First School; First Fruit Trees
by Julie Crossley
Portland, OR
Our family has ancestors who came to Oregon on wagon trains in 1846- the Luellings and in 1849, the Campbells.
Hector Campbell, my great, great, great grandfather (on another side of the family from the Atheys) came to Oregon with his wife, Olive Soule Campbell on a wagon train in 1849 when he was 56 years old. Their daughter, Mary, had come in 1846 with her husband Alfred Luelling who brought the first fruit trees to Oregon with his father, Henderson Luelling. Hector was a studious man who was fond of books, travel and history. He had taught school in Chester, Massachusetts and between 1838 and 1845 served as a representative from Hampton County to the legislature.
The Campbells took up a donation land claim in Milwaukie where Hector was the first public school teacher. The land for the one-room schoolhouse “in the great pine woods” near the site of today’s Milwaukie city hall, was donated by the Luelling family and the lumber was donated by Lot Whitcomb. The students sat on slabwood benches, greased paper served for windows until the first glass arrived and Hector invited curious Clackamas Indians inside to join them. The current Hector Campbell School in Milwaukie is named after him.
There is a rock monument dated 1847-1947 in downtown Milwaukie in front of city hall honoring the city’s early pioneers and their contributions. Listed on one plaque are Hector Campbell (1849) Education, First School; Lot Whitcomb (1847) and Joseph Kellogg (1849) Saw Mill, Flour Mill, Boat Building. On another plaque, Henderson Luelling and his son Alfred (1847) are honored for bringing 700 grafted fruit trees.
In an effort to gain shipping advantage over Portland and ease transportation on the Willamette, Lot Whitcomb with financial support (investments) from these other civic leaders, launched the Lot Whitcomb side-wheeler steam-powered vessel in 1850. My great, great, great grandmother, Olive, made by hand the flag that flew on the steamer. John Ainsworth was chosen to be the first captain of the Lot Whitcomb and Jacob Kamm was the engineer. The Lot Whitcomb was able to navigate from Astoria up the Columbia River to the Willamette River and the Clackamas Rapids, which had formerly been quite an obstacle to Oregon City.
In June 1850, Hector was elected to represent Clackamas County at the Territorial Legislature. At that time the legislature met in Oregon City, the capitol of the Oregon Territory, which included what is now Washington and Idaho. He was later a member of the Constitutional Convention. He was also chosen Associate Justice of the County Court. About 1858, he was elected Probate Judge of Clackamas County.
