Elias Higbee

(1795–1843)

Elias Higbee was born in Galloway, New Jersey. In 1818 he married Sarah Elizabeth Ward. He was baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the summer of 1832 at Jackson County, Missouri. He was ordained an elder the following year. He and other Saints were driven from Jackson County into Clay County, Missouri, in November 1833. In 1834 he was ordained a high priest by Orson Pratt. In 1835 he served a mission to Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. For a time he labored on the Kirtland temple; then he returned to Missouri, where he served on two high councils in 1836–38. Along with John Corrill, he was appointed a Church historian in 1838. That summer, Higbee was appointed captain general of the Society of the Daughter of Zion (Danites). He participated in the skirmish at Crooked River, near Ray County, Missouri, in October 1838. He then fled Missouri, eventually locating at Commerce, Illinois, which was later renamed Nauvoo. In October 1839–March 1840, he traveled with Joseph Smith to Washington, D.C., to seek redress for the Saints’ Missouri grievances. He became a member of the Nauvoo temple building committee in 1840. He died in Nauvoo in 1843.

References in the Doctrine and Covenants

Doctrine and Covenants 113

Additional Information

Biographical facts and sources, The Joseph Smith Papers

Saints, vol. 1, The Standard of Truth

Revelations In Context

• Of Governments and Laws