Oregon Coast Range to the east, and stretches approximately from the California state border in the south to the Columbia ...

.Salem History Online: Historic figures.
Salem Public Library. Retrieved on February 26, 2008. In Tillamook he took up a squatter's land claim on land at the

Bayocean Bayocean was a community in Tillamook County, Oregon, United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists ...

Peninsula and worked as a captain of the vessel ''Champion'', transporting goods between Tillamook and Portland. Webley John Hauxhurst died in 1874, he died on his birthday, January 23.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hauxhurst, Webley John Oregon Country People from Brooklyn 1809 births 1874 deaths Champoeg Meetings Members of the Provisional Government of Oregon People from Salem, Oregon People from Tillamook County, Oregon Oregon pioneers American carpenters

Early life

Oregon

Later life

See also

Further reading

References