Jason Lee resource page

Jason Lee (1803-1845)

Rev. Jason Lee (1803-1845) was one of the first Methodist missionaries to travel across the United States along the Oregon Trail and settle in Oregon Country. Like all the missionaries who made the long and perilous journey, Lee was determined to convert the Native populations to Christianity. The Methodist Episcopal Church had reason to believe its missionary efforts would be successful in the West; fur trappers and explorers, including Capt. William Clark, had returned with reports that Indians had been curious about the power in “the white man’s book of heaven.” In 1833, Lee, accompanied by his nephew Daniel Lee, was assigned to minister to the Flathead Indians.

Historian Frances Fuller Victor published a description of Lee in her The History of Oregon (1886): “…tall and powerfully built, slightly stooping, and rather slow and awkward in his movements; of light complexion , thin lips closely shut, prominent nose, and rather massive jaws; eyes of superlative spiritualistic blue; high, retreating forehead, carrying mind within; somewhat long hair pushed back, and giving to the not too stern but positively marked features of a slightly Puritanical aspect; and withal a stomach like that of an ostrich, which could digest anything.”