Amos Milton Musser was a Mormon pioneer

Mormon Pioneer

The Mormon pioneers were members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as Latter-day Saints, who migrated across the United States from the Midwest to the Salt Lake Valley in what is today the U.S. state of Utah...

 who served in many church and community roles, including as an Assistant Church Historian

Church Historian and Recorder

Church Historian and Recorder is a priesthood calling in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The role of the Church Historian and Recorder is to keep an accurate and comprehensive record of the church and its activities...

 of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1902 until his death.

Early life

Musser was born at Donegal

Donegal, Pennsylvania

Donegal is a borough in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is a distinct municipality from the adjacent Donegal Township. The population was 165 at the 2000 census...

, Lancaster County

Lancaster County, Pennsylvania

Lancaster County, known as the Garden Spot of America or Pennsylvania Dutch Country, is a county located in the southeastern part of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, in the United States. As of 2010 the population was 519,445. Lancaster County forms the Lancaster Metropolitan Statistical Area, the...

, Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

. Musser's father Samuel Musser died when he was two years old. The family moved to the vicinity of Quincy, Illinois

Quincy, Illinois

Quincy, known as Illinois' "Gem City," is a river city along the Mississippi River and the county seat of Adams County. As of the 2010 census the city held a population of 40,633. The city anchors its own micropolitan area and is the economic and regional hub of West-central Illinois, catering a...

 in 1837. By this time his mother had gotten remarried to Abraham Bitner. When Musser was about 16 he was in the Battle of Nauvoo and then was driven with his mother and siblings into Iowa. After he left Nauvoo Musser worked as a store clerk in Eddyville, Iowa

Eddyville, Iowa

Eddyville is a city in Mahaska, Monroe, and Wapello Counties in the U.S. state of Iowa. The population was 1,024 at the 2010 census.-History:...

. Musser was not baptized until he arrived at Council Bluffs

Council Bluffs, Iowa

Council Bluffs, known until 1852 as Kanesville, Iowathe historic starting point of the Mormon Trail and eventual northernmost anchor town of the other emigrant trailsis a city in and the county seat of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, United States and is on the east bank of the Missouri River across...

, Iowa in 1851.

Church service

On arriving in Utah Territory

Utah Territory

The Territory of Utah was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from September 9, 1850, until January 4, 1896, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Utah....

 in 1851 as part of the Easton Kelsey Company, Musser became a clerk in the tithing office. The following year Musser was among the early Latter-day Saint missionaries

Mormon missionary

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is one of the most active modern practitioners of missionary work, with over 52,000 full-time missionaries worldwide, as of the end of 2010...

 to travel to India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

. R. Lanier Britsch

R. Lanier Britsch

Ralph Lanier Britsch was a history professor at Brigham Young University who specialized in the history of missionary work by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , particularly in the Pacific Islands and Asia.- Biography :...

's book Nothing More Heroic on this early LDS Church mission

Mission (LDS Church)

A mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a geographical administrative area to which church missionaries are assigned. Almost all areas of the world are within the boundaries of an LDS Church mission, whether or not Mormon missionaries live or proselytize in the area...

 in India was written as if narrated by Musser. After this mission he returned to Utah in the William G. Young Company of 1857.

From 1860 to 1876 Musser served as a traveling bishop in Utah. He was one of the most active traveling bishops and would visit all the major settlements in Utah at least twice a year.

In 1876, he was appointed assistant trustee-in-trust of the church. Shortly after this he was sent on a mission to the eastern United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

.

Musser had served for several years as a clerk in the Church Historians office prior to his appointment as Assistant Church Historian in 1902.

Community service in Utah

Musser held several positions with the Deseret Agricultural and Manufacturing society. He was connected with the Utah Bee Association and the Utah Silk Association. Musser was one of the incorporators of Zion's Bank and Trust company

Zions Bancorporation

Zions Bancorporation is a member of the S&P 500, a bank holding company headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA. Among its subsidiaries are Amegy Bank of Texas, California Bank & Trust, National Bank of Arizona, Nevada State Bank, the Commerce Bank of Oregon, the Commerce Bank of Washington,...

. He was also involved with promoting several plans to build railroads. Musser served for a time as a correspondent of the Deseret Evening News. While serving as traveling bishop Musser served as the general superintendent of the Deseret Telegraph Company. Musser served as Fish and Game Commissioner of Utah Territory from the late 1870s through the early 1890s.

Personal life and legacy

Musser married his first wife Ann Leaver on January 31, 1858. Musser also married Mary Elizabeth White in 1864, Belinda Marden Pratt in 1872 and Anna Seegmiller in 1874. Belinda was a daughter of Parley P. Pratt

Parley P. Pratt

Parley Parker Pratt, Sr. was a leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and an original member of Quorum of the Twelve Apostles from 1835 until his murder in 1857. He served in the Quorum with his younger brother, Orson Pratt...

. Musser is the father of Joseph White Musser, who became a leader in the Mormon fundamentalist movement.

He wrote several pamphlets in defense of the faith of the Latter-day Saints. Authored "To The Press Of The United States" (Philadelphia, May 1877), a press release defending the faith in response to charges that the Latter-day Saints are a "blood-thirsty people" in newspaper coverage of the trial and execution of John D. Lee

John D. Lee

John Doyle Lee was a prominent early Latter-day Saint who was executed for his role in the Mountain Meadows massacre.-Early Mormon leader:...

 for his role in the Mountain Meadows Massacre

Mountain Meadows massacre

The Mountain Meadows massacre was a series of attacks on the Baker–Fancher emigrant wagon train, at Mountain Meadows in southern Utah. The attacks culminated on September 11, 1857 in the mass slaughter of the emigrant party by the Iron County district of the Utah Territorial Militia and some local...

. Musser died of "surgical shock" in Salt Lake City, Utah

Salt Lake City, Utah

Salt Lake City is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. The name of the city is often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC. With a population of 186,440 as of the 2010 Census, the city lies in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, which has a total population of 1,124,197...

 at age 79.

The community of Milton in Morgan County, Utah

Morgan County, Utah

Morgan County is a county located in the U.S. state of Utah. As of 2010 the population was 9,469. It was named for Jedediah Morgan Grant, father of Heber J. Grant, who served as president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints...

was named for A. Milton Musser.

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