BackGround: Kirtland Temple, Kirtland, Ohio.
Created 30 December 2009
Lorenzo was born 3 April 1814 Mantua, Portage, Ohio and married first 19 December 1845 in Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois Mary Adaline GODDARD the daughter of Daniel GODDARD and Percy Amanda PETTIBONE. She was born 8 March 1812 in Granby, Hartford, Connecticut and died 28 December 1898 in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah.
He married second 21 April 1845 in Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois, Sarah Ann PRICHARD the daughter of John PRICHARD and Polly TILLOTSON. She was born 29 November 1826 in Nelson, Portage, Ohio and died December 1900 in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake Utah.
He married third January 1846 in Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois, Eleanor HOUTZ the daughter of John Christian HOUTZ and Susannah PAWLING. She was born 14 August 1831 in Newbury, Geauga, Ohio and died 25 September 1880 in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah.
He mrried fourth January 1846 in Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois, Charlotte SQUIRES the daughter of Charles Merrell SQUIRES and Charlotte SMITH. She was born 19 November 1825 in Newbury, Geauga, Ohio and died 23 December 1849 in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah.
He married fifth 17 Januaruy 1846 in Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois, Harriet Amelia Prichard SQUIRES the daughter of Aaron SQUIRES and Elizabeth PRICHARD. She was born 13 September 1819 in Aurora, Geauga, Ohio and died 12 May 1890 in Brigham City, Box Elder, Utah.
He married sixth 9 October 1853 in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, Caroline HORTON the daughter of Abraham HORTON and Sarah FOREMAN. She was born 25 December 1824 in Sandhurst, Kent, England and died 21 February 1857 in Brigham City, Box Elder, Utah.
He married seventh 4 April 1859 in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, Phoebe Amellia WOODRUFF the daughter of Willford WOODRUFF and Phoebe Whittemore CARTER. She was born 4 March 1842, in Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois and died 15 Feb 1919 in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah.
He married eighth 1859 in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah. Mary Elizabeth HOUTZ the daughter of Jacob HOUTZ and Lydia MEASE. She was born 19 May 1840 in Pennstown, Union, Pennsylvania and died 31 March 1906 in Brigham City, Box Elder, Utah.
He married nineth 12 June 1871 in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, Sarah Minnie Ephramina JENSIN the daughter of Hans Peter JENSEN and Sarah Josephine Dina Catherine CLAUSEN. She was born 6 October 1855 in Brigham City, Box Elder, Utah and died 2 January 1906 in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah. Lorenzo died 10 October 1901 in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah.
Lorenzo Snow (April 3, 1814 – October 10, 1901) was the fifth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) from 1898 to his death. Snow was the last president of the LDS Church in the nineteenth century. Snow was the fifth child and first son of Oliver Snow and Rosetta Pettibone, residents of Mantua Township, Ohio, who had left New England to settle on a new and fertile farm in the Connecticut Western Reserve. Despite the labor required on the farm, the Snow family valued learning and saw that each child had educational opportunities. Lorenzo received his final year of education at Oberlin College, which was originally founded by two Presbyterian ministers. Snow later made his living as a school teacher when not engaged in church service.
In 1831, Joseph Smith, Jr., the Latter Day Saint prophet, took up residence in Hiram, Ohio, four miles from the Snow farm. The Snow family were Baptists, but soon took a strong interest in the new religious movement. Snow recorded that he heard the Book of Mormon being read in his home in Mantua and met Smith at Hiram in 1831. By 1835, Lorenzo's mother and his older sister Eliza Roxcy Snow, had joined the Latter Day Saint church. Eliza soon moved to the church headquarters in Kirtland, Ohio, and worked as a school teacher. She, in her biography of Lorenzo, claims to have fostered his interest in Mormonism while he was at Oberlin. She invited Lorenzo to visit her and attend a school of Hebrew newly established by the church. During his visit there, in June 1836, Lorenzo was baptized by John F. Boynton, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
While living in Kirtland in 1837, Snow was called to serve a short mission in Ohio, traveling "without purse or scrip." He recorded that relying on the kindness of others for his meals and lodging was difficult for him, as he had always had sufficient means to care for himself. When he returned to Kirtland in 1838, Snow found Smith's followers in turmoil over the failure of the Kirtland Safety Society. Snow and the members of his extended family chose to move to Missouri in the summer of 1838 and join the Latter Day Saints settling near Far West. Snow became seriously ill with a fever, and was nursed for several weeks by his sister Eliza.
On his recovery, Snow left for a second mission to Illinois and Kentucky in the fall of 1838. He served there through February 1839, when he learned that the Latter Day Saints had been expelled from their settlements in Missouri. He traveled home by way of his former mission area in Ohio. He was again taken ill and was cared for by members of the church. He remained in Ohio, preaching and working with church members until the fall of 1839. During the school year of 1839–40, Snow taught in Shalersville, Ohio. He sent money to his family, which had by then settled in Nauvoo, Illinois. He joined them in May 1840.
Shortly after he arrived in Nauvoo, Snow was again called to serve an active mission, this time to England. After an unpleasant sea voyage from New York City, Snow met with some of the members of the Twelve Apostles who had opened the British Mission in 1839, including Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, and Parley P. Pratt. He worked briefly in the Manchester area, and had success in Birmingham, where he baptized people in Greet's Green and organized a branch in Wolverhampton. Snow was then assigned to preside over church members in London. During his administration, church membership in the city increased from 100 to approximately 400 members. He was released from his mission by Pratt, who by then was president of an expanding European Mission. Snow arrived home on April 12, 1843, bringing with him a shipload of 250 British converts.
After visiting with his family, Snow again secured a teaching position for the winter, teaching at Lima, Illinois, thirty miles from Nauvoo. In late spring 1844, he returned to Ohio, preaching and baptizing new converts and distributing recent church publications to members. He was working in Cincinnati, Ohio when he learned of the assassination of Joseph Smith. Snow closed his Ohio mission and promptly returned to Nauvoo.
During the period of disorganization and schism that followed Smith's death, Snow chose to follow the Quorum of the Twelve under Brigham Young. In 1845, Snow was involved in work in the Nauvoo Temple.
Before leaving Nauvoo, Snow accepted the principle of plural marriage and took four wives: Charlotte Squires (age 20), Mary Adaline Goddard (age 32), Sarah Ann Prichard (age 18), and Harriet Amelia Squires (age 26). Snow would later take several more wives: Eleanor Houtz (age 14), Mary Elizabeth Houtz (younger sister of Eleanor), Caroline Horton (age 29), Sarah Minnie Ephamina (age 16). Snow also wed the 17-year-old Pheobe Woodruff, the daughter of Wilford Woodruff. Snow fathered the child Rhea Lucile Snow at the age of 83 while serving as president of the LDS Church. Snow's sister Eliza R. Snow was also a polygamous wife of Joseph Smith, Jr., founder of the Latter Day Saint movement.
Snow and his family, with wagons and livestock, joined a group of emigrants and moved across the Mississippi River into Iowa in February 1846. On the way west, Snow again became ill and the family stopped at Mt. Pisgah, Iowa. Three Snow children were born at the Mormon refugee settlement, but one child did not survive. Snow was called to preside over the church organization in Mt. Pisgah and actively raised money to assist the bands of emigrants in their move west. The Snow family moved on to the Salt Lake Valley in 1848.
In 1849 Snow[1] was called to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. He was called the same day as Franklin D. Richards, Erastus Snow (a distant cousin), and Charles C. Rich. They were called to fill vacancies caused by the re-establishment of the First Presidency and Lyman Wight's apostasy.
Shortly after his call to the Twelve, Snow left on a mission to Italy and French-speaking Switzerland. He later sent missionaries under his direction to India (1849–1852). Snow was directly involved in missionary work in Italy and Switzerland, and also visited Malta. He had planned to visit India, but various circumstances prevented this journey.
In 1851, Snow published a pamphlet entitled "The Italian Mission"[2] about his and his companions efforts in Italy. It was published in London.
Snow wrote a pamphlet entitled "The Voice of Joseph" in 1850 to advance missionary work in the Italian mission. He was unable to find anyone in Italy to translate it so sent it to Orson Pratt, then the president of the British Mission, who eventually found someone in Paris to translate it.
In January 1851, Snow went to England and found a person there whom he hired to translate the Book of Mormon into Italian.[3]
The efforts of missionaries under Snow, especially the ones he sent to Turin, inspired an article attacking the Mormon missionaries for undermining the Roman Catholic Church in the Turinese paper, L'Armonia. Snow and his successors were unsuccessful in the cities also due to opposition to their activities by the government of Camillo Cavour [Citation needed]
On his return to Utah, Snow founded a society called the polysophical society to conduct study into the various aspects of human knowledge. He encouraged church members of all ages to join and some view this organization as a predecessor of the Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association.
In 1853, under the direction of church president Brigham Young, Snow founded Brigham City, Utah. Settlement had begun on a limited scale at this site under the name "Box Elder". Snow changed the name and moved the community towards living up to its name. He was also a key backer of the Brigham City Cooperative, which was the inspiration for ZCMI and other cooperatives.
In 1864, Snow was sent on a mission to the Sandwich Islands (Hawaiian Islands). He went on this mission with Ezra T. Benson and Joseph F. Smith. They were responding to messages from Jonatana Napela and other Hawaiian church members about the irregular administration of the church by Walter Gibson. While here, Snow was seriously injured but was healed through the ministration of holders of the priesthood.[4]
Some accused Snow of engineering the election of Thomas Kearns, his friend and a wealthy Catholic to the United States Senate in 1901. However it may have been a shrewd decision to help ensure statehood for Utah by electing a non-mormon.[5]
Arrested and confined for unlawful cohabitation (1885–1886)
President of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles (1889–1898)
President of the Salt Lake Temple (1893)
Between April 1901 and his death, Snow served as the general superintendent of the church's Sunday School program.
As the church expanded into the surrounding states, members of the Quorum of the Twelve would be sent to other states of assignment.
In 1888, Snow went to Rexburg, Idaho. While here he told the leaders of the stake that Karl G. Maeser had been appointed Commissioner of Church Education and recommended that they form a stake academy. The local leaders followed Snow's instructions and the institution they formed eventually evolved into Brigham Young University–Idaho.[6]
Snow was the subject of a United States Supreme Court case regarding polygamy prosecutions under the Edmunds Act. In late 1885, Snow was indicted by a federal grand jury for three counts of unlawful cohabitation. According to his indictments, Snow had lived with more than one woman for three years. The jury delivered one indictment for each of these years, and Snow was convicted on each count. After conviction he filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus in the federal district court which convicted him. The petition was denied, but federal law guaranteed him an appeal to the United States Supreme Court. In Ex Parte Snow[7] the Supreme Court invalidated Snow's second and third convictions for unlawful cohabitation. It found that unlawful cohabitation was a "continuing offense," and thus that Snow was at most guilty of one such offense for cohabiting continuously with more than one woman for three years.
The first notable action of Lorenzo Snow as president of the church was that he organized the First Presidency almost immediately after Wilford Woodruff's death, instead of waiting years as his predecessors had.
As he began his tenure as president, Snow had to deal with the aftermath of legal battles with the United States over the practice of plural marriage. Men engaging in plural marriage were still being arrested and confined in Utah Territory. Some members of the LDS Church did not accept the 1890 Manifesto put forth by Wilford Woodruff, and there was a strong division of opinion on plural marriage even in the priesthood hierarchy of the church.
The LDS Church was also in severe financial difficulties, some of which were related to the legal problems over plural marriage. Snow approached this problem first by issuing short term bonds with a total value of one million dollars. This was followed by emphatic teaching on tithing. It was during this time that the LDS Church officially adopted the principle of tithing, the payment of 10% of one's income, as a hallmark of membership. Snow gave an address at the St. George Tabernacle in St. George, Utah, imploring the Latter-day Saints to pay tithes of corn, money or whatever they had in order to have sufficient rain. After much patience and faith, it rained in southern Utah.[citation needed] In a short period of time, the members' practice of paying a tithe reduced the church's debt and financial difficulties to a manageable level.
Snow died of pneumonia in Salt Lake City, Utah and was succeeded in the church presidency by Joseph F. Smith.
1 Snow, Charles C. Rich, Erastus Snow, and Franklin D. Richards were ordained on
the same day to fill four vacancies in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
2 The Italian Mission.
3 Il Libro di Mormon: Anticipating Growth Beyond Italy's Waldensian Valleys
- Maxwell Institute JBMS
4 See Biography and Family Record of Lorenzo Snow.
5 Malmquist, O.N.:The First 100 Years, pp..
6 Public Relations Office – BYU–Idaho
7 120 U.S. 274 (1887)
Mormon History: LDS (Mormon) Prophet Lorenzo Snow 1/2
CHILDREN of Lorenzo SNOW and Mary Adaline GODDARD:
1. 1. ROSETTAADALINE b: 7 Nov 1846; Mt Pisgah, Pottawatamie, Iowa.
md: 17 Nov 1866; Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah.
Chester LOVELAND
d: 4 Jan 1933; Brigham City, Box Elder, Utah.
5. 2. OLIVER GODDARD b: 20 Feb 1849; Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah.
md: 1873; , , .
15. 3. ISADORE PERCEY SINA b: 24 Feb 1855; Salt Lak e City, Salt Lake, Utah.
d: 1 May 1925; , , , Canada.
CHILDREN of Lorenzo SNOW and Sarah Ann PRICHARD:
4. 1. ELIZA SARAH b: 30 Nov 1847; Mt. Pisgah, Pottawatamie, Iowa.
md: 31 Aug 1869; Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah.
George DUNFORD
d: 5 Oct 1937; Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah.
7. 2. SYLVIA b: 16 Jan 1850; Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah.
md: 9 Nov 1867; Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah.
Chauncey Walker WEST Jr.
d: 2 Jan 1934; Inglewood, Los Angeles, California.
10. 3. LORENZO b: 7 Jul 1853; Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah.
md: 1880; , , .
Huldah Amelia JENSEN
16. 4. PARINTHIA b: 5 Nov 1855; Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah.
30. 5. LAUREN ALVIRUS ERASTUS b: 2 Dec 1863; Brigham City, Box Elder, Utah.
CHILDREN of Lorenzo SNOW and Eleanor HOUTZ:
8. 1. AMANDA ELEANOR b: 19 Apr 1850; Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah.
d: 21 Oct 1850; Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah.
11. 2. IDA b: 2 Jan 1854; Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah.
md: ; , , .
A HALLADAY-JACKSON
d: 15 Jan 1823; , , England.
bur: 19 Jan 1923; London, Middlesex, England.
17. 3. EUGENIA b: 5 Jul 1856; Brigham City, Box Elder, Utah.
md: 1 Nov 1876; Brighan City, Box Elder, Utah.
Leonidas Thomas PIERCE
d: 13 Jan 1946; Hollywood, Los Angeles, California.
18. 4. ROSALIE MARIE b: 5 Jul 1856; Brigham City, Box Elder, Utah.
d: 13 Jan 1946; , , .
20. 5. LYDIA b: 1856; Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah.
23. 6. ALPHONZO HOUTZ b: 13 Oct 1858; Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah.
md: 18 Jun 1884; Salt Lake City, Salt Lake. Utah.
Minnie L LOVELAND
md: Bef 1909; , , .
Grace M GAYLORD
d: 22 Feb 1933; Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah.
26. 7. SUSAN IMOGENE b: 4 May 1861; Brigham City, Box Elder, Utah.
d: 16 Oct 1864; Brigham City, Box Elder, Utah.
29. 8. ROXY LANA b: 22 Oct 1863; Brigham City, Box Elder, Utah.
34. 9. HORTENSIA b: 17 Jul 1867; Brigham City, Box Elder, Utah.
37. 10. CHAUNCEY EDGAR b: 8 Jul 1870; Brigham City, Box Elder, Utah.
CHILDREN of Lorenzo SNOW and Charlotte SQUIRES:
2. 1. LEONORA CHARLOTTE b: 23 Jan 1847; Mt. Pisgah, Pottawatamie, Iowa.
d: Jun 1847; Mt. Pisgah, Pottawatamie, Iowa.
6. 2. ROXEY ARMARTHA b: 14 Dec 1849; Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah.
d: 9 Jul 1931; , , .
CHILDREN of Lorenzo SNOW and Harriet Amelia SQUIRES:
3. 1. ABIGAIL HARRIET b: 16 Jul 1847; Mt. Pisgah, Pottawatamie, Iowa.
d: 9 May 1914, Brigham City, Box Elder, Utah.
9. 2. LUCIUS AARON b: 16 Dec 1850; Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah.
md: 14 Nov 1875; Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah.
Elizabeth Agnes WILSON
d: 3 Oct 1921; Brigham City, Box Elder, Utah.
12. 3. ALONZO HENRY b: 15 Feb 1854; Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah.
d: 1 Nov 1854; Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah.
13. 4. AMELIA HENRIETTA b: 15 Feb 1854; Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah.
d: 30 Oct 1854; Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah.
19. 5. CELESTIA ARMEDA b: 2 Dec 1856; Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah.
md: 29 Mar 1875; Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah.
Brigham Morris YOUNG
d: 13 Mar 1938; Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah.
CHILDREN of Lorenzo SNOW and Caroline HORTON:
14. 1. CLARISSA CAROLINE b: 10 Jul 1854; Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah.
md: 12 Jun 1871; Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah.
John Archibald McALISTER
d: 15 Oct 1917; Logan, Cache, Utah.
21. 2. FRANKLIN HORTON b: 3 Feb 1857; Brigham City, Cache, Utah.
md: 21 Aug 1903; , , .
Aurilla BIGELOW
22. 3. SARAH AUGUSTA b: 3 Feb 1857; Brigham City, Box Elder, Utah.
d: 27 Feb 1857; Brigham City, Box Elder, Utah.
CHILDREN of Lorenzo SNOW and Phoebe Amelia WOODRUFF:
25. 1. MARY AMANDA b: 4 Sep 1860; Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah.
d: 6 Sep 1860; Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah.
27. 2. LESLIE WOODRUFF b: 6 Feb 1862; Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah.
d: 28 Nov 1935; , , .
32. 3. ORION WOODRUFF b: 6 Sep 1866; Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah.
md: 17 May 1888; Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah.
Marintha Althera REEVES
d: 7 Mar 1939; Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah.
35. 4. MILTON WOODRUFF b: 7 Feb 1868; Brigham City, Box Elder, Utah.
md: Bef 1909; , , .
Villette Fuller EARDLEY
d: 24 Jan 1943; , , .
38. 5. PHEBE AUGUSTA FLORENCE b: 7 Aug 1870; Brigham City, Box Elder, Utah.
md: Bef 1897; , , .
John J CRITCHELOW
d: 6 Feb 1964; , , .
CHILDREN of Lorenzo SNOW and Mary Elizabeth HOUTZ:
24. 1. LYDIA MAY b: 21 Jan 1860; Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah.
28. 2. JACOB E FITZROY b: 31 Oct 1862; Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah.
d: 2 Dec 1862; Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah.
31. 3. VIRGINIA M MARIAN b: 3O Jan 1864; Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah.
33. 4. MANSFIELD LORENZO b: 8 Sep 1866; Brigham City, Box Elder, Utah.
md: Bef 1895; , , .
Alice L _______
36. 5. MORTIMER JOSEPH b: 19 Nov 1868; Brigham City, Box Elder, Utah.
39. 6. FLORA BELL BIRDIE b: 19 Jul 1871; Brigham City, Box Elder, Utah.
CHILDREN of Lorenzo SNOW and Sarah Minnie Ephramina JENSEN:
40. 1. LE ROI CLARENCE b: 26 Aug 1876; Brigham City, Box Elder, Utah.
d: 31 Dec 1962; , , .
41. 2. MINNIE MARBELLE b: 23 May 1879; Brigham City, Box Elder, Utah.
d: 3 Dec 2963; , , .
42. 3. CORA JANE b: 16 Feb 1883; Brigham City, Box Elder, Utah.
d: 11 Aug 1883, Brigham City, Box Elder, Utah.
43. 4. LORENZO LAMONT b: 26 Aug 1884; Brigham City, Box Elder, Utah.
d: 7 May 1954; , , .
44. 5. RHEA LUCILLE b: 5 Nov 1896; , , , Canada.
d: 9 Jul 1976; Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah.
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