Moroni Orson Litz (1874-1955), Moroni Lundby Jensen (1912-1980), Moroni Price (1842-1921), Moroni Heiner (1877-1948), Moroni Skeen Jr. (1873-1958)

   Today's triple profile highlights the lives of three political figures with the unusual first name "Moroni". For those of you who know your history, you may remember that the name Moroni stems from the like-named prophet and angel prominently featured in the Book of Mormon, and is the same angel who presented the golden tablets to Joseph Smith (1805-1844), founder of the Latter Day Saint movement and publisher of the Book of Mormon. 

  The first of these men to be profiled is West Virginia native Moroni Orson Litz. Born on August 13, 1874, in Burkes Garden, Virginia, Moroni was the tenth of fourteen children born to John Tiffany Huddle (1834-1901) and Elizabeth Emily (Thompson) Litz. He attended schools local to the Tazewell County area and continued his education at the Tazewell College from 1896-1897. Litz later enrolled at the University of Virginia, graduating from this institution in 1902 with his Bachelor of Laws degree.

  Around the same time as his college enrollment, Litz began teaching school and later was named as Principal of the local high school in Graham, Virginia. In 1902 he was named to West Virginia State Bar, and married in October 1908 to Judith Effler (1885-1920), with whom he would have two sons (Moroni Orson Jr. and Rawle) and three daughters.

  After attaining his law degree, Litz established a practice in the city of Welch, West Virginia, operating here for nearly two decades. In 1920 Judith Effler Litz died after twelve years of marriage and in 1922 Moroni remarried to Ms. Mabel Cain. In that same year, Virginia Governor Ephraim Franklin Morgan appointed Litz as an Associate Justice of the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, the highest court in the state.  Litz's tenure on the court lasted until 1936 when he was defeated for reelection.

  After leaving the court Litz continued to practice law, having an office based in Charleston, West Virginia for several years. He died at a hospital in Huntington, West Virginia on December 1, 1955, at age 81, and was shortly thereafter interred at the Maplewood Cemetery in Tazewell. The portrait of Moroni O. Litz shown at the top of this profile was featured in the 1929 edition of the West Virginia Blue Book.

            

Jensen as he appeared in a 1970s edition of the Deseret News.

  Hailing from Sevier County, Utah, Moroni Lundby Jensen was an educator and politician who served over a decade in the Utah State Legislature. Despite having a long tenure in Utah state government, little information could be found online that details the life of this obviously prominent Utahan, with an exception being a brief write-up on the Brigham Young University's Harold B. Lee Library Manuscript Collections Page.

  Born in the city of Ogden on January 10, 1912, Moroni L. Jensen was the son of Hans Simon and Kristiane Graversen Jensen. Moroni spent the majority of his adolescence engaged in farming and is recorded as driving a school bus while in high school as a means of income. He received his schooling at the Sevier County High School and went on to attend Brigham Young University from 1929-1930. Jensen later continued his schooling at Snow College in Ephraim, Utah, graduating with his diploma in 1931. He married on March  8, 1934, to Ms. Vivian Nelson (1911-2010) with whom he would have two sons, Moroni Leon and Jerold. 

  After leaving school Jensen worked with the Red Cross, serving overseas during the mid-1940s as a field director in the South Pacific. Once back in the United States, Jensen began a lifelong involvement in Utah educational affairs, serving as a principal in the Salina area. He also began treading the political waters during this time, serving as a Salina city councilman and was later elected to a term as Mayor. During the 1960s Jensen served as vice-president of the Utah Secondary Schools Association and also was President of the Utah Education Association. He is also recorded as being actively involved in Mormon church affairs, being a past president of the Wilford Stake mission in Salt Lake City.

  Jensen was elected to the Utah State House of Representatives from Sevier County in 1964 and served in this body until 1968. In that year he ran for and was elected to the Utah Senate, where he served with distinction for over a decade. During his lengthy Senate service, Jensen continued an active interest in educational matters in Utah, holding a membership in the Educational Commission of the States. In 1977 Jensen became President of the Senate, and in 1980 mounted a campaign for Lieutenant Governor of Utah on the Democratic ticket. In the November election, Jensen was defeated by Republican incumbent David Smith Monson by a vote of 257,460 to 125,092. Shortly after his election loss, Jensen was felled by a fatal heart attack on November 8, 1980, at age 68. His wife Vivian survived him by nearly thirty years, dying at age 98 in February 2010. Both were interred at the Redmond Cemetery in Redmond, Sevier County, Utah.

   We continue our stay in Utah to focus on the obscure life of Moroni Price, a one-term state representative from the county of Cache. Price was born in the small village of Oswestry, Shropshire, England on February 24, 1842, the son of William Daniel and Mary Jane Price. The Price family migrated to the United States when their son was an infant, and after his father's death moved to the Utah Territory in 1854 with his mother and siblings.

  His early years in the territory were spent in Salt Lake City,  and in the early 1860s moved to the town of Smithfield in Cache County. Price married here in March 1865 to Mary Elizabeth Raymond (1848-1910) with whom he would have four children: Alonzo Harmon (1865-1917), Tura May (1867-1874), Moroni Jr. (1869-1936), and Mary Jane (died aged one day in 1871).

   The few documents that mention Price denote that he was a longtime farmer in the Cache County area and also held the office of justice of the peace for many years. In 1896 he was elected to the Utah State House of Representatives from Cache County and served one term that concluded in 1899. In 1903 Price served as one of two Utah delegates to the National Irrigation Congress. Moroni Price's wife Mary died in 1910 at age 62 and he himself died on April 17, 1921, at age 69. Both were interred at the Smithfield City Cemetery in Smithfield Utah. The portrait of him above was featured in the March 10, 1897 edition of the Salt Lake City Herald after his election to the legislature.

From the Men of Affairs in the State of Utah, 1914.

  Another Utahan with this odd first name is Mr. Moroni Heiner, a distinguished businessman who served two terms as Utah State Dairy and Food Commissioner. Born in Morgan City, Utah on February 17, 1877, Heiner was of German extraction and studied at Brigham Young University from 1895-1899. 

  Following his graduation from BYU, he married Ms. Eva Purcell (1878-1964) with whom he would have nine children. Before his involvement in state political affairs, Heiner made his name in several important businesses in and around Morgan City, holding the directorship of the First National Bank of Morgan, the Granite Furniture Company, and the Utah Coal Sales Agency. Heiner was also actively involved in coal and railroad interests in the area, serving as the director and vice president of the Castle Valley Railroad Company.

  In the early 1900s, Heiner was appointed by Governor Heber Manning Wells as Dairy and Food Commissioner of Utah, serving in this post for two terms, 1901-1905. Heiner continued to be active in the Utah coal industry late into his life and died on June 25, 1948, at age 71. He was later buried in Salt Lake City's Wasatch Lawn Memorial Park, which is also the resting place of one Nephi United States Centennial Jensen, a Utah State Representative and judge profiled here in February 2012.

From the Ogden Standard-Examiner October 31, 1920.

  Weber County, Utah native Moroni Skeen Jr. is another Utahan endowed with an unusual first name. Born on July 28, 1873, and raised in Palm City Utah, Skeen was the son of Moroni and Martha Skeen. A realtor by trade, Moroni Skeen Jr. attended Weber County schools and graduated from the University of Utah. He was the owner and operator of the Skeen Realty Company and for 14 years served as a member of the Weber County Board of Commissioners. In addition to this office, Skeen also served as the chairman of the Weber County Republican Party. He died in April 1958 at age 84 and was later interred at the Ogden City Cemetery.

Nephi United States Centennial Jensen (1876-1955)

Nephi U. S. C. Jensen

   The following profile centers on one of the single greatest strange name discoveries this author has discovered in quite some time. The plentifully named individual above, Nephi United States Centennial Jensen, was a Utah attorney, judge, and Mormon leader during the first half of the 20th century, and I first located Jensen's name (as well as the above picture) in the History of the Bench and Bar of Utah, published in 1913. Throughout this book were featured numerous Utah lawyers, attorneys, and judges, many of whom had political offices to their credit. Among these men was the gentleman shown above, listed under the curious name of Nephi U.S.C. Jensen. I soon found that his unusual first name was given to him in honor of Nephi, the sixth-born son of Lehi, a high-ranking prophet in the Book of Mormon. After some lengthy searching, I discovered a death certificate for a Nephi United States Centennial Jensen, born in Salt Lake City on February 16, 1876. I compared the date to the one found in the aforementioned Bench and Bar book and found them to be a spot-on match! 
   Nephi U.S.C. Jensen was born of Danish parentage on February 16, 1876, in Salt Lake City, Utah. His parents, Soren and Christine Rasmussen Jensen had settled in Utah after emigrating from Denmark in 1861. No source mentions why his parents gave him the middle names "United States Centennial", but seeing that the country turned 100 years old in the year of his birth, they must have been seized with truly patriotic fervor to do so!! 
   Young Nephi joined the Mormon Church at age eight and is recorded as attending the "public schools of Sugar House" as well as the Union High School in Montezuma County, Colorado. Jensen continued his education at the Latter Day Saints College in Salt Lake City and later earned his LL.B degree from the University of Chattanooga in 1906. After leaving school in Utah, Jensen went into missionary service, preaching the word of Mormonism throughout the Southern area of the United States. Jensen returned from his religious mission in 1900 and settled in Arizona for a time. It was here that he married Ms. Margaret Fife Smith (1882-1969) on April 9, 1902, and moved back to Utah a short while later. Genealogical websites mention that Nephi and Margaret had at least one son born to them, Paul, who was recorded as being born sometime in 1903.
   Jensen was admitted to the Utah bar in February 1906 and in November of that year was elected to his first political office, winning election to the Utah State House of Representatives as a Republican. He took his seat in early January 1907, representing the county of Salt Lake. The Bench and Bar of Utah also mention his service, stating that he received "the highest vote of any candidate on the ticket." He served in the state house for one term (1907-1909) and a roster of house members from that legislative session has been provided below. Nephi's name is located at the very bottom of the roster.

   Jensen took his seat in the legislature in January 1907 and, in an interesting anecdote, his arrival in the state house soon caused a problem for the compilers of the legislative journal! As the Salt Lake Tribune snippet posted below relates, the legislature passed a motion stating that the lengthy name of Mr. Jensen occupied "too much space in the journal" and " that in the future he be designated as Nephius Jensen". No paper of the time denotes how Jensen reacted to the measure, but I like to think that he and many of his fellow legislators had a good laugh about it! 

   After leaving the legislature, Jensen continued practicing law, and in 1911 was named as the Assistant Attorney for Salt Lake County. He served in this position until August of 1913 when he resigned and started a joint law practice with another Utah attorney, C.E. Marks, who had previously served as a district court judge in Idaho. A portrait/article on Jensen's resignation from that office appeared on page fourteen of the July 16. 1913 edition of the Salt Lake Tribune and is shown below. For such an obscure individual, Mr. Jensen has had quite a few pictures of himself located in periodicals of the time, much to my great surprise!

   The firm of Marks and Jensen became regarded as one of the most successful law firms in Salt Lake, and this partnership lasted until 1919. That year, Jensen felt called to religious work once again and journeyed to Canada to accept the leadership of the Canadian Mission, a project of the Mormon church. His appointment to this position was viewed by the May 1919 edition of the Improvement Era periodical as an excellent choice, remarking that Jensen's "many friends feel that he will make good in the honor  that has come to him to found a new mission of the Church." During his leadership, Jensen established the mission's base in Toronto and after returning to the United States in the mid-1920s became a well-known public speaker on the Church of Latter Day Saints, tracts, and religious ideals. During research on Mr. Jensen, several archived newspaper articles were discovered that attest to his popularity as a public speaker. The Improvement Era further illustrates that Jensen was a popular draw during that period, stating that "his ability as a speaker, and his diligence to service of the Church is recognized by all who have heard or known him."

Nephi U. S. C. Jensen as he appeared in the 1919 edition of the Improvement Era.

   In 1928 Jensen returned to politics when he was appointed as judge of the municipal court of Salt Lake City, this appointment being occasioned by the death of Judge O.C. Dalby. That September Jensen announced that he'd be seeking his own term as judge. That November he won the election and would serve an indeterminate tenure as judge, though sources relate that he was still on the bench until at least 1933. Jensen's time as judge was profiled in the Salt Lake Tribune in April 1932, which described him as a thorn in the side of unsafe motorists, with the Tribune noting that he was "carrying out a vigorous punishment campaign" for those that violated city traffic laws. Remarking that "the lives of 140,000 persons must be safeguarded", Jensen went on to remark:

"The court's attitude has done much in our campaign to reduce traffic accidents, and if all courts were as consistant and cooperative, I am sure a that a great portion of our motor problem will have been solved."

From the Salt Lake Tribune, April 17, 1932.

  Throughout that decade and into the 1940s and 50s Jensen published scholarly articles and pamphlets discussing his views and maintained a public speaking career. He had earlier authored Utah and the Civil War in 1929 with two co-authors, Margaret Fisher and Christian N. Lund. After many years of prominence in Salt Lake City, Nephi U.S.C. Jensen died at age 79 on September 2, 1955, and was buried in the Wasatch Lawn Memorial Park in Salt Lake City. Jensen's wife Margaret survived her husband by nearly fourteen years, dying in Utah on March 28, 1969, at age 86, and she too was interred at the Wasatch Memorial Park.
  On an aside note, I have decided to post a part of Nephi United States Centennial Jensen's death certificate, as I have an inkling that no reader will believe that one man could be given so strange a name! Here it is, courtesy of the Utah State Archives website.

                     The full death certificate lists Jensen's cause of death as "coronary occlusion."

A death notice for Jensen that appeared in the Ogden Standard-Examiner.

"His Official Record....."