Spalding, Henry and Eliza , were among the first Christian missionaries to settle in what is now Idaho. The couple established Lapwai Mission Station near present-day Lewiston in 1836. Eliza Spalding was one of the first white women to journey overland to the northwestern United States. The couple is believed to have developed Idaho’s first irrigated farm.
Early lives and family.
Henry Harmon Spalding was born in Steuben County, New York, on Nov. 26, 1803. In 1825, he was baptized and joined the Presbyterian Church. He soon decided to become a missionary to Native Americans. He graduated from Western Reserve College (now Case Western Reserve University) in Ohio in 1833.
Eliza Hart was born in Kensington (now part of Berlin), Connecticut, on Aug. 11, 1807. In 1820, her family moved to Oneida County, New York. She joined the Presbyterian Church in 1826. In 1830, at the suggestion of a friend, she began corresponding with Henry Spalding. They met in 1831 and married in 1833. Between 1837 and 1846, the couple had four children: Eliza, Henry Hart, Martha Jane, and Amelia Lorene.
Mission work.
Henry became a Presbyterian minister in 1835. He and Eliza were sponsored as missionaries by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. In 1836, the Spaldings joined fellow missionaries Marcus and Narcissa Whitman on a 207-day journey to the Northwest. Mechanic and carpenter William H. Gray also accompanied the missionaries. The Whitmans established the a mission among the Cayuse tribe at Waiilatpu, near what is now Walla Walla, Washington. See Whitman, Marcus ; Whitman, Narcissa .
The Spaldings settled in present-day Idaho. There, they established a mission at Lapwai among the Nez Perce tribe. Lapwai is a Nez Perce word that means “butterfly valley.” Eliza founded a school in 1837. She taught English, religion, and such crafts as spinning and knitting. She also painted Bible scenes, and Henry used the paintings in sermons to the Native Americans.
Eventually, the mission had a printing press, a water-powered sawmill and flour mill, and other improvements. Historians believe the couple planted the area’s first potatoes, a crop for which Idaho later became famous.
During the 1840’s, Oregon Trail pioneers greatly increased the white population in the Northwest, and measles outbreaks killed many Native Americans. In some cases, Native Americans accused missionaries of witchcraft and poisoning. In November 1847, following an outbreak at Waiilatpu, members of the Cayuse tribe killed the Whitmans and many others. The Spaldings closed Lapwai Mission following the Whitman tragedy.
After closing the mission, the couple moved to the Willamette Valley in what is now Oregon, where Henry became a farmer and an Indian agent. Eliza Spalding died there on Jan. 7, 1851. Henry Spalding returned to the Lapwai Mission for periods of several years in the 1860’s and 1870’s. He died there on Aug. 3, 1874. The Lapwai Mission site is part of Nez Perce National Historical Park, which was established in 1965.
