Kintzing Prichette (June 24, 1800 – April 12, 1869) was an American politician. He was primarily a political appointee within the federal government's various departments, which at the time included U.S. territories. He is best known as the last Secretary of the

Michigan Territory The Territory of Michigan was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from June 30, 1805, until January 26, 1837, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Michigan. Detroi ...

(1835–1838), Secretary 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. ...

(1849–1850), and serving a two-month term as Governor of the Oregon Territory after the resignation of General

Joseph Lane Joseph "Joe" Lane (December 14, 1801 – April 19, 1881) was an American politician and soldier. He was a state legislator representing Evansville, Indiana, and then served in the Mexican–American War, becoming a general. President James K. P ...

. He was appointed to the last two positions by President

James K. Polk James Knox Polk (November 2, 1795 – June 15, 1849) was the 11th president of the United States, serving from 1845 to 1849. He previously was the 13th speaker of the House of Representatives (1835–1839) and ninth governor of Tennessee (18 ...

Michigan

In 1835, Prichette was appointed as the Secretary to the Michigan Territory. He served until 1838, with Michigan becoming a state in 1837, with Prichette then serving as the first Secretary of State of Michigan.

Wisconsin Territory

Prichette purchased the title to the lands of

Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the county seat of Dane County, Wisconsin, Dane County and the capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census the population was 269,840, making it the second-largest city in Wisconsin b ...

, by June 1839 and began offering plots for sale to the public. In October 1839, Prichett registered the

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 ...

of Madison at the registrar's office of the then-territorial

Dane County Dane County is a county in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census, the population was 561,504, making it the second-most populous county in Wisconsin. The county seat is Madison, which is also the state capital. Dane County is the ...

. At the time he platted the city he was residing in Detroit, Michigan. Also in 1839 he owned the American Hotel in Madison, and attempted to sell the establishment through his attorney,

Moses M. Strong Moses McCure Strong (May 20, 1810July 20, 1894) was an American lawyer, politician, businessman, and Wisconsin pioneer. He was one of the framers of the Constitution of Wisconsin, a member of the territorial legislature, and United States Attor ...

Oregon

Prichette came to Oregon from

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; (Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, Ma ...

and served as Territorial secretary from 1849 to 1850.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 the ...

, 1956. He served as acting governor from June 18, 1850, to August 18, 1850.

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 ...

had been appointed governor, but did not arrive in Oregon until August 18, when he was sworn in.Horner, John B. (1921).
Oregon: Her History, Her Great Men, Her Literature
. The J.K. Gill Co.: Portland. p. 131. In May 1850, judge Orville C. Pratt 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.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, ...

at their trial in

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

after 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 ...

. Shortly after the trial, Prichette was sworn in as governor. According to the account of U.S. Marshall

Joseph Meek Joseph Lafayette "Joe" Meek (February 9, 1810 – June 20, 1875) was a pioneer, mountain man, law enforcement official, and politician in the Oregon Country and later Oregon Territory of the United States. A trapper involved in the fur trad ...

, Prichette ordered Meek to free the five convicted natives. But Meek refused, on the grounds that former governor Lane had already signed their

death warrant An execution warrant (also called death warrant or black warrant) is a writ that authorizes the execution of a condemned person. An execution warrant is not to be confused with a " license to kill", which operates like an arrest warrant but ...

s, and he carried out the executions. Little is known about Prichette today, as he is mentioned very little in the media reports of his day. No portraits or photographs have been found of him, earning him the distinction of being Oregon's only "faceless governor". Even the spelling of his last name is disputed, with at least four different spellings depending upon the historical document, including "Prichett", "Pritchett", and "Pritchette". His first name is also spelled "Kentzing".

Later years and death

After leaving Oregon he went to Washington, D.C. and worked for the Bureau of Indian Affairs as an agent. In that capacity, he dealt with the

Santee Sioux The Dakota (pronounced , Dakota language: ''Dakȟóta/Dakhóta'') are a Native American tribe and First Nations band government in North America. They compose two of the three main subcultures of the Sioux people, and are typically divided into ...

in the

Iowa Territory The Territory of Iowa was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from July 4, 1838, until December 28, 1846, when the southeastern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the state of Iowa. The remain ...

during the Inkpaduta affair in 1857. Prichette later served as a United States

Consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states th ...

to Fiji, and died aboard the British flagged brig ''Rona'' en route from Sydney to California via Huaheine in the

Society Islands The Society Islands (french: Îles de la Société, officially ''Archipel de la Société;'' ty, Tōtaiete mā) are an archipelago located in the South Pacific Ocean. Politically, they are part of French Polynesia, an overseas country of the F ...

. He died from an unknown ailment on April 12, 1869, at the age of 68 and was buried at sea.

References

External links

Governor Kintzing Pritchette's Administration: Biographical Note
from the Oregon State Archives *
Oregon State Archives
{{DEFAULTSORT:Prichette, Kintzing Governors of Oregon Territory Secretaries of State of Michigan 1800 births Politicians from Detroit Secretaries of State of Oregon 1869 deaths Politicians from Philadelphia 19th-century American politicians