George Henry Atkinson (1819-1889) was a missionary, educator, scientist, and publicist who played a key role in establishing Oregon's public school system. Born in Newburyport, Massachusetts, he was educated at Dartmouth College and the Andover Theological Seminary. He married Nancy Bates Atkinson in 1846, and they came to Oregon via Hawaii as Congregational missionaries in 1848. Serving at first as pastor of the Congregational Church in Oregon City, Atkinson founded the Clackamas County Female Seminary and later Tualatin Academy, which became Pacific University in Forest Grove. He was instrumental in the establishment of a public school system for the new Oregon Territory, and went on to serve as school superintendent for both Clackamas and Multnomah counties. He moved to Portland in 1865 and became the pastor of the First Congregational Church there. After leaving that post in 1872, he returned to missionary work and was appointed Superintendent of Missions of Congregational Churches of Oregon and Washington Territory. He continued as head of the Oregon superintendency after 1885.

Among the family of Nancy Bates Atkinson was her sister Lydia, who married the Reverend Lewis Grout, a classmate of George H. Atkinson at Andover Theological Seminary and later a missionary. The Grouts were assigned to a Zulu mission in Natal, South Africa, and sailed from Boston in 1846.