Josiah Butterfield

(1795–1871)

Photograph of Josiah Butterfield

Josiah Butterfield, prior to 1871, photograph.

Josiah Butterfield was born in Dunstable, Massachusetts. He married Polly Moulton in 1819. They later moved to Maine, where, in 1833, he was baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He moved to Kirtland, Ohio, in about 1834. In 1834 and 1836, he served missions to Maine and Vermont. Also in 1836, he was ordained a Seventy. Butterfield was a stockholder in the Kirtland Safety Society. In 1837, he was appointed a president of the Seventy. He assisted in the migration of the Kirtland Camp to Missouri in 1838; a year later, he served on a committee directing the removal of the Saints from Missouri. Butterfield was excommunicated in 1844; he was rebaptized into the Church by January 1846. He was remarried to Margaret Lawrence by January 1846 and then to a woman named Clarinda by 1853, possibly in California. He was baptized into the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in 1865 in California.

References in the Doctrine and Covenants

Doctrine and Covenants 124

Additional Information

Biographical facts and sources, The Joseph Smith Papers