Albert P. Rockwood

Albert Perry Rockwood served in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as one of the Seven Presidents of Seventy, which was also designated as the First Council of the Seventy at that time. Later it would be called the Presidency of the Seventy.[1] He served from 1845 to 1879.

Rockwood was born on June 5, 1805, in Holliston, Massachusetts. He heard about the Church through Brigham Young and Joseph Young (cousins to his first wife, Nancy Haven). Later, Brigham Young and Willard Richards entreated them to convert and Rockwood traveled to Kirtland, Ohio, to meet Joseph Smith and to investigate. He was baptized there on July 25, 1837, by Brigham Young. On January 5, 1839, he was ordained a Seventy.

He kept a journal about his involvement with the Danites and the Mormon militia in Missouri to protect the Saints from mob violence. After the Saints were driven from the state, he and Nancy settled in Quincy, Illinois, and then Nauvoo. He again took a position as a leader in the Nauvoo Legion and was a commander of those who served as bodyguards to Joseph Smith.

Wikipedia reports that “AP Rockwood was trusted by Joseph Smith and there are a few surviving stories of AP trying to protect Smith. On one occasion AP received intelligence that an enemy of Smith by the name of John C. Bennett was going to attempt an assassination of the prophet during a drill exercise of the Nauvoo Legion. AP ordered the prophet's body guard to surround him during the entire exercise and the plan was thwarted. On another occasion, a sheriff from the state of Missouri crossed the Mississippi River into Illinois and kidnapped Joseph Smith in an attempt to return him to Missouri to face charges. AP led a posse that attempted to recover Smith. During the last days of Joseph Smith's life, Rockwood was one of a select group of trusted brothers who was helping to hide the prophet on an island in the Mississippi River from the mobs that were seeking his life.”[2]

Rockwood was a member of the Council of Fifty.

When the Saints left Illinois, Rockwood and his wives and children traveled to Winter Quarters and Brigham Young appointed Rockwood as one of the three captains of 100 who led the first pioneer company west. He returned to Winter Quarters and accompanied his wives and children to Utah Territory in 1850.

From 1851 to 1879, he served in the Utah territorial legislature. He was one of the first wardens of the Territorial Prison and later the territory’s first game warden. He died on November 25, 1879, in Sugar House.