Huntington, Oliver Boardman

1823–1907

Oliver Boardman Huntington was born on 14 October 1823 in Watertown, New York. Twelve years later, in 1835, his parents, William and Zina (Baker) Huntington, joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The following year the family moved to Kirtland, Ohio, where Oliver was baptized at the age of thirteen. The Huntingtons struggled during the next seven years as they moved from Kirtland, Ohio, to Adam-Ondi-Ahman, Missouri, and then to Nauvoo, Illinois.

Oliver left Nauvoo in 1843 to serve a one-year mission to western New York. By 1845 he returned to New York and had married Mary Melissa Neal. Oliver was the father of an infant daughter when, in 1846, he was called to serve a mission to England. That mission lasted for one year. After his return to New York, Oliver decided to cross the plains to Utah. He arrived at Salt Lake City in August 1848 in the Brigham Young Company.

Oliver returned to New York in 1849. In 1852 he once again emigrated to Salt Lake City, now accompanied by Mary Melissa, their three children, and her parents. The marriage floundered, however, and Oliver and Mary Melissa divorced that same year. He married Hannah Mendenhall Sanders on 25 November 1852.

Oliver and Hannah lived in Springville, Utah with their nine children. He married Elvira Stevens as a plural wife in 1856, but that marriage ended after four years. Oliver served in a variety of Church assignments, which included a mission to explore what is now Moab, Utah.

Oliver frequently taught school to support his family. He also kept bees, which were a significant sugar source in territorial Utah, and served as president of the Utah Bee-Keepers Association. He played an important role in ridding Utah beehives of a disease called foul brood. Oliver passed away on 7 February 1907 in Springville, Utah at the age of eighty-three.

Bibliography

Humphreys, Glen A. “Oliver B. Huntington and his Bees.” <http://www.utah/            /historytogo.org/oliver.html>.

Huntington, Oliver B. Diary of Oliver Boardman Huntington, 1842–1907. Typescript, BrighamYoungUniversity, 1942.

Jenson, Andrew. Encyclopedic History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Salt Lake City: Deseret News Company, 1941.

_____. Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia.Vol. 2. Andrew Jenson History Company, 1901.