Chauncey Osborne Hosford (December 27, 1820 – 1911) was an American pioneer and

Methodist mission The Methodist Mission was the Methodist Episcopal Church's 19th-century conversion efforts in the Pacific Northwest. Local Indigenous cultures were introduced to western culture and Christianity. Superintendent Jason Lee was the principal leader f ...

ary in

Oregon Country Oregon Country was a large region of the Pacific Northwest of North America that was subject to a long dispute between the United Kingdom and the United States in the early 19th century. The area, which had been created by the Treaty of 1818, c ...

Biography

He was born in Lexington Heights, New York to the highly religious Willis and Lucia Hosford. Hosford came to Oregon in 1845 with his brother Erwin, and worked for Philip Foster. He later boarded with David Leslie and attended the Oregon Institute. In 1847 Hosford convened the first formal religious gatherings in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populou ...

. Hosford later traveled to

Placerville, California Placerville (, ; formerly Old Dry Diggings, Dry Diggings, and Hangtown) is a city in and the county seat of El Dorado County, California. The population was 10,747 as of the 2020 census, up from 10,389 as of the 2010 census. It is part of the Sa ...

, to search for gold during the California Gold Rush. He made some money, and moved to

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

. He returned to Oregon in 1851, and started the first school in Astoria. Hosford continued ministering in various places in Oregon and

Vancouver, Washington Vancouver is a city on the north bank of the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington, located in Clark County, Washington, Clark County. Incorporated in 1857, Vancouver has a population of 190,915 as of the 2020 Unit ...

, and filed a

land claim A land claim is defined as "the pursuit of recognized territorial ownership by a group or individual". The phrase is usually only used with respect to disputed or unresolved land claims. Some types of land claims include aboriginal land claims, ...

in Marion County. In 1861 Hosford purchased across the top of

Mount Tabor Mount Tabor ( he, הר תבור) (Har Tavor) is located in Lower Galilee, Israel, at the eastern end of the Jezreel Valley, west of the Sea of Galilee. In the Hebrew Bible (Joshua, Judges), Mount Tabor is the site of the Battle of Mount T ...

in East Portland. There is a middle school in southeast Portland named for Hosford. By extension, the Hosford-Abernethy neighborhood (named for the school) also bears his name.

References

19th-century Methodist ministers Oregon clergy Oregon pioneers People from Greene County, New York Clergy from Portland, Oregon Willamette University alumni 1820 births 1911 deaths Schoolteachers from Oregon 19th-century American clergy {{Oregon-bio-stub