Atkinson, G. H. (George Henry), 1819-1889

George H. Atkinson, a Congregational minister in the Pacific Northwest, graduated from Dartmouth College in 1843 and from Andover Theological Seminary in 1846. Unable to accept an appointment to a mission in Africa because he had not yet been ordained, he sailed to Oregon by way of Hawaii with his wife, arriving in 1848. Atkinson originally settled in Oregon City. He prepared the first public school law in Oregon and helped plan for the forming of Pacific University. In 1963, he became pastor of a Portland church and also held many church offices. He was a trustee of Pacific University.

From the description of Papers of G. H. Atkinson, 1841-1887. (Huntington Library, Art Collections & Botanical Gardens). WorldCat record id: 122510195

Atkinson was a missionary, educator, scientist, and publicist, and is considered the father of Oregon's public school system.

From the guide to the Ascent of Mount Hood : September 4, 1866, circa 1866-1889, (Oregon Historical Society Research Library)

George Henry Atkinson was an educator, scientist, and publicist, who played a key role in establishing Oregon's public school system. Born in Newburyport, Massachusetts in 1819, he was educated at Dartmouth College and Andover Theological Seminary. He and his wife Nancy Bates Atkinson came to Oregon via Hawaii as Congregational missionaries in 1848. Serving at first as pastor of the Congregational Church in Oregon City, Atkinson founded Clackamas Female Seminary and later Tualatin Academy, which became Pacific University in Forest Grove. He was instrumental in the establishment of a public school system for the new Oregon Territory, and went on to serve as school superintendent for both Clackamas and Multnomah Counties. He moved to Portland in 1865 and became the pastor of the First Congregational Church there. After leaving this post in 1872 he returned to missionary work and was appointed Superintendent of Missions of Congregational Churches of Oregon and Washington Territory. He continued as head of the Oregon superintendency after 1885.

Among the family of Nancy Bates Atkinson was her sister Lydia, who married the missionary Reverend Lewis Grout, a classmate of George H. Atkinson at Andover Theological Seminary. The Grouts were assigned to a Zulu mission in Natal, South Africa and sailed from Boston in 1846.

From the guide to the George H. Atkinson papers, 1814-1953, 1847-1878, (Oregon Historical Society)

George Henry Atkinson was an early Oregon missionary and educator who founded Pacific University. He was also involved in the creation of the public school system in Oregon.

Atkinson was born on May 10, 1819 in Newburyport, Massachusetts. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1843 and from Andover Theological Seminary in 1846. He married his wife, Nancy Bates, the same year. One year later, they travelled as missionaries to the Oregon Territory via ship around Cape Horn. The Atkinsons initially settled in Oregon City, where he helped to organize and build its Congregationalist Church. He would serve as its minister for 15 years. There he would help to found the Clackamas Female Seminary, an early women's college that survived for a few years before shutting down due to lack of funds. At the same time, Atkinson was involved in developing public education in Oregon. He authored the state's first school law in 1849, modelling its organization on New England schools. Atkinson would later serve as the first superintendent of schools in Clackamas County, and then as the superintendent for Multnomah County.

In 1849, Atkinson helped to write the charter for Tualatin Academy in Forest Grove, along with co-founders Tabitha Brown and Harvey Clark. Tualatin Academy was a secondary school open to both male and female students; mostly the children of pioneers from the Oregon Trail. Atkinson was instrumental in adding a post-secondary wing named Pacific University to the school several years later. He continued to work in the interests of Tualatin Academy and Pacific University for the rest of his life. As a member of the Board of Trustees, he helped to recruit and hire much of its faculty, including its first president, Sidney Harper Marsh.

In his later years, Atkinson worked to retain an off-reservation boarding school for Native American children in Forest Grove. The Indian Industrial Training School, which opened in 1880, housed children who were taken from tribes in Washington, Alaska, and other areas of the Pacific Northwest. The children were taught trades such as farming, blacksmithing and domestic work, and were taught to talk and dress like white Americans. Atkinson attempted to keep the school, which was under the control of the Indian Affairs section of the Department of the Interior, near Pacific University, which supported its operations. Ultimately, the school was moved to a location near Salem in 1885, where it was renamed the Chemawa Indian School.

George Atkinson died on February 25, 1889.

From the guide to the George H. Atkinson Collection, 1852-1887, (Pacific University Archives)