Oregon and Washington because of the sparsity of population. The school to be established was open to boys of all sects, there was to be no proselyting although the beliefs of the church were to be taught. It also proposed to establish a seminary in connection with this for training ministers and missionaries for Oregon and Washing who would be able to support themselves by their own labors. The tuition should be low, salaries of teachers to be small, living plain and opportunity offered for boys to earn part or all of their board and tuition by working. Money should be raised mostly in the East for purchase of land and the erection of cheap buildings. The report of this committee was cordially approved by the convocation and the committee increased to eleven members[1] for the purpose of bringing the matter to the attention of Episcopalians both here and in the East. This committee never accomplished anything of importance.
By the next year the Missionary Diocese of Oregon and Washington had been created and Bishop Thos. F. Scott had arrived in April to take charge. In his address before the second convocation, held in Portland, June 17, 1854, he brought up the subject of a church school and although he advocated the establishment of such a school, he questioned the advisability of assuming the debts at that time which it would entail. The convocation, however, appointed a committee of three, with the Bishop as chairman, to receive proposals for a suitable location for the proposed Seminary, with lands for the same, and for its endowment by donations; and to report to the next meeting of the convocation.
The next year, Bishop Scott reported an offer of 140 acres of land situated about two miles west of Milwaukie, by two gentlemen[2] interested in the establishment of the
- ↑ This included almost the entire personnel of the Convocation. Some of the most prominent Episcopalians of that period, including the Sellwoods, conspicuous in the early history of Milwaukie and vicinity, were members of the committee. It originally consisted of six men.
- ↑ Referred to in the report of the committee as Messrs. Dickinson and Franklin.
