Answer:
In the 1830s, various groups of Americans traveled to Oregon, further establishing the Oregon Trail. Many of these emigrants were missionaries seeking to convert natives to Christianity. Jason Lee was the first, traveled in Nathaniel Jarvis Wyeth's group in 1833 and established the Oregon Mission in the Willamette Valley; the Whitmans and Spaldciers arrived in 1836, establishing the Whitman Mission east of the Cascades. In 1839, the Peoria Party sailed for Oregon from Illinois. In 1841, the wealthy master trapper and businessman Ewing Young died without a will, and there was no system in place to legalize his estate. Probate government was proposed at a meeting after Young's funeral. Dr. Ira Babcock of the Jason Lee Methodist Mission was elected Supreme Justice. Babcock presided over two meetings in 1842 at Champoeg (midway between Lee's mission and Oregon City) to discuss wolves and other animals of contemporary interest. These meetings were precursors to a citizens' meeting in 1843, which instituted a provisional government headed by an executive committee made up of David Hill, Alanson Beers, and Joseph Gale. This government was the first acting public government in the country of Oregon before the American annexation.