Cornelius P. Lott

Mormon History: 1830 to 1839

Cornelius P. Lott (1798–1850)

Friend and bodyguard of Joseph Smith, Danite general, Council of Fifty, Anointed Quorum, father of one of Joseph's plural wives, high councilor, captain in 1848 company, manager of farms for Joseph and Brigham.

Born		September 22, 1798 in New York City
Died		July 6, 1850 in Salt Lake City
Father		Peter Lott
Mother		Mary Jane Smiley
Baptism Kirtland		Cornelius and Permelia were baptized before 1834 and moved to Kirtland between March and August 1836. Cornelius received an elder's license on August 6, 1837 and his Kirtland temple ordinances on March 31, 1837.		Sacred Loneliness, 596.
Move to Missouri		1838 moves to Missouri and settles near Haun's Mill.		Descendants of Cornelius Peter Lott, 1798, 7.
Danite general		July 4, 1838 military band passes in review of "Generals" Jared Carter, Sampson Avard and Cornelius P. Lott.		¶ Order of the Day, July 4, 1838 Sacred Loneliness, 596–597; Quinn refers to him as a major-general in Origins, 482.
Burn, pillage non-Mormon farm		Leads the Danite raid on a family harboring weapons and amunition for the mob near Adam-ondi-Ahman.		B. F. Johnson life, 29–30.
Manages Joseph's farm near Nauvoo		1839 settles in Pike County, forty miles south of what would become Nauvoo, then to Joseph Smith's farm four miles southeast of Nauvoo on the Carthage road. Cornelius purchases adjacent land where he and his family live in a large eight-room farmhouse while he manages the Prophet's farm.		Sacred Loneliness, 597. Hosea Stout diary, 1:66n.
Bodyguard		Serves as a captain of Joseph's bodyguard.		Sacred Loneliness, 597.
Daughter marries Joseph Smith		September 20, 1843 Hyrum Smith marries Melissa Lott, eighteen, to Joseph Smith with her parents as witnesses. Melissa had worked for a time in the Smith home. On the same day Cornelius and Permelia are married for eternity "by Presadent Hyrum Smith with seal of Presadent Joseph Smith."		Sacred Loneliness, 597, 598. Hosea Stout diary, 1:66n
Endowment		December 9, 1843 Wilford Woodruff: "We met in council at the store with the quorum. Elders W. W. Phelps Levi Richards and C Lott met with us. <Received their Anointing.>"		WWJ, 2:331
Wrestles the Prophet		In a good-natured wrestling match with the Prophet, Joseph could not throw the older Cornelius.
Second anointing		February 4, 1844 receives second anointing with Permelia in the redbrick store; they became members of the Anointed Quorum.		American prophet, 445. Origins, 356n71.
With Joseph		May 27, 1844 one of the men who accompanies Joseph to Carthage. (The case was postponed.)		American prophet, 484.
Council of Fifty		At the time of the Prophet's death, Lott is ranked 18th in the Council of Fifty.		Origins, 524.
Washings and anointings	¶	[December 11, 1845 William Clayton] "A little before three Sister Elizebeth Ann Whitney and My wife got through washing the sisters about half past 3 [and] the following were taken through all the ordinance & ceremony viz"		Endowment Companies, 5.
	¶	Alpheas Cutler & Lois Cutler Reynolds & Tirzah Cahoon Isaac Morley & Lucy Morley Orson Spencer & Catherine C. Spencer William Clayton & Ruth Clayton Cornelius P. Lott & Permelia Lott
		also mother Lucy [Mack] Smith and John Smith with her proxy <Also John M. Bernhisel> Mercy R. Thompson with whom brother John Taylor acted as a proxy
Nauvoo marriages Rebecca leaves		January 22, 1846 Elizabeth Davis, who separated from her husband, Jabez Durfey, a high priest, on the previous day, is sealed to Joseph for eternity with Cornelius standing as proxy for Joseph. She is then sealed to Cornelius for time. A few minutes later, Cornelius is sealed to Permelia, Rebecca Fossett, and Charity Dickenson. Rebecca, fifteen, left Cornelius before the birth of their child. Charity was sixty-eight.		Sacred Loneliness, 264.
Elizabeth leaves		Elizabeth leaves Cornelius at Winter Quarters and moves to Quincy, Illinois. According to her son (by a previous marriage), "we went with [Brigham Young] as far as the Missouri River and then we saw so much of their manner of doing business, that we went back to Quincy."		Sacred Loneliness, 265.
Cutler's Park municipal high council		Cornelius is a member of the Cutler's Park municipal high council "consisting of 12 men appointed who were endowed with all the powers of a High council of the church & also the powers of common council of a municipality … under the jurisdiction of the Twelve of course."		Hosea Stout diary, 1:185.
Winter Quarters discipline		In Winter Quarters Cornelius attended a meeting of members of the Twelve and the high council to discuss what to do about men "whose bodies were tabernacles for devils that is rebelious wicked ungovernable men who are breeding a continual disturbance & exciting others to discontent &c." It is decided "to have the Law of God put in force on them &c."
Cares for sick		September 1846 when Heber C. Kimball reports Lucian Woodworth and family are all sick, Cornelius offers to take care of them.		Journal History, September 9, 1846.
Negotiations with Big Elk		April 19, 1847 assigned with Alpheus Cutler, Daniel Spencer, and W. W. Phelps, to visit Big Elk, chief of the Omahas who has been stealing cattle from the Saints. A few days later they report the Omaha chiefs admitted they had encouraged their young men to steal the cattle and agreed to stop them if the Mormons would help them get the Indian agent to turn over the corn he had purchased for them in Missouri.		Hosea Stout diary, 1:251.
		Later that month, some Omahas try to return horses some of their braves had taken, but Parley P. Pratt (h), fed up with their inconsistencies, brings them into camp under guard. This creates more hostility and Cornelius and chief of police Hosea Stout are assigned to talk with the Indians.
Winter Quarter marriages		1848 marries Eleanor Wayman (fifty-six) and Phebe Crosby Peck Knight (forty-seven) before crossing the plains. Phebe is Hosea Stout's mother-in-law. Her husband, Joseph Knight, died in Winter Quarters.		Sacred Loneliness, 265. Hosea Stout diary, 1:66n.
Young Elk offended but composed		But Young Elk kept his composure, explaining that "he had been sent in by his father to bring in our horses & enter into a better understanding of peace & had been stoped on the praire like wild beasts & not even admitted a hearing & how how it wounded his feeling to have to be guarded into town & leave his braves under guard to offer peace to us & deliver up stolen property & give their pledge that no more should be stolen … but said let all that pass & we would be at peace from this time & we might now know what he said would be done on their part."
		He complained that if Brigham Young, who had left for Utah, had been there, they would not be treated this way.
Cornelius settles down		Br Lott's wrath abated & he talked reasonable in a short time & we all verily believed they were sincere in their words.
Indians leave without gifts		The Indians expected presents to take to Big Elk, but the Mormons declined, saying they would have to take that up with their chief (Cutler) when he returned from Missouri. The Indians left "not any too well satisfied."
Captain in Heber C. Kimball's company Despised by Joseph F. Smith		[Late May or early June] 1848 a captain in Heber C. Kimball's company, arriving in Salt Lake City in late September. He is the leader despised by Joseph F. Smith for humiliating his mother throughout the trek.
Salt Lake home		Lives in a two-room house on the southwest corner of Third South and State Street.		Lehi 100, 276. Sacred Loneliness, 600.
Managed Forest Dale farm		Manages the church farm at Forest Dale (site of the present Forest Dale Golf Course).		Hosea Stout diary, 1:66n.
Death		July 6, 1850 dies of dysentary or fatigue, depending on the source consulted.		Sacred Loneliness, 600, 766nV.

Families
Wife		Permelia Darrow (1805–1882) md. April 27, 1823 in Bridgewater, Susquehanna, Pennsylvania
Children			Melissa (1824–1898)
			John Smiley (Smylie) (1826–1894)
			Mary Elizabeth (1827–1888)
			Almira Henrietta (1829–1878)
			Permelia Jane (1832–1880)
			Lucinda Alzina (1834–1910)
			Harriet Amanda (1836–1847)
			Joseph Darrow (1838–1847)	Sacred Loneliness, 596. Ancestral File gives birth date of 1839.
			Clarissa Cemantha (1842–1854) (b. March 23)
			Peter Lyman (1842–1906) (b. November 2)
			Cornelius Corloss (1844–1845)
Wife		Elizabeth Davis (b. 1798) md. January 22, 1846in Nauvoo
Wife		Narcissa Rebecca Fossett (Faucett) (1830–1884) md. January 22, 1846 in Nauvoo		Sacred Loneliness, 264.
Children			Isaiah Barkdull (1846–1923)
Wife		Charity Dickenson (b. 1776) md. January 22, 1846 in Nauvoo
Wife		Jane Rogers (b. ca. 1798) md. February 7, 1846 in Nauvoo		Sacred Loneliness, 264.
Wife		Eleanor Wayman md. in Winter Quarters		Sacred Loneliness, 265.
Wife		Phebe Knight md. in Winter Quarters		Sacred Loneliness, 265.
				Biographies Home