Born in Halifax, Franklin County, Virginia, Preston was raised on a farm but at age 19 became a store clerk. He traveled to California by the Panama route in 1852.[1]
He shortly afterward became a farmer in Yolo County, California. It was here that he joined the LDS Church. Preston was baptized by Henry G. Boyle in February 1857 and shortly afterward was ordained an elder by George Q. Cannon. Preston then served as a missionary in northern California until later that year when he led a company of Latter-day Saints to Utah Territory, responding to the call to gather in anticipation of the Utah War. Among those in Preston's company gathering to Utah was Moses Thatcher. Thatcher's sister Harriet A. Thatcher was also in this company, and the following February Preston married Harriet Thatcher. In 1859 Preston was among the first settlers of Logan, Utah. He was made bishop of Logan in November 1859.
From 1865 to 1868 Preston served as a missionary in England. The next winter he spent as a sub-contractor working on the Union Pacific Railroad. He served as a member of the territorial legislature again from 1872 to 1882 and continued to serve as bishop of Logan after his return from England. In 1871, he became presiding bishop over Cache County, succeeding Peter Maughan, the first holder of this office, who had just died. Preston served as vice-president of the Utah and Northern Railway (the president was John W. Young), which was key to further economic development of Cache Valley. In 1877, Preston became first counselor to Moses Thatcher in the presidency of the Cache Stake. From 1879 to 1884, Preston served as president of the Cache Stake.
Preston also served as a director of the Logan Cooperative Mercantile Institution, and he also served on the board of trustees of Brigham Young College and as chairman of the executive committee of that college. From 1870 until 1882, Preston served as mayor of Logan.[2]
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