Who was O. B. Huntington in Mormon Church History?
Question
Dear Gramps,
As usually happens just before the Mormon conference each year, the anti-Mormons are at work. Yesterday, we received an insert with our newpaper in this catagory. Several references were made to quotes from O. B. Huntington attributing various remarks such as the Prophet Joseph and Brigham Young said there were men on the moon etc. Who is this O. B. Huntington in Mormon Church History and what validity can we attribute to his remarks? Thanks.
Spudgam
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Answer
Dear Spudgum,
Oliver B. Huntington was born October 14, 1823 in Watertown, Jefferson County, New York. He has written an extensive autobiography in which he states that he first heard the Mormon gospel preached some time around 1825 or 26. In his autobiography he states that his life had been spent in the work and among the Mormon saints. In all probability your anti-Mormon friends have gone through his diary and extracted some quotes that they have used in an attempt to discredit the LDS Church. Since their account, whatever it is, is without doubt a biased account, I would give it no credence whatsoever.
Gramps
O.B. Huntington had a fairly long column included in The Young woman’s Journal (vol 2) (source). In here, Huntington claims Joseph Smith said that Noah built the ark in South Carolina. From your answer, I feel like I can be confident in this, since it is directly from a Church publication (no bias, right?).
O.B. Huntington journal can even be found coming from a Church Publication website in the BYU Harold B. Lee Library Digital Collections if you want to take a look at it. Here is the link: http://cdm15999.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/SCMisc/id/27611/show/27482