Abraham Owen Smoot, I

Abraham Owen Smoot (17 February 1815 – 22 March 1895), son of George W. Smoot and Ann Rowlett, was a Mormon pioneer; the second mayor of Salt Lake City, Utah; mayor of Provo, Utah; served as as president of the Utah Stake; and was the first head of the board of trustees of Brigham Young Academy (later called Brigham Young University).

Smoot was born in Owenton, Kentucky. His mother joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1833, and he followed her in 1835. Smoot moved from Kentucky to Missouri in 1837 at the urging of LDS church founder Joseph Smith, Jr., where he married Margaret Thompson McMeans, a widow with one son, in 1838. Smoot officiated in the Nauvoo Temple during the winter of 1845 - 1846. He had five more plural wives: marrying Sarah Gibbens and Emily Hill in January 1846; and later, Diana Caroline Tanner Eldredge, Anne Kirstine Mauritzen, and Hannah Caroline Rogers, and had twenty-seven children, three of whom were adopted. Senator Reed Smoot was one of his sons.

Smoot led companies of pioneers to the Salt Lake Valley in 1847, 1852, and 1856. He was mayor of Salt Lake City from 1857 to 1866 and then mayor of Provo, Utah from 1868 to 1880. Abraham O. Smoot died in 1895 and is interred in the Provo City Cemetery.

Marriages and Children

1. Margaret Thompson McMeans Adkinson (16 April 1809 South Carolina - 1 September 1884 Utah County, Utah Territory), married 11 November 1838 in Richmond, Missouri
   1. William Cochran Adkinson Smoot, biological son of Margaret McMeans' first husband, Charles Adkinson, and adopted by Abraham Owen Smoot
2. Sarah Gibbens (born 20 October 1800 Cumberland County, Kentucky) married 9 January 1846 Nauvoo Hancock County, Illinois. Fifteen years older than Smoot, and childless, Sarah did not make the journey to Utah, and in 1852 filed for divorce.
3. Almira Emily Hill Harris (25 November 1816 Pendleton County, South Carolina - 20 March 1882 Utah County, Utah Territory) married 20 January 1846 Hancock, Illinois. She had four children from her previous marriage to Zachariah Harris, two of whom died before she married Smoot: Mary Elizabeth Harris (c.1837 in Illinois - c.1839 Illinois) and Martha Jane Harris (c.1838 Illinois - c.1840); Smoot adopted the two surviving children, Artemissa Harris Smoot (3 January 1835 Carrolton, Illinois - 3 June 1885), daughter of Sarah Gibbens' first husband, Zachariah Harris, and adopted by Abraham Owen Smoot; and William Jasper Harris Smoot (25 October 1836 Illinois), son of Sarah Gibbens' first husband, Zachariah Harris, and adopted by Abraham Owen Smoot. Almira Hill Smoot and Abraham Owen Smoot had the following children together:
   1. Abraham Albert Smoot (23 November 1847 in Utah Territory - 23 June 1863 Utah Territory)
   2. Emily Anne Smoot (born 3 August 1851 Salt Lake City, Utah Territory)
   3. Margaret Thompson Smoot (27 August 1854 Salt Lake City, Utah Territory - 21 April 1932)
   4. Zina Beal Smoot (20 February 1859 Salt Lake City, Utah Territory - 20 May 1900)
4. Diana Caroline Tanner Eldredge (28 March 1837 Marion County, Indiana - 29 January 1914 Utah County, Utah) married 6 May 1855 Salt Lake City, Utah Territory
   1. Abraham Owen Smoot II (11 March 1856 Salt Lake City, Utah Territory - 22 May 1911 Provo, Utah)
   2. Nancy Diana Smoot (7 June 1858 Salem, Utah Territory - 27 May 1939)
   3. Olive Smoot (10 February 1860 Salt Lake City, Utah Territory - 28 July 1943 Utah County, Utah)
   4. Elizabeth Smoot (7 December 1861 Salt Lake City, Utah Territory - 13 December 1932 Utah County, Utah)
   5. Ira Smoot (10 September 1863 Salt Lake City, Utah Territory - 25 September 1864 Salt Lake City, Utah Territory)
   6. Lenora Ann Smoot (16 September 1864 Salt Lake City, Utah Territory - December 1864 Salt Lake City, Utah Territory)
   7. Joseph Edmund Smoot (16 December 1866 Salt Lake City, Utah Territory - 22 April 1890 Utah County, Utah Territory)
   8. Ella Deseret Smoot (23 August 1869 Utah Territory - 20 October 1916)
   9. Arthur E. Smoot (28 October 1871 Provo, Utah Territory - 19 September 1873 Provo, Utah Territory)
   10. Vilate Smoot (30 November 1874 Provo, Utah Territory - 3 July 1955 Utah County, Utah)
   11. Orson Parley Smoot (15 May 1876 Provo, Utah Territory - 13 January 1936 Salt Lake City, Utah)
   12. Horace Alma Smoot (22 October 1880 Provo, Utah Territory - 7 December 1964 Utah County, Utah)
   13. Wilford Smoot (24 May 1883 Provo, Utah Territory - 16 September 1953 Utah County, Utah) married Clara c.1906 Utah
5. Anne Kirstine Mauritzen (19 December 1833 Brekke Gaarde, Onso, Norway - 20 January 1894 Utah County, Utah Territory) married 17 February 1856 Salt Lake City, Utah Territory.
   1. Anna Christine Smoot (7 June 1858 Salem, Utah Territory - 2 March 1904)
   2. Alice Smoot (born 6 February 1860 Salt Lake City, Utah Territory)
   3. Reed Smoot (10 January 1862 Salt Lake City, Utah Territory; died February 9, 1941 Utah County, Utah)
   4. George Morrison Smoot (9 January 1864 Salt Lake City, Utah Territory - 17 January 1915 Utah County, Utah)
   5. Agnes Mary Smoot (born 3 July 1866 Salt Lake City, Utah Territory)
   6. Brigham Roland Smoot (15 June 1869 Salt Lake City, Utah Territory - 16 December 1946 Los Angeles County, California)
   7. Ida Maline Smoot (5 May 1873 Provo, Utah Territory - 25 April 1955 Utah County, Utah)
6. Hannah Caroline Rogers (20 March 1827 Dunkirk, New York - 14 March 1915 Salt Lake City, Utah) married 11 March 1886 Salt Lake City, Utah Territory

Legacy

• Smoot's wife, Margaret McMeans Smoot, named the Sugar House neighborhood of Salt Lake City
• The Administration building at Brigham Young University is known as the Abraham O. Smoot Administration Building
• Smoot's great-nephew, the apostle Abraham Owen Woodruff, was named after him because Wilford Woodruff had served as a mission companion with Abraham Smoot
• His son, Reed Smoot, was a United States Senator

Sources and Further Reading

• Berlin, C. Elliott. Abraham Owen Smoot, Pioneer Mormon Leader. Salt Lake City: BYU, Religion Division, 1955. Print.
• Nixon, Loretta Dalbey, and L. Douglas Smoot. Abraham Owen Smoot: A Testament of His Life. Provo, UT: A.O.Smoot Family Organization, 1994. Print.
• Smoot, Abraham Owen. Mission Journal: 1876-1877 British Mission. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.
• Tullidge, Edward W. History of Salt Lake City. Salt Lake City, UT: E.W. Tullidge, 1886. Print.
• Whitney, Orson F. History of Utah, Comprising Preliminary Chapters on the Previous History of Her Founders Accounts of Early Spanish and American Explorations in the Rocky Mountain Region, the Advent of the Mormon Pioneers, the Establishment and Dissolution of the Provisional Government of the State of Deseret, and the Subsequent Creation and Development of the Territory. Salt Lake City: G.Q. Cannon, 1892. Print.
• Ancestry.com. Seventy Quorum Membership, 1835–1846 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012. Original data: Black, Harvey B. Seventy Quorum Membership, 1835–1846: An Annotated Index of Over 3,500 Seventies Organized into the First Thirty-Five Quorums of the Seventy in Kirtland, Ohio, and Nauvoo, Illinois. Provo, Utah: Infobases, Inc., 1996. Private Donor. Name: Abraham Owen Smoot; Birth Date: 1816; Birth Place: Kentucky; Death Date: 1895; Death Place: Utah; Father: George Washington Smoot; Mother: Ann Rowlett; Wives: Eldredge, Dianna Tanner (13); Gibbons, Sarah; Harris, Emily Hill; McMeans, Margaret Thompson (1); Morrison, Annie Kirstine (7); Rogers, Elizabeth; Ordination: 1836; Nauvoo Data: Endowed Nauvoo Temple 12/18/45 (High Priest); Kirtland OH; Missions South SC TN KY, England; Post-Nauvoo Data: Banks, Mills; Farmer; Mayor Provo; President Provo UT Stake; Sources: M40:430; N556.
• Find A Grave Memorial# 24027333
• Utah State Historical Society, comp.. Utah Cemetery Inventory [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2000. Original data: Utah State Historical Society. Utah Cemetery Inventory. Salt Lake City, UT, USA: 2000. Name: Abraham Owen I (pres.) Smoot; Gender: M (Male); Birth Date: 15 Feb 1815; Birth Place: Owenton, Owen, Kentucky; Death Date: 6 Mar 1895; Death Place: Provo, Utah; Burial Date: 6 March 1895; Cemetery: Provo City Cemetery; Source: Sexton; Grave Location: Block 2 Lot 53; Type of Marker: Upsgl; Relatives: Spouse 1.margaret Thompson 2.emily Hill 3.diana; Father George & Ann Rowlett.
• Yates Publishing. U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004.
  • Source number: 47.000; Source type: Electronic Database; Number of Pages: 1; Submitter Code: SLS. Name: Abraham Owen Smoot; Gender: Male; Birth Place: KY; Birth Year: 1815; Spouse Name: Diana Tanner Eldredge; Spouse Birth Place: IN; Spouse Birth Year: 1837; Number Pages: 1.
  • Source number: 49.000; Source type: Electronic Database; Number of Pages: 1; Submitter Code: SLS. Name: Abraham Owen Smoot; Gender: Male; Birth Place: KY; Birth Year: 1815; Spouse Name: Anna Kirstine Morrison; Spouse Birth Place: No; Spouse Birth Year: 1833; Number Pages: 1.
  • Source number: 2024.000; Source type: Electronic Database; Number of Pages: 1; Submitter Code: CM1. Name: Abraham Owen Smoot; Gender: Male; Birth Place: KY; Birth Year: 1815; Spouse Name: Emily Hill; Spouse Birth Place: SC; Spouse Birth Year: 1816; Marriage Year: 1846; Number Pages: 1.
  • Source number: 2022.000; Source type: Electronic Database; Number of Pages: 1; Submitter Code: CM1. Name: Abraham Owen Smoot ; Gender: Male; Birth Place: KY; Birth Year: 1815; Spouse Name: Margaret Thompson Atkinson; Spouse Birth Place: SC; Marriage Year: 1838; Marriage State: MO; Number Pages: 1.
• Ancestry.com. Utah Directory, 1890: Salt Lake City, Logan, and Provo [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2000. Original data: Salt Lake City, UT, 1890. Salt Lake City, UT: R.L. Polk and Company, 1890; The Excelsior Address Book and Family Directory of Salt Lake City, 1893. Salt Lake City, UT: Salt Lake Lithographing Co., 1893; Utah Gazetteer and Directory of Logan, Ogden, Provo and Salt Lake City, 1884. Salt Lake City, UT: Robert W. Sloan, 1884. Name: A. O. Smoot; City: Provo; State: UT; Occupation: prest; Year: 1890; Business Name: bank & factory; Location 2: 1street ward, northwest corner K and Fifth.
• Ancestry.com. 1850 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. Original data: Seventh Census of the United States, 1850; (National Archives Microfilm Publication M432, 1009 rolls); Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29; National Archives, Washington, D.C. Year: 1850; Census Place: , Great Salt Lake, Utah Territory; Roll: M432_919; Page: 58A; Image: 119.
• Ancestry.com. 1860 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. Original data: 1860 U.S. census, population schedule. NARA microfilm publication M653, 1,438 rolls. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d. Year: 1860; Census Place: Great Salt Lake City Ward 20, Great Salt Lake, Utah Territory; Roll: M653_1313; Page: 297; Image: 307; Family History Library Film: 805313.
• Ancestry.com and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 1880 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2010. Original data: Tenth Census of the United States, 1880. (NARA microfilm publication T9, 1,454 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C. Year: 1880; Census Place: Provo, Utah, Utah; Roll: 1338; Family History Film: 1255338; Page: 126C; Enumeration District: 081.
• Cleo Bullock Collection, Harold B. Lee Special Collections, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah. These records were handed down to Cleo Bullock. They contain many original letters and files of Abraham Own Smoot. Cleo gave them to L. Douglas Smoot who donated them to the Brigham Young University.
• Wikipedia contributors, 'Abraham O. Smoot', Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 31 December 2010, 20:27 UTC, <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Abraham_O._Smoot&oldid=40...> [accessed 31 January 2011]