Neither Saint nor Scoundrel: Almon Whiting Babbitt - Territorial Secretary of Utah

The story of Almon Babbitt is the story of an imperfect and contrary Saint in the first years of the Mormon Church. He was a confidant and counselor to Joseph Smith, a lawyer and developer of every major Church interest from Kirtland to Nauvoo to Salt Lake City, yet he failed to come to Joseph Smith just before his murder, and competed with Brigham Young for the governorship of Utah. Excommunicated from the Church and then reinstated, largely forgotten by Church history, he repeatedly allowed his own business interests and political ambitions to interrupt his service to the Mormons. However, at his gruesome and untimely death he was providing service to the Church and the territory of Utah as its secretary. The conflicts of Almon Babbitt made him less of a Saint than he could have been, but his service to the Church also made him less of a scoundrel than he might have been.