Kintzing Pritchette (June 24, 1800 – April 12, 1869) was an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

politician. He was primarily a political appointee within the federal government's various departments, which at the time included U.S. territories. He is best known as the last Secretary of the

Michigan Territory The Territory of Michigan was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from June 30, 1805, until January 26, 1837, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Michigan. Detroit ...

(1835–1838), Secretary of the

Oregon Territory The Territory of Oregon was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from August 14, 1848, until February 14, 1859, when the southwestern portion of the territory was admitted to the United States, Union as the Oreg ...

(1849–1850), and serving a two-month term as Governor of the Oregon Territory after the resignation of General

Joseph Lane Joseph Lane (December 14, 1801 – April 19, 1881) was an American politician and soldier. He was a state legislator representing Evansville, Indiana, and then served in the Mexican–American War, becoming a general. President James K. Polk ap ...

. He was appointed to the last two positions by President

James K. Polk James Knox Polk (; November 2, 1795 – June 15, 1849) was the 11th president of the United States, serving from 1845 to 1849. A protégé of Andrew Jackson and a member of the Democratic Party, he was an advocate of Jacksonian democracy and ...

Michigan

In 1835, Pritchette was appointed as the Secretary to the Michigan Territory. He served until 1838, with Michigan becoming a state in 1837, with Pritchette then serving as the first

Secretary of State of Michigan The Michigan Department of State is a principal executive department of the government of Michigan. It is responsible for administering Election, elections, regulating Notary public, notaries public, and maintaining records of statutes and the S ...

Wisconsin Territory

Pritchette purchased the title to the lands of

Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It is the List of municipalities in Wisconsin by population, second-most populous city in the state, with a population of 269,840 at the 2020 Uni ...

, by June 1839 and began offering plots for sale to the public. In October 1839, Pritchette registered the

plat In the United States, a plat ( or ) (plan) is a cadastral map, drawn to scale, showing the divisions of a piece of land. United States General Land Office surveyors drafted township plats of Public Lands Survey System, Public Lands Surveys to ...

of Madison at the registrar's office of the then-territorial

Dane County Dane County is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 561,504, making it the second-most populous county in Wisconsin after Milwaukee County, Wiscon ...

. At the time he platted the city he was residing in Detroit, Michigan. Also in 1839 he owned the American Hotel in Madison, and attempted to sell the establishment through his attorney, Moses M. Strong.

Oregon

Pritchette came to Oregon from

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

and served as Territorial secretary from 1849 to 1850.Corning, Howard M. ''Dictionary of Oregon History''.

Binfords & Mort Publishing Binford & Mort Publishing is a book publishing company located in Hillsboro, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1930, the company was previously known as Metropolitan Press and Binfords & Mort. At one time they were the largest book publisher in th ...

, 1956. He served as acting governor from June 18, 1850, to August 18, 1850. John P. Gaines had been appointed governor, but did not arrive in Oregon until August 18, when he was sworn in.Horner, John B. (1921).
Oregon: Her History, Her Great Men, Her Literature
. The J.K. Gill Co.: Portland. p. 131. In May 1850, judge

Orville C. Pratt Orville Charles Pratt (April 24, 1819 – October 1891) was an American jurist and attorney. He served as the 2nd Associate Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court serving from 1848 to 1852. He wrote the lone dissenting opinion in the controversy over ...

of the

Oregon Supreme Court The Oregon Supreme Court (OSC) is the highest State court (United States), state court in the U.S. state of Oregon. The only court that may reverse or modify a decision of the Oregon Supreme Court is the Supreme Court of the United States.

appointed Pritchette to serve as defense counsel for the Native Americans charged with the

Whitman Massacre The Whitman massacre (also known as the Whitman killings and the Tragedy at Waiilatpu) was the killing of American missionaries Marcus and Narcissa Whitman, along with eleven others, on November 29, 1847. They were killed by a small group of C ...

at their trial in

Oregon City, Oregon Oregon City is the county seat of Clackamas County, Oregon, United States, located on the Willamette River near the southern limits of the Portland metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 37,572. Established in 1829 ...

after the

Cayuse War The Cayuse War (1847–1855) was an armed conflict between the Cayuse people of the Northwestern United States and settlers, backed by the U.S. government. The conflict was triggered by the Whitman massacre of 1847, where the Cayuse attacked a ...

. Shortly after the trial, Pritchette was sworn in as governor. According to the account of U.S. Marshal

Joseph Meek Joseph Lafayette Meek (February 9, 1810 – June 20, 1875) was an American pioneer, mountain man, law enforcement official, and politician in the Oregon Country and later Oregon Territory of the United States. A trapper involved in the fur tr ...

, Pritchette ordered Meek to free the five convicted natives. But Meek refused, on the grounds that former governor Lane had already signed their

death warrant An execution warrant (also called a death warrant or a black warrant) is a writ that authorizes the execution of a condemned person. United States In the United States, either a judicial or executive official designated by law issues an ...

s, and he carried out the executions. Little is known about Pritchette today, as he is mentioned very little in the media reports of his day. No portraits or photographs have been found of him, earning him the distinction of being Oregon's only "faceless governor". Even the spelling of his last name is disputed, with at least four different spellings depending upon the historical document, including "Prichett", "Pritchett", and "Prichette". His first name is also spelled "Kentzing".

Later years and death

After leaving Oregon he went to Washington, D.C. and worked for the

Bureau of Indian Affairs The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), also known as Indian Affairs (IA), is a United States List of United States federal agencies, federal agency within the U.S. Department of the Interior, Department of the Interior. It is responsible for im ...

as an agent. In that capacity, he dealt with the Santee Sioux in the

Iowa Territory The Territory of Iowa was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from July 4, 1838, until December 28, 1846, when the southeastern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the state of Iowa. The remai ...

during the Inkpaduta affair in 1857. Pritchette later served as a United States

Consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states thro ...

Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

Laucala Laucala (pronounced ) is one of a triplet of small islands that lie to the east of Thurston Point on the island of Taveuni in Fiji. The privately owned islands are the site of the Laucala Resort. The total land area of the main island is . It is ...

, where it was said he suffered from

delirium tremens Delirium tremens (DTs; ) is a rapid onset of confusion usually caused by withdrawal from alcohol. When it occurs, it is often three days into the withdrawal symptoms and lasts for two to three days. Physical effects may include shaking, sh ...

. He died aboard the British-flagged brig '' Rona'' en route from Sydney to California via Huaheine in the

Society Islands The Society Islands ( , officially ; ) are an archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean that includes the major islands of Tahiti, Mo'orea, Moorea, Raiatea, Bora Bora and Huahine. Politically, they are part of French Polynesia, an overseas country ...

. He died from what was termed "

congestion of the brain "Congestion of the brain" and "cerebral congestion" were medical terms used before hypertension was understood. The term was first proposed by Dr. von Basch in the nineteenth century and was widely used for the next 150 years, and had a major inf ...

" on April 12, 1869, at the age of 68, and was buried at sea. His personal effects were lost when the ''Rona'' sank on May 2, 1869.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pritchette, Kintzing Governors of Oregon Territory Secretaries of state of Michigan 1800 births Politicians from Detroit Secretaries of state of Oregon 1869 deaths Politicians from Philadelphia 19th-century Michigan politicians 19th-century Oregon politicians