Selvoy Jarrett Boyer (1897-1985)

From the August 1959 edition of the Millennial Star, Volume 121.

   During a life that extended nearly nine decades, Selvoy Jarrett Boyer was a prominent fixture in political and religious affairs in Utah for nearly sixty years. A former Mayor of Springville, a multi-term state representative, a member of the Utah State Tax Commission, and an agriculturalist, Boyer gained later prominence when he was appointed as the president of the first British Mormon temple in 1958--truly a man of many achievements!

  Selvoy J. Boyer was born in the town of Springville, Utah on February 6, 1897, one of several children born to John Slevoy (1867-1945) and Susannah Bailey Jarrett Boyer (1868-1943). Boyer was a student in the Springville school system and later graduated from Brigham Young University. He married in Manti, Utah to Mary Gladys Sessions on January 29, 1919, and later had the following children: Keith Selvoy (1919-2011), LaMar S. (1921-2002), Phyllis Rooney (birthdate unknown), John Carl (1926-2004) and Jerrol M. (1928-2007).

  Baptized into the Mormon church early in his life, Selvoy Boyer journeyed to Great Britain in 1923 at the behest of future Church President David Oman McKay to serve as a missionary for the Nottingham district of the LDS church. Boyer remained in England until 1925, whereafter he returned to the United States. Following his return to Utah Boyer became a Bishop for Springville's second ward and throughout the 1930s Boyer continued to serve both Springville and the LDS church in several different vocations, including being a member of the State Tax Study Committee as well as the state defense council. In addition to his numerous civic and church posts, Selvoy Boyer was a farmer and as such was highly concerned with matters relating to agriculture in Utah. He served as the President of the Utah Crop Improvement Association and was also a former vice-president of the Utah Farm Bureau Federation.

From the Provo Evening Herald, August 25, 1938.

   In 1938 Boyer made the jump into state politics, announcing his candidacy for the Utah State House of Representatives. In September he won election as a Democratic representative from Utah County with 704 votes, taking his seat in January of the new year. During his terms in office Boyer made a name for himself as a sponsor of farm legislation and in January 1945 introduced an unusual bill that aimed to curb the production of miss-weighed bags of wheat and corn flour, cornmeal, and hominy grits. As the Salt Lake Herald noted in its January 16, 1945 edition, any violation in Boyer's bill would be considered a misdemeanor, and "upon conviction, the offender would be fined no less than $25 or more than $500 for each offense." 

   The years 1945-1946 saw Selvoy Boyer serving as mayor of Springville, Utah and in the early part of the latter year took on the important post of President of the LDS Mission in London. His service as President extended from 1946-1950 and during his stewardship also served as the editor of the churches' "Millennial Star" periodical. Boyer's time as head of the LDS church's British mission concluded at the end of 1949 and in the spring of 1950, he and his wife returned home to Utah. In September 1950 Boyer spoke of his time in Britain during a speech at the Wasatch Academy and his talk was later described by the Manti Messenger as being "frankly critical of the socialist economy of England as compared to the free-enterprise system of the United States" and "repeatedly warned of a trend of socialism in America."

  Within a short while of returning to Utah Boyer returned to political life, being appointed as a member of the Utah State Tax Commission. His time on the commission saw him serve as head of the property tax division and he continued to serve on this board until his appointment as the President of the LDS church's new Mormon Temple in London in July 1958. Erected at the cost of 1.5. million dollars, the temple was dedicated by LDS President David O. McKay, who had named Boyer as the temple's first president. Boyer resigned from the tax commission on August 15, 1958, and by September had arrived in England to assume his duties. 

  

Selvoy Boyer during his Presidency of the London Temple (from the Millenial Star, 1959).

   Boyer's time as Temple President concluded in July 1964 and at the end of that month, he and his wife returned to Utah. His time in London was remarked by the Millennial Star and one of prominent growth for the LDS Church, noting that the "man with the crooked finger who gives you the straight talk will be greatly missed in Great Britain. Wherever he went he was greeted with a love that had grown up through six hard years of hard work and sound common sense sermons."

  In December 1965 Boyer was beset by personal tragedy when his wife of over forty years died. Mary Gladys Sessions Boyer was 75 years old and was later interred at the Evergreen Cemetery in Springville. Following his wife's passing Boyer remarried on November 22, 1967, to Agnes Reynolds McKay (1898-1988) and during the remainder of his life served the LDS church in several different capacities, including as a President and Elder. He died shortly after his 88th birthday on February 24, 1985, and was interred alongside his wife Mary at the Evergreen Cemetery.

Zerubbabel Snow (1809-1888), Zerubbabel Wightman (1743-1835)

   Receiving an unusual first name in honor of an obscure biblical figure (Zerubbabel, head of the tribe of Judah), Zerubbabel Snow went on to find his political and business fortunes in the Utah Territory. He was originally born in St. Johnsbury, Vermont on March 29, 1809, a son of Levi and Lucina Streeter Snow. Snow joined the newly established Mormon Church in 1832 and was ordained into the priesthood by church founder Joseph Smith, Jr. in Portage County, Ohio.
  Snow married in Vermont in 1833 to his first wife Susanna Slater, who died shortly after giving birth to a daughter Suzanne Lizette in March 1841. Following her death, Zerubabbel Snow went on to marry two more women and later sired a total of six children over twenty years' time. During his Ohio residency Snow earned a law degree and in 1835 migrated (along with his church) to Iowa. The early 1840s found Snow living in Canton, Ohio and in 1845 was elected as Mayor of Canton for a one year term. His name (abbreviated as "Z. Snow") was featured on a 1916 roster of former Canton mayors and is shown below. 

   In 1850 Snow and his family relocated to the Utah Territory and within a few years of his resettlement had gained distinction as an LDS missionary and church apostle. Snow was appointed by then-President Millard Fillmore to the Utah Territorial Supreme Court in 1850, becoming one of the first federal judges in the territory. Serving on the bench until 1854, Snow later resigned his seat and went on a church mission to Australia in 1856 and was stationed in the "land down under" for two years, returning to Utah in 1858.

   After his return stateside, Snow won election as a probate judge for Iron County and in 1865 was elected as the Prosecuting Attorney for Salt Lake City. He was later appointed as Attorney General of the Territory of Utah in 1869 and was still the incumbent in that office when the post was abolished in 1874. Snow's later life was spent in the practice of law, and from 1878-1884 served another term as Prosecuting Attorney for Salt Lake. 
  Zerubbabel Snow died in Salt Lake City on March 29, 1888, at age 79 and was later interred in the Salt Lake City Cemetery. He was later memorialized in the Salt Lake Herald as having lead "a life of usefulness in his sphere prolonged beyond the term usually allotted to man." Coincidentally, the Salt Lake City Cemetery is also the resting place of two other oddly named Utah political figures, Wehrli Douglas Pack (1889-1975, a state representative) and Sunday Cardall Anderson (1893-1987), a state representative and prominent leader in Utah Democratic Party circles.

This memorial notice to Zerubbabel Snow appeared in the Salt Lake Herald on September 30, 1888.

  In an addendum to this article, on December 15, 2011, another politician was discovered that also has the first name Zerubbabel. He is Zerubbabel Wightman of Bozrah, Connecticut, who was born on December 2, 1743. Virtually nothing is known of his life, with the exception of his service in the Connecticut State House of Representatives in 1805. Wightman died at the advanced age of 91 on November 1, 1835, in his native village of Bozrah. You'll notice the variation in the spelling of Wightman's first name, but research indicates it is actually spelled with a double "b."