Josiah Lamberson Parrish

Reverend Josiah Lamberson Parrish (January 14, 1806 – May 31, 1895) was an American missionary in the Pacific Northwest and trustee of the Oregon Institute at its founding. A native of New York, he also participated in the Champoeg Meetings that led to the formation of the Provisional Government of Oregon in 1843. Parrish was married three times and was the first breeder of pure-bred sheep in Oregon.

Early life Josiah Parrish was born in Onondaga County, New York, to Sally Parrish (née Lamberson) and Benjamin Parrish on January 14, 1806. His mother was of Dutch and Puritan heritage born in New Jersey, with his father of English lineage born in 1777 in Connecticut. Josiah was the oldest of ten children in the family. In 1839, the trained blacksmith volunteered to join Jason Lee's mission in the Willamette Valley. In California the vessel was sold in order to purchase cattle to be driven overland to the Willamette Valley. On February 1, 1842, Parrish was selected as a trustee to the new Oregon Institute, a school established to teach the children of the missionaries that later became Willamette University. In 1868, Parrish drove the first spike in Portland, Oregon, for the Oregon and California Railroad. Later that year his wife Elizabeth died, with Josiah remarrying in 1870 to Jane (Jennie) Lichtenthaler Pickett.