Abraham Lucas Hoagland (March 24, 1797 – February 14, 1872) was an early Mormon leader, pioneer, and one of the founders of

Royal Oak, Michigan Royal Oak is a city in Oakland County, Michigan, Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. An inner-ring suburb of Metro Detroit, Detroit, Royal Oak is located roughly north of downtown Detroit. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 cens ...

, and

Salt Lake City, Utah Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Salt ...

, USA.

Early life

Hoagland was born on March 24, 1797, in

Hillsborough Township, New Jersey Hillsborough Township is a township in Somerset County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Located in the Raritan Valley region, the township is a suburban and exurban bedroom community of New York City within the New York Metropolitan Area. A ...

. He apprenticed as a

blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...

and moved to

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

, where he became a prosperous blacksmith and farmer and helped settle present-day Royal Oak. While in Michigan, he joined 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 restorationist Christian denomination and the largest denomination in the Latter Day Saint movement. Founded dur ...

in 1841.Little, Elder James A. '' The Latter-Day Saints' Millennial Star''. Vol. XXXIV, 1872, p. 174.

Church service

In 1843, he moved his family to

Nauvoo, Illinois Nauvoo ( ; from the ) is a small city in Hancock County, Illinois, United States, on the Mississippi River near Fort Madison, Iowa. The population of Nauvoo was 950 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Nauvoo attracts visitors for its h ...

, where

Joseph Smith Joseph Smith Jr. (December 23, 1805June 27, 1844) was an American religious and political leader and the founder of Mormonism and the Latter Day Saint movement. Publishing the Book of Mormon at the age of 24, Smith attracted tens of thou ...

ordained him an elder.

Orson Pratt Orson Pratt Sr. (September 19, 1811 – October 3, 1881) was an American religious leader and mathematician who was an original member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Christ (Latter Day Saints). After the succession cri ...

and

Wilford Woodruff Wilford Woodruff Sr. (March 1, 1807September 2, 1898) was an American religious leader who served as the fourth president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) from 1889 until his death. He ended the public practice of ...

ordained him a

bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

Winter Quarters, Nebraska Winter Quarters was an encampment formed by approximately 2,500 members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as they waited during the winter of 1846–47 for better conditions for their trek westward. It followed a preliminary te ...

after the saints were driven from Nauvoo. In 1853 and 1857, Hoagland was elected an

alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law with similar officials existing in the Netherlands (wethouder) and Belgium (schepen). The term may be titular, denotin ...

of Salt Lake City. When Brigham Young sent John Murdock to open a mission in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

in 1851, Hoagland took his place as bishop of the 14th ward in Salt Lake City, where he chose

's first wife, Phoebe, as the ward's first

Relief Society The Relief Society is a philanthropic and educational women's organization of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). It was founded in 1842 in Nauvoo, Illinois, United States, and has more than 7 million members in over 1 ...

president.

Family and personal life

Hoagland began practicing plural marriage in 1847 when he married Agnes Taylor, the younger sister of later church president John Taylor. They divorced in 1861. Hoagland was the grandfather of Abraham H. Cannon and the father-in-law of both William Whitaker Taylor and George Q. Cannon. He was a member of Wilford Woodruff's

prayer circle A prayer circle is most simply where participants join hands in a literal circle of prayer, often as part of a vigil. Informal prayer circles have been practiced for centuries. Their recent resurgence in popularity is frequently attributed to the ...

.Hughes, Richard Thomas. ''The Primitive Church in the Modern World''. University of Illinois Press, 1995, p. 192. . He died of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

on February 14, 1872, in Salt Lake City.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hoagland, Abraham 1797 births 1872 deaths Converts to Mormonism Mormon pioneers People from Hillsborough Township, New Jersey People from Nauvoo, Illinois American city founders Deaths from pneumonia in Utah American leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Latter Day Saints from New Jersey Latter Day Saints from Michigan Latter Day Saints from Illinois Latter Day Saints from Utah Taylor family (Latter Day Saints)