Brigham Smoot
{{Short description|Missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Brigham Smoot
| image =
| caption =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{birth date|1869|6|15}}
| birth_place = Salt Lake City
| death_date = {{death date and age|1946|12|16|1869|6|15}}
| death_place = Pasadena, California
| occupation = Missionary, businessman
| education =
| nationality = American
| movement = American evangelism
| parents = Abraham O. Smoot, Anne Kirstine Mauritzen
| spouse =
| children =
}}
Brigham Roland Smoot (June 15, 1869 – December 16, 1946) was a missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and an executive of the Utah-Idaho Sugar Company. He was one of the two first Mormon missionaries to preach in Tonga and served as president of the LDS Church's Tongan mission from July 1891 to October 1892. Smoot was the son of Abraham O. Smoot and the brother of Reed Smoot.
Early life and family
Brigham Smoot was born on June 15, 1869, in Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, to Abraham O. Smoot and Anne K. Mauritsen{{refn|group=N|Her name is also spelled in some sources as Anne Kirstine Mauritzen, Anne Kristine Morrison, or Annie K Morrison.{{cite web |last1=Hardy |first1=Jeffrey S. |title=Abraham Owen Smoot |url=https://lib.byu.edu/collections/mormon-missionary-diaries/about/diarists/abraham-owen-smoot/ |website=Digital Collections |publisher=Brigham Young University |accessdate=20 September 2019}}}}, his fifth of six plural wives.{{cite news |last1=Teh |first1=Michael J. |title=The Legacy of Abraham Smoot |url=https://magazine.byu.edu/article/the-legacy-of-abraham-smoot/ |accessdate=19 September 2019 |work=BYU Magazine |publisher=Brigham Young University |date=Summer 2015}}{{cite web |title=Brigham Roland Smoot |url=https://history.churchofjesuschrist.org/missionary/individual/brigham-smoot-1869?lang=eng |website=Missionary Database |publisher=The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints |accessdate=19 September 2019}}{{cite news |last1=Nixon |first1=Loretta D. |title=A.O. Smoot Chapter 2: Smoot family establishes homes in Provo |url=https://www.heraldextra.com/news/local/a-o-smoot-chapter-smoot-family-establishes-homes-in-provo/article_24271720-d236-55a1-91cb-1e54a7c666c7.html |accessdate=20 September 2019 |work=Daily Herald |publisher=Herald Communications |date=March 14, 2015}} Brigham's brother Reed Smoot went on to be a businessman and an apostle in the LDS Church before being elected by the state legislature as United States Senator from Utah in 1903.{{cite book |last1=Paulos |first1=Michael H. |title=An Introduction to Reed Smoot |publisher=Signature Books |location=Salt Lake City, Utah |url=http://signaturebookslibrary.org/reed-smoot/ |accessdate=20 September 2019}}{{cite journal |title=Spokane, Wash. |journal=The Louisiana Planter and Sugar Manufacturer |date=January 1, 1921 |volume=66 |issue=1 |page=283 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M7KjbjUNln4C&q=%22brigham+Smoot%22+Reed+Smoot&pg=PA283 |accessdate=20 September 2019}} Smoot was baptized into the LDS Church on June 17, 1877. His family moved to the frontier town of Provo, Utah Territory, when his father was called by Brigham Young to establish a church stake there. Brigham Smoot graduated from Brigham Young Academy in Provo, a school for which his father had been the major financial backer.{{cite web |last1=Talmage |first1=James |title=Private Journal, vol. 1 |url=https://files.lib.byu.edu/transcriptions/MSS%20229%20%E2%80%94%20James%20E.%20Talmage%20Journals%20(Series%201,%20Vol.%20I%20-%20Vol.%20XII).txt |website=Harold B. Lee Library |publisher=Brigham Young University |accessdate=20 September 2019}}
Missionary work
In June 1889, Brigham Smoot was sent at the age of 20 on a mission for the LDS Church to Samoa. Smoot sailed there and was assigned as a companion to Edward J. Wood.{{cite journal |last1=Britsch |first1=R. Lanier |title=The Founding of the Samoan Mission |journal=Brigham Young University Studies |date=Fall 1977 |volume=18 |issue=1 |page=26 |jstor=43042708 }} During his second day in Samoa, Smoot joined Wood and the other missionaries for a bath in the ocean. While wading in the ocean, Smoot slipped into a deep hole in the reef. After being dead for several minutes, Smoot was revived by Butler by what they described as a priesthood blessing.{{citation |first= Melvin S. |last= Tagg |year= 1959 |title= The Life of Edward James Wood, Church Patriot |type= MS Thesis |publisher= Brigham Young University |oclc= 8488027 }}
Sent to open a mission in July 1891, Smoot and Alva J. Butler became the first LDS missionaries in Tonga.{{citation |authorlink= Eric B. Shumway |first= Eric B. |last= Shumway |url = https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/liahona/1991/08/tongan-saints-a-legacy-of-faith?lang=eng |title= Tongan Saints: A Legacy of Faith |journal= Liahona |date= August 1991 }}{{cite journal |title=Elders to the Tonga Islands |journal=The Latter-Day Saints' Millennial Star |date=1891 |volume=53 |pages=603–604 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2mvUAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Brigham+Smoot%22&pg=PA604 |accessdate=20 September 2019}}{{cite news |last1=Mays |first1=Kenneth |title=Picturing history: Site of first LDS mission home, Mu'a, Tongatapu, Tonga |url=https://www.deseret.com/2016/11/16/20600581/picturing-history-site-of-first-lds-mission-home-mu-a-tongatapu-tonga#the-site-at-mua-tongatapu-tonga-where-the-first-lds-mission-home-once-stood-a-monument-commemorating-the-first-century-of-the-tongan-mission-is-situated-there |accessdate=20 September 2019 |work=Deseret News |publisher=Deseret News Publishing Company |date=November 16, 2016}}{{cite news |last1=Mays |first1=Kenneth |title=Picturing history: Missionary lodgings, Nuka'alofa, Tonga |url=https://www.deseret.com/2016/10/11/20598007/picturing-history-missionary-lodgings-nuku-alofa-tonga |accessdate=20 September 2019 |work=Deseret News |publisher=Deseret News Publishing Company |date=October 11, 2016}} On July 16, 1891, they met with King George Tupou I, who granted them permission to proselyte in Tonga.{{cite news |last1=Sekona |first1=Harvalene K. |title=Pioneers in Every Land: Tonga A Land Dedicated to God |url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/liahona/2014/08/tonga-a-land-dedicated-to-god?lang=eng |accessdate=20 September 2019 |work=Liahona |publisher=The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints |date=August 2014}}{{cite news |last1=Drogg |first1=Allen |title=Tongan festivities launched in Hawaii |url=https://www.thechurchnews.com/archives/1991-07-13/tongan-festivities-launched-in-hawaii-146515 |accessdate=20 September 2019 |work=Church News |publisher=The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints |date=July 13, 1991}} The first proselyting session in Tonga was held by Smoot and Butler on August 1, 1881.{{rp|14}} On November 22, 1881, Smoot and Butler leased the first piece of land for the LDS Church.{{rp|16}} On January 24, 1892, the first official LDS church meeting was conducted by Smoot and Butler in the mission home.{{rp|16}} Smoot dedicated the mission home on May 15, 1892.{{rp|16}} He later became the president of the Tongan Mission of the LDS Church from July 14, 1891, to October 24, 1892.{{cite book |last1=Neilson |first1=Reid L. |last2=Moffat |first2=Riley M. |title=Tales from the World Tour: The 1895-1897 Travel Writings of Mormon Historian Andrew Jenson |date=2012 |publisher=Religious Studies Center |location=Provo, UT |chapter-url=https://rsc.byu.edu/archived/tales-world-tour/appendix-2-mission-histories-andrew-jensons-encyclopedic-history |accessdate=20 September 2019 |chapter=Appendix 2: Mission histories from Andrew Jenson's Encyclopedic History}}{{cite web |title=Register of the Brigham Smoot Family Papers |url=http://files.lib.byu.edu/ead/XML/MSS3315.xml |website=L. Tom Perry Special Collections |publisher=The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints |accessdate=20 September 2019}} He returned to Utah in December 1892.{{cite thesis |last1=Naulu |first1=Sosaia Hakaumotu |title=Incidental Effects of Church Activity on Development, Landscapes and Culture: An Example from Tonga |type=MS thesis |publisher=Brigham Young University |date=December 1990 |url=https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/4973/ |accessdate=6 August 2022}}{{rp|13}}
Career
After returning from his mission, Brigham Smoot graduated with a degree in chemical engineering from Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in 1898. After graduation, Smoot returned to Utah and worked for the mining industry in Eureka. On June 20, 1900, he married Margaret Annella Nesbit in Provo, Utah.{{cite journal |title=Utah |journal=The Western Druggist: A Journal of Pharmacy, Chemistry, and Allied Sciences |date=1900 |volume=22 |page=407 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7tPnAAAAMAAJ&q=Brigham+Smoot+marriage&pg=PA407 |accessdate=20 September 2019}} Roland Nesbit Smoot was born on May 7, 1901.{{cite archival metadata |author=Finding aid author: Megan Furcini |title=Roland Nesbit Smoot Papers |url=http://archives.lib.byu.edu/repositories/14/resources/5179 |repository= L. Tom Perry Special Collections |location=Provo, UT |date=2016 |accessdate=September 20, 2019}} A year later, he had a daughter named Annella Kerstina Smoot.{{cite web |title=Smoot (Family : Smoot, Brigham, 1989-1946) |url=http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/no2013095180.html |website=Library of Congress |publisher=Congress.gov |accessdate=20 September 2019}} Beginning in 1901, he worked as a supervisor for the Utah-Idaho Sugar Company, which processed sugar cane. Smoot was eventually promoted to general superintendent.
After he retired in 1937, he moved to Pasadena, California. He lived there until his death on December 16, 1946.{{citation |url= https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=336&dat=19461216&id=rBZkAAAAIBAJ&pg=2736,5958581 |title= Brigham Smoot Dies On Coast |newspaper= Deseret News |date= 1946-12-16 }}
Footnotes
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References
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External links
- [http://archives.lib.byu.edu/repositories/14/resources/5179 Brigham Smoot family papers], Vault MSS 3315, L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University
- [http://archives.lib.byu.edu/repositories/14/resources/5179 Brigham Smoot journals and letter], Vault MSS 3315 Series 1, L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University
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Category:19th-century Mormon missionaries
Category:American chemical engineers
Category:American leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Category:American Mormon missionaries in Samoa
Category:American Mormon missionaries in Tonga
Category:Brigham Young Academy alumni
Category:Lehigh University alumni
Category:Mission presidents (LDS Church)
Category:People from Provo, Utah
Category:Latter Day Saints from Utah