and traveling companion William Overton split a claim to a tract along the Willamette River. This site would later become part of downtown Portland. Overton held the land, as Lovejoy settled elsewhere. Overton soon sold his share to Francis Pettygrove and Lovejoy and Pettygrove held their famous coin toss in 1845 to decide the name of the city which was being platted on the claim. Each desired to name the area after his hometown. Pettygrove, from Portland, Maine, won the toss, and the town site became known as Portland, Oregon. The two would plat sixteen blocks of the town that year; Lovejoy later sold his stake to Benjamin Stark in 1845. Also in 1845, Lovejoy married Elizabeth McGary. They would have five children: William, Amos, Ada, Elizabeth, and Nellie. In 1846, he was the last administrator of the Ewing Young estate, whose death had precipitated the formation of the Provisional Government of Oregon. Political career In 1844, Asa Lovejoy was elected to the Provisional Legislature of Oregon to represent Clackamas District. Lovejoy ran for the newly created office of governor that replaced the Executive Committee in 1845 with the adoption of the Second Organic Laws of Oregon. George Abernethy won the election after he received the most votes with 228, followed by Osbourne Russell with 130, William J. Bailey with 75, and finally Lovejoy with 71 votes. Though he lost the election for governor, he was elected as mayor of Oregon City that year. Lovejoy returned to the legislature in 1846 and served as Speaker of the body. In 1847, Lovejoy ran against Abernethy for governor a second time. Lovejoy lost the election 536 to 520. From 1847 to 1848, he served as adjunct general during the Cayuse War, the war resulting from the Whitman Massacre. Lovejoy was elected in 1848 to what would be the final session of the Provisional Legislature, which was held in late 1848 into early 1849. However, Lovejoy now representing Vancouver District north of the Columbia River resigned before the session started. In September 1848, he traveled with a group to California during the California Gold Rush, but returned aboard the brig Undine in January 1849 after six weeks in California. During the same session he resigned from, he was selected by the Provisional Legislature as Supreme Judge of the government on February 16, 1849, but never served and the Provisional government was dissolved the