Jesse N. Smith

Jesse Nathaniel Smith was the son of Silas and Mary Aikens Smith. His father was a younger brother of Joseph Smith, Sr.. His grandfathers, Asael Smith and Nathaniel Aikens, both served in the American Revolutionary War.

He was born on December 2, 1834, in Stockholm, St. Lawrence, New York. Jesse’s family was converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ when Joseph Smith Sr. and Don Carlos Smith visited them in 1830. Jesse was baptized by Patriarch [[John Smith] in 1843 when he was eight years old.

Jesse came to Utah with the Saints in 1847. He served as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Scandinavia from 1860 to 1862. Brigham Young called him as president of the Scandinavian Mission at the age of 27. He served from May 1862 to April 1864. He helped approximately 3,000 Saints emigrating to America.

He helped colonize Parowan and Minersville, Utah. President John Taylor asked him to relocate to Snowflake, Arizona, to serve as a Church leader. In 1884, he was assigned to a committee for the Church to obtain land in Mexico for colonization.

Smith served as mayor of Parowan from 1859 to 1861. He was a member of the Utah Territorial Legislature (1855–1856, 1876) and the Arizona Territorial Legislature in 1897. He was elected probate judge of Iron County and held the office of Deputy U.S. Marshal, Iron County District Attorney, surveyor, city clerk, town councilman, and city magistrate. He was a stockman and established cooperative mercantiles in both Utah and Arizona.

Smith practiced plural marriage. He had five wives and forty-four children. He died in Snowflake on June 5, 1906.