Harvey Stanley

Harvey Stanley was a stonecutter and dairyman. He was born on December 21, 1812, in Turnbridge, Vermont, and was baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in April 1834. He served a mission to New York and participated in Zion’s Camp, serving under the Prophet Joseph Smith, who was his first cousin, once removed.

He was one of the craftsmen to carve the Nauvoo Temple sunstones. He also labored on the temple in Kirtland, Ohio, where he was ordained a Seventy in 1835 and served in the First Quorum of the Seventy. He was a stockholder in the Kirtland Safety Society.

Stanley married Lerona Cahoon in January 1836 in Kirtland. Due to persecution, they moved to Quincy, Illinois, where their daughter, Thirza, was born. They moved to Nauvoo in 1840, where Lerona died in June of that year. Thirza was raised by Lerona’s parents. Stanley then married Harriette Amelia Hoagland, a citizen of Nauvoo who was not a member of the Church. When the Saints left Nauvoo and went west, Stanley and his family did not travel with them and lived in Keokuk, Iowa. Seven children were born to Stanley and his wife Harriette, four of which were born in Petaluma, California, where the family had moved sometime between 1850 and 1853. Here Stanley worked as a dairy man. It is presumed that Stanley no longer affiliated with the Church of Jesus Christ and his children and wife were never baptized.

Harvey died in Petaluma on February 16, 1862.