The only woman mentioned by name in the Doctrine and Covenants besides Emma Smith, Vienna lived a simple yet extraordinary life. From her conversion in Boston to her role in the first baptisms for the dead and on into the settlement of Salt Lake City, Vienna played an important part in the growth of the Church during the nineteenth century witnessing many significant moments in church history. Historian Brent M. Rogers shows through meticulous research Vienna’s journey as a single woman within the early Church, detailing the unsung life of this little-known but remarkable woman.
Brent M. Rogers is a historian and documentary editor for The Joseph Smith Papers. He earned a BA with honors in history from San Diego State University, an MA in public history from California State University, Sacramento, and a PhD with emphasis in nineteenth-century United States history from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. Brent is the author of “A ‘distinction between Mormons and Americans’: Mormon Indian Missionaries, Federal Indian Policy, and the Utah War,” Utah Historical Quarterly, 82.4 (Fall 2014): 250-271, which won the Western History Association’s 2015 Arrington-Prucha Prize for Best Article on the History of Religion in the West.
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