Elijah Bristow

Elijah Bristow (1788–1872) was the first white settler to stake a claim and build a permanent cabin in 1846, in the upper Willamette Valley, in what is now Lane County, Oregon, United States. He and his wife, Susannah Gabbert Bristow established the first church and donated land for the first school in Pleasant Hill.

Early life Of English descent, Elijah Bristow was the eldest child of James Bristow and Delilah Elkins. He was born April 28, 1788, in the mountains of Tazewell County, Virginia. He became an expert marksman and hunter, serving in both the War of 1812 under General Andrew Jackson, and in the Black Hawk War. He sought adventure as a young man, moving first to Overton County, Tennessee, where he married Susannah Gabbert in 1812; then to Cumberland County, Kentucky, in 1819 or 1820; then to Macoupin County, Illinois, and McDonough County, Illinois, where his family lived about 23 years. The completion of Bristow's cabin by about October 1, 1846, marked the end of the exploration period and beginnings of settlement of the southern Willamette Valley, which had previously been visited exclusively by trappers, hunters, and explorers.

Elijah Bristow died September 19, 1872, aged 84 years. He lived to see Oregon become a state in 1859, 13 years after he built the first cabin in Lane County.