Date of Award:

5-2000

Document Type:

Thesis

Degree Name:

Master of Arts (MA)

Department:

History

Committee Chair(s)

F. Ross Peterson

Committee

F. Ross Peterson

Committee

J. Barre Toelken

Committee

Noel Carmack

Abstract

This thesis is a general biography of a Mormon pioneer who, although not among the most renowned church officials, played a pivotal role in building Zion as teacher, missionary, leader, politician, husband, and father. After his conversion as a boy in England to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he and his family emigrated to America and settled in Willard, Utah. With a keen mind and a zeal for learning, Chandler pursued an education to prepare him for future employment as a school teacher. Although pupils throughout northern Utah and southern Idaho profited from his teaching proficiency and devotion, his near-four-year mission as teacher for the Shoshone Indians on the Indian farm in Washakie, Utah, was most remarkable. During this mission, he also made a significant change in his life as he entered into the practice of polygamy. The joys he felt and hardships he underwent in Washakie as instructor and polygamist prepared him for yet another mission back in his native land. As a missionary in England, he initially intended primarily to gather ancestral names, and did so, but also spent considerable time proselyting, strengthening the saints, leading the missionaries, and defending the church. This mission further refined him for trials he would undergo back in America, including flight from anti-polygamists as well as death and sickness of family members. In his later years, he moved his family from Willard, Utah, to Rigby, Idaho, where he continued teaching but also entered into the arena of politics where he found considerable success. Throughout his life, he left a legacy of unwavering dedication to the restored church.

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