Born 3 Feb. 1795 at Marlboro, Windham Co., Vermont.[1] Son of Samuel Whitney and Susannah Kimball.[2] Second husband of EBW.[3] Clerked for Sidney Gilbert at Painesville, Geauga Co., Ohio, 1817.[4] Moved to Kirtland, Geauga Co.; opened his own store and later an ashery, 1822.[5] Married Elizabeth Ann Smith, 20 Oct. 1822, in Kirtland.[6] Participated in plural marriage.[7] Opened N. K. Whitney & Company in partnership with Sidney Gilbert, by 1827.[8] Baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 15 Nov. 1830.[9] Appointed bishop in Kirtland, Dec. 1831.[10] Traveled with Joseph Smith to Jackson Co., Missouri; New York City; Albany; and Boston, 1832.[11] Appointed as the first bishop and trustee-in-trust of the church, 6 Oct. 1844.[12] Migrated to the Salt Lake Valley with the Heber C. Kimball company, arriving 24 Sept. 1848.[13] Sustained as presiding bishop of the church, 7 Oct. 1848.[14] Appointed bishop of the Salt Lake City Eighteenth Ward, 1849.[15] Elected as treasurer and associate justice of the provisional state of Deseret, 1849.[16] Died 23 Sept. 1850 at Salt Lake City.[17]
[1] Marlboro, VT, Town Clerk, Vital Records, vol. 1–2, 1768–1857, p. 44, microfilm 28528, DGS 4032907, image 26/165, FHL. Temple Records Index Bureau, Nauvoo Temple Endowment Register, 10 December 1845 to 8 February 1846 (Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1974), 1 (restricted access). “Family Tree,” database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org, accessed 16 Feb. 2018), Newel Kimball Whitney (KWVM-M24).
[2] Marlboro, VT, Town Clerk, Vital Records, vols. 1–2, 1768–1857, p. 44, microfilm 28528, DGS 4032907, FHL. Orson Ferguson Whitney, Through Memory’s Halls: The Life Story of Orson F. Whitney as Told by Himself (Independence, MO: Press of Zion’s Printing and Publishing, 1930), 11.
[3] “Sealings and Adoptions of the Living, 1846–1857; Index, 1846–1857,” The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Nauvoo Temple, vol. A, 1846–1857, pp. 545–546, Whitney, Newel Kimball and Emiline Belos Woodward, 26 Jan. 1846, microfilm 183374, DGS 5265582 (restricted access), FHL. EBW, Diary, vol. 1, 1844–1846, p. 13. Augusta Joyce Crocheron, Representative Women of Deseret (Salt Lake City: J. C. Graham, 1884), 65. Carol Cornwall Madsen, Emmeline B. Wells: An Intimate History (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2017), 57, 504.
[4] Orson F. Whitney, “Newel K. Whitney,” Contributor 6, no. 4 (Jan. 1885): 124.
[5] Mark L. Staker, “‘Thou Art the Man’: Newel K. Whitney in Ohio,” BYU Studies 42, no. 1 (2003): 85–88.
[6] Geauga Co., OH, Probate Court, Marriage Records, 1806–1920, vol. A-C, p. 205, Newel K. Whitney and Elizabeth Ann Smith, microfilm 873461, DGS 4016917, image 107/527, FHL.
[7] EBW, Diary, vol. 1, 1844–1846, p. 13.
[8] Mark L. Staker, “‘Thou Art the Man’: Newel K. Whitney in Ohio,” BYU Studies 42, no. 1 (2003): 93–94.
[9] Mark L. Staker, “‘Thou Art the Man’: Newel K. Whitney in Ohio,” BYU Studies 42, no. 1 (2003): 98, n99.
[10] Revelation, 4 Dec. 1831 [D&C 72:7–8] (https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/revelation-4-december-1831-a-dc-721-8/1, accessed 16 Nov. 2018). Orson Ferguson Whitney, Through Memory’s Halls: The Life Story of Orson F. Whitney as Told by Himself (Independence, MO: Press of Zion’s Printing and Publishing, 1930), 13–14.
[11] Revelation, 22–23 Sept. 1832 [D&C 84:112–114] (https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/revelation-22-23-september-1832-dc-84/1, accessed 16 Nov. 2018). “Newel K. Whitney,” Go Ye Into All the World, 1830–1930: Missionary Database (https://history.churchofjesuschrist.org/missionary/, accessed 25 Apr. 2018).
[12] Willard Richards, Journals and Papers, 1821–1854, vol. 10, Mar.–Aug. 1844, MS 1490, image 85/124, CHL. “Died,” Deseret News, 28 Sept. 1850, 122. EBW, Diary, 5 Feb. 1896. “Conference Minutes,” Times and Seasons, 1 Nov. 1844, 5:693.
[13] “Newel Kimble Whitney,” Pioneer Database (https://history.churchofjesuschrist.org/overlandtravel/, accessed 25 Apr. 2018).
[14] Journal History of the Church, 8 Oct. 1848, CHL.
[15] Orson Ferguson Whitney, History of Utah (Salt Lake City: George Q. Cannon & Sons, 1892), 1:388. Ruby K. Smith, One Hundred Years in the Heart of Zion (Salt Lake City: Deseret News Press, 1961), 11.
[16] Orson Ferguson Whitney, History of Utah (Salt Lake City: George Q. Cannon & Sons, 1892), 1:395. Orson F. Whitney, Popular History of Utah (Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1916), 55. Election Ticket, 12 Mar. 1849, p. 1, Newel K. Whitney, Deseret (State) Papers, 1849–1851, MS 2918, CHL.
[17] “Died,” Deseret News, 28 Sept. 1850, 122. Orson Ferguson Whitney, Through Memory’s Halls: The Life Story of Orson F. Whitney as Told by Himself (Independence, MO: Press of Zion’s Printing and Publishing, 1930), 15.