Henry Harmon Spalding Notebook

Henry H. Spalding was a Presbyterian missionary who arrived in the Oregon Territory in 1836 and was involved in work with Native Americans until his death in 1872. He is best known for his role as a missionary to the the Nez Perce at Lapwai, Idaho. A chronology of some significant events in his life follows:

1803 - Born in Steuben Co., NY 1833 - Graduates from Western Reserve College in Hudson, Ohio 1833 - Marries Eliza Hart 1835 - Graduates from Lane Theological Seminary in Walnut Hills, Ohio; ordained a minister of the Presbyterian Church 1836 - Leaves with Eliza and the Whitman Party to become missionaries in the Oregon Territory. The Spaldings establish a mission at Lapwai, near the present-day Nez Perce Reservation 1847 - Following the massacre of the Whitmans, the Spaldings leave Lapwai for the Willamette Valley of Oregon. 1848 - Spaldings set up a farm near present-day Brownsville; Henry becomes minister of the local church and county school commissioner 1850 - Appointed Indian Agent; negotiates several treaties with native tribes in Oregon during the early 1850s 1851 - Eliza dies 1853 - Marries Rachel Griffin, sister of fellow missionary John Smith Griffin 1859 - Stakes a land claim with his daughter, also named Eliza, near present-day Prescott, WA 1861 - Returns to Lapwai and is appointed teacher 1866 - Leaves Lapwai after disputes over his actions on the Nez Perce reservation; returns to Brownsville 1871 - Secures appointment as Superintendent of Instruction at Lapwai 1872 - Dismissed from appointment at Lapwai after further disputes. Goes to work with the Spokane tribe. 1874 - Dies in Lapwai 1880 - Rachel dies in Hillsboro, Oregon