B. H. Roberts
| B. H. Roberts | |
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Roberts, ca 1933
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| First Council of the Seventy | |
| October 7, 1888 – September 27, 1933 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Brigham Henry Roberts March 13, 1857 Warrington, Lancashire, United Kingdom |
| Died | September 27, 1933 (aged 76) Salt Lake City, Utah, United States |
| Resting place | Centerville City Cemetery 40°54′47″N 111°52′05″W / 40.913°N 111.868°W |
| Spouse(s) | Sarah Louisa Smith Celia Dibble Dr. Margaret Curtis Shipp |
| Children | 15 |
| Parents | Benjamin Roberts Ann Everington |
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Brigham Henry Roberts (March 13, 1857 – September 27, 1933) was a Mormon leader, historian, and politician. He published a popular six-volume history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and also wrote Studies of the Book of Mormon (unpublished until after his death), which discussed the validity of the Book of Mormon as an ancient record. Roberts was denied a seat as a member of United States Congress because of his practice of plural marriage.
Roberts was born in Warrington, Lancashire, England, the son of Benjamin Roberts, an alcoholic blacksmith and ship plater, and Ann Everington, a seamstress. In the year of his birth both parents converted to the LDS Church. Benjamin Roberts then abandoned his family. Roberts later wrote, "My childhood was a nightmare; my boyhood a tragedy."
Assisted by the Perpetual Emigrating Fund, B. H. Roberts and a sister left England in April 1866. In Nebraska they joined a wagon train and proceeded to walk—for much of the way barefoot—to Salt Lake City, where they were met by their mother, who had preceded them. In 1867, Roberts was baptized into the LDS Church by Seth Dustin, who two years later became his stepfather. Dustin eventually deserted his family, and "after several reappearances, he finally disappeared completely." Ann Dustin was granted a divorce in 1884. Upon coming to Utah Territory, Roberts settled in Bountiful, which he always from then on considered his home.
Roberts became a miner and participated in the gambling and drinking typical of that time and place. (He was once disciplined by a Salt Lake bishop, and alcohol "would not only beat him to his knees but to his elbows and chin.") But Roberts eventually learned to read and, after a series of menial jobs, was apprenticed to a blacksmith while attending school. He then became a "voracious reader, devouring books of history, science, philosophy," especially the Book of Mormon and other Mormon religious texts. In 1878, Roberts married Sarah Louisa Smith, and in the same year he graduated first in his class from University of Deseret, the normal school precursor of the University of Utah. He and Sarah eventually had seven children.
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