The Family of
Ezra T. Benson
(1811–1869)

Last update: 6 Apr 2009)

Ezra Taft Benson was born February 22, 1811, in Mendon, Worcester County, Massachusetts. As a young man he moved his family west to the vicinity of Nauvoo, Illinois, where after meeting Mormon refugees from Missouri and hearing anti-Mormon preaching they became interested in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and were baptized July 19, 1840. He served missions for his new church and after being driven by mobs from Illinois with the Saints was called to be an Apostle. He accompanied Brigham Young on the 1847 pioneering trip to Utah, returning to Iowa that fall, and leading additional pioneer companies west in 1849, 1852, and 1854. He owned lumber and grist mills in Tooele, Utah, and later presided over the settlements in Cache Valley. He served numerous short missions around the territory and extended ones in the Eastern States, the British Isles and Scandanavia, and Hawaii. After working tirelessly to bring the railroad to Utah, he died suddenly on September 3, 1869, at the home of a friend in Ogden. He had eight wives and numerous children. He is the great-grandfather of Ezra Taft Benson, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture under President Eisenhower and later President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

His Wives

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Pamelia Andrus Adeline Brooks Andrus Desdemona Fullmer
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Eliza Ann Perry Lucinda West Elizabeth Gollaher
Olive Mary Knight Mary Larsen
New Books Planned

I am in the process of writing a new book on E. T. Benson. I'm including many new materials from Church Archives and various published and unpublished sources and have also gathered photos of E. T. and family. If you have sources (especially family histories or photos of Ezra, his wives, his children, and their spouses), please contact, Benson Parkinson, webmaster, at "feedback at bensonfamily.org" (replace "at" with "@").

I'm also considering self-publishing a book with all of E. T.'s known writings: journals, histories, letters, and speeches, as well as brief histories of Ezra and other family members by myself and others. If you would be interested in either book, please drop me a line.

 —Benson Parkinson

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Write to Benson Parkinson, webmaster, at "feedback at bensonfamily.org" (replace "at" with "@").