Newel K. Whitney

Newel Kimball Whitney was a prominent member and leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and an American businessman. Whitney married Elizabeth Ann Smith in 1822. He owned a store and an ashery in Kirtland, and acquired more property as his business grew. Initially he was part of the Disciples of Christ or Campbellite movement. He joined the early Latter Day Saint church, called the Church of Christ, in 1830 after his Campbellite bishop, Sidney Rigdon also joined the church. Whitney greatly contributed financially to the growing church, paying taxes on its property and paying off the debts incurred by the United Firm. He traveled to other states for business and as part of his duties as a Bishop. In Nauvoo, he was part of the Quorum of the Anointed, consented for his daughter to become a plural wife of Joseph Smith, and participated in plural marriage. He served as the second Presiding Bishop of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1847 until his death. He died in 1850 of pleurisy.