John L. Morrison arrived in Oregon Country

Oregon Country

The Oregon Country was a predominantly American term referring to a disputed ownership region of the Pacific Northwest of North America. The region was occupied by British and French Canadian fur traders from before 1810, and American settlers from the mid-1830s, with its coastal areas north from...

 in 1842 along with other famous Oregon pioneers Medorem Crawford

Medorem Crawford

Medorem Crawford was an American soldier and politician in what became the state of Oregon. A native of the state of New York, he immigrated to the Oregon Country in 1842 where he participated in the Champoeg Meetings and served in the resulting Provisional Government of Oregon as a legislator...

, Asa Lovejoy

Asa Lovejoy

Asa Lawrence Lovejoy was an American pioneer and politician in the region that would become the U.S. state of Oregon. He is best remembered as a founder of the city of Portland, Oregon...

, and Sidney Moss in the same wagon train. Morrison built the home of Francis Pettygrove

Francis Pettygrove

Francis William Pettygrove , commonly known as William Pettygrove, was a pioneer and one of the founders of the cities of Portland, Oregon, and Port Townsend, Washington. Born in Maine, he re-located to the Oregon Country in 1843 to establish a store in Oregon City...

 in early Portland, Oregon

Portland, Oregon

Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...

. The street on which Pettygrove's house was located was named in honor of Morrison. The Morrison Bridge

Morrison Bridge

The Morrison Bridge is a bascule bridge that spans the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon.The original Morrison Bridge was a wooden truss swing span bridge completed on April 12, 1887 as the first Willamette River bridge in Portland and the longest bridge west of the Mississippi River...

, crossing the Willamette River

Willamette River

The Willamette River is a major tributary of the Columbia River, accounting for 12 to 15 percent of the Columbia's flow. The Willamette's main stem is long, lying entirely in northwestern Oregon in the United States...

 into East Portland

East Portland, Oregon

East Portland was a city in the U.S. state of Oregon that was consolidated into Portland in 1891. It was founded on a land claim by James B. Stephens in 1846, who bought a land claim from John McLoughlin of the Hudson's Bay Company...

, would later be named after him as well.

Born in Scotland, Morrison emigrated to Connecticut around 1830 and learned carpentry. Coming to the Oregon Country in 1842, Morrison worked as a carpenter for the Methodist Mission in 1843 and later in Oregon City

Oregon City, Oregon

Oregon City was the first city in the United States west of the Rocky Mountains to be incorporated. It is the county seat of Clackamas County, Oregon...

 where he gained a reputation for being meticulous in his work. Morrison built several houses in the Portland area and Oregon City with the most famous surviving structure being the Barclay House in Oregon City. Morrison would move to the San Juan Islands

San Juan Islands

The San Juan Islands are an archipelago in the northwest corner of the contiguous United States between the US mainland and Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. The San Juan Islands are part of the U.S...

in the 1850s where he lived until his death in 1902.