David Thomas Lenox
| David Thomas Lenox | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Probate Judge of Washington County | |
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In office 1850–1852 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born | December 8, 1802 Catskill, New York, U.S. |
| Died | October 18, 1874 (aged 71) Weston, Oregon, U.S. |
| Resting place |
West Union Baptist Church Cemetery 45°34′25″N 122°54′26″W / 45.573737°N 122.90733°W |
| Spouse(s) | Louisa Swan |
| Religion | Baptist |
David Thomas Lenox (December 8, 1802 – October 18, 1874) was an American pioneer who settled in the Oregon Country where he organized the first Baptist Church west of the Rocky Mountains. A native of New York, he lived in Illinois and Missouri before he was captain of the first wagon train over the Oregon Trail to what became the state of Oregon. He also organized several schools and churches, and served as a judge and justice of the peace. In Oregon, he settled on the Tualatin Plains near what is now Hillsboro and later lived in Eastern Oregon.
David Lenox was born in Catskill, New York, on December 8, 1802. His parents were English of the Scotch Methodist faith. He became an orphan at an early age, and had a limited education in the local schools. At 18 he left New York for Lexington, Kentucky, where he worked on a plantation. There he married the plantation owner’s daughter, Louisa Swan, in 1826. The couple had ten children.
The Lenox family moved to a farm at Rushville, Illinois, in 1829. There David Lenox farmed and served as a school teacher. He also converted to the Baptist sect in Rushville in 1832. In 1840, Lenox sold the farm and moved to Todds Creek in Platte County, where he bought timberland for $5 per acre. In Missouri he served as the clerk at his local church. After a couple years they decided their land would not be productive enough to sustain the family, and they resolved to immigrate to the Oregon Country.
About 1843 Lenox was working as a contractor in Missouri (now Kansas) near Fort Leavenworth when he heard a speech about Oregon from Peter Hardeman Burnett. Lenox was already waiting to start for the Willamette Valley, but after the speech he signed up to travel with Burnett to Oregon. They formed a wagon train for the journey and hired a Mr. Ganntt to lead the group to Fort Hall. On April 9, the party departed Platte City, Missouri on what was the first wagon train to cross the Oregon Trail all the way to Oregon. Burnett was selected as the captain of the wagon train at the beginning, but after one day he resigned and Lenox was elected as the new captain. After complaints that those traveling with livestock would slow down the entire group, the wagon train was split into two groups. The light column without the cattle was led by Lenox, and the cow column was captained by Jesse Applegate.
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