Heber Chase Kimball

Background

Heber Chase Kimball was born on June 14, 1801 in Sheldon, Vermont, United States, the son of Solomon Farnham and Anna (Spaulding) Kimball. He moved with his family in 1811 to West Bloomfield, New York.

Education

Kimball completed his desultory schooling in West Bloomfield, New York and learned from his father the blacksmith's trade. When Solomon Kimball suffered financial ruin following the War of 1812, Heber was thrown upon his own resources and, after experiencing some hardships, learned the potter's trade from an elder brother, with whom he later moved to Mendon, New York.

Career

The turning point in Kimball's hitherto undistinguished career came in the spring of 1832, when, after having met some itinerant elders of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints, he rejected a newly made alliance with the Baptists and became a Mormon. By the fall of the year 1832 he had been ordained to the ministry and within another year, with his friend Brigham Young, he had decided to join Joseph Smith at Kirtland, Ohio. He became a guileless follower of the founder of the church, and, possessing now a strong religious fervor and a ready belief in the existence of miracles, visions, and his own gift of prophecy, he was destined to take a favored place in the hierarchy of the church.

On February 14, 1835, Kimball was ordained one of the twelve apostles who, in the early days of the church organization, stood next to Joseph Smith in rank and authority. Shortly afterward he was directed to engage in missionary service. He toured New York and New England for two summers and on one occasion, while traveling with some Swiss emigrants, he believed that he spoke to them in their own language. In the spring of 1837 he was named head of the first mission to England. His immediate astonishment at the thought of undertaking the task gave way to his eagerness to promote the interests of the church, and with four associates he sailed for Liverpool in July. He arrived destitute but undaunted. He began to preach in and about Preston and in less than a year is said to have baptized some fifteen hundred persons. After his return to Kirtland in 1838, he joined the migration to Jackson County, Missouri. The unhappy sojourn there ended with the expulsion of the Mormons from the state, and he moved to Commerce (later Nauvoo), Illinois, in the summer of 1839.

In September he was again on his way to England, to preach and baptize, and to encourage converts to join the Mormons in America. He returned two years later to continue his missionary tours in the United States and in 1844 was on a mission to urge the candidacy of Joseph Smith as president of the United States when his campaign was cut short by the prophet's death.

Kimball joined the first Mormon migration to the Salt Lake Valley in the spring of 1847. He returned to "Winter Quarters" in the fall but joined the great trek of the following year and settled permanently in the West. His final promotion in the church had come in December 1847, when, with Willard Richards, he became one of Brigham Young's chief counselors. The three formed the "first presidency" and represented the executive head of the church. Fortified by his position, he exerted a forceful influence in the affairs of the community. He was elected chief justice and lieutenant-governor upon the organization of the State of Deseret and later became a member of the legislature. Under the territorial government of Utah he served as a member of the Council until 1858 (president, 1855 - 1858), and as lieutenant-governor until his death.

Achievements

• Heber Chase Kimball was recognized for leading a group of missionaries to England and later to the Great Salt Lake Valley and becoming the first Latter-day Saint in Europe. He was instrumental in establishing the First Presidency of the Church in Utah territory.

Works

More photos

• book

  • President Heber C. Kimball's Journal: Designed for the Instruction and Encouragement of Young Latter-day Saints

    (This is a reproduction of a classic text optimised for ki...)

Religion

Kimball belonged to Mormon religious group and was a member of Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints. His theology was his own naïve interpretation of the Bible and the Book of Mormon, and he discoursed with a fluency of speech which derived emphasis from his moral zeal and native sturdiness. He believed in the divine authority of Joseph Smith and Brigham Young and accepted their teachings as infallible.

Personality

Kimball was a man of large build and tremendous vigor.

Connections

On November 7, 1822, Kimball took his first bride of sixteen, Vilate Murray, of Victor, New York. The part of church doctrine was the plural marriage and Heber suffered some mental anguish upon receiving this doctrine. In time he accepted it wholeheartedly and practiced it fully, attaining to forty-five wives and sixty-five children. Forty-one of his children survived him.

Father:

Solomon Farnham Kimball

Mother:

Anna (Spaulding) Kimball

Spouse:

Vilate Murray

References

• Life of Heber C. Kimball: an apostle, the father and founder of the British Mission
• Heber C. Kimball, his wives and family
• Route From Liverpool to the Great Salt Lake Valley
• THE WOMEN OF MORMONDOM by EDWARD W. TULLIDGE
• Heber C. Kimball: MORMON PATRIARCH AND PIONEER