Henry Harmon Spalding (1803–1874), and his wife
Eliza Hart Spalding (1807–1851) were prominent
Presbyterian missionaries and educators working primarily with the
Nez Perce in the U.S.
Pacific Northwest. The Spaldings and their fellow missionaries were among the earliest Americans to travel across the western plains, through the
Rocky Mountains and into the lands of the Pacific Northwest to their religious missions in what would become the states of
Idaho and
Washington. Their missionary party of five, including
Marcus Whitman and his wife Narcissa and
William H. Gray, joined with a group of fur traders to create the first
wagon train along the
Oregon Trail.