Charles Coulson Rich

                Charles Coulson Rich was born on August 21^st, 1809. His family was historically from England. They lived in Kentucky when he was born, but eventually moved to Illinois where he and both his parents were baptized into the newly organized Church. He almost immediately was assigned leadership positions in the Church. He was a large man, and very sturdy in personality and in body. Some of his first assignments were military in nature. The Church was weak and persecuted and needed protection. He was soon a captain in the Far West militia. After the Saints moved to Nauvoo, he became stake president, and then the major general over the Nauvoo Legion. His physical skills were hard to outmatch, and his diplomacy skills were just as strong.

                With the revelation of polygamy, Charles chose six wives: Sarah DeArmon Pea, Eliza Ann Graves, Mary Ann Phelps, Sarah Jane Peck, Emeline Grover, and Harriet Sargent. His first marriage was not until he was 29. His families, with 51 children in all, were treated with complete justice, and none of them ever complained of bad treatment. His descendants are many, and most are now strong in the Gospel still.

Elder Rich was serving the Church in Michigan when Joseph and Hyrum Smith were assassinated, and he rushed back to Nauvoo quickly. His level head and firmness helped keep the Saints together and calm in the weeks following the martyrdom. He and his family, like most other Saints, were forced to leave Nauvoo soon after. He led the 9^th company from Winter Quarters to Utah. Once in Utah territory, Elder Rich and his families were assigned to colonize in California. He helped settle San Bernardino, but just as the community was stabilizing, President Young called the settlers back to Salt Lake to help protect the Saints from threat of military action from the US army. The call to return to Utah was sudden and left the settlers in California with little money after disposing of their property quickly. Upon return, some of Elder Rich’s wives were forced to live in wagon boxes until houses could be found for them.

He then left his families for some time to serve in England on a mission, along with his oldest son, Joseph. When he returned home, he was again called to help settle new ground, this time in Bear Lake, Idaho. While there, he served in the Utah government until a land survey was taken and it was discovered that Bear Lake was actually in Idaho, not in Utah. It was a hard and cold life there. It was Elder Rich that held the little group of settlers in Bear Lake when many wanted to give up and return to Utah. Elder Rich had to travel to Salt Lake often on business, and eventually some of his wives lived in Salt Lake while some stayed in Bear Lake.

In 1880, Elder Rich had a stroke and was confined to his own home for the last three years of his life. He had always had a life full of action. He enjoyed sports and hard labor. He was constantly traveling and fulfilling various Church and political functions. He was unable to do any of those things in those last years. During that time, he called together each of 6 oldest sons and saw them peaceably distribute all of his belongings evenly among his 51 children and 6 wives. At the age of 74, he died peacefully. He had an incredible testimony, energy, and dedication to the work he loved and believed in. His descendants now look up to him as a great contributor the Church the Lord.