Of the many correspondents of Joseph Smith in the early history of the Mormon Church movement, James Arlington Bennet was surely among the most eccentric. A flamboyant self-promoter and mathematician who likely suffered from a personality disorder, Bennet engaged in both a public and private correspondence not only with Smith, but with other leaders of the time. Brigham Young thought well enough of him when meeting Bennet on Long Island, New York, that he briefly gained the trust of Mormon leaders. Smith even made him inspector general of the Nauvoo Legion in 1842, presented him with an honorary doctor of laws degree, and considered him as a possible vice-presidential running mate in 1843. But Bennet's penchant for lying and self-aggrandizement led eventually to the exposure of his true character and relegated him to the sidelines of any meaningful involvement with the Latter-day Saints. He may have had...
“Full of Life, Fun, and Fight”: James Arlington Bennet, Correspondent, Forger, and Eccentric
JOHN D. BEATTY is a Certified Genealogist and Senior Librarian with the Genealogy Center of the Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He has authored numerous works on genealogy and local history. He is a distant cousin of James Arlington Bennet, being descended from James's aunt, Ann (Bennett), wife of James Beaty of Ballycanew, County Wexford, Ireland. His two-volume work, James Beaty and Ann Bennett of Ballycanew, County Wexford, Ireland, and More than Two Centuries of their American Descendants, was published in 2010 and explores the Bennett family in more detail.
John D. Beatty; “Full of Life, Fun, and Fight”: James Arlington Bennet, Correspondent, Forger, and Eccentric. Journal of Mormon History 1 January 2024; 50 (1): 15–44. doi: https://doi.org/10.5406/24736031.50.1.02
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