Porter Rockwell

Porter Rockwell
Members of the Council of Fifty
March 19, 1844 (1844-03-19) – June 9, 1878 (1878-06-09)
Called byJoseph Smith
Personal details
BornOrrin Porter Rockwell
c. (1813-06-28)June 28, 1813
Belchertown, Hampshire County,
Massachusetts, United States
DiedJune 9, 1878(1878-06-09) (aged 64)
Salt Lake City, Utah Territory,
United States
Resting placeSalt Lake City Cemetery
40°46′34″N 111°51′43″W / 40.776°N 111.862°W / 40.776; -111.862
Known ForPersonal bodyguard to Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, Deputy US Marshal
Known as "The Destroying Angel of Mormondom" and "Modern-day Samson"
Occupationbusinessman, bodyguard, lawman, frontiersman, scout
Spouse(s)Mary Ann Neff (1854)[1]
Christina Olsen
Luana Hart Beebe
ChildrenAt least 7
ParentsOrin and Sarah Rockwell

Orrin Porter Rockwell (June 28, 1813 or June 25, 1815 – June 9, 1878) was a figure of the Wild West period of American history. A lawman in the Utah Territory, he was nicknamed Old Port, The Destroying Angel of Mormondom and Modern-day Samson.

Rockwell served as a bodyguard, and was a personal friend, of Latter Day Saint movement founder Joseph Smith. After Smith's death in 1844, Rockwell became a bodyguard of his successor, Brigham Young, and traveled with him and members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) to the Salt Lake Valley in the present-day U.S. state of Utah.

  1. ^ Schindler 1993, pp. 197, 205