The King of New York

Samuel was born on May 21, 1831, in Pickens County, Alabama. In 1844, while enslaved in eastern Mississippi, he heard Preston Thomas preach and was baptized by him at thirteen years old.

For roughly a quarter of a century, Samuel lived apart from the main body of Latter-day Saints. Unable to read or write, he sustained the faith he had embraced as a boy, crediting the Holy Spirit with helping him retain his testimony.

After emancipation, Samuel and Amanda saved for the journey west and arrived in Utah in 1870. Eighth Ward minutes record his appointment as assistant deacon on May 1, 1873. He performed those duties without being ordained to the priesthood. The couple later developed a fruit-growing business in the Salt Lake Valley.

Born in Fairfield County, Connecticut, in 1815, Isaac became an early convert to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as did his younger sister, Jane Elizabeth Manning James.

In Nauvoo, Illinois, he worked as a cook for Joseph Smith and Emma Hale Smith at the Mansion House. That personal connection remained important to him throughout his life.

In a signed statement in 1903, Isaac recalled digging four graves after Joseph and Hyrum Smith were killed in 1844: two decoy graves in the Nauvoo cemetery and two at the Smith homestead. He remembered this service to the brothers with pride.

Gobo was born around 1855 in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. As a child, he lived with Henry and Ruth Talbot. Their descendants described him as a family member, but historical records document his position as a servant.

He traveled with the Talbots aboard the Race Horse from Port Elizabeth to Boston in 1861, then continued west. They reached Salt Lake City on September 13 and settled in Kaysville. Although the Talbots were Latter-day Saints, surviving records do not establish that Gobo was baptized during his lifetime.

Gobo later worked in Utah and became a sheepherder in Idaho’s Goose Creek Valley. He died on February 10, 1886, after being shot in a dispute over grazing land. His will included $500 for the Salt Lake Temple. He is buried in Oakley, Idaho.

Born in Massachusetts in 1798, Walker Lewis was deeply involved in the Black communities of Boston and Lowell. He worked as a barber and held leadership roles in the African Humane Society, the Massachusetts General Colored Association, and African Lodge No. 459.

His community work was closely connected to the abolitionist movement and the struggle for equal rights. Historical records also identify him as Quack Walker Lewis.

He joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the early 1840s. Around 1843 or 1844, William Smith, Joseph Smith’s brother, ordained him an elder. In 1847, Brigham Young spoke favorably of the Black elder in Lowell. Lewis’s life also unfolded amid growing racial restrictions within the Church.

Born into slavery around 1810 in Natchez, Mississippi, William was also known as Warner McCary and, later, Okah Tubbee. He became a traveling performer, playing instruments including the flute and fife.

In 1846, he was baptized by Orson Hyde and married Lucy Stanton, a white Latter-day Saint, in Nauvoo. The couple arrived at Winter Quarters in February 1847, where contemporary journals record his musical performances.

His time among the Saints was brief. He was expelled from the Church in 1847 amid conflict over his religious claims and practices. His later career as a performer continued beyond the Latter-day Saint community.