Abraham Lucas Hoagland was an early Mormon leader, pioneer, and one of the founders of Royal Oak, Michigan

Royal Oak, Michigan

Royal Oak is a city in Oakland County of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is a suburb of Detroit. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 57,236. It should not be confused with Royal Oak Charter Township, a separate community located nearby....

, and Salt Lake City, Utah

Salt Lake City, Utah

Salt Lake City is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. The name of the city is often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC. With a population of 186,440 as of the 2010 Census, the city lies in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, which has a total population of 1,124,197...

, USA.

Early life

Hoagland was born on March 24, 1797, in Hillsborough Township, New Jersey

Hillsborough Township, New Jersey

Hillsborough Township is a Township in Somerset County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township population was 38,303....

. He apprenticed as a blacksmith

Blacksmith

A blacksmith is a person who creates objects from wrought iron or steel by forging the metal; that is, by using tools to hammer, bend, and cut...

 and moved to Michigan

Michigan

Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....

, where he became a prosperous blacksmith and farmer and helped settle present-day Royal Oak. While in Michigan, he joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in 1841.

Church service

In 1843, he moved his family to Nauvoo, Illinois

Nauvoo, Illinois

Nauvoo is a small city in Hancock County, Illinois, United States. Although the population was just 1,063 at the 2000 census, and despite being difficult to reach due to its location in a remote corner of Illinois, Nauvoo attracts large numbers of visitors for its historic importance and its...

, where Joseph Smith

Joseph Smith

Joseph Smith was founder of what later became known as the Latter Day Saint movement or Mormons.Joseph Smith may also refer to:-Latter Day Saints:* Joseph Smith, Sr. , father of Joseph Smith...

 ordained him an elder. Orson Pratt

Orson Pratt

Orson Pratt, Sr. was a leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and an original member of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles...

 and Wilford Woodruff

Wilford Woodruff

Wilford Woodruff, Sr. was the fourth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1889 until his death...

 ordained him a bishop in Winter Quarters, Nebraska

Winter Quarters, Nebraska

Winter Quarters was an encampment formed by approximately 2,500 members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as they waited during the winter of 1846–47 for better conditions for their trek westward. It followed a preliminary tent settlement some 3½ miles west at Cutler's Park. The...

 after the saints were driven from Nauvoo. In 1853 and 1857, Hoagland was elected an alderman

Alderman

An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members themselves rather than by popular vote, or a council...

 of Salt Lake City. When Brigham Young sent John Murdock

John Murdock (Mormon)

John Murdock was an early convert to the Latter Day Saint movement and was a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . He is mentioned twice in the Doctrine and Covenants...

 to open a mission in Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 in 1851, Hoagland took his place as bishop of the 14th ward in Salt Lake City, where he chose Wilford Woodruff

Wilford Woodruff

Wilford Woodruff, Sr. was the fourth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1889 until his death...

's first wife, Phoebe, as the ward's first Relief Society

Relief Society

The Relief Society is a philanthropic and educational women's organization and an official auxiliary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . It was founded in 1842 in Nauvoo, Illinois, USA and has approximately 6 million members in over 170 countries and territories...

 president.

Family and personal life

Hoagland began practicing plural marriage in 1847 when he married Agnes Taylor

Agnes Taylor

Agnes Taylor Rich Hoagland Schwartz was a Mormon pioneer who played a key role in helping her brother, LDS Church president John Taylor, evade authorities during the federal crackdown on polygamy in the mid-1880s. She was also the mother-in-law of later church president Joseph F. Smith and of...

, the younger sister of later church president John Taylor. They divorced in 1861. Hoagland was the grandfather of Abraham H. Cannon

Abraham H. Cannon

Abraham Hoagland Cannon , born in Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ....

 and the father-in-law of both William Whitaker Taylor

William Whitaker Taylor

William Whitaker Taylor was a member of the Utah Territorial Legislature, member of the Presidency of the Seventy in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , and a son of LDS Church president John Taylor. He was a half brother to John W...

 and George Q. Cannon

George Q. Cannon

George Quayle Cannon was an early member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , and served in the First Presidency under four successive presidents of the church: Brigham Young, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, and Lorenzo Snow...

. He was a member of Wilford Woodruff's prayer circle

Prayer circle

Prayer circles have several different interpretations across Christianity and other religions. The most common definition of a prayer circle is where participants simply join hands in a literal circle of prayer, often as part of a vigil...

. He died of pneumonia

Pneumonia

Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...

on February 14, 1872, in Salt Lake City.