Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 24.djvu/400

368 Frederick V. Holman Indians respectfully called him, in their languages, "Old Whitehead." In 1835 Peter Skene Ogden was made a Chief Factor of the Hudson's Bay Company, and was assigned to the command of New Caledonia, with headquarters at Fort St. James, on Stuart Lake. This post had jurisdiction over all streams drained by the Fraser River. New Caledonia is now a part of British Columbia. In the Spring of 1844 Ogden crossed the Rocky Mountains on his way to England to enjoy a well-deserved one year's leave of absence. In 1845 he made Fort Van- couver his headquarters as Chief Factor, with James Douglas (afterwards Sir James Douglas and Governor of British Columbia), also a Chief Factor at Fort Van- couver. It is said that Ogden and Douglas did not agree in some things. Be that as it may, Ogden spent a large part of his time as the head of fur-gathering parties of the Hudson's Bay Company until the transfer of Douglas to British Columbia in 1849. But Ogden was at Fort Van- couver in December, 1847, when the news of the Whitman massacre reached Fort Vancouver. At that time Ogden was known all over the original Oregon Country, by the Indians as well as by the white people, and had their re- spect and esteem. If Peter Skene Ogden was not a member of the Es- tablished Church of England, he was baptized in that church and he affiliated with that church, which is the English Episcopal Church. His parents were devout members of that church. His funeral and burial services were conducted by Rev. St. Michael Fackler, then Rector of the Episcopal Church at Oregon City. Rev. Mr. Fackler has long since gone to his reward. I have given only a brief summary of the life of Peter Skene Ogden prior to the events immediately succeeding the Whitman massacre in 1847. What I have told you of Peter Skene Ogden shows him to have been a man of