Ira Hinckley

Who was Ira Hinckley?

Ira Nathaniel Hinckley was an early Latter Day Saint leader who supervised the construction and maintenance of Cove Fort, a strategically placed fortification located about half-way between Salt Lake City and St. George, Utah. He was the father of author Bryant S. Hinckley and LDS apostle Alonzo A. Hinckley, as well as the grandfather of LDS church president Gordon B. Hinckley, and an acquaintance of Joseph Smith Jr.

Hinckley was born in Bastard Township, Leeds County, Upper Canada. He joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in 1844.

In 1867, Hinckley was living on his farm in Coalville, Utah Territory, when Brigham Young asked him to build a fortified way station at Cove Creek. Hinckley left for the area within days. The fort was restored in the early 1990s.

Hinckley practiced plural marriage. He was married to four wives, but never more than three at one time: Eliza Jane Evans, Adelaide Cameron Noble, her sister Angeline Wilcox Noble, and Margaret Harley, who was 31 years his junior. Hinckley was the father of 21 children. The last born, a daughter of Margaret Harley who was born when Ira was 61, never got to meet her father until she was almost two years old because he was afraid to visit the house and be arrested for cohabitation. Hinckley ultimately was arrested and fined $200.