Samuel Thurston
| Samuel Royal Thurston | |
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| Delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives from Oregon Territory's congressional district |
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In office December 3, 1849 – March 3, 1851 |
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| Preceded by | position created |
| Succeeded by | Joseph Lane |
| Constituency | Oregon Territory |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
April 15, 1816 Monmouth, Maine |
| Died | April 6, 1851 (aged 34) At sea off Acapulco, Mexico |
| Occupation | lawyer |
Samuel Royal Thurston (April 15, 1816 – April 9, 1851) was an American pioneer, lawyer and politician. He was the first delegate from the Oregon Territory to the United States Congress and was instrumental in the passage of the Donation Land Claim Act.
Thurston was born in Monmouth, Maine, and grew up in Peru, Maine; his father died when he was young. After attending Dartmouth College, he graduated in 1843 from Bowdoin College in Maine, graduating with honors. He then studied law under Robert Dunlap, got married, and moved to Iowa.
Thurston came to the Oregon Country in 1847 as an emigrant over the Oregon Trail. In Oregon he settled in Hillsboro, where he practiced law. Then in 1848 he was elected to the Provisional Legislature from Tuality District where he served with fellow Hillsboro resident David Hill. In 1849, Thurston was selected to represent the Oregon Territory in the U.S. Congress.
In the struggle for the control of Oregon lands, Thurston was an ally of Jason Lee against John McLoughlin, the chief of the Hudson's Bay Company at Fort Vancouver who had helped thwart settlement in the territory. As Congressional delegate, Thurston authored the Donation Land Claim Act so as to give McLoughlin's HBC claim to the state legislature. Thurston and Lee made false statements about McLoughlin before the United States Supreme Court in an effort to publicly discredit him. The statements resulted in the denial of McLoughlin's land claims to his homstead in Oregon City.
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