Phelps, William Wines, 1792-1872

Mormon handcart pioneer and polygynist who came to Utah 16 September 1848 with the Brigham Young company. Phelps served as a justice of the peace, notary public, and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Utah legislature.

Second President of the Mormon Church, colonizer, and territorial governor of Utah.

Early Mormon leader.

Mormon leader.

William Wines Phelps (1792-1872) was an early Mormon printer, scribe, and pioneer.

William Wines Phelps (1792-1872) was an early Mormon publisher, scribe, and pioneer.

William Wines Phelps was born on February 17, 1792 in Hanover, New Jersey, to Enon Phelps and Mehitable Goldsmith. He married Sally Waterman on April 28, 1815, in Smyrna, New York. While in New York, he worked as the editor of a newspaper. Sometime in late 1830 or early 1831, he acquired a Book of Mormon, and in June of 1831, he traveled to Kirtland, Ohio, where the Prophet Joseph Smith was. Phelps was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints soon after. He then began work as a printer for the Church in Jackson County, Missouri. In November of 1831, Phelps, along with others, was appointed to be a custodian of the revelations to be printed in Missouri. In January of 1832, he was appointed to superintend the schools in the branches of the Church in Jackson County, along with Oliver Cowdery and John Correll. That year, he also began publishing the Church's first periodical, the Evening and the Morning Star. During the year 1835, Phelps and his son, William Waterman Phelps, lived with the Prophet Joseph Smith and his family in Kirtland, Ohio. That same year, the Church purchased some Egyptian artifacts and manuscripts from Michael H. Chandler. Phelps served as one of Joseph Smith's scribes in translating the manuscripts. Later that year, Phelps was appointed to revise and arrange the hymns that Emma Smith had compiled and make them ready for printing. He wrote several of the hymns in the hymn book himself, and also often wrote poetry. In April 1836, he left Kirtland for Missouri. The next year he was appointed postmaster at Far West, Missouri.

During the next few years, problems arose between Phelps and the Church, and he was excommunicated on March 17, 1839 in Quincy, Illinois. He came back to the Church two years later and was sent on a mission to the Eastern States. Returning to Nauvoo, he served as a clerk for Joseph Smith, assisting in the drafting of the 1844 Views of the Powers and Policy of the Government of the United States. After Joseph Smith died in 1844, Phelps was very supportive of the Quorum of the Twelve and of Brigham Young. He and his wife were some of the first to receive their endowments in the Nauvoo Temple in December 1845. He embarked on the trek West with the Saints, spending the winter of 1846-1847 at Winter Quarters. He arrived in the Salt Lake Valley in 1848. During the 1850's, he was elected several times to the Utah Legislature. While in Utah, he published fourteen almanacs. William Wines Phelps died on March 7, 1872.