Daniel Hanmer Wells (October 27, 1814 – March 24, 1891) was an apostle of The Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and the third mayor of Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, United States.
He lived in Commerce—later Nauvoo—Illinois and was a "Jack Mormon", a term originally applied
to non-members who nonetheless defended the Latter Day Saints. In Nauvoo he served on the city council and as a judge. Wells
was not baptized into the LDS Church until August 9, 1846.
Even though not a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he provide the land for which
the Nauvoo Temple was built on. The street in front of the Nauvoo Temple is named after him. "Wells Street.
He also built the building on Molholland Street now know as the Weld Historic Museum. The museum is operated by the
Nauvoo Historic Society and is a great place to go learn more about all of Nauvoo's history.
Mobs invaded Nauvoo after the assassination of church founder Joseph Smith, Jr. Wells defended the city and
fought as a Lieutenant General of the Nauvoo Legion, and also provided shelter for evacuees. Wells traveled west with the
Mormon pioneers and helped settle the Salt Lake Valley. Well respected for his integrity and
loyal service, he was elected Attorney General of State of Deseret in 1849. When Jedediah M. Grant died in 1856, Wells was
ordained an apostle of the LDS Church and set apart as Second Counselor to Brigham Young in the First Presidency of the church.
Although serving as an apostle, Wells was never sustained as a member of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles. Upon Young's death
in 1877, Wells was sustained as a Counselor to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, a position he held until his death.
On behalf of Brigham Young, Wells dedicated the St. George Utah Temple on April 6, 1877. From 1888 to 1891,
he was the first president of the Manti Utah Temple.
In 1866, Wells was elected mayor of Salt Lake City as a member of the newly-formed People's Party and re-elected
in both 1872 and 1874. In 1871 he was arrested by U.S. marshals on charges of polygamy. In 1852, Wells married as his seventh
wife feminist and future Relief Society General President Emmeline B. Wells. She bore him three daughters.
Wells died in Salt Lake City at the age of seventy-six. Wells' son by his wife Martha G. Harris, Heber Manning
Wells, was the first governor of the state of 1896 to 1905.
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