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Lorenzo Snow

3 April 1814—10 October 1901

Emmeline B. Wells

Born 3 Apr. 1814 in Mantua, Portage Co., Ohio.1 Son of Oliver Snow and Rosetta Leonora Pettibone.2 Educated in public schools in Ravenna, Portage Co.; attended Oberlin College.3 Baptized as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by John F. Boynton, June 1836, in Kirtland, Geauga Co., Ohio.4 Served missions in Ohio, Missouri, Kentucky, and Illinois, 1837–1838.5 Employed as a teacher, winter 1839–1840.6 Served a mission to England, 1840–1843.7 Appointed as president of the London conference, 1841.8 Appointed to the general presidency of the Church in Europe, 1842.9 Married Mary Adaline Goddard, ca. 1845; participated in plural marriage.10 Migrated to the Salt Lake Valley with the Brigham Young pioneer company, 1848.11 Ordained as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, 12 Feb. 1849.12 Opened a mission in Italy, 1850–1852.13 Appointed to colonize what became Brigham City, Box Elder Co., Utah, 1853.14 Member of the Utah territorial legislature, 1853–1882.15 Served a mission to the Sandwich Islands, 1864.16 Traveled to Palestine with President George A. Smith, visiting sacred and historic sites, 1872.17 President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, 1889–1898.18 President of the Salt Lake temple, 1893–1901.19 President of the Church, 1898–1901.20 Supported EBW in her work for women’s suffrage, 1898.21 President of the Church while EBW was secretary of the Relief Society general board.22 Revived the law of tithing to lift the Church out of financial debt, May 1899.23 Died 10 Oct. 1901 in Salt Lake City.24

The First Fifty Years of Relief Society

25 Born at Mantua, Portage County, Ohio; son of Rosetta Leonora Pettibone and Oliver Snow. 26 Baptized at Kirtland, Geauga County, Ohio, 1836. 27 Married Charlotte Merrill Squires, 1846; participated in plural marriage. 28 Migrated to the Salt Lake Valley, 1848. 29 Ordained a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, 1849. 30 Appointed to colonize Brigham City, Box Elder County, Utah Territory, 1853. 31 Appointed president of the Quorum of the Twelve, 1889. 32 Served as president of the Salt Lake temple. 33 Served as fifth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1898–1901. 34 Died at Salt Lake City; buried at Brigham City. 35 (See Document 4.28)

Footnotes

  1. 1 Eliza R. Snow Smith, Biography and Family Record of Lorenzo Snow (Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1884), 1. Temple Records Index Bureau, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Nauvoo Temple Endowment Register, 10 December 1845 to 8 February 1846 (Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1974), 30 (restricted access). “Family Tree,” database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org, accessed 26 Sept. 2019), Lorenzo Snow (KW84-5CT). 

  2. 2 Eliza R. Snow Smith, Biography and Family Record of Lorenzo Snow (Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1884), 1. Historian’s Office, Histories of the Twelve, 1856–1858, 1861, Lorenzo Snow, Autobiography, 1861, p. 1, CR 100 93, CHL.

  3. 3 Eliza R. Snow Smith, Biography and Family Record of Lorenzo Snow (Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1884), 3. Historian’s Office, Histories of the Twelve, 1856–1858, 1861, Lorenzo Snow, Autobiography, 1861, p. 2, CR 100 93, CHL.

  4. 4 Eliza R. Snow Smith, Biography and Family Record of Lorenzo Snow (Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1884), 7. Historian’s Office, Histories of the Twelve, 1856–1858, 1861, Lorenzo Snow, Autobiography, 1861, p. 2, CR 100 93, CHL.

  5. 5 Eliza R. Snow Smith, Biography and Family Record of Lorenzo Snow (Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1884), 15–16, 30–31. Historian’s Office, Histories of the Twelve, 1856–1858, 1861, Lorenzo Snow, Autobiography, 1861, pp. 3–4, CR 100 93, CHL.

  6. 6 Eliza R. Snow Smith, Biography and Family Record of Lorenzo Snow (Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1884), 39.

  7. 7 “Minutes of a Conference Held in London,” Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star, Mar. 1841, 282–283. Eliza R. Snow Smith, Biography and Family Record of Lorenzo Snow (Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1884), 46. “Mission to England,” Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star, Apr. 1841, 302–303.

  8. 8 “Minutes of a Conference Held in London,” Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star, Mar. 1841, 282–283. “Mission to England,” Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star, Apr. 1841, 302–303.

  9. 9 “To the Saints in Europe,” Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star, Oct. 1842, 110. Eliza R. Snow Smith, Biography and Family Record of Lorenzo Snow (Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1884), 62.

  10. 10 “Sealings and Adoptions of the Living, 1846–1857; Index, 1846–1857,” The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Nauvoo Temple, vol. A, 1846–1857, p. 491, Lorenzo Snow, 17 Jan. 1846, microfilm 183374, DGS 5265582 (restricted access), FHL. Historian’s Office, Histories of the Twelve, 1856–1858, 1861, Lorenzo Snow, Autobiography, 1861, p. 9, CR 100 93, CHL.

  11. 11 Camp of Israel Schedules and Reports, 1845–1849; Brigham Young’s 1848 Emigration Division, Division Report, June 1848, CHL.

  12. 12 Historian’s Office, Histories of the Twelve, 1856–1858, 1861, Lorenzo Snow, Autobiography, 1861, p. 10, CR 100 93, CHL. Orson F. Whitney, History of Utah, 4 vols. (Salt Lake City: George Q. Cannon & Sons, 1904), 224.

  13. 13 Historian’s Office, Histories of the Twelve, 1856–1858, 1861, Lorenzo Snow, Autobiography, 1861, p. 11, CR 100 93, CHL. “Letter from Lorenzo Snow,” Deseret News (Salt Lake City), 14 June 1851, 274.

  14. 14 Historian’s Office, Histories of the Twelve, 1856–1858, 1861, Lorenzo Snow, Autobiography, 1861, p. 11, CR 100 93, CHL.

  15. 15 Orson F. Whitney, History of Utah, 4 vols. (Salt Lake City: George Q. Cannon & Sons, 1904), 224.

  16. 16 Missionary Department, Missionary Registers, 1860–1959, vol. A, 25 Apr. 1860–27 Apr. 1894, p. 5, no. 191, CR 301 22, image 11/160, CHL.

  17. 17 “Local and Other Matters,” Deseret Evening News (Salt Lake City), 15 Oct. 1872, 3.

  18. 18 “General Conference,” Deseret Evening News (Salt Lake City), 8 Apr. 1889, 2.

  19. 19 Salt Lake Temple, Salt Lake Temple Records, CR 306 97, CHL. Salt Lake Temple, Salt Lake Temple Workers’ Roll, 1893–1950, June 1901, CR 306 60, CHL.

  20. 20 EBW, Diary, 14 Sept. 1898. “The First Presidency,” Salt Lake Herald, 14 Sept. 1898, 8.

  21. 21 EBW, Diary, 20 Sept. 1898. Carol Cornwall Madsen, Emmeline B. Wells: An Intimate History (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2017), 374–375. EBW, Diary, 17 Oct. 1898. “Executive Meetings in Omaha,” Woman’s Exponent, 15 Sept. 1898, 46.

  22. 22 History of Relief Society, 1842–1966 (Salt Lake City: General Board of Relief Society, 1966), 39. EBW, Diary, 14 Sept. 1898. “The First Presidency,” Salt Lake Herald, 14 Sept. 1898, 8.

  23. 23 Orson F. Whitney, History of Utah, 4 vols. (Salt Lake City: George Q. Cannon & Sons, 1904), 226.

  24. 24 “Utah Death Registers, 1847–1966,” image 5/8 (1901), Lorenzo Snow; citing series 21866, from Utah Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics, Utah State Archives and Records Service, Salt Lake City.

  25. 25 Andrew Jenson, Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia (Salt Lake City: Andrew Jenson History Co., 1901), 1:26. “Utah Cemeteries and Burials,” database, Utah Division of State History (https://ushpo.utah.gov/cemetery, accessed May 2023), Lorenzo Snow.

  26. 26 Eliza Roxcy Snow, Biography and Family Record of Lorenzo Snow, One of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Salt Lake City: Deseret News Company, 1884), 1.

  27. 27 Snow, Biography and Family Record, 7.

  28. 28 Snow, Biography and Family Record, 84, 488–495. “Sudden Death of President Snow,” Deseret Evening News, Oct. 10, 1901, 1.

  29. 29 “Lorenzo Snow,” Church History Biographical Database, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, available at https://history.churchofjesuschrist.org/chd/landing, accessed Jan. 2015.

  30. 30 Snow, Biography and Family Record, 48–49. Jenson, LDS Biographical Encyclopedia, 1:28.

  31. 31 Snow, Biography and Family Record, 260. Jenson, LDS Biographical Encyclopedia, 1:28–29.

  32. 32 Jenson, LDS Biographical Encyclopedia, 1:30.

  33. 33 Ibid.

  34. 34 Jenson, LDS Biographical Encyclopedia, 1:30–31. “Sudden Death of President Snow,” 1.

  35. 35 “Sudden Death of President Snow,” 1. “Utah Cemeteries and Burials,” database, Lorenzo Snow.