Seattle Pioneer, Businessman. He was one of the early founding fathers of the City of Seattle, along with Arthur A. Denny, David S. Maynard and Thomas Mercer. He was born near Seneca Lake, New York and spent his early years working on the family farm in Illinois. In 1852 he joined a wagon train destined for the Pacific Northwest, headed by fellow Seattle pioneer Thomas Mercer. In 1853 he arrived in Salem, Oregon along with his wife and child. Leaving his family behind, he proceeded north across the Columbia River with Mercer into the newly formed Washington Territory to explore the inland waters of Puget Sound, where he eventually reached the small settlement of Seattle. He soon returned to Salem uniting with his family before returning with them to Seattle. His early years in Seattle were spent as a hired hand, working as a cook and carpenter in the local area saw mills. With money saved from work, he began purchasing property along the Seattle waterfront where he established a small store buying merchandise from visiting merchant ships out of San Francisco. He became known as a man of impeccable honesty and integrity among the local community, soon earning the trust of arriving fishermen and loggers who asked Horton to safeguard their wages from potential thieves and gamblers. He began placing funds and valuables in small sacks marked with the men's names, hiding them in various spots throughout his store. In 1866 he sold his store moving to San Francisco to learn the banking business. In 1870 he returned to Seattle creating the Dexter Horton Bank, the city's first chartered bank, which over the years became Seattle First National Bank, and currently is owned and operated by Bank of America. Horton is also credited with helping to establish the first road system though the Cascade Mountain Range, linking what today is eastern and western Washington. Horton died at his Seattle home at the age of 79, one of Seattle's most successful and wealthiest businessmen and citizens.