Erastus Snow

Erastus Snow
Name	Erastus Snow
Birth date	November 9, 1818
Birth place	St. Johnsbury, Vermont, United States
Death date	May 27, 1888
Death place	Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, United States
Occupation	Mormon pioneer, missionary, apostle
Spouse	Jane Riter (m. 1844), Elizabeth P. Snow (plural), others

Erastus Snow was an American leader in the Latter-day Saint movement who served as an apostle in the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1849 until his death in 1888. He was a prominent missionary in the United States, United Kingdom, Scandinavia, and Mexico, a pioneer in the settlement of Utah Territory and Arizona Territory, and an influential administrator in church migration and colonization efforts. Snow played major roles in interactions with figures such as Brigham Young, Orson Pratt, John Taylor, and institutions including Salt Lake City civic bodies and the Perpetual Emigrating Fund Company.

Early life and education

Snow was born in St. Johnsbury, Vermont to farmers and grew up in a New England milieu shaped by religious revivalism during the era of the Second Great Awakening. His early education included local academies in Vermont and studies influenced by the intellectual currents in New England that also shaped contemporaries like Ralph Waldo Emerson and Nathaniel Hawthorne. As a young man he moved westward to Ohio and later to Kirtland, Ohio and Missouri-area settlements where the nascent Latter Day Saint movement and leaders such as Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon were active. These migrations exposed him to networks tied to the Campbell Movement and to reform movements prominent in early 19th-century American life.

Conversion and early church service

Snow converted to the Latter Day Saint faith amid missionary activity that reached rural Vermont and the New England states, influenced by missionaries connected to leaders like Parley P. Pratt and Orson Pratt. After baptism he associated with Latter-day Saint communities in Kirtland and became involved in organizational work that involved collaboration with figures such as Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball. During the violent conflicts in Missouri and the subsequent Missouri persecutions he participated in refugee movements to Nauvoo, Illinois and later in the long migration west that included interactions with the Mormon Battalion veterans and leaders engaged in establishing new settlements.

Missionary work and apostolic leadership

Ordained to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in 1849, Snow served under successive presidents including Brigham Young and John Taylor, undertaking extensive missions. He led missions to the British Isles where he worked with British missionaries such as Orson Hyde and engaged with converts from industrial centers like Manchester and Liverpool. Snow later directed Scandinavian missions, coordinating proselytizing in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden alongside contemporaries like Erastus Snow (missionary contemporaries cannot be linked) — his work involved organizing emigration through the Perpetual Emigrating Fund Company and liaising with shipping lines operating from Liverpool. He also supervised missionary outreach to Mexico and portions of the American Southwest, negotiating ecclesiastical administration with members from Arizona Territory and coordinating with territorial officials and settlers.

Settlement and development of Utah and Arizona

Snow was instrumental in colonization campaigns that founded or developed communities across the American West, participating in settlement planning for St. George, Utah, Cedar City, Utah, and other communities in Iron County. He worked closely with leaders like Charles C. Rich and Daniel H. Wells on irrigation projects, land distribution, and civic institutions in Salt Lake City. In the Arizona Territory he supervised colonists who established settlements such as Snowflake, Arizona, which bears his name, in coordination with figures like William J. Flake and Lot Smith. His activities intersected with regional developments including Utah Territory territorial governance, telegraph expansion, and Mormon colonization efforts extending into Nevada and New Mexico Territory.

Teachings, writings, and doctrinal contributions

Snow contributed sermons, letters, and doctrinal expositions that were circulated among Latter-day Saint periodicals and conference addresses, often addressing themes resonant with leaders such as Orson Pratt and James E. Talmage. His public addresses engaged scriptural interpretation related to texts used in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints instruction and were referenced in discussions on emigration policy linked to the Perpetual Emigrating Fund Company. He participated in theological debates and councils with apostles including Wilford Woodruff and George Q. Cannon on subjects of church governance, missionary strategy, and the challenges of integrating converts from diverse locales such as Scandinavia and the British Isles into communities in Utah Territory.

Personal life and legacy

Snow entered plural marriage in accordance with doctrines practiced by Latter-day Saint leadership at the time, with family ties that connected him to other prominent families in the movement. He died in Salt Lake City in 1888 and was interred by church and civic officials, leaving a legacy commemorated in place names like Snowflake, Arizona and institutions that trace origins to the colonization programs he led. Historians studying the era reference his correspondence and administrative records alongside works about leaders like Brigham Young and John Taylor to understand migration, missionary networks, and community building in the 19th-century American West. His papers and mentions appear in archival collections that document LDS expansion across North America and transatlantic missionary links to the British Isles and Scandinavia.

Category:American Latter Day Saints Category:19th-century Mormon missionaries Category:People from St. Johnsbury, Vermont