Reverend Ezra Fisher (1800 – 1874) was an American Baptist missionary and pioneer from Oregon.[1]

Biography

edit

Ezra Fisher was born in Wendell, Massachusetts on January 6, 1800.[2] He attended Amherst College beginning in 1822, graduating in 1828 after illness delayed his studies.[2] He entered Newton Theological Seminary in 1829.[2] In 1830, he was ordained as a minister and he married the same year.[2] Fisher came to the Oregon Country in 1845, with the Rev. Hezekiah Johnson and their families as employees of the American Baptist Home Mission Society.[3] The Fisher family spent winter in the cabin of fellow Baptist David T. Lenox and his family on the Tualatin Plains.[2] Later, he joined the California Gold Rush and returned to Oregon with about $1,000 in gold.[1] In 1850, he bought Sam Barlow's original land claim near Oregon City.[1] He helped found Oregon City College, a predecessor of Linfield College.[1] Fisher moved to The Dalles in 1861, where he preached and served as the Wasco County school superintendent.[1]

Legacy

edit

Ezra Fisher is one of the 158 names of people important to Oregon's history that are painted in the House and Senate chambers of the Oregon State Capitol.[1] Fisher's name is in the Senate chamber.

See also

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ a b c d e f Cogswell, Jr., Philip (1977). Capitol Names: Individuals Woven Into Oregon's History. Portland, Oregon: Oregon Historical Society. p. 47.
  2. ^ a b c d e Henderson (editor), Sarah Fisher; Latourette (editor), Nellie Edith; Latourette (editor), Kenneth Scott (March–December 1915). "Correspondence of the Reverend Ezra Fisher" . Oregon Historical Quarterly. 16. Oregon Historical Society: 65–104. {{cite journal}}: |last1= has generic name (help)
  3. ^ Mattoon, C.H. (1905). "Baptist Annals of Oregon". Retrieved April 26, 2014.
edit