Samuel Openshaw
ABT 1834 - 1904
bornEngland
diedMesa, Arizona, USA
SchooltblData
BiographyCame to Tempe in 1883.Built an adobe house at West 6th Street and Maple Avenue in 1883
He was an English convert to the Mormon Church, and a prominent pioneer of the Mormon migration westward. Since 1845, he was involved in the settlement of Salt Lake City, St. George,
Springlake, and Santaquin, Utah. In the spring of 1883, Openshaw and two of his wives and their children arrived in Tempe with the third group of Johnson Family members.
In December 1882, the Maricopa Stake of the Mormon Church was organized with wards in Mesa, Lehi, and Tempe. Openshaw became the first Bishop of the Tempe Ward in June 1884, a position he occupied for a year before increased persecution of polygamy forced him to leave his family and seek refuge in Utah.
In 1885 he returned to Tempe, and in the following year, he moved to Nephi, a rural settlement west of Mesa. He became bishop of the Nephi Ward, and held that position for 15 years until his death at age 70 in 1904.
HPS-156
Person TypeIndividual
