John B. Preston

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.

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. Isaac Preston (1792 – 1883) settled in Lockport Township, Illinois in 1836, he was born in Fairfield, New Jersey in Cumberland County in 1792. 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.