Lorenzo Snow (1814 - 1901)

Born 3 Apr 1814 in Mantua, Portage, Ohio, United States

Ancestors

Husband of Mary Adaline (Goddard) Snow — married 19 Dec 1845 in Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois, USA

Husband of Charlotte (Squires) Snow — married 19 Dec 1845 in Nauvoo, Hancock County, Illinois, USA

Husband of Sarah Ann (Prichard) Snow — married 20 Dec 1845 in Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois, USA

Husband of Harriet Amelia (Squire) Snow — married 20 Dec 1845 in Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois, USA

Husband of Eleanor (Houtz) Snow — married 1849 in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah Territory, USA

Husband of Caroline (Horton) Snow — married 9 Oct 1853 in Salt Lake, Salt Lake, Utah Territory, USA

Husband of Phoebe Ameilia (Woodruff) Snow — married 4 Apr 1859 in Salt Lake, Salt Lake, Utah Territory, USA

Husband of Mary Elizabeth (Houtz) Snow — married 4 Apr 1859 in Salt Lake, Salt Lake, Utah Territory, USA

Husband of Sarah Ephramina (Jensen) Snow — married 12 Jun 1871 in Salt Lake, Salt Lake, Utah Territory, USA

Descendants

Died 10 Oct 1901 at age 87 in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, United States

Problems/Questions Profile managers: Chet Snow [send private message], Connie Dahlke [send private message], and Latter Day Saints Project WikiTree [send private message]

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Biography

Lorenzo Snow was a Latter Day Saint pioneer.

Lorenzo became a member of the LDS Church between 1830 - 1848.

Lorenzo Snow was born in April 1814. He was the son of Oliver Snow and Rosetta Pettibone. He was born in Mantua, Portage, Ohio, but his parents were from Vermont. Lorenzo passed away in October 1901 in Salt Lake City, Utah.^[1] He was the 5th President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), aka the Mormons.^[2]The LDS Church online genealogy records indicate Lorenzo Snow had 10 wives and 46 children.^[3]

Lorenzo Snow and his second wife, Mary Adeline Goddard, were first cousins. In addition, Mary Adeline had married first George Washington Henderickson and had three children before she married Lorenzo Snow Mary Adeline Goddard.

Lorenzo Snow was a younger brother of Eliza R. Snow. He revealed quite different talents from those of Eliza and was destined to be even more prominent and influential in the affairs of the Latter-day Saints than she, especially with regard to the philosophical and spiritual concerns of the Church. One characteristic Lorenzo did obviously share with Eliza; he loved to work toward strengthening Mormon wards in other states and, even more, in foreign countries. In his youth he served a mission in Ohio and others in Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky and Ohio. In 1840 he journeyed to Great Britain to serve a three-year mission, culminating his stay by presenting a copy of the Book of Mormon to Queen Victoria. Starting in 1849 he served another three year mission in Europe. In 1864 he completed a short mission in Hawaii; and in 1872-73 he toured Europe and Asia Minor, participating in the second dedication of Palestine for the return of the Jews [[My Kingdom Shall Roll Forth; ^[4]

Lorenzo Snow married Hannah Goddard in 1845. “Hannah M. Goddard 1845 (no children), separated 1845, remarried 1849 but not divorced until 1882.” ^[5]. While married to Snow, Goddard fell in love with Joseph Ellis Johnson and became pregnant by him. The matter was brought before a Church council that included the Prophet Brigham Young, and after Johnson expressed his regret for the affair and professed his love for Goddard, Young directed that Johnson be re-baptized. Snow reconciled with Johnson and released Hannah Goddard from the marriage to Snow so that she could marry Johnson. (Michael Quinn wrote: “B.Y. [Brigham Young] reproves him and has him rebaptized” ^[6] With respect to the pregnant Hannah Goddard, Lorenzo Snow relinquished his earthly claim on her, allowing her to marry Johnson. ^[7]

Between December 19, 1845, and June 12, 1871, excluding Hannah Goddard, Lorenzo Snow married 10 different wives, following the doctrine of "plural marriage," as endorsed by the Mormon Church at that time. Here is a list of these marriages with their dates. Note: Jane Farmer is not on this list but some genealogists believe Lorenzo Snow married her as a minor to help her family but, so far as is known, this plural marriage to a 10-year-old girl was never consummated. See "Genealogical Note" at THE END of this profile.^[8]

1. Mary Adeline Goddard - Dec. 19, 1845, Nauvoo IL
2. Charlotte Squires - Dec. 19, 1845, Nauvoo, Illinois
3. Sarah Ann Pritchard - Dec. 20, 1845 in Nauvoo, Hancock County, Illinois
4. Harriet Amelia Squires - Dec. 20, 1845, Nauvoo IL
5. Charlotte Merrill - [No living association; a heavenly marriage was sealed to a deceased person] - 1845
6. Eleanor Houtz - 1849 in Salt Lake City, Utah Territory
7. Caroline Horton - October 9, 1853, Salt Lake City, Utah
8. Mary Elizabeth Houtz - April 4, 1859 in Salt Lake City, Utah
9. Phoebe Amelia Woodruff - April 4, 1859, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake County, Utah
10. Sarah E. "Minnie" Jensen - June 12, 1871 in Salt Lake City, Utah

During the years between his foreign missions Lorenzo Snow was frequently called upon to organize various societies for the enrichment of cultural and philosophical activities in the church as a whole. On a different plane, he served for ten years as president of the Utah Territorial Legislative Council. Within the same span of years he served four years as one of seven counselors to President Brigham Young and spent seven years in organizing the united order in Brigham City, a city which he had helped colonize in 1853. Lamentably, he also served an eleven-month term in prison for a plural marriage charge in 1886-87, at the age 72 ^[9]

Later, Lorenzo Snow served with distinction as President of the Twelve Apostles, the governing board of the Mormon Church, and he received at the age of seventy-five a call from the Apostles to the supreme office of Prophet and President of the Worldwide Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. At the peak of his career, Lorenzo Snow delivered a powerful speech in which he spoke vividly of the benefits to the Church and to all mankind if 100% of the worldwide membership of the Church would participate in the restoration and practice of the Lord's law of tithing. His dedication to this need was so consistent and so strong during the three remaining years of his life that he was a prime mover of the system of generous support for the church that remains a remarkable example of congregational responsibility after more than a hundred years^[10].

Sources

1. ↑ "Utah, Salt Lake County Death Records, 1849-1949," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-DTQ9-WQZ?cc=1459704&wc=MXM9-423%3A42348201 : 22 May 2014)
2. ↑ President's of the Mormon Church: Lorenzo Snow
3. ↑ [ http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=ldshistorical&id=I3947 LDS Historical - Lorenzo Snow]
4. ↑ Readings in Church History. Published by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2nd ed., 67].
5. ↑ D. Michael Quinn, The Mormon Hierarchy: Extensions of Power. Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1997, 701
6. ↑ D. Michael Quinn, bx 3 fd 2, Quinn Collection, Yale Library.
7. ↑ See the WikiTree Genealogy Free Page for more on this affair: The Eternal Triangle
8. ↑ [ http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=ldshistorical&id=I3947 LDS Historical - Lorenzo Snow]
9. ↑ D. Michael Quinn - same as preceding note.
10. ↑ Same as preceding note: pp. 67-72

• The Eternal Triangle: A Mormon Love Story A Free-space Genealogy page about Lorenzo Snow and Hannah Goddard.

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorenzo_Snow

• BYU Nauvoo Community Project: Lorenzo Snow

• LDS Pioneer Overland Database: Lorenzo Snow

• President's of the Mormon Church: Lorenzo Snow

• "United States Census, 1850," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-DRBW-MNC?cc=1401638&wc=95R8-BZ4%3A1031298601%2C1031343301%2C1031343302 : 9 April 2016), Utah Territory > Great Salt Lake > Great Salt Lake county > image 140 of 180; citing NARA microfilm publication M432 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).

• Find a Grave, database and images (accessed 07 February 2021), memorial page for Lorenzo Snow (3 Apr 1814–10 Oct 1901), Find A Grave: Memorial #6258700, citing Brigham City Cemetery, Brigham City, Box Elder County, Utah, USA ; Maintained by John J (contributor 46505431) .

• "Utah, Salt Lake County Death Records, 1849-1949," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-DTQ9-WQZ?cc=1459704&wc=MXM9-423%3A42348201 : 22 May 2014), 004139834 > image 323 of 490; Management and Archives, Salt Lake City.

Trees

• Family Tree files submitted by Ancestry members. http://trees.ancestry.com/pt/AMTCitationRedir.aspx?tid=109157818&pid=2248

Genealogical Note

I am seeking some written evidence that President Lorenzo Snow actually married Jane Farmer. The only reference that makes this statement is her now-deleted find a grave memorial with no sources. There were several early Mormon families named "Farmer" but any daughters named Jane (Emma-Jane; Mary-Jane...) married other Mormon men, not Lorenzo Snow. Further research led me to Johanna O'Connor's Biography on Wheresmerrill. This venerable Mormon pioneer was an English convert of Lorenzo Snow's in 1841/42 during his mission to the United Kingdom. Johanna did have a younger daughter, named "Jennie" or "Jane" with her husband John Smith Farmer, born in 1838 in Wolverhampton, Staffordshire, England. After her husband's untimely death, she and her 3 children, including daughter "Jane Farmer," immigrated to Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois, in 1844. When, after Prophet Joseph Smith Jr.'s brutal assassination that summer, she took her children to St. Louis, Missouri, along with nearly 1,500 other "Latter-day Saints". Lorenzo Snow apparently helped the Nauvoo refugees financially, perhaps including the Farmer family, whom he knew, but in 1848, Jane was only 10 years old. Surely he did not marry her so young.

In 1856, Johanna O'Conner Farmer took her younger son, Joseph, and made the arduous trek to Salt Lake City, Utah Territory. Her daughter, now a teacher, remained in St. Louis, Missouri. Jane Farmer, died in March 1865 at 26 years old, in St. Louis, Missouri, not in Utah Territory, where Lorenzo Snow and his many "plural wives" had lived since 1849. So far as is known, she never married.

When Johanna finally passed away in October 1894, in Manti, Utah, her lengthy Deseret News obituary, which mentioned her English background, her widowhood, her children and her noted devotion to the LDS Church, never mentioned any connection of her daughter Jane Farmer (deceased) to Lorenzo Snow or any other Mormon man. Further, when Johanna wrote a detailed, 3-page, genealogical record of her family, including deceased relatives in England & Ireland, the first name on the list was her daughter: "Jane Farmer," born: 29 Aug. 1838 in Wolverhampton, England and died: March 1865 in St. Louis, Missouri. There was no mention of a marriage or sealing to anyone, and certainly not to Lorenzo Snow. If another researcher can find legitimate, written sources that confirm her marriage, please add them to this profile and delete these Notes. See: Johanna O'Connor's Biography on Wheresmerrill about half-way through the entire file. Chet Snow, January 10, 2017.