Daniel H. Wells

Family Background

1814. October 27: Born Daniel Hanmer Wells in Trenton, New Jersey. He married Eliza Rebecca Robinson in 1837, and plural wives Louisa Free Lee (1849), Martha Harris (1849), Hanna Free Hotchkiss (1851), Lydia O. Alley (1851), Susan H. Alley (1852), Emmeline B. Woodward Harris Whitney (1852), Clara Gorder (1863), Sarah Gomber (1869), Sarah C. Nielson (1870), Elizabeth Harper (1871), Jane Smith (1871), Charlotte Foreman (1871), Caroline C. Raleigh (1879), and Eliza Foscue Lee (1889). Two of his wives were sisters of wives of Brigham Young and John D. Lee. He often reminded his thirty-seven children that they "should be very grateful to me for providing them with such good mothers."

Son-in-law Orson F. Whitney described the Wells families in a parody of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Bells":

Ho the gathering of the Wells,—
Heaps of Wells,—
What a world of census-takers
This family foretells …
A lot of little Wells,
Babbling Wells,
Blabbing Wells,
Youngsters counted by the score
Knee-deep on the parlor floor.

"Squire Wells"

1834. He moved with his widowed mother to Commerce (later Nauvoo), Illinois, where he was elected town constable and subsequently justice of the peace.

1839. When Mormon refugees began to arrive in Commerce, Wells sold them his land cheaply. It was on his property that the Nauvoo Temple was eventually built.

1841. A non-Mormon, Wells was elected commissary general of the Nauvoo Legion and made a trustee of the University of Nauvoo.

Convert

1846. August 9: Baptized by Almon W. Babbitt in the Mississippi River. His wife Eliza would not join the Church.

When the Saints vacated Nauvoo in the spring of 1846, Wells remained. During the "Battle of Nauvoo" in September he urged surrender: "There is no use of the small handful of volunteers trying to defend Nauvoo against such an overwhelming force. What interests have the Saints to expect from its defense? Our interests are not identified with it, but in getting away from it. Who could urge the propriety of exposing life to defend a place for the purpose of vacating it?"

September 17: Wells crossed the Mississippi with the remaining Saints. In a "one-horse buggy" he dashed a message to Brigham Young in Winter Quarters apprising him of the situation in Nauvoo. The Wells family spent the winter of 1846-1847 in Burlington, Iowa, then moved to Galesburg, Illinois, until the spring of 1848. Unable to convince his wife to join the main body of Saints in Winter Quarters, he wrote to Brigham Young, "I see no prospect short of a complete sacrifice of everything I hold dear on earth." Wells left his wife and young son in Nauvoo and headed west, never to see them again.

Superintendent of Church Public Works

1848. Named to the Council of Fifty in Salt Lake Valley. In 1849 he was appointed attorney general of the "Provisional State of Deseret." As superintendent of public works, Wells supervised construction of the Council House (1850), the Old Tabernacle (1852), the Church Office Building (1852), the Beehive House (1852), the Social Hall (1853), the Endowment House (1855), the Lion House (1856), Salt Lake Theatre (1862), Salt Lake Tabernacle (1867), and Salt Lake Temple (1893).

One of the most well-read men in Utah, Wells served on the University of Deseret's first board of regents, and as chancellor of the school for nine years.

Commander of the Nauvoo Legion

1849. Made commander of the Nauvoo Legion—the territorial [p.379] militia. He was responsible for protecting settlers against Indian depredations, and commanded the Echo Canyon Expedition against the Utah Expeditionary Force (1857).

His daughter Emmeline recalled, "Father had the finest uniform that could be made here. His long sash was of heavy yellow silk and his wonderful steel sword was engraved half-way down the blade; he had a large black hat with a beautiful black feather dropping over the rim."

Member of the First Presidency

1857. Ordained an apostle and named Brigham Young's second counselor after the death of Jedediah M. Grant.

Brigham Young's Statesman

A self-trained lawyer, Wells served as chief justice of Utah, administering the oath of office to Governor Brigham Young. He labored for statehood throughout his life, serving in four constitutional conventions and for many years in the territorial legislature. Brigham Young called Wells "my statesman."

1864. Served for a year as president of the European Mission. He presided over the same mission from 1885 to 1887.

Salt Lake City Mayor

1866. February 12: Elected mayor of Salt Lake City, serving ten turbulent years of increasing anti-Mormon hostility.

1871. October 28: Charged with Hosea Stout and William H. Kimball for the 1857 murder of Richard Yates. The three were confined at Camp Douglas, east of the city. William Hickman apparently killed the man, but no one ever came to trial.

1874. When U.S. marshals attempted to interfere with a municipal election, an unruly mob gathered at the polling place. Mayor Wells "commanded the crowd to disperse [p.380] and leave the entrance clear. … Some of the leaders, now more or less intoxicated, when the order was given to disperse, instead of obeying, made an attack on the mayor. … Mayor Wells resisted this move. Several others now caught hold of him, tearing his clothes."

Counselor to the Twelve

1877. Daniel H. Wells was never a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, but on the death of Brigham Young, John Taylor called Wells to be a counselor to the Quorum.

Hero

1879. Presiding over the Endowment House, Wells married John H. Miles to Caroline Owen. The new Mrs. Miles alleged that on the same day, just prior to her marriage, Wells had married her husband to Emily Spencer. Following a quarrel between the two wives, Caroline swore out a complaint of polygamy against her husband.

When asked to testify about the endowment ceremony in court, Wells refused to answer. "I consider any person who reveals the sacred ceremonies of the Endowment House a falsifier and a perjurer; and it has been and is a principle of my life never to betray a friend, my religion, my country or my God. It seems to me that this is sufficient reason why I should not be held in contempt." Wells was sentenced to two days in the penitentiary.

On his release, a large, well-planned parade escorted him home. The anti-Mormon Salt Lake Tribune reported the event on May 7: "Never has such a crowd thronged the streets, nor such a cavalcade of human beings and brutes in point of numbers, promiscuous and motley confusion, been witnessed before, as that presented on our public streets on the occasion of the triumphal entry into town from the Penitentiary of Daniel H. Wells, First Counsellor in the Mormon Church. … Hundreds of poor dupes were forwarded by all the trains centering in this city, to participate in a celebration, which in spirit and substance, was designed as a public defiance of the national judicial authorities."

Temple President

1888. Appointed president of the Manti Temple.

Death

1891. March 24: Died of pleuro-pneumonia in Salt Lake City at age seventy-seven. His epitaph in the Salt Lake City Cemetery reads:

It is interwoven into my character
Never to betray a friend or brother,
My country, my religion, or my God.

Sources
Conference Reports, October 1941.
Deseret News, 3 May 1879.
Hinckley, Bryant S. Daniel Hanmer Wells. Salt Lake City: Deseret News Press, 1942.
Quinn, D. Michael. "Organizational Development and Social Origins of the Mormon Hierarchy, 1832-1932: A Prosopographical Study." Master's thesis, University of Utah, 1973.

	A Book of Mormons Richard S. Van Wagoner and Steven C. Walker Copyright 1982, Signature Books Salt Lake City, Utah Contents


	Daniel H. Wells (1814-1891)

				Daniel H. Wells was a member of the First Presidency and "Brigham Young's statesman." Photograph courtesy LDS Church Archives.


	Family Background 1814. October 27: Born Daniel Hanmer Wells in Trenton, New Jersey. He married Eliza Rebecca Robinson in 1837, and plural wives Louisa Free Lee (1849), Martha Harris (1849), Hanna Free Hotchkiss (1851), Lydia O. Alley (1851), Susan H. Alley (1852), Emmeline B. Woodward Harris Whitney (1852), Clara Gorder (1863), Sarah Gomber (1869), Sarah C. Nielson (1870), Elizabeth Harper (1871), Jane Smith (1871), Charlotte Foreman (1871), Caroline C. Raleigh (1879), and Eliza Foscue Lee (1889). Two of his wives were sisters of wives of Brigham Young and John D. Lee. He often reminded his thirty-seven children that they "should be very grateful to me for providing them with such good mothers." Son-in-law Orson F. Whitney described the Wells families in a parody of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Bells": Ho the gathering of the Wells,— Heaps of Wells,— What a world of census-takers This family foretells … A lot of little Wells, Babbling Wells, Blabbing Wells, Youngsters counted by the score Knee-deep on the parlor floor. "Squire Wells" 1834. He moved with his widowed mother to Commerce (later Nauvoo), Illinois, where he was elected town constable and subsequently justice of the peace. 1839. When Mormon refugees began to arrive in Commerce, Wells sold them his land cheaply. It was on his property that the Nauvoo Temple was eventually built. 1841. A non-Mormon, Wells was elected commissary general of the Nauvoo Legion and made a trustee of the University of Nauvoo. Convert 1846. August 9: Baptized by Almon W. Babbitt in the Mississippi River. His wife Eliza would not join the Church. When the Saints vacated Nauvoo in the spring of 1846, Wells remained. During the "Battle of Nauvoo" in September he urged surrender: "There is no use of the small handful of volunteers trying to defend Nauvoo against such an overwhelming force. What interests have the Saints to expect from its defense? Our interests are not identified with it, but in getting away from it. Who could urge the propriety of exposing life to defend a place for the purpose of vacating it?" September 17: Wells crossed the Mississippi with the remaining Saints. In a "one-horse buggy" he dashed a message to Brigham Young in Winter Quarters apprising him of the situation in Nauvoo. The Wells family spent the winter of 1846-1847 in Burlington, Iowa, then moved to Galesburg, Illinois, until the spring of 1848. Unable to convince his wife to join the main body of Saints in Winter Quarters, he wrote to Brigham Young, "I see no prospect short of a complete sacrifice of everything I hold dear on earth." Wells left his wife and young son in Nauvoo and headed west, never to see them again. Superintendent of Church Public Works 1848. Named to the Council of Fifty in Salt Lake Valley. In 1849 he was appointed attorney general of the "Provisional State of Deseret." As superintendent of public works, Wells supervised construction of the Council House (1850), the Old Tabernacle (1852), the Church Office Building (1852), the Beehive House (1852), the Social Hall (1853), the Endowment House (1855), the Lion House (1856), Salt Lake Theatre (1862), Salt Lake Tabernacle (1867), and Salt Lake Temple (1893). One of the most well-read men in Utah, Wells served on the University of Deseret's first board of regents, and as chancellor of the school for nine years. Commander of the Nauvoo Legion 1849. Made commander of the Nauvoo Legion—the territorial [p.379] militia. He was responsible for protecting settlers against Indian depredations, and commanded the Echo Canyon Expedition against the Utah Expeditionary Force (1857). His daughter Emmeline recalled, "Father had the finest uniform that could be made here. His long sash was of heavy yellow silk and his wonderful steel sword was engraved half-way down the blade; he had a large black hat with a beautiful black feather dropping over the rim." Member of the First Presidency 1857. Ordained an apostle and named Brigham Young's second counselor after the death of Jedediah M. Grant. Brigham Young's Statesman A self-trained lawyer, Wells served as chief justice of Utah, administering the oath of office to Governor Brigham Young. He labored for statehood throughout his life, serving in four constitutional conventions and for many years in the territorial legislature. Brigham Young called Wells "my statesman." 1864. Served for a year as president of the European Mission. He presided over the same mission from 1885 to 1887. Salt Lake City Mayor 1866. February 12: Elected mayor of Salt Lake City, serving ten turbulent years of increasing anti-Mormon hostility. 1871. October 28: Charged with Hosea Stout and William H. Kimball for the 1857 murder of Richard Yates. The three were confined at Camp Douglas, east of the city. William Hickman apparently killed the man, but no one ever came to trial. 1874. When U.S. marshals attempted to interfere with a municipal election, an unruly mob gathered at the polling place. Mayor Wells "commanded the crowd to disperse [p.380] and leave the entrance clear. … Some of the leaders, now more or less intoxicated, when the order was given to disperse, instead of obeying, made an attack on the mayor. … Mayor Wells resisted this move. Several others now caught hold of him, tearing his clothes." Counselor to the Twelve 1877. Daniel H. Wells was never a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, but on the death of Brigham Young, John Taylor called Wells to be a counselor to the Quorum. Hero 1879. Presiding over the Endowment House, Wells married John H. Miles to Caroline Owen. The new Mrs. Miles alleged that on the same day, just prior to her marriage, Wells had married her husband to Emily Spencer. Following a quarrel between the two wives, Caroline swore out a complaint of polygamy against her husband. When asked to testify about the endowment ceremony in court, Wells refused to answer. "I consider any person who reveals the sacred ceremonies of the Endowment House a falsifier and a perjurer; and it has been and is a principle of my life never to betray a friend, my religion, my country or my God. It seems to me that this is sufficient reason why I should not be held in contempt." Wells was sentenced to two days in the penitentiary. On his release, a large, well-planned parade escorted him home. The anti-Mormon Salt Lake Tribune reported the event on May 7: "Never has such a crowd thronged the streets, nor such a cavalcade of human beings and brutes in point of numbers, promiscuous and motley confusion, been witnessed before, as that presented on our public streets on the occasion of the triumphal entry into town from the Penitentiary of Daniel H. Wells, First Counsellor in the Mormon Church. … Hundreds of poor dupes were forwarded by all the trains centering in this city, to participate in a celebration, which in spirit and substance, was designed as a public defiance of the national judicial authorities." Temple President 1888. Appointed president of the Manti Temple. Death 1891. March 24: Died of pleuro-pneumonia in Salt Lake City at age seventy-seven. His epitaph in the Salt Lake City Cemetery reads: It is interwoven into my character Never to betray a friend or brother, My country, my religion, or my God. Sources Conference Reports, October 1941. Deseret News, 3 May 1879. Hinckley, Bryant S. Daniel Hanmer Wells. Salt Lake City: Deseret News Press, 1942. Quinn, D. Michael. "Organizational Development and Social Origins of the Mormon Hierarchy, 1832-1932: A Prosopographical Study." Master's thesis, University of Utah, 1973.