Dates

• Existence: 1834 - 1906

Biographical History

Jesse Nathaniel Smith (1834-1906) was a church leader for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as well as a polygamist, pioneer, farmer, attorney, judge, and legislator in Utah and Arizona.

Jesse Nathaniel Smith was born on December 2, 1834, in Stockholm, New York, to parents Silas Smith (1779-1839) and Mary Aikens Smith (1797-1877). Born in New York as the youngest cousin of Joseph Smith, the prophet, Jesse Nathaniel Smith lived nearly all his life on the American frontier. He was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at Nauvoo on August 13, 1843. From his youth he had shared the trying experiences and persecutions of the Saints in New York, Ohio, and Missouri. At the age of eleven he crossed the Mississippi and the Great Plains in the covered wagon exodus from Illinois. He entered the Salt Lake Valley on September 25, 1847, only to leave it again four years later when he was called by Brigham Young to help colonize Parowan, Utah. While at Parowan, he acted as a scout and surveyor for Church colony sites in southern Utah. An active bearer of the priesthood nearly all his life, he was ordained an Elder, a Seventy and a High Priest in 1851, 1854, and 1855 respectively.

In the six decades following the exodus from Nauvoo, he was engaged in exploring and community building in Utah, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, and Chihuahua, Mexico and in missionary work in Scandinavia. More than most of his contemporaries, he played roles which cut across the full fabric of the experience. He was in the truest sense a field commander. Directing the preaching and convert migration of a proselyting mission abroad and directing the water development and home building of long-term colonizing missions in the West, he at once shared the attitudes and experiences of the church's top hierarchs, yet worked, aspired, and sacrificed with rank-and-file pioneers in opening new frontiers. Sitting thus astride the social divide between the leaders and the led, he had an extraordinarily broad range of vision. Smith's extensive church service included counselor in the Parowan Stake Presidency at age 21, missionary to Europe 1860-62, President of the Scandinavian Mission, 1862-64 and 1868-70, and President of the Eastern Arizona Stake 1879-1887, and the Snowflake Stake, 1887-1906.

Like many of the leaders of his time, Smith was a polygamist. Jesse married Emma Seraphine West (1836-1910) on May 13, 1852, in Parowan, Utah, and together they had nine children. Then he married Margaret Fletcher West (1838-1864) on January 27, 1856 in Parowan, Utah, and together they had two children. Then he married Janet Mauretta Johnson (1848-1933) on October 9, 1866, in Salt Lake City, Utah, and together they had 13 children. Then he married Augusta Maria Outzen (1854-1932) on June 3, 1869, in Copenhagen, Denmark, and together they had 11 children. Last he married Emma Larson (1863-1943) on October 28, 1881, in St. George, Utah, and together they had nine children. A total of 44 children, for which he paid the same price as many others under U. S. law. Under prosecution for violation of the Edmunds Law, he and four other brethren traveled to Mexico in 1884 to purchase land for the Church. When the persecution diminished, he returned to the United States.

Smith was also successful in a wide variety of secular activities. He served as city clerk, city councilman, mayor, and city magistrate of Parowan, district attorney of Iron County, Captain in the militia and a member of the Utah Territorial Legislature. As a colonizer of Arizona in 1878, he was an LDS agent in purchasing and securing the townsites, land, and water rights of Snowflake, Taylor, and Woodruff from the Aztec Land and Cattle Company. In Snowflake he was a farmer, stockman, cooperative mercantile and bank organizer, a probate judge, and member of the Arizona Territorial Legislature. Widely traveled and self-educated, he amassed a large library and became conversant in five languages.

Smith died on June 5, 1906, in Snowflake, Arizona.

Citation:

The journal of Jesse Nathaniel Smith, 1970.

LC in RLIN, 5-30-96 (hdg.: Smith, Jesse Nathaniel, 1834-1906)

FamilySearch.org, via WWW, February 23,2015 (Jesse Nathanial Smith was born on December 2, 1834, in Stockholm, New York, to parents Silas Smith (1779-1839) and Mary Aikens Smith (1797-1877); married Emma Seraphine West (1836-1910) on May 13, 1852, in Parowan, Utah, and together they had nine children; married Margaret Fletcher West (1838-1864) on January 27, 1856 in Parowan, Utah, and together they had two children; married Janet Mauretta Johnson (1848-1933) on October 9, 1866, in Salt Lake City, Utah, and together they had 13 children; married Augusta Maria Outzen (1854-1932) on June 3, 1869, in Copenhagen, Denmark, and together they had 11 children; married Emma Larson (1863-1943) on October 28, 1881, in St. George, Utah, and together they had nine children; died on June 5, 1906, in Snowflake, Arizona)

UPB files, February 23, 2015 (Jesse Nathanial Smith was born on December 2, 1834, in Stockholm, New York, to parents Silas Smith (1779-1839) and Mary Aikens Smith (1797-1877); youngest cousin of Joseph Smith, the prophet, Jesse Nathaniel Smith lived nearly all his life on the American frontier; baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at Nauvoo on August 13, 1843; shared the trying experiences and persecutions of the Saints in New York, Ohio, and Missouri; crossed the Mississippi and the Great Plains in the covered wagon exodus from Illinois; entered the Salt Lake Valley on September 25, 1847, only to leave it again four years later when he was called by Brigham Young to help colonize Parowan, Utah; acted as a scout and surveyor for Church colony sites in southern Utah; active bearer of the priesthood nearly all his life, he was ordained an Elder, a Seventy and a High Priest in 1851, 1854, and 1855 respectively; engaged in exploring and community building in Utah, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, and Chihuahua, Mexico and in missionary work in Scandinavia; played roles which cut across the full fabric of the experience; was in the truest sense a field commander; Directing the preaching and convert migration of a proselyting mission abroad and directing the water development and home building of long-term colonizing missions in the West, he at once shared the attitudes and experiences of the church's top hierarchs, yet worked, aspired, and sacrificed with rank-and-file pioneers in opening new frontiers; had an extraordinarily broad range of vision; church service included counselor in the Parowan Stake Presidency at age 21, missionary to Europe 1860-62, President of the Scandinavian Mission, 1862-64 and 1868-70, and President of the Eastern Arizona Stake 1879-1887, and the Snowflake Stake, 1887-1906; was a polygamist; total of 44 children, for which he paid the same price as many others under U. S. law; Under prosecution for violation of the Edmunds Law, he and four other brethren traveled to Mexico in 1884 to purchase land for the Church; When the persecution diminished, he returned to the United States; successful in a wide variety of secular activities; served as city clerk, city councilman, mayor, and city magistrate of Parowan, district attorney of Iron County, Captain in the militia and a member of the Utah Territorial Legislature; was an LDS agent in purchasing and securing the townsites, land, and water rights of Snowflake, Taylor, and Woodruff from the Aztec Land and Cattle Company; was a farmer, stockman, cooperative mercantile and bank organizer, a probate judge, and member of the Arizona Territorial Legislature; Widely traveled and self-educated, he amassed a large library and became conversant in five languages; died on June 5, 1906)

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