Benjamin F. Johnson

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Benjamin F. Johnson bigraphy, stories - American Mormon leader

Benjamin F. Johnson : biography

July 28, 1818 – November 18, 1905

Benjamin Franklin Johnson (July 28, 1818 – November 18, 1905)Date of death from was an early member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and a brickmaker, merchant, tavern keeper, leatherworker, farmer, nurseryman, and beekeeper. Born to Ezekiel Johnson and Julia Hills at Pomfret, New York, he moved to Kirtland, Ohio in 1833. He married Melissa Bloomfield LeBaron on Christmas Day, December 25, 1841. of Benjamin F. Johnson, The Joseph Smith Papers (accessed January 10, 2012)

Johnson was baptized into the LDS church at Kirtland by Lyman E. Johnson in the spring of 1835. Heber C. Kimball ordained him an elder March 10, 1839 at Far West, Missouri and John Smith ordained him a high priest in 1843 at Ramus, Illinois. He served as a missionary for his new faith to the eastern United States and Upper Canada between 1840 and 1842. He was appointed to Joseph Smith’s Council of Fifty in 1843.

In 1838 he moved to Adam-ondi-Ahman, Missouri. He moved to Springfield, Illinois in 1839, Ramus (later Webster) in 1842, Nauvoo in 1845, and Bonaparte, Iowa Territory in 1846. In 1848 he arrived in the Salt Lake Valley and served in the Utah territorial legislature from 1855 to 1867. Johnson left Utah for the Arizona Territory in 1882, settling in Tempe before going to Colonia Diaz, Chihuahua, Mexico in 1890 and returning to Arizona in 1892. He died at Mesa.

Johnson was an early member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and a member of the Council of Fifty and a formerly private secretary to Joseph Smith. He also served fourteen terms in the Utah State Legislature

Plural marriage

Johnson’s sister married Joseph Smith, Jr. as a plural marriage. Johnson records the event where Joseph Smith, Jr. approached Johnson about the arrangement: From E. Dale LeBaron, Benjamin Franklin Johnson: Friend to the Prophets (Provo, UT: Grandin Book Company, 1997), 219–234

Relations

Johnson was the brother of Latter-day Saint hymnwriter Joel H. Johnson.

Descendants
  • Alma Dayer LeBaron, Sr.
    • Joel LeBaron
    • Ervil LeBaron

Notes