John Chamberlain Badger Mormon Frontiersman

The life of John Chamberlain Badger began at a time of great spiritual awakening in the United States.  While just a young boy, his parents became converts of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when the faith was still in its infancy.  John was an eye witness to the many persecutions of the church and became personally acquainted with most of its leaders including the prophet, Joseph Smith Jr. and his family.  He lived in Kirtland, Ohio, Far West, Missouri, Nauvoo, Illinois, Winter Quarters, Nebraska and Salt Lake City, Utah Territory as the spiritual center of the church moved westward.  In many ways he was a paradox.  While it is known that he had some education, was a reader of the scriptures, and could speak some Native American languages, he didn’t leave any kind of journal or even a written word beyond a signature on an army payroll.  As a devout, life-long member of the church he volunteered his time and talents freely to further its causes, yet, often he did not provide for his own family as well as he should.   Possessing all the skills necessary to survive under the harshest conditions, he voluntarily spent his entire life on the edge of the American frontier.  From his birth in the virgin forests of  Vermont in 1825 until his death in  the lonely desert of northwestern Utah in 1888, John Chamberlain Badger was a man of great faith and a pioneer in the truest sense of the word.