All four of these Corvallis young women attended Corvallis College as preparatory students between 1866 and 1868. Rose Russell married Lewis F. Wilson in 1869; their son, Eddy, graduated from the college in 1889 and was a longtime member of the board of regents.
Corvallis College as it appeared in about 1868. It was located in the center of the block bounded by Fifth, Sixth, Madison, and Monroe Streets in Corvallis, Oregon.
Rev. and Mrs. William A. Finley. William A. Finley was the first president of Corvallis College from 1865-1872. Finley was a Methodist minister who helped alter the reputation of Corvallis College from a "pioneer high school" to a higher education institution.
Photograph was possibly taken at time of marriage. William Asa Finley served as the first president of Corvallis College from 1865 to 1872. He was appointed as president in 1865 by the Methodist Episcopal Church South and was president at the time the college was chosen as the agricultural college for Oregon under the provisions of the 1862 Morrill Act.
