Note 84 — {227} CHAPTER XIV[80]

Joseph Gervais, a French Canadian, came to Astoria with Captain Hunt in 1811. After the abandonment of that post, he became a “free trapper,” and married the daughter of a Clatsop chief. Desiring a more settled life, in 1828 he selected a place on the Willamette, a short distance below the present Salem, and raised wheat. A few years later other French Canadians, retired Hudson’s Bay clerks, became farmers along the Willamette and the district became known as French Prairie. Gervais took an active part in establishing the provisional government of Oregon in 1843. He became prosperous, and lived on French Prairie until his death (1861) at the age of eighty-four years.—Ed.