Abraham Owen Smoot was a Mormon pioneer

Mormon Pioneer

The Mormon pioneers were members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as Latter-day Saints, who migrated across the United States from the Midwest to the Salt Lake Valley in what is today the U.S. state of Utah...

, the second mayor of Salt Lake City, Utah, mayor of Provo, Utah

Provo, Utah

Provo is the third largest city in the U.S. state of Utah, located about south of Salt Lake City along the Wasatch Front. Provo is the county seat of Utah County and lies between the cities of Orem to the north and Springville to the south...

, and an early supporter of Brigham Young Academy (later called Brigham Young University

Brigham Young University

Brigham Young University is a private university located in Provo, Utah. It is owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , and is the United States' largest religious university and third-largest private university.Approximately 98% of the university's 34,000 students...

).

Early life

Smoot was born in Owenton, Kentucky

Owenton, Kentucky

Owenton is a city in Owen County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 1,387 at the 2000 census and was estimated at 1,461 in 2009. It is the county seat of Owen County...

 on February 17, 1805 to George W. Smoot and Ann Rowlett Smoot. His family moved twice in his childhood, first to southwestern Kentucky and then to banks of the Blood River in Tennessee. His mother converted to Mormonism in 1833, and he followed her in March 1835.

Missions

In February 1836 he was ordained an Elder and began preaching in Kentucky and Tennessee with 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...

, David W. Patten

David W. Patten

David Wyman Patten was an early leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and an original member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles...

, and others. (Woodruff would later marry Smoot's niece and name a son, Abraham Owen Woodruff, after Smoot.)

He moved to western Missouri in 1837, and from there embarked on five-month proselytizing mission to southern Missouri and Arkansas in 1838. After the Missouri Mormon War, in which Smoot participated, he moved to Montrose, Iowa

Montrose, Iowa

Montrose is a city in Lee County, Iowa, United States. The population was 957 at the 2000 census. The town is located on the Mississippi River. It is part of the Fort Madison–Keokuk, IA-MO Micropolitan Statistical Area.-History:...

. In August 1841, he left to preach in South Carolina, and returned in July 1842. He led a branch of Church in Keokuk, Iowa

Keokuk, Iowa

Keokuk is a city in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Iowa and one of the county seats of Lee County. The other county seat is Fort Madison. The population was 11,427 at the 2000 census. The city is named after the Sauk Chief Keokuk, who is thought to be buried in Rand Park...

. In 1844, he served another mission in Alabama.

Family

On November 11, 1838, he married Margaret Thompson McMeans McMeans in Far West, Missouri

Far West, Missouri

Far West, Missouri, was a Latter Day Saint settlement in Caldwell County, Missouri.-Foundation and early history:The town was founded by Missouri Mormon leaders, W. W. Phelps and John Whitmer in August 1836 shortly before the county's creation. The town was platted originally as a square area,...

 in the aftermath of the siege.

Smoot officiated in the Nauvoo Temple

Nauvoo Temple

The Nauvoo Temple was the second temple constructed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, commonly known as the Mormons. The church's first temple was completed in Kirtland, Ohio, United States in 1836. When the main body of the church was forced out of Nauvoo, Illinois in the...

 during the winter of 1845-1846. He began practicing polygamy in January 1846 by marrying Sarah Gibbens and Emily Hill. He eventually married three more women (Diana Caroline Tanner Eldredge, Anne Kirstine Mauritzen, and Hannah Caroline Rogers) and had twenty-seven children, three of whom he adopted. Senator Reed Smoot

Reed Smoot

Reed Owen Smoot was a native-born Utahn who was first elected to the United States Senate from Utah in 1903, and served as a Senator until 1933...

 was one of his sons.

Salt Lake City

Smoot led companies of pioneers to the Salt Lake Valley

Salt Lake Valley

Salt Lake Valley is a valley in Salt Lake County in the north-central portion of the U.S. state of Utah. It contains Salt Lake City and many of its suburbs, notably West Valley City, Murray, Sandy, and West Jordan; its total population is 1,029,655 as of 2010...

 in 1847, 1852, and 1856. He was an alderman from the Sugar House district from 1854 to 1857. He became mayor of Salt Lake City

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...

 in 1857 after the death of his business partner and then mayor Jedediah M. Grant

Jedediah M. Grant

Jedediah Morgan Grant was a leader and an apostle of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was member of the First Council of the Seventy from 1845 to 1854. He also served in the First Presidency under Church President Brigham Young from 1854 to 1856...

. He served as mayor until 1866. He also twice was a bishop in Salt Lake City.

Provo and Brigham Young Academy

Brigham Young

Brigham Young

Brigham Young was an American leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and a settler of the Western United States. He was the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1847 until his death in 1877, he founded Salt Lake City, and he served as the first governor of the Utah...

 called Smoot to be president of the Utah Stake in Provo, Utah

Provo, Utah

Provo is the third largest city in the U.S. state of Utah, located about south of Salt Lake City along the Wasatch Front. Provo is the county seat of Utah County and lies between the cities of Orem to the north and Springville to the south...

. Smoot reluctantly accepted, and moved in Provo in February 1868. Within a week, he was elected mayor, an office he held until 1881. He was a major investor in the Provo Woolen Mills, and was cofounder of a bank and a lumber company.

Smoot was the first head of the board of trustees of Brigham Young University

Brigham Young University

Brigham Young University is a private university located in Provo, Utah. It is owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , and is the United States' largest religious university and third-largest private university.Approximately 98% of the university's 34,000 students...

, then known as Brigham Young Academy. Smoot is also credited with making major financial contributions to the Brigham Young Academy that allowed it to continue functioning. Today, the Administration building at Brigham Young University is known as the Abraham O. Smoot Administration Building.

External links

• Utah History Encyclopedia: Abraham Owen Smoot, media.utah.edu