Background
Beers was born August 19, 1808, in Weston, Fairfield County, Connecticut, the son of Isaac Beers, an American Revolutionary War soldier and wife Jemima Rowell.
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Alanson Beers
Edit ProfileCareer
A blacksmith by trade, he was a reinforcement for the Methodist Mission in what would become the state of The Connecticut native helped found the Institute and participated in the Champoeg Meetings where he was elected to serve on the Executive Committee in 1843. There he was trained as a blacksmith. Prior to immigrating to, Alanson married Rachel, with whom he had six children.
Elenor, Benjamian, William, Oliver, Abigail, and Jonathan.
Alanson Beers moved to in 1837, arriving on the ship Diana in May. He was part of the reinforcements for the Methodist Mission that Jason Lee had traveled back east to gather.
Beers then built a home and blacksmith’s shop at the Mission. Later, he worked for the Mission Manual Labor School for Indians and at the Institute, now Willamette University as a blacksmith making building products for the construction of homes and mills.
In 1843 at the Champoeg Meetings he was chosen for the legislative committee to draft the original laws of the provisional government, and then chosen by the members to be the chairperson of the judiciary committee.
He was chosen to represent the interests of the Methodist Mission in the government. During his service on the executive committee Beers lead the organization of a militia. This occurred in 1844 in response to an incident with the native populations in the Willamette Valley.
In July 1844 Beers opted to receive a farm, equipment, a blacksmith shop, and $1,000 from the Methodist Mission in lieu of passage back to Connecticut.
At this time the mission was re-organizing under the Reverend George Gary. The company milled lumber and ground flour.
Then prior to his death in 1853 he built a house to be used as a dormitory by the Institute, which the school then bought for $300 after his death and named Beers House. Alanson Beers is buried at the Lee Mission Cemetery in Salem.
Membership
Then on July 5, he was elected as one of the three members of the First Executive Committee along with David Hill and Joseph Gale.
