| Charles C. Rich | |
| Birth Name: | Charles Coulson Rich |
| Birth Date: | 21 August 1809 |
| Birth Place: | Campbell County, Kentucky, United States |
| Death Place: | Paris, Idaho Territory, United States |
| Resting Place: | Paris Cemetery |
| Spouse: | Sarah D. Pea Eliza Ann Graves Sarah J. Peck Harriet Sargent Mary A. Phelps Emeline Grover |
| Parents: | Joseph and Nancy Rich |
| Portals: | LDS |
| Signature: | Charles C. Rich signature.jpg |
| Signature Alt: | Signature of Charles C. Rich |
| Called By2: | Brigham Young |
| Ordination Reason2: | Reorganization of First Presidency, Lorenzo Snow, Erastus Snow, and Franklin D. Richards were ordained on the same day to fill four vacancies in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. |
| Reorganization2: | John W. Taylor ordained |
| List Notes: | Was also a member of the Council of Fifty. |
| Poly Date: | January 6, 1845 |
| Poly Wives: | 6 |
Charles Coulson Rich (August 21, 1809 – November 17, 1883) was an early leader in the Latter Day Saint movement. He led one of the first groups of Mormon pioneers west from Illinois under the leadership of Brigham Young after Joseph Smith's murder.
Rich was chosen and served as an apostle of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) under Brigham Young after the Church settled in Utah Territory. President Young asked Rich to open up San Bernardino, California, for settlement in 1850, and Bear Lake Valley, located in Utah and Idaho, in 1863. Rich founded many communities in Bear Lake Valley, including Paris, Montpelier, Fish Haven, Ovid, Georgetown, St. Charles, Bloomington, Bennington, Wardboro, Dingle, Glencoe and Pegram in Idaho, and Garden City, Meadowville, and Laketown in Utah.
Rich was born in on August 21, 1809, in Campbell County, Kentucky, to Joseph Rich and Nancy O'Neal.[1] As an adult he reached six feet, 4 inches in height, and was considered a tall man for the time period. Rich was baptized into the early Latter Day Saint church on April 1, 1832, after having been taught by Lyman Wight in 1831.
In 1838, Rich married Sarah D. Pea, whom he had previously proposed to by letter, the two never having met.[2] Rich followed the church's principle of plural marriage, taking six wives and fathering a total of 51 children.
In 1863, Rich led a party of early Mormons to colonize parts of southeastern Idaho, which at the time was thought to be part of Utah Territory. The communities of Paris and Geneva, Idaho, as well as some other neighboring towns, were under his direction.
Rich had six slaves.[3]
Rich was a leader in Caldwell County, Missouri, and fought in the Battle of Crooked River. It was recorded that, during the battle, Rich "dropped his sword... and administered to wounded Apostle David W. Patten, then assuming command and winning the battle." Rich was also reported to have been shot "while carrying a flag of truce" around Far West, Missouri.
His log house is the only structure from the Mormon period in 1836–38 in Caldwell County to have survived to this day. After the expulsion of the Latter Day Saints from Missouri, Rich settled in Nauvoo, Illinois, where he was made an original member of the Council of Fifty. He also served as a member of the Nauvoo High Council,[4] and as Brigadier-General in the Nauvoo Legion.
After the death of Joseph Smith, Rich followed the leadership of Brigham Young and the surviving Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. He and his family migrated to what became Utah with the main body of the church in 1847, leading a pioneer company that arrived October of that year. When Young and the other apostles returned that winter to Winter Quarters, Nebraska, Rich served as a counselor to John Smith, who presided over the early pioneers in the Salt Lake Valley. In October 1848, Rich was made the president of the Salt Lake Stake.[5]
Brigham Young appointed Rich a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on February 12, 1849.
Rich helped form a Latter-day Saint settlement in San Bernardino, California. However, this settlement attracted many people who wanted to avoid Young and other leaders of the LDS Church. The members who supported Young were asked to return to Utah in 1857 at the time of the Utah War. At the request of President Brigham Young, Charles C. Rich settled the Bear Lake (on the Utah–Idaho border) region and is the namesake of Rich County, Utah and St. Charles, ID.
In the early 1860s, Rich served as president of the British Mission of the church.
After suffering from paralysis, Rich died on November 17, 1883, in Paris, Idaho. He has been remembered as "a man of strength and great power of endurance." His granddaughter, Ada May Rich, became the mother of Laraine Day, who became an actress.[6]