01Biography
Officer in the U.S. Army Corps of Topographical Engineers, often called 'the Pathfinder' (a nickname he encouraged). With guide Kit Carson, his expeditions of 1842, 1843-44, and 1845-46 produced the first accurate maps and reports of the Oregon Trail country. His 1845 published report, co-written with his wife Jessie Benton Frémont, became the standard guidebook for emigrants until the railroad. He later served as one of California's first U.S. senators and was the Republican Party's first candidate for President, in 1856.
02Why they matter
Mapped the trail and published the guidebook a generation of emigrants carried with them.
03How they died
Died of peritonitis in a New York City boarding house on 13 July 1890, aged 77. He had been broke for a decade after losing his Mariposa estate in California, and lived on a small pension that Jessie supplemented with magazine writing.
04Legacy
Fremont in California, Fremont in Nebraska, Frémont Peak in Wyoming, and dozens of other places across the West are named for him. His run as a slavery-opposing Republican in 1856 also helped shape the politics that led to the Civil War.