Mormon Pioneer Historic Resource Study

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 1

ELIZA ROXCY SNOW, 1804-1887: Mormon poetess, prophetess, priestess, "presidentess," and famous pioneer.

Eliza was a spinster who became a "spiritual wife" of Joseph Smith in Nauvoo, and the most important early Mormon female. She later became a plural wife of Brigham Young and crossed Iowa in 1846 in his company. She kept an important journal of her trail experience. She was a member of the second pioneer company of 1847 and dominated female society in Utah until her death.

Source: Vicky Burgess-Olson, Sister Saints.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 2

PATTY BARTLETT SESSIONS, 1795-1892: Well-known Mormon Pioneer midwife.

Patty's legendary 3,977 deliveries earned her the title of "Mother of Mormon Midwifery." She and her husband joined the Mormons in 1834 and moved first to Kirtland, Ohio, and then to Nauvoo, Illinois. "Mother Sessions" was a member of the original pioneer group that quit Nauvoo in February 1846. Her journal, recounting the trails of women crossing Iowa and in Winter Quarters, makes sad reading, for her services were constantly in demand. Her husband entered into polygamy and their marriage was severely tested because of the second wife.

She was a member of the second company of 1847, arriving in the Valley of the Great Salt Lake on September 24th, where she continued midwifing until 1872.

Source: Vicky Burgess-Olson, Sister Saints.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 3

BRIGHAM YOUNG, 1801-1877: Mormon apostle, pioneer, colonizer, second president of the Mormon Church.

Young was born in Windham County, Vermont, June 1, 1801. He later moved to Cayuga County, New York, where he married and worked as a carpenter and painter. He joined the Mormon Church April 14, 1832, and became a missionary. He followed Joseph Smith to Kirtland, Ohio, in 1833, became a member of Zion's Camp in 1834 and a member of the first Quorum of 12 Apostles in 1835.

Thereafter he went on several missions for the church, including one to England in 1840.

He followed Smith to Missouri and to Nauvoo, Illinois, where he eventually became the President of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles. After the murder of Smith in June 1844, Young became the presiding authority in the church by virtue of being the senior apostle.

In this capacity he prepared the Mormons for their exodus to the west, which commenced in February 1846. After he led the pioneers into the Valley of the Great Salt Lake, he was sustained on December 5, 1847, at Winter Quarters (present Nebraska) and Council Bluffs (present Iowa) as second president of the Mormon Church.

On May 26, 1848, he left the Missouri River settlements for good, leading the 1848 migration to what is now Utah. Thereafter he lived and worked in Utah until his death in 1877. He is generally considered to have been the greatest colonizer in the old west.

Source: Leonard J. Arrington, Brigham Young: American Moses.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 4

HEBER CHASE KIMBALL 1801-1868: Apostle, pioneer, first counselor to Brigham Young.

Kimball was born June 14, 1801, in Franklin County, Vermont. He later moved to Ontario County, New York, where he married and worked as a potter and blacksmith. He joined the Mormon Church there in 1832. He did missionary work and eventually followed Joseph Smith to Kirtland, Ohio, in 1832. He was a member of Zion's Camp in 1834 and became a member of the first Quorum of 12 Apostles. He filled several missions, including two to England in 1837 and 1840.

He followed Smith to Missouri and to Nauvoo, Illinois. After the murder of Smith in June 1844, Kimball became the de facto first counselor to Young and leader of the Mormon Church, and in this capacity helped prepare the Mormons for their eventual exodus to the west,

From February 1846 through September 1848, he was second only to Young as a leader of emigrants west. After he arrived for the last time in Salt Lake City in 1848 he remained first counselor to Young until his death in 1868.

Source: Stanley B. Kimball, Heber C. Kimball: Mormon Patriarch and Pioneer.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 5

PARLEY PARKER PRATT, 1807-1857: Missionary, apostle, pioneer.

Pratt was born in Otsego County, New York; later lived in Ohio; joined the Mormons in 1830 and went on several missions including to England once in 1840 and again in 1846. He followed Smith to Missouri and Illinois. In 1835 he became a member of the first Quorum of Twelve Apostles, in which capacity he helped ready the Mormons for their exodus across Iowa in 1846. After his 1846 mission to England he led a large 1847 company of Saints to Utah.

Source: Parley Parker Pratt, Autobiography of Parley Parker Pratt.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 6

PETER HAWS: Little is known of Peter Haws except that he was a captain of 50 pioneers across Iowa in 1846. In Winter Quarters he considered himself equal to Young in leading the Mormons west. At Winter Quarters he was chastised by Young and the High Council of the church for selling liquor to the Indians, He was not one of the pioneers of Utah,Source: Varia, bits and pieces here and there, for example, Roberts, A Comprehensive History, vol. 3, 53.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 7

JOHN TAYLOR, 1808-1887: Apostle, pioneer and third president of the Mormon Church.

Taylor was born November 1, 1808, in Westmorland County, England. He moved to Toronto, Canada, in 1828, where he joined the Mormon Church in 1836. He followed Smith to Kirtland, Ohio, where he became an apostle in 1838. He filled several missions, including two to England in 1838 and 1846.

He followed Smith to Nauvoo, Illinois. After Smith's death in 1844 Taylor, as an apostle, assisted Young in the direction of the church; and helped lead the pioneers across Iowa in 1846. After he returned from his 1846 mission to England he had charge of a large 1847 company of pioneers going to Utah. He became president of the Mormon Church in 1880, following the death of Young.

Source: B. H. Roberts, The Life of John Taylor.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 8

GEORGE MILLER, 1794-?, after 1848: Second Bishop of the Mormon Church, Pioneer of 1846.

Miller was born November 25, 1794, in Orange County, Virginia. Little is known of Miller. He joined the Mormon Church, became the Second Bishop in the Church in Nauvoo in 1844 and became, as captain of a group of 50, one of the leaders of the exodus across Iowa in 1846. In Winter Quarters he argued against settling in the Great Basin and for such "insubordination" was released from his calling as a bishop in 1847. He went to Texas in 1847 and was disfellowshipped in 1848. He did not follow Young west.

Source: Frank Esshom, Pioneers and Prominent Men of Utah.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 9

WILLIAM CLAYTON, 1814-1879: Pioneer, hymnist, clerk of the 1846 and 1847 camp of pioneers, author of famous guidebook.

Clayton was born July 17, 1814, in Lancashire, England, joined the Mormons there in 1837, immigrated to Nauvoo, Illinois, in 1840, and became a clerk to Joseph Smith. He was prominent in the 1846 Camp Of Israel, being the Company Clerk. It was while crossing Iowa that he wrote the words to the now famous Mormon hymn, "Come, Come, Ye Saints." In 1847 he was again the Camp Clerk for the pioneers. In 1848 in St. Louis he published his famous The Latter-Day Saints' Emigrants' Guide...From Council Bluffs to the Valley of the Great Salt Lake.

Source: William Clayton, William Clayton's Journal.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 10

ORSON PRATT, 1811-1881: Mormon apostle, mathematician, pioneer. Born in Hartford, New York, joined the Mormon Church in 1830; he went on many missions for his new faith. He became an apostle in 1835 and in Nauvoo, Illinois, he conducted a school for mathematics. He crossed the plains with the pioneers of 1847, acting as the scientific member of that body. He was the first Mormon to enter the Valley of the Great Salt Lake.

Source: Andrew Jenson, Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopaedia.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 11

WILFORD WOODRUFF, 1807-1898: Apostle, pioneer, fourth president of the Mormon Church.

Woodruff was born March 1, 1807, in Hartford County, Connecticut. He later moved to New York where he farmed and joined the Mormons in 1833. He followed Smith to Kirtland, Ohio, where he became a member of Zion's Camp in 1834. He became an apostle in 1839 and went on several missions, including two to England in 1839 and 1844. He moved to Nauvoo, Illinois, in 1841. After the death of Smith in 1844, he assisted Young in church administration until he returned to England that same year. He participated in the 1846 exodus from Illinois and became a member of the pioneer group of 1847. It was in Woodruff's wagon that the sick Young entered The Valley July 14, 1847, and it was Woodruff who, in 1897, recounted the story about Young having seen The Valley of the Great Salt Lake in a vision and saying on July 14, 1847, "This is the place, drive on."

Source: Matthias F. Cowley, Wilford Woodruff Fourth President of the Church.