Lee, Jason (1803-1845), a Canadian-born Methodist missionary, is remembered as the first missionary to bring Christianity to the Indians of the Pacific Northwest. He was also a leader of the first permanent American settlement in the Oregon region. Lee was born on June 28, 1803, in Stanstead, Quebec, and attended Wesleyan Academy in Wilbraham, Massachusetts. In 1834, he traveled overland to Fort Vancouver (now Vancouver, Washington) with the explorer Nathaniel J. Wyeth and founded several missions. In 1840, Lee enlarged the missions with 51 New Englanders, who helped him set up several schools. He died on March 12, 1845. A statue of Lee represents Oregon in Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.
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