GOVERNOR GEORGE ABERNETHY
(June 12, 1845-March 3, 1849)
SECTION VII
"O bearded stalwart, westward man,
So tower-like, so Gothic built!
A kingdom won without the guilt
Of studied battle."—Joaquin Miller.
First Provisional Governor of Oregon. An election had been held on June 3, 1845, for governor and other officers, at which time George Abernethy[1] and A. L. Lovejoy were candidates for governor. Mr. Abernethy was elected by a majority of 98 votes in a total of 504 and was inaugurated on the third of the following August. Two years later the same candidates were again before the people for the same office and Governor Abernethy was successful by a plurality of 16 votes in a total of 1807.
Conditions During Abernethy's Administration. Illustrating conditions in that formative period of government, the following in Governor Abernethy's message to the legislature in December 1846, is of special interest: "I regret to be compelled to inform you that the jail located in Oregon City and the property of the Territory, was destroyed by fire
- ↑ George Abernethy was born in New York, Oct. 8, 1807. In 1840, he came to Oregon as a lay member of the Methodist mission and kept a store for a time in Oregon City. He served two terms as Provisional Governor, and died in Portland in 1877.
