EZRA T. BENSON

:''This is about the 19th-century church leader. For his great-grandson, the politician, and leader in the same church, see Ezra Taft Benson.''

'Ezra Taft Benson' (February 22, 1811 – September 3, 1869) (commonly referred to as 'Ezra T. Benson' to distinguish him from his great-grandson of the same name) was an apostle and a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Benson was born in Mendon, Massachusetts, the son of John Benson and Chloe Taft.
Benson was baptized into the Latter Day Saint church on July 19, 1840 in Quincy, Illinois. He had moved to Quincy previously, and first met members of the church when they came there at the time they were driven out of Missouri. He was ordained to the office of apostle on July 16, 1846. He replaced John E. Page in the Quorum of the Twelve.
Like many early Latter Day Saints, Benson practiced plural marriage. Before joining the LDS Church, Benson married Pamelia Andrus on January 1, 1832, at Uxbridge, Massachusetts. Benson later married Adeline Brooks Andrus, Desdemona Fullmer, Eliza Ann Perry, Lucinda West, Elizabeth Gollaher, Olive Mary Knight, and Mary Larsen. Benson had a total of eight wives and 35 children.
Benson's great-grandson, also named Ezra Taft Benson, also became an apostle of the LDS Church; the younger Benson served as U.S. Secretary of Agriculture in the 1950s and president of the LDS Church in the 1980s and 1990s.
Benson is buried in the Logan, Utah Cemetery.

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External links

External links

★ Grampa Bill's G.A. Pages: Ezra T. Benson

★ Ezra T. Benson Family Web Site