William Strong (July 15, 1817 – April 10, 1887) was an American attorney and jurist in the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though ...

. He was the 4th justice of the

Oregon Supreme Court The Oregon Supreme Court (OSC) is the highest state court in the U.S. state of Oregon. The only court that may reverse or modify a decision of the Oregon Supreme Court is the Supreme Court of the United States.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. Ori ...

. A native of

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...

, he settled in the

Washington Territory The Territory of Washington was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1853, until November 11, 1889, when the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Washington. It was created from the ...

after it was created in 1853 and served in the legislature of that territory and on the

Washington Supreme Court The Washington Supreme Court is the highest court in the judiciary of the U.S. state of Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the ...

. Later he returned to

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 ...

and settled in

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 ...

Early life

Strong was born on July 15, 1817, in St. Albans, Vermont to Laura Strong and Henry Pierce Strong, a preacher.Strong, Harry
The Adventures of a Pioneer Judge & His Family.
COLUMBIA Magazine: Winter 2002-03. Vol. 16, No. 4. Retrieved on February 1, 2008. He earned his primary education near the town of

Rushville, New York Rushville is a village in Ontario and Yates Counties in the U.S. state of New York. The population was 655 in the 2019 American Community Survey. Most of the Village of Rushville is within the Town of Potter in Yates County and a small part is ...

, before entering

Yale College Yale College is the undergraduate college of Yale University. Founded in 1701, it is the original school of the university. Although other Yale schools were founded as early as 1810, all of Yale was officially known as Yale College until 1887, ...

(now university) at the age of seventeen.Corning, Howard M. ''Dictionary of Oregon History''. Binfords & Mort Publishing, 1956. William graduated from Yale in 1838 and then began teaching while also studying law. At Yale he graduated with honors and then after graduation served as a principal at a school in

Ithaca, New York Ithaca is a city in the Finger Lakes region of New York, United States. Situated on the southern shore of Cayuga Lake, Ithaca is the seat of Tompkins County and the largest community in the Ithaca metropolitan statistical area. It is named a ...

. There in 1840 he married Lucretia Robinson, and the couple would have six children together. Then in 1840 he passed the

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 (u ...

and started practicing law in

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

where the couple remained until 1849.

Political career

In August 1850 William Strong arrived in 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. Ori ...

after being appointed by President Taylor to the

Oregon Supreme Court The Oregon Supreme Court (OSC) is the highest state court in the U.S. state of Oregon. The only court that may reverse or modify a decision of the Oregon Supreme Court is the Supreme Court of the United States.Cape Horn Cape Horn ( es, Cabo de Hornos, ) is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island. Although not the most southerly point of South America (which are the Diego Ramírez ...

on the southern tip of

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

where they transferred to a

sloop-of-war In the 18th century and most of the 19th, a sloop-of-war in the Royal Navy was a warship with a single gun deck that carried up to eighteen guns. The rating system covered all vessels with 20 guns and above; thus, the term ''sloop-of-war'' enc ...

vessel named the Falmouth that delivered them to

Astoria, Oregon Astoria is a port city and the seat of Clatsop County, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1811, Astoria is the oldest city in the state and was the first permanent American settlement west of the Rocky Mountains. The county is the northwest corne ...

on August 13. On the trip were also Strong's wife and two children, the new secretary for the territory

Edward D. Hamilton Edward D. Hamilton (October 3, 1801 – December 10 or 12, 1883) was an American attorney, military officer, and politician in what became the state of Oregon. A native of Virginia, he lived in Ohio before fighting in the Mexican-American War ...

, and the new governor

John P. Gaines John Pollard Gaines (September 22, 1795 – December 9, 1857) was a U.S. military and political figure. He was a Whig member of the United States House of Representatives, representing Kentucky from 1847 to 1849, and he served as Governor of ...

, but Strong' oldest son Frederick died after contracting

Yellow Fever Yellow fever is a viral disease of typically short duration. In most cases, symptoms include fever, chills, loss of appetite, nausea, muscle pains – particularly in the back – and headaches. Symptoms typically improve within five days. In ...

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

. The Strong family would then settle on a farm in Cathlamet 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 ...

where William would file a land claim under the

Donation Land Claim Act The Donation Land Claim Act of 1850, sometimes known as the Donation Land Act, was a statute enacted by the United States Congress in late 1850, intended to promote homestead settlements in the Oregon Territory. It followed the Distribution-Preem ...

on September 27. Once in Oregon, Strong served on the supreme court from 1850 to 1853.Oregon Blue Book: Elections Process and History.
Oregon Secretary of State. Retrieved on February 1, 2008. His assigned district was the third, which covers all of modern

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 ...

state where he served as a circuit riding trial level judge and as an appeals level justice. He replaced

Peter H. Burnett Peter Hardeman Burnett (November 15, 1807May 17, 1895) was an American politician who served as the first elected California interim government, 1846–1850#Interim governors, Governor of California from December 20, 1849, to January 9, 1851. Bur ...

who had served under 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 f ...

, but declined to serve on the territorial court. Strong's first trial was held on November 12, 1850, in Lewis County near present-day

Chehalis, Washington Chehalis ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lewis County, Washington. The population was 7,439 at the time of the 2020 census. Incorporated in 1883, Chehalis was primarily a logging and railroad town, with a shift towards farming in the m ...

at the home of John Jackson. His brother James served as William's court clerk while riding circuit. His annual salary for his services was $2,000.Court History.
Clark County. Retrieved on February 1, 2008. In 1853, when

was formed out of the northern portion of the Oregon Territory, Strong became the sole judge in the territory until his term ended in November. That November he left the bench and returned to farming at Cathlamet. William Strong then served as a surveyor of a large section of land in the territory. Next on February 27, 1854, Washington Territory Governor

Isaac Stevens Isaac Ingalls Stevens (March 25, 1818 – September 1, 1862) was an American military officer and politician who served as governor of the Territory of Washington from 1853 to 1857, and later as its delegate to the United States House of Represen ...

appointed Strong, along with Edward Lander and Victor Monroe, to help write the new territory's laws. After this Stevens then asked Strong to serve as his legal adviser. Next, 1855 when war with the Native Americans broke out he joined the militia and was assigned to

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 ...

as a commander of a company of

cavalry Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from "cheval" meaning "horse") are soldiers or warriors who fight mounted on horseback. Cavalry were the most mobile of the combat arms, operating as light cavalry ...

. While in command he and his troops were ordered out to return the Cowlitz tribe to the protection of the fort, as the tribe was sequestered at the fort to protect them from possible white violence during the

Yakima Wars The Yakima War (1855–1858), also referred to as the Yakima Native American War of 1855 or the Plateau War, was a conflict between the United States and the Yakama, a Sahaptian-speaking people of the Northwest Plateau, then part of Washington T ...

. The Cowlitz had fled after fearing an American attack after a false rumor had spread that the Cowlitz were preparing to attack American settlements. Strong was able to negotiate with the tribe and bring them back, but his men fired shots in the air in celebration that was misconstrued by nearby listeners as an actual engagement. This incident is how

Battle Ground, Washington Battle Ground is a city in Clark County, Washington, United States. The population was 20,743 at the 2020 census. Between 2000 and 2005, Battle Ground ranked fourth in the state for population growth, out of 279 eligible incorporated communitie ...

received its name. In 1856, Strong was elected to the territorial

Washington House of Representatives The Washington House of Representatives is the lower house of the Washington State Legislature, and along with the Washington State Senate makes up the legislature of the U.S. state of Washington. It is composed of 98 Representatives from 49 ...

as a Democrat, as the Whig Party he had previously been associated with was no longer a relevant political entity. Scott, H.W. History of Portland, Oregon: with illustrations and biographical sketches of prominent citizens and pioneers. D. Mason & Co., 1890. While in the house he represented Wahkiakum County and made an unsuccessful bid for Congress. Strong served in the territorial legislature until 1858 when he was appointed to the

, serving until 1861. President

James Buchanan James Buchanan Jr. ( ; April 23, 1791June 1, 1868) was an American lawyer, diplomat and politician who served as the 15th president of the United States from 1857 to 1861. He previously served as secretary of state from 1845 to 1849 and repr ...

appointed him to the post on the high court of the

Personal life

On the farm at Cathlamet the family built a log cabin in early 1851, and then a frame house that was completed in March 1853. At the farm Judge Strong purchased a Native American girl named Wahkeenah as a slave to assist his wife with household tasks. Once retired from public service, in December 1862 the Strong family moved to

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 co ...

where William returned to private law practice. There he served as general counsel for the

Oregon Steam Navigation Company The Oregon Steam Navigation Company (O.S.N.) was an American company Incorporation (business), incorporated in 1860 in Washington (U.S. state), Washington with partners J. S. Ruckle, Henry Olmstead, and J. O. Van Bergen. It was incorporated in Was ...

until 1879 when the company was sold. Then in 1883 he retired from the legal profession. Eventually his sons took over his legal practice and William Strong died on April 10, 1887, in Portland.

References

External links

The Creation of Washington Territory
{{DEFAULTSORT:Strong, William 1817 births 1887 deaths People from Franklin County, Vermont Justices of the Oregon Supreme Court Members of the Washington Territorial Legislature 19th-century American politicians Justices of the Washington Supreme Court Yale University alumni Lawyers from Portland, Oregon People from Rushville, New York People from Cathlamet, Washington 19th-century American judges 19th-century American lawyers