Daniel Avery (Latter Day Saints)

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For other persons named Daniel Avery, see Daniel Avery (disambiguation).

Daniel Avery (born 1 July 1798) was an early leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and was a leader of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Strangite) after the succession crisis of 1844.

Avery was born in Oswego, New York. The date of his baptism into the early Latter Day Saint church is unknown, but he was present with the Latter Day Saints in Missouri when they began to be driven out of that state in in 1838.[1] In December 1839, movement founder Joseph Smith, Jr. called on Avery to organize a quorum of elders in Montrose, Iowa.[2] On 4 January 1840 Avery was ordained president of the elders' quorum in Montrose by Abraham O. Smoot.[3]

On 2 December 1843, Avery and his son Philander were kidnapped near Bear River in Hancock County, Illinois by a group led by Levi Williams who accused him of being a horse thief.[4] Avery spent several weeks in a Missouri prison, but was released on 25 December after a successful habeas corpus petition.[5]

After the death of Joseph Smith, Jr., Avery became one of the carpenters charged with finishing the construction of the Nauvoo Temple.[6] When Brigham Young announced that he would lead the Latter Day Saints to the Salt Lake Valley, Avery chose instead to follow the leadership of James J. Strang, who was gathering Latter Day Saints in Voree, Wisconsin. From 1846 to 1848, Avery was a member of the high council at Voree for Strang's Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.[7]

The date and place of Avery's death are unknown.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Joseph Smith (B.H. Roberts (ed.). History of the Church 4:60.
  2. ^ Joseph Smith (B.H. Roberts (ed.). History of the Church 4:42.
  3. ^ Joseph Smith (B.H. Roberts (ed.). History of the Church 4:54.
  4. ^ Joseph Smith (B.H. Roberts (ed.). History of the Church 6:99, 145.
  5. ^ Joseph Smith (B.H. Roberts (ed.). History of the Church 6:108, 147–148.
  6. ^ Joseph Smith (B.H. Roberts (ed.). History of the Church 7:326.
  7. ^ "150 people who each knew more about Joseph Smith than anyone alive today", strangite.org, accessed 2008-02-16.