David Leslie (Oregon politician)

Reverend David Leslie was an American missionary and pioneer in what became the state of Oregon. A native of New Hampshire, he joined Jason Lee as a missionary at the Methodist Mission in the Oregon Country in 1836. In that region he participated in the early movement to start a government and his home was used for some of these meetings. With the closing of the mission he became a founder of the city of Salem, Oregon, and board member of the Oregon Institute, which later became Willamette University.

Born in New Hampshire in the town of Washington, Leslie lost his parents while he was young. Born in 1797, Leslie was the son of a minister and received an education first in Salem, Massachusetts, and later at the Wilbraham Academy where fellow missionary Jason Lee would later attend. There David Leslie studied languages, especially French. He then received a license to preach at the age ofin 1820.

Source: Wikipedia