Abraham Owen Smoot (February 17, 1815 – March 6, 1895) was an American pioneer, businessman, religious leader, and politician. He spent his early life in the Southern United States and was one of seven children. After being baptized a member of the Church of Christ, predecessor to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), Smoot served as a missionary in Kentucky, Tennessee, South Carolina, and England. He received no formal education, but learned to read as a child and later attended the School of the Prophets in Kirtland, Ohio. Like other early members of the LDS Church, Smoot practiced plural marriage, eventually marrying six women and having 24 children. After migrating west to Utah Territory, he was elected as the second mayor of Salt Lake City and maintained this position from 1857 to 1866. He was then assigned by Brigham Young to move to Provo, where he served as stake president and mayor from 1868 to 1881. He assisted financially in the construction of the Provo Tabernacletoday the Provo City Center Templeas well as that of the Utah Southern Railroad. Smoot was the first president of the board of trustees of Brigham Young Academy (BYA)which later developed into Brigham Young University (BYU). He was an early financial supporter of the institution and was nicknamed the "foster father" of the Academy. His goal was to make education available to young Latter-day Saints. Today, the Smoot Administration Building at BYU is named after him. Early life Abraham Owen Smoot was born on February 17, 1815, in Owenton, Kentucky, to George W. Smoot and Nancy Ann (née Rowlett) Smoot. He was of Scottish, Irish, and English descent. He had two brothers and five sisters. His mother's uncle, Colonel Abraham Owen, served William Henry Harrison at the Battle of Tippecanoe. He was also related to General Stonewall Jackson. His family moved twice in his childhood, first to southwestern Kentucky and then to the banks of the Blood River in Tennessee. As a young boy, he worked as a farmer and was not educated. He also had a health issue as a child, which he called "a lung disease." His father died in 1828 when Smoot was nine years old, and his mother later remarried. His childhood years were mostly spent among his mother's family, the Rowletts. They had a lasting effect on young Smoot, particularly in teaching him to read. There