John Benbow

John Benbow was born 1 April 1800 in Grendon Warren, Herefordshire, England. He married Jane Holmes 16 October 1826 in Worcester, England. John and his wife Jane were introduced to the Church at his home in Herefordshire by Wilford Woodruff 4 March 1840. Of that meeting, Wilford Woodruff recalled, "I found Mr. Benbow to be a wealthy farmer cultivating 300 acres of land, occupying a good mansion, and having plenty of means. He and his wife Jane received me with glad hearts and thanksgiving and rejoiced greatly at the glad tidings which I brought to them." It was John Benbow who introduced Wilford Woodruff to the United Brethren. To them he preached his first sermon in Herefordshire at the Benbow home.

With his wife Jane, they were baptized on 6 March 1840 by Wilford Woodruff in the pond on their farm. John funded the printing of the Book of Mormon and a Church hymnbook in England. Gathering with the Saints to America, John and Jane paid for the passage of at least 40 other Church members. They emigrated to America sailing on the “North America” from Liverpool on 8 Sept 1840.

In 1844, when the Prophet Joseph Smith was falsely arrested, John Benbow pledged all his holdings as bail; a total of $7,500. He also supported the Nauvoo Legion, the building of the Nauvoo House and the Nauvoo Temple. When the Church was impoverished and the Prophet Joseph was in difficulty, he went to John Benbow for a loan. John and Jane Benbow left Nauvoo in the Exodus of 1846 and travelled to Winter Quarters.

Jane died at Winter Quarters, Nebraska on 28 November 1846. John arrived in the Salt Lake Valley 20 September 1848. After relocating with the Saints in the Salt Lake Valley, John married Rosetta Wright Peacock 3 September 1851. For six years, John and Rosetta sent a team, wagon and driver yearly to assist in transporting Church members from the Missouri River to Salt Lake City, each trip taking six months. In contrast to his spacious Herefordshire home, John and Rosetta lived in a small, windowless log home for 11 years in South Cottonwood. They lived frugally so they could assist the immigrating Saints. They had one daughter, Isabella.

A monument to John Benbow was erected in 1996 and is located at the Benbow gravesite at the cemetery in Murray, an area that was in John Benbow’s day called South Cottonwood and in which he lived and farmed during his time in the Valley.

John Died 12 May 1874 in South Cottonwood, Salt Lake City – Age 74.