WASHINGTON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY (Washington County, Utah)
JOHN DOYLE LEE
(early settler, church official)
BIOGRAPHY
John Doyle Lee was born September 12, 1812 in Kaskaskia, Illinois. He joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS/Mormon Church) in 1838. He moved out to Salt Lake City in 1848. Then in 1850, he was called to accompany George A. Smith down to settle in Iron County. He was the Washington County Probate Judge in 1856. In 1857, he was a principal involved in the Mountain Meadows Massacre. He served a term as a member of the Utah Territorial Legislature in 1857-1858. Lee maintained a residence in Washington City for about 13 years. Then in 1872, the Church sent him down to establish what became know as Lee's Ferry crossing the Colorado River. In 1874, he was arrested and tried for leading the Mountain Meadows Massacre - the trial ended in a hung jury. He was tried again in 1877 and sentenced to death. Lee died (executed by firing squad) March 23, 1877 at Mountain Meadows, Utah.Wives (he was a polygamist):
Aggatha Ann Woolsey
Nancy Bean
Louisa Free
Sarah Caroline Williams
Abigail Shaffer Woolsey
Rachel Andora Woolsey
Polly Ann Workman
Martha Elizabeth Berry
Delethia Morris
Nancy Ann Vance
Emoline Vaughn Woolsey
Nancy Gibbons
Mary Vance Young
Lavina Young
Mary Leah Groves
Mary Ann Williams
Emma Louise Batchelor
Terressa Morse
Ann Gordge
He had 67 children.
PHOTOS
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Other photos on the web:
1877 photo of John D. Lee at the time of his trial
WCHS photos:
WCHS-04154 Photo of the grave of John D. Lee in the Panguitch UT cemetery
REFERENCES
Biography of John D. LeeBiography of John D. Lee
Biography of John D. Lee
The John D. Lee Family Organization website (old)
The John D. Lee Family Organization website (new)
Book: "Some Descendants of John Doyle Lee"
Mormon Missionary Diaries: Lee, John Doyle, Volume 1, 1840-1841
In the BYU Harold B. Lee Library Digital Collections: "Mormon Missionary Diaries"
Journals of John D. Lee, 1846-47 and 1859
Edited by Charles Kelly
Privately printed for Rolla Bishop Watt, 1938
To view this document, click here.
A Mormon Chronicle: The Diaries of John D. Lee, 1848-1876
Edited and annotated by Robert Glass Cleland and Juanita Brooks
Reissued June 2004, 868 pp Paperback
Huntington Library Press, ISBN 0-87328-178-0.
Click to view Volume 1 or Volume 2.
John Doyle Lee: Zealot, Pioneer Builder, Scapegoat
By Juanita Brooks
November 1992, First Published in 1961, 404 pp Paperback
Utah State University Press, ISBN 0-87421-162-X.