Ezra T. Benson

LDSApostleshipinfo
English name = Ezra T. Benson


birth_name=Ezra Taft Benson
birth_date=birth date|1811|02|22
birthplace=Mendon, Massachusetts
death_date=death date and age|1869|09|03|1811|02|22
deathplace=Ogden, Utah Territory
president_who_called=Brigham Young
apostledate=death date and age|1846|07|16|1811|02|22
ordination_reason=Removal of John E. Page from the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles [Page was disfellowshipped and removed from the Quorum on 1846-02-09. Page was subsequently excommunicated from the church on 1846-06-27.]
end_date=death date and age|1869|09|03|1811|02|22
end_reason=Death
reorganization=Albert Carrington ordained

Ezra Taft Benson (February 22, 1811 – September 3, 1869) (commonly referred to as Ezra T. Benson to distinguish him from his great-grandson of the same name) was as an apostle, member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church).

Early life

Benson was born in Mendon, Massachusetts, the son of John Benson and Chloe Taft. His father moved to a farm in Uxbridge, Massachusetts in 1817 where he lived for at least 16 of the next 18 years. Benson married Pamelia Andrus of Northbridge on January 1, 1832, at Uxbridge. They lived at Uxbridge for the next three years, between 1832 and 1835. He also had lived in Northbridge, on his sister's farm in 1830 and 1831. He and Pamela had children, one of whom died here in 1833. He managed a hotel in the center of Uxbridge and made a considerable sum of money which he invested in a cotton mill at Holland, Massachusetts, before moving West.

Joins the Mormon Church

Benson was baptized into the Latter Day Saint church on July 19, 1840 in Quincy, Illinois. He had moved to Quincy previously, and first met members of the church when they came there at the time they were driven out of Missouri. He was ordained to the office of apostle on July 16, 1846. He replaced John E. Page in the Quorum of the Twelve.

Missionary service

Benson served as a church missionary in the United States and in the Sandwich Islands.

Plural marriages, later career

Like many early Latter Day Saints, Benson practiced plural marriage. Benson later married Adeline Brooks Andrus, Desdemona Fullmer (widow of Joseph Smith, Jr.), Eliza Ann Perry, Lucinda West, Elizabeth Gollaher, Olive Mary Knight, and Mary Larsen. Benson had a total of eight wives and 35 children. He served in the Utah Territorial Leglisature and died in Ogden, Utah.Benson's great-grandson, also named Ezra Taft Benson, also became an apostle of the LDS Church; the younger Benson served as U.S. Secretary of Agriculture in the 1950s and president of the LDS Church in the 1980s and 1990s.

Burial

Benson is buried in the Logan, Utah Cemetery.

ee also

*Taft family

Notes

External links

* [http://gapages.com/bensoet1.htm Grampa Bill's G.A. Pages: Ezra T. Benson]
* [http://etb.bensonfamily.org/ Ezra T. Benson Family Web Site]