Eleanor Steele Johnston was born May 11, 1815 in Williamson County, Tennessee.  She died September 24, 1899 in Napa, Napa County, California, and is buried in Winters, Yolo County, California Cemetery.

Eleanor was married to Reverend Thomas McConnell Johnston on December 28, 1837 in Greene County, Missouri.

She is known to be the first woman to travel to California by stagecoach. She made the trip in 1860 with four of her young children on the Butterfield stagecoach.

Photo courtesy of Janet J. Johnston, great-granddaughter of Eleanor Steele Johnston.