This site has biographical and genealogical data collected over the past two years on all the citizens of Boston, Massachusetts and environs who participated in the Boston Branch of the Church of Jesus Chirst of Latter-day Saints (Mormon), formally organized on March 9, 1842. The information was compiled by Connell O'Donovan, an independent researcher, genealogist, and historian of early Mormonism. Although others have greatly assisted me in this project, I alone am responsible for the content of this website.

If you are aware of other Boston Mormons who should be included here, please contact me!

Contact Connell O'Donovan by Email

Below is a link to a 250-page PDF containing brief biographies of some 250 early Mormon Bostonians, and now including Strangite Mormons in Boston. The biographies are in alphabetical order; women are found by maiden names, with their married name(s) included in parentheses. CAVEAT: These biographies are a work in progress and contain many working notes of my research.

Please do not copy or in any way reproduce this information without my written consent.

In the future, each biography will appear as an individual web page. Until then....

DOWNLOAD THE PDF

1. Freeman S. Nickerson                 March 9, 1842 to December 1842
2. George Benjamin Wallace      December 1842 to February 9, 1843
3. John Hardy                            February 9, 1843 to October 7, 1844
4. Joseph T. Ball**              October 7, 1844 to about March 1, 1845
5. Ezra Taft Benson                 About March 1, 1845 to May 24, 1845
6. Willard Snow                        mid-June 1845 to mid-November 1845
7. Alexander Badlam Sr.                    1846 – 1848 (February 1, 1849)

**This was the first time that an African American formally presided over a Mormon congregation. See PDF above for his fascinating biography.

Boston Branch Meeting Places:

1. Winchester Hall                May 30, 1841 until “several weeks” later
2. Private houses                          about July 1841 to January 1842
3. 82 Commercial Street      January 9, 1842 to about January 1844
4. Boylston Hall        regional onferences held here from 1843-1848
5. Marlboro & Franklin Halls          about May 1844 to October 1844
6. Suffolk Hall                  October 5, 1844 to at least February 1845

Boston Branch Statistics:

Summer 1832        About 25 baptized, mainly women (but no “branch”)
August 1836         17 people baptized by Young brothers (but no “branch”)
January 9, 1842     3 people baptized by Nickerson
March 9, 1842         30 members when branch organized; 1 elder; 3 priests
March 22, 1842        “Near forty” members
August 29, 1842          About 80 members
September 11, 1842      77 members; 3 elders; 3 priests
February 9, 1843          114 members; 3 elders, 4 priests
September 9, 1843       182 members
August 31, 1844           “About 30” new converts baptized during August
October 15, 1844         200-300
October 22, 1844   119 members voted in the controversial John Hardy trial
July 12, 1845         “between 3 and 4 hundred members”

Web site by Connell O'Donovan
Santa Cruz, California