James Sloan (October 28, 1792 – October 24, 1886) was an official historian and recorder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a secretary to

Joseph Smith Joseph Smith Jr. (December 23, 1805June 27, 1844) was an American religious leader and founder of Mormonism and the Latter Day Saint movement. When he was 24, Smith published the Book of Mormon. By the time of his death, 14 years later, he ...

, and one of the first

Mormon Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several ...

settlers in Nauvoo,

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

. Sloan was born in

County Tyrone County Tyrone (; ) is one of the six Counties of Northern Ireland, counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the thirty-two traditional Counties of Ireland, counties of Ireland. It is no longer used as an admini ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. In the mid-1830s, he became a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and emigrated to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. On February 18, 1838, Sloan was ordained a

high priest The term "high priest" usually refers either to an individual who holds the office of ruler-priest, or to one who is the head of a religious caste. Ancient Egypt In ancient Egypt, a high priest was the chief priest of any of the many gods rever ...

by Joseph Smith, Sr. In 1840, he became one of the first

Latter Day Saint The Latter Day Saint movement (also called the LDS movement, LDS restorationist movement, or Smith–Rigdon movement) is the collection of independent church groups that trace their origins to a Christian Restorationist movement founded by Jo ...

s to settle in

Hancock County, Illinois Hancock County is a county in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 17,620. Its county seat is Carthage, and its largest city is Hamilton. The county is made up of rural towns with many farmers. Hanco ...

, in what would later be called the city of Nauvoo. On February 1, 1840, Sloan was appointed to be the first city recorder in Nauvoo's history and the first clerk of the Nauvoo Court. In September 1842, Sloan was elected Nauvoo's first notary public. In 1841 and 1842, Sloan was an official historian and recorder of the church and from 1840 to 1843 he served as a scribe to

President of the Church In the Latter Day Saint movement, the President of the Church is generally considered to be the highest office of the church. It was the office held by Joseph Smith, founder of the movement, and the office assumed by many of Smith's claimed succe ...

and

Assistant President of the Church Assistant President of the Church (also referred to as Associate President of the Church) was a position in the leadership hierarchy in the early days of the Latter Day Saint church founded by Joseph Smith. The Assistant President was the second-hi ...

Hyrum Smith Hyrum Smith (February 9, 1800 – June 27, 1844) was an American religious leader in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the original church of the Latter Day Saint movement. He was the older brother of the movement's founder, J ...

. He is one of many writers whose work was collected into the LDS Church's official early history, '' History of the Church''. In May 1843 Sloan traveled to

as a church missionary. While on his mission, he was selected to preside over the Irish

Conference A conference is a meeting of two or more experts to discuss and exchange opinions or new information about a particular topic. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always decisions, are the main p ...

and later the

Bradford Bradford is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Bradford district in West Yorkshire, England. The city is in the Pennines' eastern foothills on the banks of the Bradford Beck. Bradford had a population of 349,561 at the 2011 ...

Conference of the church. Upon returning to America, Sloan settled in Pottawattamie County,

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

. While in Pottawattamie County Sloan served as the first county clerk and in 1851 he was elected District Judge for that county.John H. Keatley, ''History of Potawatamie County'' (O. L. Baskin, 1883) p. 20 After 1851, he traveled to

Utah Territory The Territory of Utah was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from September 9, 1850, until January 4, 1896, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Utah, the 45th state. ...

as a

Mormon pioneer The Mormon pioneers were members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), also known as Latter Day Saints, who migrated beginning in the mid-1840s until the late-1860s across the United States from the Midwest to the Sa ...

to join the main gathering of

Latter-day Saint Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several ...

s. Later in his life, Sloan left

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...

and became a member of the

Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints The Community of Christ, known from 1872 to 2001 as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (RLDS), is an American-based international church, and is the second-largest denomination in the Latter Day Saint movement. The churc ...

. Sloan emigrated to California and died in

Sacramento ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

, just four days short of his 94th birthday.

Notes

References

Andrew Jenson Andrew Jenson, born Anders Jensen, (December 11, 1850 – November 18, 1941) was a Danish immigrant to the United States who acted as an Assistant Church Historian of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) for much of the ea ...

, ''

Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia ''Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia: A Compilation of Biographical Sketches of Prominent Men and Women in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints'' (abbreviated ''LDS Biographical Encyclopedia'') is a four-volume biographical dic ...

'' 1:254 *

(

B.H. Roberts Brigham Henry Roberts (March 13, 1857 – September 27, 1933) was a historian, politician, and leader in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). He edited the seven-volume ''History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day ...

ed.) '' History of the Church'' 5:192, 270 *

Susan Easton Black Susan Easton Black (born Susan Lindsay Ward in 1944) is a retired professor of Church History and Doctrine at Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah. She is also an author of several books related to Joseph Smith and the early history of t ...

. ''Early Members of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints'' 5:425 {{DEFAULTSORT:Sloan, James 1792 births 1886 deaths 19th-century Mormon missionaries American Latter Day Saints Converts to Mormonism Irish Latter Day Saints Irish Mormon missionaries Irish emigrants to the United States (before 1923) Irish members of the Community of Christ Latter Day Saints from Northern Ireland Mormon missionaries in Ireland Mormon pioneers Official historians of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints People from County Tyrone People from Nauvoo, Illinois Secretaries