Lorenzo Snow

Lorenzo Snow
Charles Roscoe Savage · Public domain · source
Name	Lorenzo Snow
Birth date	April 3, 1814
Birth place	Mantua, Portage County, Ohio
Death date	October 10, 1901
Death place	Salt Lake City, Territory of Utah
Occupation	Religious leader, missionary, poet
Known for	President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Spouse	Eliza R. and others
Children	10

Lorenzo Snow Lorenzo Snow was an American religious leader and the fifth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. A prominent missionary and apostle, he helped shape institutional development during the late 19th century, guided Utah Territory church-state relations, and articulated key teachings on priesthood and tithing. Snow's presidency followed a succession crisis and marked fiscal and organizational reform as the church emerged from federal pressure.

Early life and education

Lorenzo Snow was born in Mantua, Ohio to a family of New England ancestry connected to Massachusetts settlers and the New England migration westward. He grew up amid the early 19th-century frontier influences of Portage County and later moved to Kirtland and Hiram, regions associated with early Latter Day Saint activity. Snow received limited formal schooling but read widely in Bibleic texts and contemporary American literature, and he trained in agricultural and mechanical trades common to Ohio and Vermont communities. His early associations included familial and civic ties to local churches and regional leaders involved in migration to Missouri and Illinois.

Conversion and missionary service

Snow converted to the Latter Day Saint faith after encounters with missionaries connected to Joseph Smith and joined the movement during the Kirtland period. He served multiple missions to New England, Great Britain, and continental Europe, preaching in urban centers and rural parishes influenced by 19th-century revivalism. In England he worked alongside leaders such as Heber C. Kimball, participating in emigration organization for converts bound for Nauvoo and later Salt Lake City. Snow’s missionary labors included interactions with converts from Scotland, Ireland, and Wales, and he contributed hymns and poetry that circulated among congregations in Utah Territory and missions overseas.

Leadership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Elected an apostle in the mid-19th century, Snow served under presidents Brigham Young, John Taylor, and Wilford Woodruff, participating in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles through periods of migration, settlement, and contention with the United States federal government. After the death of Wilford Woodruff, Snow became president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and navigated challenges including federal anti-polygamy legislation exemplified by the Edmunds Act and the Edmunds–Tucker Act. His administration emphasized reorganization of church finances, cooperative enterprises, and reinforcement of priesthood structure with councils at Salt Lake City headquarters. Snow worked with territorial officials and church leaders to respond to federal prosecutions and to prepare the institution for eventual accommodation with United States authorities.

Teachings and doctrinal contributions

Snow is noted for reaffirming and articulating doctrines concerning the priesthood, the doctrine of exaltation, and the importance of financial obligations such as tithing within the restorationist theology of the church. He popularized an aphorism on the law of increase that became influential in Latter-day Saint thought and contributed to the articulation of modern tithing policy that stabilized church revenues after the financial strains of the 1890s. Snow’s sermons and teachings engaged scriptural texts including the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants, and he influenced hymnody alongside figures such as Eliza R. Snow and Parley P. Pratt. His emphasis on temple work and temple ordinances reinforced initiatives linked to the Salt Lake Temple and temple construction efforts resumed in the late 19th century.

Later years and death

In his later years Snow presided over church reorganization, the consolidation of stake boundaries, and missionary expansion into the Pacific Islands and Mexico. He publicly addressed issues stemming from the church’s past practice of plural marriage and the church’s compliance with federal law following the 1890 Manifesto era led by Wilford Woodruff. Snow died in Salt Lake City and was interred in the Salt Lake City Cemetery, leaving a leadership transition to his counselors and successors in the Quorum of the Twelve. His death occurred as the church continued national reintegration and local institutional growth across Utah and the Intermountain West.

Legacy and memorials

Snow's legacy includes institutional reforms in church finance, missionary strategy, and devotional literature that shaped 20th-century Latter-day Saint practice. Monuments, plaques, and historic markers in Utah, Ohio, and Illinois commemorate sites associated with his life, and his writings are cited in church instruction and historical studies alongside figures such as Brigham Young and Joseph Smith. Historic homes and archives preserve correspondence and sermons that inform scholarship at repositories in Salt Lake City and at university collections connected to Brigham Young University and other research institutions. His doctrinal formulations on tithing and priesthood continue to be referenced in official church teachings and by historians of the Restoration Movement.

Category:Presidents of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Category:American Mormon missionaries Category:People from Portage County, Ohio