Cornelius P. Lott

Mormon History 1830-1844

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 move to Missouri and settle near Haun's Mill in 1838.		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 settle 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 10, 1843 receives endowment with W. W. Phelps and Levi Richards in the redbrick store.		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.
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 (h1) 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.		See analysis of Joseph F. Smith's autobiographical manuscript in The Trials of Young Joseph F. Smith (2). Off-site link (click Articles when you arrive).
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	Permelia Darrow (1805–1882) md. April 27, 1823 in Bridgewater, Susquehanna, Pennsylvania
		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)
	Elizabeth Davis (b. 1798) md. January 22, 1846 in Nauvoo
	Narcissa Rebecca Fossett (Faucett) (1830–1884) md. January 22, 1846 in Nauvoo		Sacred loneliness, 264.
		Isaiah Barkdull (1846–1923)
	Charity Dickenson (b. 1776) md. January 22, 1846 in Nauvoo
	Jane Rogers (b. ca. 1798) md. February 7, 1846 in Nauvoo		Sacred loneliness, 264.
	Eleanor Wayman md. in Winter Quarters		Sacred loneliness, 265.
	Phebe Knight md. in Winter Quarters		Sacred loneliness, 265.
			Biographies