Porter Rockwell
Orrin Porter Rockwell was a colorful personality in the history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Rockwell was around age seven when Joseph Smith experienced his First Vision. The Smiths and the Rockwell families lived about one mile apart. Porter became Joseph Smith's protector as they matured together. He acted as the protector of both Joseph Smith as leader of the Church and later Brigham Young. He was a five-time missionary, a member of Brigham Young's 1847 vanguard company to the Salt Lake Valley, a mail carrier, a peace officer, a US Marshal, a hotelier, a brewer, and a high priest.
Conflicting dates are given for Rockwell's birth, which was in June 25 of 1813 or 1815, in Hampshire County, Massachusetts (recent research indicates 1813[1]). Joseph Smith was born in December 1805. Rockwell's colorful history begins in New York, but he went west with the Latter-day Saints after the martyrdom of Joseph Smith and became a lawman in Utah Territory. He was nicknamed "Porter," "Old Port," and "the Destroying Angel." During his lifetime he was as famous and controversial as Wyatt Earp or Pat Garrett.
Rockwell was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ the very day the Church was organized, April 6, 1830. He married Luana Beebe on February 2, 1832, in Jackson County, Missouri. They divorced on June 26, 1845. He was endowed in the Nauvoo Temple on January 5, 1846. He married Mary Ann Neff on May 3, 1854; she died in childbirth. He married Christina Olsen in 1870. He had nine children with his first wife, eight with the second, and four with the third.
Rockwell kept no personal diary, could barely read and couldn't write, so it has been the work of others to construct his story and undertake the difficult task of separating fact from legend.
When there was an assassination attempt against Lilburn W. Boggs, the governor of Missouri who had issued an Extermination Order against the Latter-day Saints, Boggs accused Rockwell, although the attacker was never seen. Rockwell was imprisoned for eight months during trial, showing up in Nauvoo after his release.
- When he was finally released from custody, Porter had a harrowing journey back to Nauvoo, walking and riding hundreds of miles through the Midwest countryside while dodging vigilantes. Arriving on Christmas Day road-worn and bedraggled, Porter went straight to the Mansion House, where the Smith family was celebrating Christmas with the community. Joseph recorded that “during the festivities, a man apparently drunk, with his hair long & falling over his shoulders, came in and acted like a Missour[i]an. I commanded the capt of the police to put him out of doors in the scuffle. I lookd him full in the face and, to my gr[e]at supprize and Joy untold, I discove[re]d it was orren [Orrin] Porter Rockwell.”[2]
At that time, Joseph Smith promised him that if he remained faithful and never cut his hair, no bullet or blade would ever harm him. This prophecy was fulfilled.[3]
- "Rockwell was a character of contrasts. On one hand he was said to be generous to a fault, even to strangers. For example, upon hearing of a widow who was balding from typhoid fever, he gave up his famous long hair to make the woman a wig. (The recipient of the hair was Agnes Coolbrith Smith Pickett, widow of Joseph Smith's brother Don Carlos, and mother of Ina Coolbrith, who grew up to be Poet Laureate of California.)"[4] "Even though it was for a good cause, Porter felt guilty for violating Joseph’s prophecy; from then on, he would blame his insurmountable weakness for whiskey and swearing on that one time he cut his hair."[5]
Rockwell was a heavy drinker and a gunfighter, who surely killed men during his stint as a Deputy United States Marshall. Although legend calls him a religious enforcer, there is no record of him having used his gun as an enforcer for the Church. At his trial for attempting to kill Governor Boggs, Rockwell claimed that the fact the assassination failed was proof that he didn't do it. Folklore says that he replied, “I’ve never shot at anybody. If I shoot, they get shot. He’s still alive, isn’t he?”[6]
During the persecutions in Missouri, a group was formed among the Latter-day Saints without the approval of Joseph Smith, called the Danites. The Danites desired to take up arms to defend the Saints, and Rockwell was supposed to be a leader among them.
- Those last months of the prophet’s life were increasingly harried, and Porter did his best to stay by his friend’s side. When Joseph fled Nauvoo across the Mississippi River to escape his arrest and extradition to Carthage Jail, Porter rowed the leaky boat while Joseph and Hyrum bailed out water. Later, when the brothers discussed returning to Nauvoo—and facing Joseph’s inevitable arrest—Porter replied, “As you make your bed I will lay with you.”9 Accordingly, when Joseph decided to give himself up to the authorities, Porter rowed the brothers back, then accompanied them on the road to Carthage. Halfway there, Joseph told Porter to return to Nauvoo, concerned for his safety. It was the last time that Porter saw Joseph alive.[7]
When in Utah, Rockwell operated the Hot Springs Hotel and Brewery at the southern end of the Salt Lake Valley, in an area known as "Point of the Mountain." The former site of the hotel is now on the grounds of a state prison. A nearby stone marker commemorates the spot (Mary Ann Neff Rockwell Biography). It may seem strange that Rockwell ran a brewery, seeing that the Latter-day Saint dietary law, the Word of Wisdom proscribes the use of liquor, but when first given, the Word of Wisdom was counsel. It was made a commandment under Brigham Young with the approval of the Church.
"Despite his dangerous lifestyle, Porter died of natural causes on June 9, 1878, only a few days shy of his 65th birthday. The previous night, Porter had taken his daughter Mary to a performance at the Salt Lake Theater. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary until, late that night, he began complaining of chills and nausea; the next afternoon, he fell unconscious, and doctors were unable to revive him."[8] It is said that his daughter helped prepare his body for burial and found bullet holes in his vest, but no bullet injuries to his body.
A book by John W. Rockwell and Jerry Borrowman, called Stories from the Life of Porter Rockwell seeks to separate fact from myth. (Covenant Communications, Inc., 2010, Hardcover. ISBN 978-1-60861-005-1.) The video below is a conversation between the co-authors.
