View source for Lorenzo Snow

{{Short description|American LDS Church leader (1814–1901)}}
{{More citations needed|date=August 2018}}
{{Infobox Latter Day Saint biography
 | name                = Lorenzo Snow
 | image            = Lorenzosnow.jpg
 | birth_name          = 
 | birth_date          = {{birth date|1814|04|03}}
 | birth_place         = [[Mantua Township, Portage County, Ohio|Mantua, Ohio]], United States
 | death_date          = {{death date and age|1901|10|10|1814|04|03}}
 | death_place         = [[Salt Lake City]], Utah, United States
 | resting_place       = Brigham City Cemetery
 | resting_place_coordinates = {{Coord|41.5028|-112.0078|type:landmark|display=inline|name=Brigham City Cemetery}}
 | spouse              = {{plainlist|
* {{marriage|Charlotte Squires|1844|1850|end=died}}
* {{marriage|Mary Adaline Goddard|1845|1898|end=died}}
* {{marriage|Sarah Ann Prichard|1845|1900|end=died}}
* {{marriage|Harriet Amelia Squires|1846|1890|end=died}}
* {{marriage|Eleanor Houtz|1848|1896|end=died}}
* {{marriage|Caroline Horton|1853|1857|end=died}}
* {{marriage|Mary Elizabeth Houtz|1857}}
* {{marriage|Phoebe Amelia Woodruff|1859}}
* {{marriage|Sarah Minnie Ephramina Jensen|1871}}
}}
 | children            = 42
 | signature           = Lorenzo Snow signature.jpg
 | signature_size      = 175px
 | signature_alt       = Signature of Lorenzo Snow
 | position_or_quorum1 = 5th [[President of the Church (LDS Church)|President]] of [[the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]]
 | start_date1         = {{start date|1898|09|13}}
 | end_date1           = {{end date|1901|10|10}}
 | predecessor1        = [[Wilford Woodruff]]
 | successor1          = [[Joseph F. Smith]]
 | position_or_quorum2 = [[President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (LDS Church)|President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles]]
 | start_date2         = {{start date|1889|04|07}}
 | end_date2           = {{end date|1898|09|13}}
 | predecessor2        = Wilford Woodruff
 | successor2          = [[Franklin D. Richards (Mormon apostle)|Franklin D. Richards]]
 | end_reason2         = Became President of the Church
 | position_or_quorum3 = [[Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (LDS Church)|Quorum of the Twelve Apostles]]
 | start_date3         = {{start date|1877|08|29}}
 | end_date3           = {{end date|1898|09|13}}
 | end_reason3         = Became President of the Church
 | position_or_quorum4 = Assistant Counselor in the [[First Presidency (LDS Church)|First Presidency]]
 | called_by4          = [[Brigham Young]]
 | start_date4         = {{start date|1874|05|09}}
 | end_date4           = {{end date|1877|08|29}}
 | end_reason4         = Dissolution of First Presidency upon death of Brigham Young
 | position_or_quorum5 = Counselor in the First Presidency
 | called_by5          = Brigham Young
 | start_date5         = {{start date|1873|06|08}}
 | end_date5           = {{end date|1874|05|09}}
 | end_reason5         = Called as Assistant Counselor in the First Presidency
 | position_or_quorum6 = Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
 | called_by6          = Brigham Young
 | start_date6         = {{start date|1849|02|12}}
 | end_date6           = {{end date|1873|06|08}}
 | end_reason6         = Called as Counselor in the First Presidency
 | position_or_quorum7 = [[The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints|LDS Church]] [[Apostle (Latter Day Saints)|Apostle]]
 | called_by7          = Brigham Young
 | start_date7         = {{start date|1849|02|12}}
 | ordination_reason7  = Reorganization of [[First Presidency (LDS Church)|First Presidency]]; excommunication of [[Lyman Wight]]<ref>Snow, [[Charles C. Rich]], [[Erastus Snow]], and [[Franklin D. Richards (Mormon apostle)|Franklin D. Richards]] were ordained on the same day to fill four vacancies in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.</ref>
 | end_date7           = {{end date|1901|10|10}}
 | reorganization7     = [[Hyrum M. Smith]] ordained
 | list_notes          = Brother-in-law of both [[Joseph Smith]] and Brigham Young through [[Eliza R. Snow]].
 | poly_date           = 1845
 | poly_wives          = 11
 | poly_notes          = Convicted of unlawful cohabitation in 1885 and was imprisoned in 1885 and 1886. Was one of the few Latter-day Saint leaders who ceased cohabiting with his already existing plural wives after the [[1890 Manifesto]]
}}

'''Lorenzo Snow''' (April 3, 1814 – October 10, 1901) was an American religious leader who served as the [[List of presidents of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints|fifth president]] of [[the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]] (LDS Church) from 1898 until his death. Snow was the last president of the LDS Church in the 19th century and the first in the 20th.

==Family==
Snow was the fifth child and first son of Oliver Snow (September 18, 1775, [[Massachusetts]] – October 17, 1845, [[Illinois]]) and Rosetta L. Pettibone (October 22, 1778, [[Connecticut]] – October 12, 1846, [[Illinois]]), residents of [[Mantua Township, Portage County, Ohio|Mantua Township]], [[Ohio]], who had left [[New England]] to settle on a new and fertile farm in the [[Connecticut Western Reserve]]. Lorenzo had siblings Leonora Abigail Snow (1801–1872), [[Eliza R. Snow]] (1804–1887), Percy Amanda Snow (1808–1848), Melissa Snow (1810–1835), Lucius Augustus Snow (born 1819), and Samuel Pearce Snow (born 1821).

Despite the labor required on the farm, the Snow family valued learning and saw that each child had educational opportunities. Snow received his final year of education at [[Oberlin College]], which was founded by two [[Presbyterian]] ministers. Snow later made his living as a school teacher when not engaged in church service.

==Introduction to Mormonism==
[[File:Snow House 2.jpg|thumb|left|The Snow home in [[Mantua Township, Portage County, Ohio|Mantua, Ohio]].]]
In 1831, [[Joseph Smith]], founder of the [[Latter Day Saint movement]], took up residence in [[Hiram Township, Portage County, Ohio|Hiram, Ohio]], {{convert|4|mi}} from the Snow farm. The Snow family was [[Baptist]], but soon took a strong interest in the new religious movement. Snow recorded that he heard the [[Book of Mormon]] being read aloud in his home in Mantua and met Smith at Hiram in 1831. By 1835, Snow's mother and his older sister, Eliza, had joined the [[Church of Christ (Latter Day Saints)|Latter Day Saint church]]. Eliza soon moved to the church headquarters in [[Kirtland, Ohio]], and worked as a school teacher. In her biography of Snow, Eliza stated she fostered his interest in [[Mormonism]] while he was at Oberlin. Eliza invited Snow to visit her and attend a school of [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] newly established by the church. During his visit there, in June 1836, Snow was [[Baptism|baptized]] by [[John F. Boynton]], a member of the [[Quorum of the Twelve]].

==Early church service==
{{unreferenced section|date=August 2018}}
While living in Kirtland in 1837, Snow was called to serve a short [[Mormon missionary|mission]] in Ohio, traveling "without purse or scrip." He recorded that relying on the kindness of others for his meals and lodging was difficult for him, as he had always had sufficient means to care for himself. When he returned to Kirtland in 1838, Snow found Smith's followers in turmoil over the failure of the [[Kirtland Safety Society]]. Snow and the members of his extended family chose to move to [[Missouri]] in the summer of 1838 and join the Latter Day Saints settling near [[Far West, Missouri|Far West]]. Snow became seriously ill with a fever, and was nursed for several weeks by his sister, Eliza.<ref>{{cite book |last=Allen |first=James B. |title=The Story of the Latter-day Saints |publisher=Deseret Book |year=1992 |isbn=978-0875795030 |pages=198–201}}</ref>

Following his recovery, Snow left for a second mission to [[Illinois]] and [[Kentucky]] in the fall of 1838. He served there through February 1839, when he learned that the Latter Day Saints had been expelled from their settlements in Missouri. He traveled home by way of his former mission area in Ohio. He was again taken ill and was cared for by church members. He remained in Ohio, preaching and working with church members until the fall of 1839. During the school year of 1839–40, Snow taught in [[Shalersville Township, Portage County, Ohio|Shalersville, Ohio]]. He sent money to his family, who had by then settled in [[Nauvoo, Illinois]]; he joined them in May 1840.
[[File:Lorenzo Snow at age 38.png|200px|thumb|left|Lorenzo Snow at age 38]]
Shortly after he arrived in Nauvoo, Snow was [[Calling (LDS Church)|called]] to serve as a missionary in England. After an unpleasant sea voyage from [[New York City, New York|New York City]], Snow met with some members of the Quorum of the Twelve who had opened the British [[Mission (LDS Church)|Mission]] in 1839, including [[Brigham Young]], [[Heber C. Kimball]], and [[Parley P. Pratt]]. Snow worked briefly in the [[Manchester]] area, and had success in [[Birmingham]], where he baptized people in Greet's Green and organized a branch in Wolverhampton. Snow was assigned to preside over church members in [[London, England|London]]. During his administration, church membership in the city increased from approximately 100 to 400 members. He was released from his mission by Pratt, who by then was [[Mission president|president]] of an expanding European Mission. Snow arrived home on April 12, 1843, and was accompanied by a shipload of 250 British converts.

After visiting with his family, Snow again secured a teaching position for the winter, teaching at [[Lima, Illinois]], thirty miles from Nauvoo. In late spring 1844, he returned to Ohio, preaching and baptizing new converts and distributing recent church publications to members. He was working in [[Cincinnati]] when he learned of the [[Death of Joseph Smith|death of the Smiths]]. Snow closed his Ohio mission and promptly returned to Nauvoo.

During the period of [[succession crisis (Latter Day Saints)|disorganization and schism]] that followed Smith's death, Snow chose to follow the [[Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (LDS Church)|Quorum of the Twelve]], under Young's direction. In 1845, Snow was involved in work in the [[Nauvoo Temple]].

==Wives and children==
{{unreferenced section|date=August 2018}}
Before leaving Nauvoo, Snow accepted the principle of [[plural marriage]] and took two wives. Later, he took seven more.

*Mary Adaline Goddard (8 March 1812 [[Connecticut]] – 28 December 1898). Married 1845.
**Rosetta Adaline Snow (7 November 1846 – 1 January 1933)
**Oliver Goddard Snow (20 February 1849 – 13 August 1931)
**Isadore Percy Snow (24 February 1855 – 1 May 1925)
*Sarah Ann Pritchard (29 November 1826 [[Ohio]] – 30 November 1900). Married 21 April 1845.<ref>{{FamilySearch|id=KWJC-L7N|title=Sarah Ann Pritchard}}</ref>
**Eliza Sarah Snow (30 November 1847 – 5 October 1937)
**Sylvia Snow (16 January 1850 – 2 January 1934)
**Lorenzo Snow, Jr. (7 July 1853 – 26 August 1942)
**Parinthia Snow (5 October 1855 – 23 November 1933)
**Laurin Alvirus Erastus Snow (2 December 1863 – 22 April 1947)
*Charlotte Merrill Squires (19 November 1825 [[Ohio]] – 25 September 1850). Married 17 January 1846.<ref>{{FamilySearch|id=KWV6-82D|title=Charlotte Merrill Squires}}</ref>
**Leonora Charlotte Snow (23 January 1847 – June 1847)
**Roxcy Armatha Snow (14 December 1849 – 9 July 1931)
*Harriet Amelia Squires (13 September 1819 [[Ohio]] – 12 May 1890). Married 17 January 1846.
**Abigail Harriet Snow (16 July 1847 – 9 May 1914)
**Lucius Aaron Snow (11 December 1849 – 3 October 1921)
**Amelia Herrietta Snow (15 February 1854 – 30 October 1854)
**Alonzo Henry Snow (15 February 1854 – 1 November 1854)
**Celestia Armeda Snow (2 December 1856 – 13 March 1938)
*Eleanor Houtz (14 August 1832 [[Pennsylvania]] – 13 September 1896). Married 1 June 1848.<ref>{{FamilySearch|id=K663-P4B|title=Eleanor Houtz}}</ref>
**Amanda Eleanor Snow (19 April 1850 – 21 October 1850)
**Ida Snow (2 January 1854 – 15 January 1923)
**Eugenia Snow (5 July 1856 – 13 January 1946)<ref name="Artist">[https://www.bedfordfineartgallery.com/eugenia_williams_snow.html Artwork by Eugenia Williams Snow]</ref> 
**Alphonzo Houtz Snow (13 October 1858 – 22 February 1933)
**Susan Imogene Snow (4 May 1861 – 16 October 1864)
**Roxcy Lana Snow (22 October 1863 – 17 July 1951)
**Hortensia Snow (17 July 1867 – 17 January 1931)
**Chauncey Edgar Snow (8 July 1870 – 1 February 1940)
*Caroline Horton (25 December 1828 England – 21 February 1857). Married 9 October 1853.
**Clarissa Caroline Snow (19 July 1854 – 15 October 1917)
**Franklin Horton Snow (3 February 1857 – 2 January 1939)
**Sarah Augusta Snow (3 February 1857 – 17 February 1857)
*Mary Elizabeth Houtz (19 May 1840 [[Pennsylvania]] – 31 May 1906). Married 1857.
**Lydia May Snow (21 Jan 1860 – 22 December 1898)
**Jacob E. Fitzroy Snow (31 October 1862 – 2 December 1862)
**Virginia Marian Snow (30 January 1864 – 30 March 1951)
**Mansfield Lorenzo Snow (8 September 1866 – 26 October 1923)
**Mortimer Joseph Snow (19 November 1868 – 20 June 1935)
**Flora Bell Birdie Snow (19 July 1871 – 23 February 1950)
*Phoebe Amelia Woodruff (4 March 1842 [[Nauvoo, Illinois]] – 15 February 1919). Married 4 April 1859. Phoebe was the daughter of [[Wilford Woodruff]].
**Mary Amanda Snow (4 September 1860 – 6 September 1860)
**Leslie Woodruff Snow (6 February 1862 – 28 November 1935)
**Orion Woodruff Snow (6 September 1866 – 7 March 1939)
**Milton Woodruff Snow (7 February 1868 – 24 January 1943)
**Phoebe Augusta Florence Snow (7 August 1870 – 6 February 1964)
*Sarah Minnie Ephramina Jensen (10 October 1855 [[Brigham City, Utah]] - 2 January 1908). Married 12 June 1871.
**Le Roi Clarence Snow (28 August 1876 – 31 December 1962)
**Minnie Mabelle Snow (23 May 1879 – 3 December 1962)
**Cora Jean Snow (16 February 1883 – 11 August 1883)
**Lorenzo Lamont Snow (26 August 1885 – 7 May 1954)
**Rhea Lucile Snow (5 November 1896 – 9 July 1976)<ref>{{cite web |title=Lorenzo Snow Family History |url=https://history.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/historic-sites/ohio/kirtland/lorenzo-snow-family |access-date=28 May 2025 |website=Church History |publisher=The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints}}</ref>

==Migration to Utah==
Snow and his family, with wagons and livestock, joined a group of emigrants and moved across the [[Mississippi River]] into [[Iowa]] in February 1846. On the way west, Snow again became ill and the family stopped at [[Mount Pisgah (Iowa)|Mt. Pisgah, Iowa]]. Three Snow children were born at the Mormon refugee settlement, but none of them survived. Snow was called to preside over the church organization in Mt. Pisgah and actively raised money to assist the bands of emigrants in their move west. The Snow family arrived in the [[Salt Lake Valley]] in 1848.

==Call to the Twelve and missions abroad==
In 1849, Snow was called to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, the same day as [[Franklin D. Richards (Mormon apostle)|Franklin D. Richards]], [[Erastus Snow]] (a distant cousin), and [[Charles C. Rich]]. They were called to fill vacancies caused by the re-establishment of the [[First Presidency (LDS Church)|First Presidency]] and [[Lyman Wight]]'s excommunication.

Shortly after his call to the Twelve, Snow left on a mission to Italy and [[French language|French-speaking]] [[Switzerland]]. He later sent missionaries under his direction to [[India]] (1849–52). Snow was directly involved in missionary work in Italy and Switzerland, and also preached in [[Malta]]. He had planned to visit India, but various circumstances prevented this journey.

Snow began his mission in Italy among the [[Waldensians]], an ancient sect of Christians who inhabited the [[Piedmont]] Valleys in the Alps. (Waldensianism [[Proto-Protestantism|predates the Reformation]] by several hundred years and is completely separate from [[Catholicism]].) Snow and his companions, [[Joseph Toronto]], [[Thomas Stenhouse]], and Jabez Woodard, initially had very little success in converting the Waldensians to Mormonism. However, after healing a three-year-old boy named Joseph Gay, they began to find converts. In the end, more than 150 Waldensians converted to Mormonism, and 70 eventually emigrated to Utah.<ref name="Mormon Historic Sites Foundation">{{Cite web |url=http://www.mormonhistoricsitesfoundation.org/publications/studies_fall2000/mhs1.2HomerFall2000.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2018-12-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120225123903/http://www.mormonhistoricsitesfoundation.org/publications/studies_fall2000/mhs1.2HomerFall2000.pdf |archive-date=2012-02-25 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="Maxwell Institute For Religious Scholarship BYU">{{cite journal|last=Homer |first=Michael W. |title=''Il Libro di Mormon'': Anticipating Growth Beyond Italy's Waldensian Valleys |journal=Journal of Book of Mormon Studies |volume=11|issue=1 |date=2002 |pages=40–44 |jstor=10.5406/jbookmormstud.11.1.0040 |s2cid=193621954 |url=https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/jbms/vol11/iss1/8/ |issn=2374-4766}}</ref><ref>{{cite thesis|last1=Diane|first1=Stokoe|title=The Mormon Waldensians|type=MA thesis |url=http://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/5144/|publisher=Brigham Young University|access-date=26 April 2017|language=en|date=1 January 1985}}</ref><ref name="Christianity Today Library">{{cite web|url=http://www.ctlibrary.com/ch/1989/issue22/2232.html|title=To A Home in the Land of the Free|website=Ctlibrary.com|access-date=10 November 2018|archive-date=21 October 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131021173842/http://www.ctlibrary.com/ch/1989/issue22/2232.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In 1850, Snow wrote a pamphlet entitled "The Voice of Joseph" to advance missionary work in the Italian mission. He was unable to find anyone in Italy to translate it so sent it to [[Orson Pratt]], then president of the British Mission, who found a translator in Paris. In 1851, Snow published a pamphlet entitled "The Italian Mission"<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bellasion.org/PDF/TheItalianMission.pdf|title=The Italian Mission|author=Lorenzo Snow|website=Bellasion.org|access-date=10 November 2018}}</ref> about the church's missionary efforts in Italy. It was published in London.

In January 1851, Snow went to England and found a person there whom he hired to translate the [[Book of Mormon]] into Italian.<ref>[http://farms.byu.edu/display.php?id=287&table=jbms Il Libro di Mormon: Anticipating Growth Beyond Italy's Waldensian Valleys - Maxwell Institute JBMS<!-- Bot generated title -->] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070807165904/http://farms.byu.edu/display.php?table=jbms&id=287 |date=2007-08-07 }}</ref>

The efforts of missionaries under Snow, especially those he sent to [[Turin]], inspired an article attacking the Mormon missionaries for undermining the [[Roman Catholic Church]] in the Turinese paper, ''[[L'Armonia]]''. Snow and his successors were unsuccessful, winning fewer than 200 converts, all of whom had either emigrated or were excommunicated by the time the mission closed in 1867, in no small part because of Italian laws that circumscribed publication of non-Catholic religious materials.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Homer|first1=Michael W.|title=LDS Prospects in Italy for the Twenty-first Century|journal=Dialogue|date=Spring 1996|volume=29|issue=1|pages=139–158|url=https://www.dialoguejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/sbi/articles/Dialogue_V29N01_145.pdf}}, esp. fn 4</ref>

==Activities in Utah==
On his return to [[Utah Territory]], Snow founded a society called the Polysophical Society to conduct study into the various aspects of human knowledge. He encouraged church members of all ages to join and some view this organization as a predecessor of the church's [[Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association]].

In 1853, under the direction of [[President of the Church (LDS Church)|church president]] Brigham Young, Snow brought additional settlers to [[Brigham City, Utah]]. Settlement had begun on a limited scale at this site under the name "Box Elder." Snow changed the name and moved the community towards living up to its name. He was also a key backer of the Brigham City Cooperative, which was the inspiration for [[ZCMI]] and other cooperatives. From this point and for several more years, Snow was both the community and ecclesiastical leader over Brigham City.<ref name="BYU review" />

In 1864, Snow was sent on a mission to the [[Hawaiian Islands|Sandwich Islands]], with [[Ezra T. Benson]] and [[Joseph F. Smith]]. The mission was prompted by messages from [[Jonatana Napela]] and other Hawaiian church members about the irregular administration of the church by [[Walter M. Gibson]]. While in Hawaii, Snow was seriously injured but was healed through the ministration of holders of the [[Priesthood (LDS Church)|priesthood]].<ref>See Biography and Family Record of Lorenzo Snow.{{full citation needed|date=November 2014}}</ref>

In 1871 Snow went on a trip to the Holy Land with [[George A. Smith]] and several other church leaders.<ref name="BYU review" />

Snow tacitly helped engineer the 1901 election of his friend, [[Thomas Kearns]], a wealthy Utah Catholic, to the United States Senate. Though this was criticized, both at the time and subsequently, the election of a non-Mormon may have helped Utah retain its statehood,<ref>Malmquist, O.N. (1971) ''The First 100 Years of the Salt Lake Tribune.''</ref><ref>See also entry in [http://historytogo.utah.gov/people/thomaskearns.html Utah History Encyclopedia] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180420073803/https://historytogo.utah.gov/people/thomaskearns.html |date=2018-04-20 }}</ref> and contributed to a detente between the LDS Church and the non-Mormon journal, the [[Salt Lake Tribune]].<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Paulos|first1=Michael Harold|title=Opposing the "High Ecclesiasts at Washington": Frank J. Cannon's Editorial Fusillades during the Reed Smoot Hearings, 1903–07|journal=Journal of Mormon History|date=Fall 2011|volume=37|issue=4|pages=1–59|doi=10.2307/23292603 |jstor=23292603 |s2cid=254484283 |url=http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1067&context=mormonhistory|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

==Political offices==
Snow was first elected to the Utah Territorial Council, the upper house of the [[Utah Territorial Legislative Assembly|territorial legislature]], in 1855. Originally, he represented [[Weber County, Utah|Weber County]], along with [[Lorin Farr]]. At that point, Weber County encompassed all of Utah north of [[Davis County, Utah|Davis County]]. By 1857, [[Box Elder County, Utah|Box Elder County]], [[Cache County, Utah|Cache County]] and the short-lived Malad County were added to the area Snow and Farr represented. In 1863, Weber and Box Elder Counties were broken off from Cache County (Malad County was by then defunct) and made a single-representative district, with Snow remaining as their lone council member. (Ezra T. Benson had replaced Farr in 1861; he was a resident of Cache County and remained the other representative after the district was split.)

In 1872, Snow became the president of the council. He held this position through the end of 1881. While president of the council, Snow had contact with a political delegation from Japan that visited Utah and influenced his later decision to send missionaries to Japan.<ref>Reid L. Neulson and Van C. Gessel. ''Tak8ng the Gospel to the Japanese''. Provo: Brigham Young University Press, 2006. p. 39</ref> In 1882, Snow remained a member of the council but was succeeded as its president by Joseph F. Smith. In 1884, Snow was succeeded as a member of the council by [[Franklin S. Richards]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.archives.state.ut.us/research/guides/legassembly21-31.htm|title=Twenty-First through Thirty-First Sessions|website=Archives.state.ut.us|access-date=10 November 2018}}</ref>

==Other activities==
* Arrested and confined for unlawful [[cohabitation]] (1885–86) (Snow was pardoned in 1894 by U.S. President [[Grover Cleveland]].)<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=70911 | title=Grover Cleveland: Proclamation 369 - Granting Amnesty and Pardon for the Offenses of Polygamy, Bigamy, Adultery, or Unlawful Cohabitation to Members of the Church of Latter-Day Saints | access-date=2019-01-24 | archive-date=2014-10-21 | archive-url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20141021205254/http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=70911 | url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref>
* [[President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (LDS Church)|President of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles]] (1889–98)
* [[Temple president|President]] of the [[Salt Lake Temple]] (1893–98). When he became the church's president, Snow was succeeded as temple president by Joseph F. Smith.
* Between April 1901 and his death, Snow served as the general superintendent of the church's [[Sunday School (LDS Church)|Sunday School]].

==Activities in Idaho==
As the church expanded into the surrounding states, members of the Quorum of the Twelve would be sent to other states of assignment.

In 1888, Snow went to [[Rexburg, Idaho]], where he told the leaders of the [[Stake (Latter Day Saints)|stake]] that [[Karl G. Maeser]] had been appointed [[Church Educational System|Commissioner of Church Education]] and recommended that they form a stake academy. The local leaders followed Snow's instructions and the institution they formed eventually evolved into [[Brigham Young University–Idaho]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.byui.edu/pr/thespiritofricks/ch1.htm|title=Public Relations Office – BYU–Idaho|website=Byui.edu|access-date=10 November 2018|archive-date=26 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180926083545/http://www2.byui.edu/PR/thespiritofricks/ch1.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> formerly known as [[Ricks College#Ricks College|Ricks College]].

==Later Church leadership==
Snow became [[President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (LDS Church)|president]] of the Quorum of the Twelve in 1889. In 1893, he became the first president of the [[Salt Lake Temple]], a position he held until his death.<ref name="BYU review" /> There is a tradition that shortly after Snow's death some of his relatives burned a trunk full of documents including some of his journals and other records, which means historians have less direct insight on Snow and his thoughts than some would like.<ref name="BYU review" >''[[BYU Studies]]'' [https://byustudies.byu.edu/article/latter-leaves-in-the-life-of-lorenzo-snow/ review of Dennis B. Horne ''Latter Leaves of in the Life of Lorenzo Snow''] written by [[William G. Hartley]]</ref>

As president of the Quorum of the Twelve, Snow managed to bring a group of men who were often at odds over politics, especially at a time when the church had decided to proactively embrace a two party system, and through his peace making skills make them into a unified quorum.<ref name="BYU review" />

After Wilford Woodruff issued his [[w:1890 Manifesto|Manifesto of September, 1890]] announcing that the church would not sanction additional plural marriages, it was Snow who offered the motion at the October 6th General Conference that the members of the church accept the Manifesto as authoritative and binding.<ref>{{Citation | last = Lyman | first = Edward Leo | title = Utah History Encyclopedia | publisher = University of Utah Press | year = 1994 | chapter = Manifesto (Plural Marriage) | chapter-url = https://www.uen.org/utah_history_encyclopedia/m/MANIFESTO_PLURAL_MARRIAGE.shtml | url = https://www.uen.org/utah_history_encyclopedia/ | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230530204027/https://www.uen.org/utah_history_encyclopedia/m/MANIFESTO_PLURAL_MARRIAGE.shtml | archive-date = May 30, 2023 | isbn =9780874804256 | access-date = August 3, 2024}}</ref>

==Snow in the U.S. Supreme Court==
Snow was the subject of a [[United States Supreme Court]] case regarding [[polygamy]] prosecutions under the [[Edmunds Act]]. In late 1885, Snow was indicted by a federal grand jury for three counts of unlawful cohabitation. According to his indictments, Snow had lived with more than one woman for three years. The jury delivered one indictment for each of these years, and Snow was convicted on each count. After conviction, he filed a petition for [[Habeas corpus in the United States|writ of habeas corpus]] in the federal district court which convicted him. The petition was denied, but federal law guaranteed him an appeal to the United States Supreme Court. In ''Ex Parte Snow'',<ref>{{ussc|120|274|1887}}</ref> the Supreme Court invalidated Snow's second and third convictions for unlawful cohabitation. It found that unlawful cohabitation was a "continuing offense," and thus that Snow was at most guilty of one such offense for cohabiting continuously with more than one woman for three years.

==Actions as church president==
[[File:Lorenzo Snow Funeral.png|350px|thumb|right|Lorenzo Snow funeral, Sunday, October 13, 1901]]
As President of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles, Snow became the church's presiding officer when its president, [[Wilford Woodruff]], died.  One of the first things he did was to reorganize the First Presidency almost immediately after Woodruff's death, rather than waiting years as his predecessors had.

As he began his tenure as church president, Snow had to deal with the aftermath of legal battles with the United States over the practice of plural marriage. Men engaging in plural marriage were still being arrested and confined in Utah. Some members of the LDS Church did not accept the [[1890 Manifesto]] put forth by Woodruff, and there was a strong division of opinion on plural marriage even in the priesthood hierarchy of the church.

The LDS Church was also in severe financial difficulties, some of which were related to the legal problems over plural marriage. Snow approached this problem first by issuing short term bonds with a total value of one million dollars. This was followed by emphatic teaching on [[Tithing in Mormonism|tithing]]. It was during Snow's presidency that the LDS Church adopted the principle of tithing—being interpreted as the payment of 10 percent of one's income—as a hallmark of membership.

In 1899, Snow gave an address at the [[St. George Tabernacle|tabernacle]] in [[St. George, Utah|St. George]], imploring the Latter-day Saints to pay tithes of corn, money, or whatever they had.<ref name = TPC12/> Eventually, it rained in southern Utah.<ref name = TPC12>[https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/teachings-of-presidents-of-the-church-lorenzo-snow/chapter-12-tithing-a-law-for-our-protection-and-advancement?lang=eng "Chapter 12: Tithing, a Law for Our Protection and Advancement"], ''[[Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Lorenzo Snow]]'' (Salt Lake City, Utah: LDS Church, 2011).</ref> For the remainder of his tenure, Snow emphasized tithing in his sermons and public appearances.<ref name = TPC12/> By April 1907, the practice of its members paying tithing had eliminated the church's debt.<ref name = TPC12/>

On March 31, 1900, Snow and his counselors in the First Presidency, changed the policy of presidential succession.<ref name = policychange>{{harvnb|Compton|2002|p=127}}</ref> Under the then-existing rules of presidential succession in the church, [[John Willard Young]] would have become church president when Snow died, as Snow was the only living person who had been ordained an apostle prior to Young.<ref name = succession>{{harvnb|Compton|2002|p=126}}</ref> Snow was 85 years old and in poor health, so it appeared to many that Young would be the next president of the church. However, many of the [[general authorities]] felt that Young's succession to the presidency would be a disaster for the church.<ref name = succession/> Under the new policy, the new president of the church would no longer be the person who had been an ordained apostle the longest; rather, the new president of the church would be the person who had been a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles for the longest period of time.<ref name = policychange/> Since Young had never been a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, he could not become the president of the church if Snow died. On April 5, 1900, the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve unanimously approved the new policy.<ref>{{harvnb|Compton|2002|pp=128–129}}</ref>

Snow died of pneumonia in [[Salt Lake City]] at age 87, and was succeeded as church president by Joseph F. Smith.

==LDS doctrine and teachings==
Snow is credited with succinctly summarizing the Latter-day Saint doctrines of [[Exaltation (Mormonism)|exaltation]] and eternal progression, in his often repeated couplet: "As man now is, God once was: As God now is, man may be."<ref>{{citation |last= Lund |first= Gerald N. |author-link= Gerald N. Lund |date=February 1982 |title= I Have a Question: Is President Lorenzo Snow's oft-repeated statement—"As man now is, God once was; as God now is, man may be"—accepted as official doctrine by the Church? |url= https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1982/02/i-have-a-question?lang=eng |journal= [[Ensign (LDS magazine)|Ensign]] }}</ref><ref>{{citation |last1= Millet |first1= Robert L. |author-link= Robert L. Millet |last2= Reynolds |first2= Noel B. |author-link2= Noel B. Reynolds |year= 1998 |contribution= Do Latter-day Saints believe that men and women can become gods? |contribution-url= http://maxwellinstitute.byu.edu/publications/books/?bookid=45&chapid=534 |title= Latter-day Christianity: 10 Basic Issues |location= Provo, Utah |publisher= [[Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies]] |isbn= 0934893322 |oclc= 39732987 |quote= President Snow often referred to this couplet as having been revealed to him by inspiration during the Nauvoo period of the church. See, for example, ''Deseret Weekly'', 3 November 1894, 610; ''Deseret Weekly'', 8 October 1898, 513; ''Deseret News'', 15 June 1901, 177; and Journal History of the Church, Historical Department, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, 20 July 1901, 4. |url= https://archive.org/details/latterdaychristi00mill }}</ref>

Snow's [[Teachings of Presidents of the Church|teachings as an apostle]] were the 2013 course of study in the LDS Church's [[Relief Society]] and [[Melchizedek priesthood (Latter Day Saints)|Melchizedek priesthood]] classes.

==Portrayal in film==
The role of Snow was played by [[Francis L. Urry]] in the LDS Church–distributed film ''[[The Windows of Heaven (film)|The Windows of Heaven]]''.

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
* {{cite book | author=James B. Allen | author-link=James B. Allen (historian) |author2=Glen M. Leonard  | title=The Story of the Latter-day Saints | year=1976 | publisher=[[Deseret Book Company]] | isbn=0-87747-594-6| author2-link=Glen M. Leonard | title-link=The Story of the Latter-day Saints }}
* {{cite encyclopedia|author=Beecher, Maureen Ursenbach|author-link=Maureen Ursenbach Beecher|author2=Paul Thomas Smith|title=Lorenzo Snow|encyclopedia=[[Encyclopedia of Mormonism]]|year=1992|publisher=[[Macmillan Publishers|Macmillan]]|editor=Daniel H. Ludlow|editor-link=Daniel H. Ludlow|url=http://eom.byu.edu/index.php/Snow%2C_Lorenzo|access-date=2009-02-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090213054923/http://eom.byu.edu/index.php/Snow%2C_Lorenzo|archive-date=2009-02-13|url-status=dead}}
* {{cite book|title=Church History: Selections from the Encyclopedia of Mormonism|year=1995|publisher=[[Deseret Book Company]]|isbn=0-87579-924-8|editor=Daniel H. Ludlow|editor-link=Daniel H. Ludlow}}
* {{cite book|chapter=Lorenzo Snow|title=Presidents of the Church: 'They that Move the Cause of Zion'|year=1979|publisher=[[The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]], Dept. of Seminaries and Institutes of Religion}}
* {{cite book|author=Nibley, Preston|author-link=Preston Nibley|title=The Presidents of the Church|year=1974|publisher=[[Deseret Book Company]]|isbn=0-87747-414-1|url=https://archive.org/details/presidentsofchur00nibl}}
* {{cite book|author=Smith, Joseph Fielding|author-link=Joseph Fielding Smith|title=Essentials in Church History|year=1964|publisher=[[Deseret Book Company]]}}
* {{cite book|author=Snow, Eliza R.|author-link=Eliza R. Snow|title=Biography and Family Record of Lorenzo Snow|orig-year=reprint |year=1999|publisher=[[The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]]}}
* {{cite book|author=Snow, Lorenzo|title=The Teachings of Lorenzo Snow, Fifth President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints|url=https://archive.org/details/teachingsofloren00snow|url-access=registration|year=1984|publisher=[[Bookcraft, Inc]]|others=compiled by Clyde J. Williams|isbn=9780884945178}}
* {{citation |author-link= Todd Compton |last= Compton |first= Todd |url= http://www.dialoguejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/sbi/articles/Dialogue_V35N04_125.pdf |title= John Willard Young, Brigham Young, and the Development of Presidential Succession in the LDS Church |journal= [[Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought]] |volume= 35 |issue= 4 |pages= 111–134 |date= Winter 2002 |doi= 10.2307/45226902 |jstor= 45226902 |s2cid= 254404200 }}.

==External links==
{{Portal|Latter Day Saint movement}}
{{wikisource author-inline}}
*{{commons category-inline|Lorenzo Snow}}
*{{wikiquote-inline}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-rel|mo}}
{{s-bef|rows=2|before=[[Wilford Woodruff]]}}
{{s-ttl|title= [[President of the Church (LDS Church)|President of the Church]] | years= September 13, 1898 &ndash; October 10, 1901}}
{{s-aft|after= [[Joseph F. Smith]]}}
{{s-ttl|title= [[President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (LDS Church)|President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles]] | years= April 7, 1889 &ndash; September 13, 1898}}
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{{s-ttl| title = [[Young Men (organization)#Chronology of the general superintendencies and presidencies of the Young Men|Superintendent]] of the<br />[[Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association]]  | years = 1898&ndash;1901}}
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{{Authority control}}

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