Edward Partridge

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Edward Partridge
Bishop of the Church
February 4, 1831 (1831-02-04) – May 27, 1840 (1840-05-27)
Called by Joseph Smith, Jr.
Personal details
Born August 27, 1793(1793-08-27)
Pittsfield, Massachusetts, United States
Died May 27, 1840(1840-05-27) (aged 46)
Nauvoo, Illinois, United States

Edward Partridge (August 27, 1793 – May 27, 1840) was one of the earliest converts to the Latter Day Saint movement (Mormonism) and served as its first Presiding Bishop.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Edward Partridge was the grandson of Massachusetts Congressman Oliver Partridge, Esq., and a member of a family noted for commercial, social, political, and military leadership in Western Massachusetts.

Partridge owned a hat-making factory and retail store in Painesville, Ohio. He was sent to New York in 1830 by a group of Painesville citizens to investigate the Latter Day Saint movement. He was baptized a member of the church in or near Seneca Lake, New York on December 11, 1830, and upon his return to Painesville discovered that his wife had also become a convert.[1]

[edit] Church service

Two months later in Kirtland, Ohio, Partridge became the first to hold the prominent position of Bishop and Presiding Bishop. In this position he helped lead the Mormon settlement in Jackson County, Missouri and managed land distribution under the law of consecration. He was tarred and feathered by an anti-Mormon mob in July 1833, then forced to move to Clay County, Missouri, followed by Caldwell County in 1836. During 1835 he served a mission in Illinois, Iowa, Ohio, and Indiana, then entered into another mission in New York and New England. Following the 1838 Mormon War he was jailed in Richmond, Missouri, then in 1839 he was expelled from the state.[2]

Partridge expended much of his wealth in support of the movement before he died in late May, 1840 at Nauvoo, Illinois. Joseph Smith noted that Partridge's death could be attributed to the stress and persecution which he and other Mormon settlers in western Missouri were subjected to in the 1830s.[3]

Partridge was the de facto Presiding Bishop of the Church from February 4, 1831 until his death. However, the exact title "Presiding Bishop" did not come into usage until shortly after Partridge's death, when subordinate Bishops began to be appointed his successors during the Nauvoo era.

[edit] Ancestors and descendants

His family includes the early American poets Rev. Edward Taylor and Anne Bradstreet. His forebears also include a number of notable Anglo-American religious leaders including the Rev. John Cotton, Dean of Emmanuel College, Cambridge who was the spiritual leader of the New England colonies; Rev. Solomon Stoddard, one of the most influential colonial ministers and the grandfather of the famous Rev. Jonathan Edwards and ancestor of United States Vice President Aaron Burr.

Partridge's forebears include a number of significant early political leaders in Colonial American and early U.S. history including Connecticut Governor Thomas Welles, Connecticut and Massachusetts Governor John Haynes, Connecticut Governor George Wyllys, Massachusetts Governor Thomas Dudley, and Massachusetts Governor Simon Bradstreet. His daughter Emily Partridge married the future first Territorial Governor of Utah, Brigham Young. His daughter Eliza Maria Partridge married Utah Territorial Legislator Amasa Mason Lyman, delegate to the California Constitutional Convention and leader of the first organized Anglo-American colony in Southern California and founder of the Salt Lake Tribune. His son Edward Partridge Jr. was a member of the Utah Territorial Legislature and a delegate to the Utah Constitutional Convention.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Harper, Steven C. (Summer 2006), "Dictated by Christ", Journal of the Early Republic (University of Pennsylvania Press) 26 (2): 285–286, JSTOR 30043410 
  2. ^ Biography of Edward Partridge, The Joseph Smith Papers (accessed December 27, 2011)
  3. ^ Smith, Joseph, Jr. (December 15, 1855), May 1840 (reprint), "History of Joseph Smith", Millennial Star (Salt Lake City, Utah: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) 17 (50): 789, http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/u?/MStar,17185 

[edit] Further reading

[edit] External resources

Preceded by
None		 Presiding Bishop
1831—1840		 Succeeded by
Newel K. Whitney
Presiding Bishops of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Partridge (1831–1840) • Whitney (1847–1850) • Hunter (1851–1883) • Preston (1884–1907) • Nibley (1907–1925) • Cannon (1925–1938) • Richards (1938–1952) • Wirthlin (1952–1961) • Vandenberg (1961–1972) • Brown (1972–1985) • Hales (1985–1994) • Bateman (1994–1995) • Burton (1995– )


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