Truman O Angell

Brycen had to do an ancestor report for school.  He chose to do it on Truman Angell

My ancestor is Truman Angell.  He is my 4th great uncle.

He was born in Providence, Rhode Island on the 5th of June in 1810.  He lived there until he was 21.

His father left the family when he was young, and Truman tried to help his mother.  He moved her

to New York to be with some friends.   While they lived there they joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints

Truman also married Polly Johnson.  At about 23 years of age he went on a mission for about 9 weeks to Rhode Island.

His missionary companion was Joseph Holbrook.  Joseph Holbrook also happens to be my 4th great grandfather.  Joseph

married Truman's sister Caroline.

Truman and is wife moved to Missouri.  His mother decided to stay behind.  They were driven out of the state of missouri

by mobs who did not like the Mormons.  

They moved to Kirtland Ohio.  Truman helped do work on the Temple that the Mormon Saints were building there.

Joseph Smith asked him to help build it.  He was also able to attend the Temple Dedication which was a very special 

experience.

Truman's family moved to Nauvoo when the Saints were again forced from their homes.  His wife and children were sick and

it was a difficult time.  Truman was called to be the superintendant of joiner work (joining the parts of the building)

Truman said that they were all persecuted by angry men and he was so sad when Joseph Smith and His brother, Hyrum, were 

killed.  When the architect of the temple left Nauvoo, Truman was left in charge of completing the lower hall of the Nauvoo temple.

Truman said, " I was one of the Pioneers in coming to and making a home for the Saints in Utah in 1847, and returned to Winter Quarters. The 

following winter I made a fitout and took my family, in the spring, and started for our new home, arriving in Utah in the fall with an ox team, a 

distance of over 1000 miles, moving my sick wife on her back every rod of the way, having two children with us, having buried three in Winter 

Quarters. Soon after my arrival I was chosen architect for the Church--the former architect, William Weeks, having deserted and left for the east, 

thereby taking himself from the duties of the said office--which position I hold to this day. (1883)"

Truman was asked to work on many buildings in Salt Lake City.  He helped with the Saint George Temple.  He was the

main architect of the Salt Lake Temple.

This is a quote I found about him:  Truman O. Angell, the architect, now approaching his seventieth year, worked with President John Taylor as he had with President Young. The walls of the temple were pushed upward. By 1887 the stone work was completed, except for the towers; but fate did not permit the architect to live to see the finished building, Truman O. Angell died on October 16, 1887, at the age of 77. For more than thirty-five years he had toiled and labored on the great structure. It was said that he knew every stone in its walls. 

Of Truman O. Angell, Wendell Ashton has written: "As long as the Salt Lake Temple stands, there will be a magnificent monument to the patience, skill and dedication of its architect."]

 

I think this is a really great man to be my ancestor  I am also blessed because my Great Grandpa Timmerman was the resident architect of the Washington DC Temple (see this post)

Link to full Personal History

Truman O Angell