Leslie, David, 1787-1869.

Reverend David Leslie was born in Washington, New Hampshire in 1797. He left New York in 1837 and traveled to Oregon via Cape Horn, arriving in September 1837. In Oregon he served in Jason Lee's Willamette Methodist Episcopal mission, and in 1839 he was appointed as one of two magistrates of the country south of the Columbia River. He went to the Hawaiian Islands in 1842 and returned to Oregon to open a church in Oregon City in 1843. He had six children with his first wife, Mary A. Kinney, who died in 1841. He then married Adelia Judson Olley in 1844. She had had two previous marriages: first, in April 1835, to Robert Turkington, who died on September 15, 1837; and then on October 2, 1839 to James Olley, who drowned in the Willamette on December 10, 1842. David Leslie remained a prominent figure in the Willamette Valley until his death on May 1, 1869, in Salem.

From the guide to the David Leslie Papers, 1829-1886, (Oregon Historical Society)

Reverend David Leslie, pioneer Methodist missionary, was born in Washington, New Hampshire in 1787. He left New York in 1837 and traveled by ship to Oregon, where he served at Jason Lee's Willamette Mission. In 1839, he was appointed as one of two magistrates for the Oregon Territory south of the Columbia River and served as chair for a committee responsible for the development of a code of laws for the region. After a brief stint of missionary service on the Sandwich Islands (1843), Leslie returned to Oregon and established a church in Oregon City. He was twice married: to Mary A. Kinney (d. 1841) and to Adelia Judson Olley. David Leslie died on May 1, 1869 in Salem, Oregon.

From the description of Papers, 1829-1886. (Oregon Historical Society Research Library). WorldCat record id: 32315750