Charles Coulson Rich (1809-1883)

Charles Coulson Rich (August 21, 1809 – November 17, 1883) was an early leader in the Latter Day Saint movement. He led one of the first groups of Mormon pioneers west from Illinois under the leadership of Brigham Young after Joseph Smith's murder.

Rich was chosen and served as an apostle of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) under Brigham Young after the Church settled in Utah Territory. President Young asked Rich to open up San Bernardino, California for settlement in 1850, and Bear Lake Valley, located in Utah and Idaho, in 1863. Rich founded many communities in Bear Lake Valley, including Paris, Montpelier, Fish Haven, Ovid, Georgetown, St. Charles, Bloomington, Bennington, Wardboro, Dingle, Glencoe and Pegram in Idaho, and Garden City, Meadowville, and Laketown in Utah.

Biography

Personal life

Rich was born in 1809 in Campbell County, Kentucky, to Joseph Rich and Nancy O'Neal. As an adult he reached six feet, 4 inches in height, and was considered a tall man for the time period. Rich was baptized into the early Latter Day Saint church by George M. Hinkle in 1832, after having been taught by Lyman Wight (1796-1858) in 1831.

In 1838, Rich married Sarah D. Pea (of Looking Glass Prairie, Illinois), whom he had previously proposed to by letter, the two never having met.^[1]

Veteran of Zion's Camp (1834).
Apostle of the LDS Church

In 1863, Rich led a party of early Mormons to colonize parts of southeastern Idaho, which at the time was thought to be part of Utah Territory. The communities of Paris and Geneva, Idaho, as well as some other neighboring towns, were under his direction. Rich died in Paris in 1883 at the age of 75, after suffering several debilitating strokes. His granddaughter, Ada May Rich, became the mother of Laraine Day, who became an actress.^[2]

Rich was one of the most prominent slave owners in the Utah territory and owned six slaves.^[3]

Church leadership

Rich was a leader in Caldwell County, Missouri, and fought in the Battle of Crooked River in 1838. His log house is the only structure from the Mormon period in 1836–38 in Caldwell County to have survived to this day. After the expulsion of the Latter Day Saints from Missouri, Rich settled in Nauvoo, Illinois, where he was made an original member of the Council of Fifty. He also served as a member of the Nauvoo High Council,^[4] and as a brigadier and major general in the Nauvoo Legion.

After the death of Joseph Smith, Rich followed the leadership of Brigham Young and the surviving Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. He and his family migrated to what became Utah with the main body of the church in 1847, leading a pioneer company that arrived October of that year. When Young and the other apostles returned that winter to Winter Quarters, Nebraska, Rich served as a counselor to John Smith, who presided over the early pioneers in the Salt Lake Valley. In October 1848, Rich was made the president of the Salt Lake Stake.^[5]

Brigham Young appointed Rich a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on February 12, 1849.

Rich helped form a Latter-day Saint settlement in San Bernardino, California. However, this settlement attracted many people who wanted to avoid Young and other leaders of the LDS Church. The members who supported Young were asked to return to Utah in 1857 at the time of the Utah War. At the request of President Brigham Young, Charles C. Rich settled the Bear Lake (on the Utah–Idaho border) region and is the namesake of Rich County, Utah and St. Charles, ID.

In the early 1860s, Rich served as president of the British Mission of the church.

Family and Children

Rich followed the church's principle of plural marriage, taking six wives and fathering a total of 51 children.

Children

Offspring of Charles C. Rich and Sarah De Armon Pea (1814-1893)
Name	Birth	Death	Joined with
Sarah Jane Rich (1839-1926)
Joseph Coulson Rich (1841-1908)	14 January 1841 Nauvoo, Hancock County, Illinois, United States	17 October 1908 Centerville, Davis County, Utah, United States	Ann Eliza Standley Hunter (1844-1930)
Artimissia Messeniah Rich (1843-1843)
Charles Coulson Rich (1844-1890)	2 September 1844 Nauvoo, Hancock County, Illinois, United States	8 June 1890 Vernal, Uintah County, Utah, United States	Jane Susanna Stock (1846-1925)
John Thomas Rich (1846-1893)
Elizabeth Rich (1849-1932)
David Patton Rich (1853-19300
Benjamin Erastus Rich (1855-1913)
Frederick Carmel Rich (1857-1941)

Offspring of Charles C. Rich and Eliza Ann Graves (1811-1879)
Name	Birth	Death	Joined with
Mary Bratton Rich (1846-1931)
Eliza Ann Rich (1848-1849)
Frances Phoebe Rich (1850-1932)

Offspring of Charles C. Rich and Mary Ann Phelps (1829-1912)
Name	Birth	Death	Joined with
Laura Esphena Rich (1848-1849)
Mary Ann Rich (1850-1935)
William Lyman Rich (1852-1928)
Morris Marion Rich (1854-1855)
Minerva Marium Rich (1854-1939)
Amasa Mason Rich (1856-1919)
Pauline Phelps Rich (1859-1860)
Ezra Clark Rich (1864-1948)
Eward Israel Rich (1868-1969)
Jacob Phelps Rich (1874-1874)

Siblings

Death and legacy

After suffering from paralysis, Rich died on November 17, 1883, in Paris, Idaho. He has been remembered as "a man of strength and great power of endurance."^[6] His granddaughter, Ada May Rich, became the mother of Laraine Day, who became an actress.^[7]

Residences

Sermons

File:Bust of Charles C Rich outside Paris Idaho Tabernacle.JPG

Bust of Charles C. Rich outside of the Paris Idaho Tabernacle.

"Privileges Better Appreciated By Absence—Present Salvation," Journal of Discourses, vol. 4, pp. 353–54
"Sufficiency of the Gospel—Obedience to Truth," Journal of Discourses, vol. 5, pp. 296–300
"Present Opportunities of Obtaining a Knowledge of the Principles of Truth—Importance of Improving Them," Journal of Discourses, vol. 10, pp. 90–95
"Building the Temple—General Duties of the Saints," Journal of Discourses, vol. 10, pp. 160–63
"Labor To Build Up The Kingdom," Journal of Discourses, vol. 12, pp. 3–5
"Saints Should Be Whole-Hearted—Seek First the Kingdom," Journal of Discourses, vol. 19, pp. 26–30
"Expectations Deferred," Journal of Discourses, vol. 19, pp. 161–68
"Blessing the Result of Obedience to Law—Our Agency in the Flesh," Journal of Discourses, vol. 19, pp. 249–58
"No Salvation in Ignorance," Journal of Discourses, vol. 19, pp. 371–76

Notes

^ Autobiography of Sarah Dearmon Pea Rich
^ [1]
^ [2]
^ Doctrine and Covenants 124:132 (LDS Church ed.).
^ Larson, Andrew Karl, Erastus Snow: The Life of a Missionary and Pioneer for the Early Mormon Church (Salt Lake City, Utah: University of Utah Press, 1971) p. 188.
^ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named :0
^ Evensen, Bruce J. (2011) (in en). Day, Laraine (1920-2007), actress. doi:10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.1803824. ISBN 978-0-19-860669-7. https://www.anb.org/view/10.1093/anb/9780198606697.001.0001/anb-9780198606697-e-1803824.

References

2005 Deseret Morning News Church Almanac (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Morning News, 2004).
Leonard J. Arrington, Charles C. Rich: Mormon General & Western Frontiersman (Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Press, 1974)
John Henry Evans, Charles Coulson Rich: Pioneer Builder of the West (New York: Macmillan, 1936)

Footnotes (including sources)

MainTour

[1] Autobiography of Sarah Dearmon Pea Rich

[2] [1]

[3] [2]

[4] Doctrine and Covenants 124:132 (LDS Church ed.).

[5] Larson, Andrew Karl, Erastus Snow: The Life of a Missionary and Pioneer for the Early Mormon Church (Salt Lake City, Utah: University of Utah Press, 1971) p. 188.

[:0-6] Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named :0

[7] Evensen, Bruce J. (2011) (in en). Day, Laraine (1920-2007), actress. doi:10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.1803824. ISBN 978-0-19-860669-7. https://www.anb.org/view/10.1093/anb/9780198606697.001.0001/anb-9780198606697-e-1803824.

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