Miles Park Romney (August 18, 1843 – February 26, 1904) was a prominent American builder in
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 Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...
. He was born in
Nauvoo,
Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...
, the son of
Miles Romney. He was the president of the
St. George Social Hall Company and the St. George Dramatic Association, and also served as a chief of police, attorney-at-law, newspaper editor, and architect. One of his sons,
Gaskell Romney, was the father of
George W. Romney and grandfather of
Mitt Romney
Willard Mitt Romney (born March 12, 1947) is an American businessman and retired politician. He served as a United States Senate, United States senator from Utah from 2019 to 2025 and as the 70th governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007 ...
.
Miles Park Romney moved to Utah with the body of the church while still a child. He became a builder like his father. After he married his first wife he was sent on a mission for the Church in England. After his return he followed the then teachings of the Church and married another wife.
Romney became prominent in the community, building Brigham Young's home. Miles Park Romney and his three wives and various children were then sent to settle
St. Johns, Arizona, as part of the Church leadership's plan to settle a larger area. St. Johns was not particularly welcoming to the Mormon newcomers, with Romney, the editor of the local Mormon paper a particular target; Romney became entangled in a non-Mormon led effort to try
David King Udall, another prominent Mormon and bishop, for fraud involving a homestead application and after various threats to hang the lot of them, the
polygamous Romney family was told to try Mexico instead.
A polygamist,
in the aftermath of the
Edmunds Anti-Polygamy Act of 1882 (later amended by the
Edmunds–Tucker Act, 1887), Romney, on April 7, 1885, joined a party leaving Arizona to find land outside the U.S., in the state of Chihuahua, Mexico, on which his family could settle, free from fear of his arrest. Romney died on February 26, 1904, in
Colonia Dublan, Mexico.
Romney's five wives, in order of marriage, were Hannah Hood Hill (1862), Caroline "Carrie" Lambourne (1867), Catharine Jane Cottam (1873), Alice Marie "Annie" Woodbury (1877) and Emily "Millie" Henrietta Eyring Snow (1897).
Romney married Hannah Hood Hill on May 10, 1862, at Salt Lake City, Utah.
See also
*
William J. Flake
*
Romney family
*
List of Latter Day Saint practitioners of plural marriage: Other notable members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
References
Further reading
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Romney, Miles Park
1843 births
1904 deaths
American people of English descent
American emigrants to Mexico
Arizona pioneers
George W. Romney
Mormon pioneers
People from Colonia Dublán
Miles Park