John B. Preston (May 11, 1817 – April 13, 1865) was a civil engineer, business owner, and the first Surveyor General of the Oregon Territory in the Western United States.Corning, Howard M. (1989) Dictionary of Oregon History. Binfords & Mort Publishing. p. 138.
Early life Preston was born in 1817 in Washington County, New York. Preston was the son of Isaac Preston, a local prominent preacher, and Betsy Walker of Granville, New York.History of Will County, pp. 421, 745. Isaac Preston (1792 – 1883) settled in Lockport Township, Illinois in 1836, he was born in Fairfield, New Jersey in Cumberland County in 1792. While living in New York John Preston was educated in civil engineering.
Career Preston moved to Will County, Illinois in 1837 with his father where he worked as an assistant engineer on the southern portions of the Illinois and Michigan Canal in Will County. In 1850 at the age of 33 Preston was appointed by President Millard Fillmore to create a system for surveying land in Oregon Territory. Preston was replaced as Surveyor General in 1853 by Charles Kitchell Gardner. Preston continued his work in canal construction as the Illinois-Michigan canal's superintendent in 1854 and later became the secretary of the Chicago and Alton Railroad. In 1864 Preston became a member of the firm Matteson & Preston in St. Louis before his accidental death in 1865.
References
External links