George Abernethy

From 1845 to 1849, George Abernethy served as the first Provisional Governor of the Oregon Country, which extended from the Pacific Ocean to the Rocky Mountains and from California to Northern British Columbia. After arriving in Oregon in 1840 as part of the Methodist Mission at Champoeg, he took part in a series of meetings that ended in the celebrated May 2, 1843, vote to organize a Provisional Government under the United States rather than Great Britain. After serving two terms as Governor, he saw the Provisional Government cease to exist when Oregon became a Territory in 1849. Abernethy's pioneer home stood on the east bank of the Willamette River near the Interstate 205 Bridge, and the bridge across the Willamette one-half mile east of that location was designated by the 1979 Oregon Legislature as the George Abernethy Memorial Bridge in tribute to Oregon's first pioneer Governor.

West Linn, Oregon · United States