L. John Nuttall

Who was L. John Nuttall?

Leonard John Nuttall was a private secretary for John Taylor, and Wilford Woodruff and was a member of the Council of Fifty who kept a detailed journal of the early history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Nuttall was born in Liverpool, England and emigrated to Utah Territory in 1852 after converting to Mormonism. He served in the militia in Utah County, Utah and was first elected to the Provo City Council in 1861. He served as a justice of the peace and alderman in that city as well. He also served as the auditor and recorder of Provo from 1861 until 1875. From 1864 until 1875 he served as Utah County Clerk and clerk of the county probate court. He served as the secretary of the Provo Co-Operative Mercantile Institution from its inception in 1869.

Nuttall was also the first person to operate a printing press in Utah County, doing so in 1870.

In 1872 Nuttall was made chief clerk of the Utah Territorial Legislature.

In the LDS Church Nuttall served for a few years in the 1860s as a member of the high council of the Utah Stake, which covered all of Utah County at the time. From 1874-1875 he served as a missionary in England. He was made bishop of the Kanab Ward in 1875. He also served as the first recorder of the St. George Temple. He served as the first president of the Kanab Stake when it was organized in 1877. Starting in 1897 he served as a member of the General Board of the Deseret Sunday School Union.