Nathaniel H. Felt

Nathaniel Henry Felt (1816–1887) was a member of the Utah Territorial Legislature and a mid-level leader of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the 19th Century.

Felt was born in Salem, Massachusetts to Nathaniel Felt and his wife the former Hannah Reeves. The older Felt died when Nathaniel H. was seven. Felt studied in local schools until age 15 when he became an apprentice to a tailor. With the aid of an older brother he later set up a tailor shop with multiple employees and was then involved in trade with China and parts of west Africa.

On 3 October 1839 Felt married Eliza Ann Preston. In 1842 they joined The LDS Church. Starting in late 1843 Felt served as president of the Salen^{[clarification needed]} Branch of the Church. In 1845 he moved to Nauvoo and donated carpets and furniture to be used as furnishings in the Nauvoo Temple. Felt was involved in the Battle of Nauvoo serving under the overall command of Daniel H. Wells. Shortly after this Felt became ill and so went to St. Louis, Missouri to try to regain his health, this was in the fall of 1846.

In February 1847 Felt was appointed president of the St. Louis Conference (roughly equivalent to a District in present LDS Church organization) which had somewhere between 7000 and 10,000 Latter-day Saints under its jurisdiction. Besides various branches in St. Louis, Felt also supervised branches in Alton, Illinois and Gravois. Felt also oversaw the purchasing of supplies and for and the chartering of steamboats for the British Mormons who would stop in St. Louis on their way to Utah. Another major activity of Felt while in St. Louis was giving priesthood blessings, visiting and comforting the sick, and other such things during the cholera epidemic.

After serving as conference president for slightly more than three years Felt was released in 1850 and started west with his wife and three children. He crossed the plains in the company of Joseph L. Heywood and Edwin D. Woolley which primarily consisted of wagons carrying goods bought by the Church to try to avoid paying exorbitant rates charged by some merchants in Utah.

Felt arrived in Utah in October 1850 and was appointed an alderman of Salt Lake City in January 1851. In August 1851 Felt was elected to the Utah Territorial Legislature. During the early 1850s he also helped George A. Smith in founding the town of Parowan, Utah. In the same year Felt was called as a traveling bishop of the LDS Church, with the assignment to instruct local bishops in various locations on the proper methods of processing and recording tithing and other donations.

In 1852 Felt was appointed chaplain of the Nauvoo Legion (the name then used by the Utah Territorial Militia) with the rank of colonel and standing on the general staff. In 1854 Felt entered the practice of plural marriage, marrying Sarah Strange as his second wife. In 1854-1856 Felt served as a missionary in New York City where he served as assistant editor of The Mormon under John Taylor.

Later in 1856 Felt married his third and last wife, Mary Louisa Pile. In 1858 Felt received the contract to supply grain to Camp Floyd. He set up a grain distribution system with locations in Salt Lake City, Nephi, Utah and Ephraim, Utah.

From 1865-1867 Felt served a mission to Great Britain, for part of this time serving as president of the London District. From November 1869-May 1870 Felt served a mission in New England.

Sources

• Orson F. Whitney. History of Utah: Biographical. p. 548-550.
• excerpt from Pioneers and Prominent Men of Utah
• bio of Felt entitled An Essex County Man's Silver Cord by Fred E. Woods and Jonathan C. Felt. In turn this article is largely the same as Fred E. Woods, “Nathaniel H. Felt: An Essex County Man,” in Regional Studies In Latter-day Saint Church History
• The New England, eds. Donald Q. Cannon, Arnold K. Garr and Bruce A. Van Orden, (Provo: Religious Studies Center: Brigham Young University, 2004), p. 219-

236.

Persondata
Name	Felt, Nathaniel H.
Alternative names
Short description	Member of the Utah Territorial Legislature
Date of birth	1816
Place of birth	Salem, Massachusetts
Date of death	1887
Place of death