Wasson, Lorenzo D., 1818-1857

Person

Staff Only

Biographical History

Lorenzo D. Wasson (1819-1857) was a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and a member of the Council of the Fifty.

Lorenzo D. Wasson was born in 1819 in New York to Benjamin Wasson and Elizabeth Hale. He lived in New York and Illinois and in 1840 moved to Nauvoo where he lived with Joseph and Emma Smith. While in Nauvoo he was baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by Joseph Smith, joined the Nauvoo Masonic Lodge, and received permission to serve a mission. He served his mission to New Jersey and Pennsylvania in the summer of 1842. He became a member of the Council of Fifty, a political organization within the Church, in 1844. He married Marietta Crocker in 1843 and Aurelia Gaylord in approximately 1848.

Wasson died in 1857 in Amboy, Illinois.

Citation:

Joseph Smith Papers, via. WWW, March 3, 2014 (born in 1819 in New York; Benjamin Wasson and Elizabeth Hale; lived in New York and Illinois; 1840 moved to Nauvoo where he lived with Joseph and Emma Smith; was baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by Joseph Smith in Nauvoo; joined the Nauvoo Masonic Lodge; served his mission to New Jersey and Pennsylvania in the summer of 1842; became a member of the Council of Fifty, a political organization within the Church, in 1844; married Marietta Crocker in 1843 and Aurelia Gaylord in approximately 1848; died in 1857 in Amboy, Illinois)

Found in 2 Collections and/or Records:

Lorenzo D. Wasson letter to David Hale

Digital Record

Identifier: MSS7614_O3_F4

Dates: 1841 February

Found in: L. Tom Perry Special Collections

Lorenzo D. Wasson letter to David Hale, 1841 February

Item — Oversize 3: [Barcode: 31197233635090], Folder: 4

Identifier: MSS 7614

Scope and Contents

Color photocopy and typescript of letter written to David Hale from Lorenzo D. Wasson, Hale's nephew. Wasson writes that he is living with Joseph Smith, and gives his impressions of Smith, Nauvoo, and Mormonism. Also includes messages written by Emma Smith and possibly Joseph Smith, mentioning family matters and inviting Hale to settle in Nauvoo. Dated February 1841.