The first Baptists came to the coast in 1843.
The first public prayer meeting held by Baptists on the coast was at the house of David T. Lenox in February, 1844.
The first Baptist church organized on the coast was at West Union, in the house of D. T. Lenox, May 25, 1844.
The first Baptist Sunday School on the coast was at the house of D. T. Lenox, by Henry Sewell, June 9, 1844.
The first resident Baptist minister on the coast was Rev. Vincent Snelling, who came in 1844. He also preached the first sermon in February, 1845.
The first members received by a Baptist church on the coast were Rev. V. Snelling and wife, by letter at West Union, May, 1 0, 1845. The next day the church first commemorated the Lord's Supper.
The first persons on the coast, baptized by a Baptist minister were Mary and Elizabeth Lenox, baptized into the West Union Church, by Rev. Vincent Snelling, in February, 1845.
The first missionaries on the Pacific Coast, sent by the American Baptist Home Mission Society, were Revs. Ezra Fisher and Hezekiah Johnson, who arrived in December, 1845.
The first brother licensed to preach by a Baptist church on the coast was William Higgins; licensed by the Yamhill church in September, 1846.
The first Baptist Association on the coast was the Willamette; organized at West Union, June, 22, 1848.
The first death of a Baptist on the coast was that of James Bond, Jan. 18, 1848.
The first Baptist meetinghouse on the coast was built by Rev. H. Johnson, in 1848.
The Oregon City University was first started by Rev. E. Fisher, as a private school, in 1849. The first formal meeting of Baptists of the N. P. Coast for Educational purposes was in June, 1851. Deacon J. S. Holman, Chairman.
The first Baptist church on the North Pacific Coast organized from the members of another Baptist church on the coast, was the West T Tualatin (Forest Grove) Baptist church, organized from West Union church, May 22, 1852.
The oldest license given by a Baptist church on the N. P. Coast, and held by a Baptist both licensed and ordained on the N. P. Coast, and who is now living in Oregon, is that of C. H. Mattoon, given by the Shiloh church in September, 1853. Rev. C. C. Sperry's license was given the same year, by Pleasant Butte church.
The first public collection for the H. M. Society, of N. Y. was by the West Union church in 1853.
The first Colporteur of the A. B. P. Society for the N. W. Coast, was Rev. R. Cheadle, in 1853.
The first Baptist Ministerial Conference held on the North Pacific Coast was in 1854.
The first Baptist Council to settle a difficulty was held at Shiloh in 1854.
The first Baptist minister to die on the N. P. C. was Rev. Vincent Snelling, in November 1856.
The first Baptist Newspaper published on the N. p. C., was "The Religious Expositor," by C. H. Mattoon, started in May 1856.
McMinnville College was first offered to the Baptists at Soda Springs, by Rev. S. C. Adams, of the "Christian Church:" and accepted by the Central Baptist Association of Oregon in 1857; and first opened with a regular faculty in 1858. Its enrollment the first winter was 178.
The first Baptist minister who was ordained in Oregon, and who is now living in Oregon, and a Baptist, is Rev. C. C. Sperry, ordained by the Pleasant Butte (now Brownsville) Baptist church, in May, 1857.
The first Baptist General Association (also called Convention, etc.) was organized at French Prairie, September 25, 1857. Again organized at Scio in 1868; and at Albany in 1878; both times as the B. C. of the N. P. C.; and finally as the Oregon Baptist State Convention, at McMinnville in 1886.
The first contribution to foreign missions from the N. P. C., was by Mrs. Hughart, of North Palestine church, who in 1856, sent $5 by C. H. Mattoon, through the American Bible Union, of New York, for the Chinese mission. The first remittance sent through the Missionary Union, of Boston, was sent by Rev. G. C. Chandler, from Oregon City, in 1865.
The first nominating committee amongst the Baptists of Oregon, was at the organization of the State Convention in 1868.
The first Sunday School missionary on the N. P. Coast was W. J. Laughary, appointed in 1872.
Sisters were first received as Associational messengers at the Corvallis Association in 1873.
The first Baptist Chinese mission on the N. P. C. was started by the First Baptist Church of Portland, in 1874.
The first Chinese Baptist minister on the N. P. C. Rev. Gong Tyng. (Dong Gong) arrived in 1875.
The first start of the Scandinavian mission on the N. P. C. was by the First Baptist Church of Portland, in 1875.
The first start of the Womens Foreign Mission movement on the N. P. C. was in 1876.
The first German Baptist church organized on the N. P. C. was at Cedar Mills, in 1876. It was afterwards re-organized at Bethany, and name changed.
The first Fair held by a Baptist church on the N. P. C. to raise money for church purposes, was held by the church at Oregon City, in 1876. It netted $13.50, with some articles unsold. ======= [From C. H. Mattoon, Baptist Annals of Oregon, 1844-1900, 1905, pp. 444-445. The title is slightly changed. Provided by Jim Turner, Belfair, WA. Scanned and formatted by Jim Duvall.]
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