The Pioneer
Editor's Note.—This department was formerly called the "Native Son," the name of the magazine absorbed by the Pacific Monthly in May, 1901, "The Pioneer," it is believed, is a more suggestive and inclusive title: but the purpose of the department—now, as then—is to record all masters of interest to the "Native Sons" and "Native Daughters," and, in general, to nurture an interest in the early history of the Pacific Northwest, without regard for any boundary line. To this end, will be chronicled historical data and incidents, legends and traditions, and the lives and experiences of those noble men and women, "The Pioneers."
First Picture-Taking in The Northwest—
The history of picture-taking in the Northwest country is, in general, parallel with other parts of the country. In 1853 daguerrotyping was introduced and used until 1859, when the ambrotype came into use. In the former method the impression was taken on a copper plate, only one likeness resulting from one exposure. In the second, glass was substituted, the picture resembling a modern photographic negative. Sometimes the picture was transferred to oilcloth or leather, but the use of sensitized paper was unknown.
Soon after, tintypes were made, though originally sheet iron was used for the purpose.
About this time photography was introduced, it being merely a great improvement on ambrotyping. The pioneer photographer of the Northwest was D. H. Hendee. He introduced the various methods as they were discovered, and among his subjects were Dr. McLoughlin, General Leane, Colonel Joe Meek and Judge Olney. For three ambrotypes taken of Judge Olney he received one of the fifty-dollar slugs in use at that time.
It may be said, by way of explanation, that these slugs were — like the beaver money — a sort of special mintage, known only on the Pacific Coast. They were not uncommon in those years, though now they exist only in museums or in numismatic collections. They were of two kinds, round and octagonal, the latter being the variety received, by Mr. Hendee.
In Southern Oregon, P. F. Castleman was the pioneer, and for years the only, photographer.
First Marriage in Oregon—
On July 16, 1837, occurred the first marriage service solemnized by the settlers west of the Rocky Mountains. It was a double wedding, the contracting parties being the Rev. Jason Lee and Miss Anna M. Pitman, and Mr. Cyrus Shepherd and Miss Susan Downing.
The matrimonial rites were celebrated in a grove of fir trees in front of the old Methodist Mission, situated about ten miles below the present site of Salem. Here were gathered for religious worship most of the pioneer families of the Willamette Valley, forming a large and interested audience to the impressive ceremony.
The grooms had crossed the continent by means of "prairie schooners," but the brides reached the new country by the circuitous but far safer route by water, via Panama. The Rev. Daniel Lee officiated, and after the uniting of the two couples mentioned above, he married Miss Nancy McKay, a Calipooia Indian maiden, to Charles J. Roe., a white man.
