Mormon pioneer Mormon missionaries
Casper was in Bellville, Ohio, the son of William Casper and Avarilla Durbin. His mother joined the Campbellites when he was eight years old, and a year later, after Mormon missionaries came through their area, his older brother William Wallace Casper joined the Church of the Latter Day Saints.
Casper"s parents joined two years later and in 1837 they moved the family to Missouri, where they purchased a home. Mobs drove the Latter Day Saints from Missouri, and Casper"s parents had to leave their home behind. They rented a farm near Fairfield, Illinois, then moved on to Carthage.
In 1841, they moved to Nauvoo, where Casper was baptized at age 16.
In May 1845, 20-year-old Casper married 24-year-old Matilda Allison, a fellow Ohioan and a descendant of Thomas Miner. That summer, his father fell ill and died at age 62.
In Utah Territry, they settled in Big Cottonwood (present-day Holladay), where they owned a home and land. Casper also raised stock and sheep on land he purchased in Idaho.
He served as a trustee in the Big Cottonwood School District.
In 1867, Casper was called to help the struggling Muddy Mission. Due to his wife"s poor health, she stayed behind and died in 1871. They had nine children together.
Casper married Elizabeth Ann Clark, English immigrant, in 1872.
She had two children from a previous marriage. Unlike some early Latter Day Saints, Casper did not practice plural marriage.
He died in Holladay, Utah, and is buried there.
