Clark County History: Columbia Lancaster
By Martin Middlewood, for The Columbian
Published: May 2, 2021, 6:00am
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This painting of Columbia Lancaster hangs in the Washington State History Museum in Tacoma. His friends called him Judge because he sat on the Oregon Territorial Provisional Government Court before the Washington Territory was formed in 1853. Later he became the first district judge in the Washington Territory and its first delegate to Congress. (Contributed by Washington State History Museum)
Columbia Lancaster’s mother changed the boy’s name from Thomas after Meriwether Lewis visited their home in New Milford, Conn., and told the family about the great river of the West.