Oregon Catholic Indian Education History

The Catholic Indian education program was initially supported by a policy decision by the U.S. Department of War in 1819. Then the USDOW was in charge of Indian affairs and they began a Congressionally approved “civilizing fund” of $10K under the below-stated goal, “Such associations or individuals who are already actually engaged in educating the Indians, and who may desire the cooperation of the government will report to the Department of War… In proportion to the means of the government, cooperation will be extended to such institutions as may be approved, as well in erecting their necessary buildings as in … Continue reading Oregon Catholic Indian Education History

Blanchet’s Mission to Vancouver, 1841

Reverend Blanchet traveled to Fort Vancouver after his mission to the Clackamas. In Vancouver, there was much more orderly town life, the chapels in the fort being served by the Anglican priests. Nevertheless, he is likely politely invited to give sermons in the various chapel locations. The Chapels are likely based on the highly segregated populations at the fort, one for the officers, one for the white laborers and one for the Natives who provided the vast majority of labor for the fort, yet most were never allowed to enter the fort and lived instead in the Kanaka village. Blanchet … Continue reading Blanchet’s Mission to Vancouver, 1841

Blanchet’s Mission to the Cascades, 1841

Blanchet’s mission to the Cascades is perhaps his first visit to this location. His interactions with Tamakoun, also later called Tomaquin, are quite revealing of the tribe and its divisions. The notation about villages on the two banks suggests a different leadership and some division in the tribe. Tamakoun does not suggest that the attentions of the Methodists or the Catholics are in any way undesirable only that there is a difference, yet he had become coverted to Catholic by this account. It is in this location that Blanchet’s ethnographic notes really show the tribal culture. His notes about the … Continue reading Blanchet’s Mission to the Cascades, 1841

Blanchet’s Mission at the Walamette Village, 1841

The following is report from a Notice, Notice No. 4, part of a series of reports of the Catholic missionary Francois Norbert Blanchet (September 30, 1795 – June 18, 1883) from 1841 to 1842 about his missionary conversion work among the tribes of the Willamette and Columbia Rivers, in the middle Chinookan area. Blanchet visits the villages at Willamette Falls, Clackamas, Vancouver, and the Cascades from May 1841 to early 1842. Blanchet had arrived in Oregon in 1839 and began holding sermons at St. Paul in the area of French Prairie, the north Willamette Valley. His first visitors would be … Continue reading Blanchet’s Mission at the Walamette Village, 1841

Blanchet’s Missions to the Clackamas, 1841

The following is a Notice, Notice No. 4, part of a series of reports by the Catholic missionary Francois Norbert Blanchet (September 30, 1795 – June 18, 1883) from 1841 to 1842 about his missionary conversion work among the tribes of the Willamette and Columbia Rivers, in the middle Chinookan area. Blanchet visits the villages at Willamette Falls, Clackamas, Vancouver, and the Cascades from May 1841 to early 1842. Blanchet had arrived in Oregon in 1839 and began holding sermons at St. Paul in the area of French Prairie, the north Willamette Valley. His first visitations would be to the … Continue reading Blanchet’s Missions to the Clackamas, 1841