John C. Bennett

John Cook Bennett (August 3, 1804 – August 5, 1867) was an American physician and a ranking and influential—but short-lived—leader of the Latter Day Saint movement, who acted as Mayor of Nauvoo, Illinois, and Major-General of the Nauvoo Legion for a brief period in the early 1840s.

Early Mormon

Bennett's involvement in the Latter Day Saint movement came after several encounters with the community that had left him unimpressed. He nevertheless wrote several letters to Joseph Smith in Nauvoo, Illinois, in which he declared his desire to join the movement. Bennett was essential to the passing of the Nauvoo city charter in the Illinois Legislature, the provisions of which he had helped craft. He even garnered praise for his lobbying efforts on behalf of the Mormons from the young Abraham Lincoln.

His efforts on behalf of the Mormons, and the long time he spent living in the Mansion House in Nauvoo, secured for Bennett the confidence of Smith. Smith was instrumental in promoting Bennett to ever greater civic and ecclesiastical responsibilities in Nauvoo. Bennett became a Counselor in the First Presidency, the mayor of Nauvoo, General of the Nauvoo Legion, and the chancellor of the University of Nauvoo.

Bennett

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