Osborne John Peder Widtsoe (December 12, 1877 – March 14, 1920) was principal of the Latter-day Saints University in

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...

, Utah and a professor of English at the

University of Utah The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of De ...

. He was also the first

missionary A missionary is a member of a religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Mi ...

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 nontrinitarian Christian church that considers itself to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. The ch ...

(LDS Church) to serve in Rarotonga.

Biography

Widtsoe was born in

Namsos ( sma, Nåavmesjenjaelmie) is a municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is part of the Namdalen region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Namsos. Some of the villages in the municipality include Bangsund, Kl ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

; he was the brother of John A. Widtsoe. He was baptized into the LDS Church in 1886 in

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 ...

. From 1897 to 1901, Widtsoe served as Mormon missionary in the

Society Islands The Society Islands (french: Îles de la Société, officially ''Archipel de la Société;'' ty, Tōtaiete mā) are an archipelago located in the South Pacific Ocean. Politically, they are part of French Polynesia, an overseas country of the ...

and in the

Cook Islands ) , image_map = Cook Islands on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , capital = Avarua , coordinates = , largest_city = Avarua , official_languages = , lan ...

, including Rarotonga. The Cook Islands has since issued a stamp featuring Widtsoe. Widtsoe married Rosetta Homer and they had at least two children. Widtsoe received his bachelor's degree from what is now

Utah State University Utah State University (USU or Utah State) is a public land-grant research university in Logan, Utah. It is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. With nearly 20,000 students living on or near campus, USU is Utah ...

and his master's degree from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

. He had also been a student at

Brigham Young College Brigham Young College was a college and high school in Logan, Utah. It was founded by Brigham Young on 6 August 1877, 23 days before his death. He deeded several acres of land to a board of trustees for the development of a college. This was ...

in Logan, Utah. At the time of his appointment as head of the English Department at the

he was also serving as a

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is c ...

in the LDS Church. Widtsoe also served for a time as assistant editor of the LDS Church publication ''

Juvenile Instructor ''The Juvenile Instructor'' was a magazine for members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). It began publication in 1866 as a private publication, but by the late 1860s served as the de facto publication of the LDS Churc ...

''. At the time of his death, Widtsoe was serving on the general board of the

Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association The Young Men (often referred to as Young Men's) is a youth organization and official program of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). Its purpose is to assist the church's Aaronic priesthood-aged young men in their growt ...

Publications

In addition to his own writings, Widtsoe worked with Albert E. Bowen and Franklin S. Harris in compiling the sermons and writings of Joseph F. Smith into the book ''Gospel Doctrine''.''Gospel Doctrine'', introduction, p. v The following is a list of Widtsoe's own writings: * * * * * *

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 ...

''. vol. 2, p. 403 *''

Church News The ''Church News'' (or ''LDS Church News'') is a weekly tabloid-sized supplement to the ''Deseret News'' and the ''MormonTimes'', a Salt Lake City, Utah newspaper owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). It is t ...

'', January 15, 1994 * Thomas G. Alexander. ''Mormonism in Transition''. (Champaign, Illinois:

University of Illinois Press The University of Illinois Press (UIP) is an American university press and is part of the University of Illinois system. Founded in 1918, the press publishes some 120 new books each year, plus 33 scholarly journals, and several electronic proje ...

, 1999) p. 174-75

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Widtsoe, Osborne J. P. 1877 births 1920 deaths 19th-century Mormon missionaries 20th-century Mormon missionaries Brigham Young College alumni Harvard University alumni Mormon missionaries in French Polynesia Mormon missionaries in the Cook Islands Norwegian emigrants to the United States Norwegian leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Norwegian Mormon missionaries University of Utah faculty Utah State University alumni Ensign College faculty Young Men (organization) people People from Namsos