Polygamy and Mormon Church Leaders 11 William Clayton

Polygamy and Mormon Church Leaders 11

William Clayton

July 17, 1814 – December 4, 1879

This time around we’re taking a look at the Church’s historian, William Clayton. In addition to keeping the secrets of Joseph Smith’s multiple marriages, Mr. Clayton wrote everything down in an orderly fashion to keep track of the minutes of meetings as well as all the marriages of Smith. He was given the arduous task of recording the revelations of Joseph Smith.

Clayton became Joseph Smith’s personal secretary in 1842 and dutifully wrote down everything he either saw or heard. While many members of the Church don’t appreciate all the history being available, they do benefit from his industrious work ethic.

During the busy times of the Church in Nauvoo Clayton somehow found enough time to collect a fair amount of wives – ten to be exact. We’ve listed them here for you.

In addition to his busy family life he also filled the position of auditor for the Utah Territory, wrote a few LDS hymns, and served as the secretary for ZCMI.