Roger Orton (c. 1799 – 1851) was an early
Mormon leader and non-functioning member of the
First Seven Presidents of the Seventy of
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Orton was born in
Genesco,
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
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* '' ...
and married Clarissa Mary Bicknell around 1823. Together they had six children. He was
baptized
Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost ...
about 1833, and in 1834 he left with
Joseph Smith, Jr.
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 others on a mission to
Pontiac,
Michigan. He participated in
Zion's Camp
Zion's Camp was an expedition of Latter Day Saints led by Joseph Smith, from Kirtland, Ohio, to Clay County, Missouri, during May and June 1834 in an unsuccessful attempt to regain land from which the Saints had been expelled by non-Mormon settle ...
, where he served as a captain of the camp. During battle practice on the camp, he accidentally sliced open the hand of a participant. Later, through his negligence, he allowed several horses to run off. Instead of going after them himself, he simply informed the owners of what had happened, expecting them to go after the steeds. The horses turned up about ten miles away. The search for the horses delayed the camp's march by a day and earned Orton a "scathing rebuke" from Smith.
In 1837, Daniel S. Miles presented a complaint against Orton for "abusing Elder Brigham Young, and for a general course of unchristianlike conduct." Orton refused to respond, and he was excommunicated.
[ After the ]death of Joseph Smith
Joseph Smith, the founder and leader of the Latter Day Saint movement, and his brother, Hyrum Smith, were killed by a mob in Carthage, Illinois, United States, on June 27, 1844, while awaiting trial in the town jail.
As mayor of the city of N ...
, Orton did not support Young's leadership. He remained in Iowa disappointed with the church leadership and disillusioned with his own decisions that had compromised his family's holdings.
Orton was restored to the church sometime before April 1845, when he was named one of the Seven Presidents of Seventies. However, Orton, who had become an alcoholic, never showed up to be ordained and never actively served. He was dropped from the quorum
A quorum is the minimum number of members of a deliberative assembly (a body that uses parliamentary procedure, such as a legislature) necessary to conduct the business of that group. According to ''Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised'', the ...
about a year later. He died in Lee County, Iowa in 1851.
Notes
External links
"Roger Orton"
Joseph Smith Papers
1799 births
Converts to Mormonism
American Latter Day Saint missionaries
People from Geneseo, New York
1851 deaths
Presidents of the Seventy (LDS Church)
People excommunicated by the Church of Christ (Latter Day Saints)
Latter Day Saint missionaries in the United States
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