Thomas J. Farnham

Thomas Jefferson Farnham (1804–1848) was an explorer and author of the American West in the first half of the 19th century. His travels included interaction with missionary Jason Lee, and he later led a wagon train on the Oregon Trail. While in Oregon Country he wrote a petition to federal authorities that requested federal protection of the region from the United States government, which was signed by many of the local settlers who had come from the United States.

Early/Middle life In 1804 Thomas Farnham was born in New England, in either Vermont or what later became the state of Maine. He then received an education at Phillips Academy, Andover and moved to Peoria, Illinois, where he became a lawyer. After this lecture Farnham joined the Peoria Party that was headed for Oregon and became the captain of the group of 19.

Thomas Farnham then left the settlements of the Willamette Valley and sailed for the Sandwich Islands. accused the men, involved in what became known as the Graham Affair, of plotting a revolt against the Mexican government.

During the Graham Affair, Farnham traveled to San Blas, arriving on May 16, 1840, then went on to Tepic to meet with the prisoners. Following the prisoners' release, Farnham continued across Mexico to New Orleans. In 1841, he moved on to New York City, then to Wisconsin for a brief time. Farnham later moved to Alton, Illinois, before moving back to California in 1846. He died in San Francisco, California on September 13, 1848. Farnham's widow Eliza moved to Santa Cruz, California and went on to become a leading abolitionist, novelist and early feminist.

Works

Travels in Oregon Territory (1842) Travels in the Great Western Prairies (1843) Travels in the Californias and Scenes in the Pacific (1844) A Memoir of the Northwest Boundary-Line (1845) Mexico, its Geography, People, and Institutions (1846)