Elijah White

White left the region in 1845 as a messenger for the Provisional Government of Oregon to the United States Congress, returning in 1850 before leaving again for California in the early 1860s.

[1] Others on the ship bound for the mission included William H. Wilson, Alanson Beers, and Miss Anna Maria Pittman who became Lee's first wife.

[1] His infant son Jason drowned in 1838 after a canoe his wife and David Leslie were traveling in flipped over on the Columbia River.

[4][5] Along the journey, some in the migration grew wary of White’s leadership and L. B. Hastings was selected as leader for a time until the party split into two groups.

[3] On September 22, 1842, White organized a meeting at Champoeg where he informed the settlers that he had been commissioned by the United States War Department as a sub-Indian Agent and implied that the pioneers could select him as their leader.

[7] In 1843, White was selected as one of twelve members of the second Wolf Meeting to determine if the settlers wanted to form a government while waiting for the Oregon Question to be resolved.

[9] Elijah White returned to what had become the Oregon Territory in 1850 to promote the community of Pacific City, Washington along the Columbia River.