Oscar Ammon Kirkham was born January 22, 1880 in Lehi, Utah Territory, the son of James Kirkham and Martha Mercer. Kirkham served an LDS mission in Germany from 1900-1903, where he also studied music. He married Ida Josephine Murdock in 1905 in the Salt Lake Temple; the couple had eight children. Oscar was ordained a Seventy on February 26, 1905. He taught music at the Latter-day Saints University (now LDS Business College). An ardent scouter, Oscar was the Scout Executive of Region 12 and was assigned to the national position of General Morale Officer and supervised the religious exercises of American scouts during international Jamborees. He was also very influential in the Church's adoption of the Boy Scout Program. Kirkham was a longtime executive secretary in the Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association. On October 5, 1941, he was called as one of the seven presidents of the Seventy by Heber J. Grant at sixty-one. Oscar A. Kirkham passed away on March 10, 1958 in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah.
Ida Josephine Murdock Kirkham was born July 10, 1880 in Heber City, Wasatch, Utah to Alva Moroni Murdock and Josephine Maria Nicol. She married Oscar Ammon Kirkham in 1905 in the Salt Lake Temple. She was actively involved with the International Society Daughters of Utah Pioneers, serving as general paresident from 1937-1941. Ida Kirkham passed away on October 6, 1976 in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah.
From the guide to the MS 9354 Oscar and Ida Kirkham family papers 1866-1975 (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Church History Library)
