Rodney Carlos Badger was an inaugural member of the general superintendency of the Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association (YMMIA) of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church).

Badger was born in Salt Lake City, 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....

, a year after his 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...

 parents arrived in the Salt Lake Valley

Salt Lake Valley

Salt Lake Valley is a valley in Salt Lake County in the north-central portion of the U.S. state of Utah. It contains Salt Lake City and many of its suburbs, notably West Valley City, Murray, Sandy, and West Jordan; its total population is 1,029,655 as of 2010...

. His father was Rodney Badger

Rodney Badger

Rodney Badger was the first Utah law enforcement officer to lose his life during the performance of his sworn duties. He died on April 29, 1853 trying to rescue a family whose wagon had overturned in the Weber River...

, who drowned when young Rodney was five years old. Upon reaching adulthood, Badger was a LDS Church missionary

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 California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 and worked as a surveyor and telegraph operator with the Utah Central Railroad.

When Junius F. Wells

Junius F. Wells

Junius Free Wells was the first head of the Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association, an organization which is today the Young Men organization of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints...

 became the first general superintendent of the YMMIA in 1876, he chose Milton H. Hardy

Milton H. Hardy

Milton Henry Hardy was an American educator and was the founder of and a member of the inaugural general superintendency of the Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . From 1876 to 1880, Hardy was the first assistant to Junius F...

 and Badger as his assistants. Badger acted in this capacity until 1880, when Wells was released and replaced by Wilford Woodruff

Wilford Woodruff

Wilford Woodruff, Sr. was the fourth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1889 until his death...

.

Badger practiced plural marriage

Plural marriage

Polygamy was taught by leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for more than half of the 19th century, and practiced publicly from 1852 to 1890.The Church's practice of polygamy has been highly controversial, both within...

 and was married to three wives.

Badger died in Salt Lake City of sepsis

Sepsis

Sepsis is a potentially deadly medical condition that is characterized by a whole-body inflammatory state and the presence of a known or suspected infection. The body may develop this inflammatory response by the immune system to microbes in the blood, urine, lungs, skin, or other tissues...

 from a streptococcus

Streptococcus

Streptococcus is a genus of spherical Gram-positive bacteria belonging to the phylum Firmicutes and the lactic acid bacteria group. Cellular division occurs along a single axis in these bacteria, and thus they grow in chains or pairs, hence the name — from Greek στρεπτος streptos, meaning...

infection.