Protestant missionary Henry Harmon Spalding and his wife, Eliza Hart Spalding, accompanied doctor and missionary Marcus Whitman and his wife, Narcissa Prentiss Whitman, westward in 1836. Once out west, the Whitmans and the Spaldings went their separate ways, establishing Christian missions at Waiilatpu and Lapwai, respectively. At Lapwai, Spalding established a school and printing house. Following the 1847 incident at Waiilatpu in which the Whitmans were killed, the Spaldings relocated down the Columbia River in 1848 into what is now the northeastern corner of Oregon state. There, Spalding served as pastor of a local church, postmaster, and school commissioner.

Following his wife Eliza’s death in 1851, Spalding married Rachel Smith in 1853. From the late 1850s to early 1870s, Spalding worked with various U.S. Indian Affairs agents, returning periodically to the Nez Perce at Lapwai, and also travelled east to testify in front of Congress. Spalding died in Lapwai, Idaho in 1874. From his first marriage, Spalding and Eliza had four children: Eliza Spalding (Warren), Henry Hart Spalding, Marth Spalding, and Amelia Spalding (Brown). There were no children from his second marriage.