Charles C. Rich

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search
Image:Charlescrich.jpg
Charles C. Rich

Charles Coulson Rich (August 21, 1809November 17, 1883) was an early leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and served as the apostle of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Rich was born in Campbell County, Kentucky to Joseph and Nancy O. Neil Rich. He was baptized into the early Mormon church in 1832. In 1838 he married Sarah D. Pea.

Rich was a leader in Caldwell County, Missouri and fought in the Battle of Crooked River. His log house is the only structure from the Mormon period in 1836-38 in Caldwell County, Missouri to have survived. After the LDS expulsion from Missouri, Rich settled in Nauvoo, Illinois where he was made an original member of the Council of Fifty.

After the death of Joseph Smith, Jr., Rich followed the leadership of Brigham Young and the surviving Quorum of the Twelve Apostles . He and his family migrated to what became Utah with the main body of the church. In October of 1848 Charles C. Rich was made the president of the Salt Lake Stake.[1]

Brigham Young appointed Rich a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on 12 February, 1849.

Rich helped form a Latter-day Saint settlement in San Bernadino, California. However, this settlement attracted many people who wanted to get away from the leaders of the church. The faithful members were called home in 1857 at the time of the Utah War.

In the early 1860s, Rich served as president of the British Mission of the church.

Rich followed the church's principle of plural marriage, taking six wives in all and fathering 51 children. Rich led a party of early Mormons to colonize parts of southeastern Idaho. The communities of Paris and Geneva, Idaho, as well as some other neighboring towns, were under his direction. He died there in 1883 at the age of seventy-five.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Larson, Andrew Karl. Erastus Snow: The Life of a Missionary and Pioneer for the Early Mormon Church. (Salt Lake City, Utah: University of Utah Press, 1971) p. 188
  • The Deseret Morning News: 2005 Church Almanac, Salt Lake City, UT.

[edit] External links

Preceded by
Ezra T. Benson
Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
February 12, 1849November 17, 1883
Succeeded by
Lorenzo Snow
Views
Personal tools

Toolbox