Israel Barlow

Israel Barlow (September 13, 1806 – November 1, 1883) was born in Granville, Massachusetts and died in Bountiful, Utah Territory.^[1] Barlow was one of the founders of Nauvoo, Illinois and a noted early member of the Latter Day Saint movement.

In 1832, Barlow was baptized by Brigham Young into the Church of Christ,the original name of the Latter Day Saint church founded by Joseph Smith, in Mendon, New York. In 1835, he was ordained a seventy by Sidney Rigdon and was one of the inaugural members of the First Quorum of the Seventy. Barlow was also a member of Zion's Camp in 1834 and was a missionary in New Hampshire in 1844.

In Nauvoo, Barlow was one of the bodyguards of Joseph Smith. After Smith's death, Barlow was a Mormon pioneer and traveled with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church)^[2] to the Salt Lake Valley in 1848; he settled in Bountiful. He was a missionary in England in 1853–55, where he was president of the Birmingham Conference of the LDS Church, where he met his third wife, Lucy Heap.

With four wives and twenty-one children, Barlow today has more than 10,000 descendants.

His first wife Elizabeth Haven was nine years old, her mother died. She learned to braid straw hats, pin-laces and other delicate trimmings to earn money to pay for her education. Elizabeth graduated from Amherst College as teacher in 1836. Soon afterward, her cousins, Brigham Young and Willard Richards, came to Halliston, Massachusetts, on their mission for the new LDS Church. She and her brother, Jesse, were converted and baptized members of the Church. She and Jess moved to Quincy, Illinois, where she met Israel Barlow. They were married in Feb., 1840. They soon moved to their new home in Nauvoo. Elizabeth taught school in Nauvoo having among her students the children of Joseph Smith, Hyrum Smith, and Brigham Young. The Prophet Joseph Smith was aware of Elizabeth's ability of writing and knew she was corresponding with her cousin Elizabeth Bullock. He asked her to save all of her letters. She did, and her writings of those early days of the Church, their operations, movements, and missionaries have been preserved in the family book, 'The Israel Barlow Story and Mormon Mom [Mores].' Elizabeth and Israel were driven from Nauvoo. She carried on alone while Israel was away on missions. She consented to the practice of polygamy and shared her husband with three other women. Their family came west in June, 1848 with the Brigham Young Company. After their arrival in Salt Lake Valley, they spent their first winter in the old Pioneer Fort. Later, they lived in West Bountiful.

One of his wives, Lucy Heap, was British and came from Lichfield, Staffordshire.^[3]

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