Lancaster served as member of the Oregon Territorial Council (Senate) from 1850 to 1852.[1] During the tumultuous 1851-52 session of the Oregon Territorial Legislature Lancaster gave his allegiance to a rump group consisting of four members of the House who refused to participate with the Democratic Party majority in session at Salem.[4] Lancaster was the sole member of the Council who attempted to establish this minority faction as the legitimate Oregon Territorial Legislature in a session held at the Territorial Library in Oregon City.[4] The rival minority assembly continued to meet in Oregon City for two weeks, marked by the spectacle of Lancaster making and seconding his own motions in the "Council" himself.[4]
Lancaster resigned his Council seat in the fall of 1852 and was replaced at a special election held December 7 of that year.[5]
When the Washington Territory was admitted to representation, he was elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-third Congress and served from April 12, 1854 to March 3, 1855.[1] He was an unsuccessful candidate for renomination.[1]
Later life
Lancaster was regent of the University of Washington in Seattle in 1862.[1] He was also connected with the Puget Sound & Columbia River Railroad project in 1862.[1]
Death and legacy
Lancaster died in Vancouver, Washington, on September 15, 1893, and his body was interred in the City Cemetery.[1]
^ abcdefghijklUnited States Congress, Office of the Historian, "Columbia Lancaster (1803-1893),"Biographical Dictionary of the United States Congress, 1774-Present, www.bioguide.congress.gov/
^ abcHubert Howe Bancroft, The Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft: Volume XXX: History of Oregon: Volume II, 1848-1888. San Francisco, CA: The History Company, 1888; pg. 161.
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