My Mormon Family














Samuel David Steiner

Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim,founded in 1749, is one of the oldest Jewish congregationsin the United States










Bound Together

"We can picture ourselves home again with our Heavenly Parents in that wonderful place, not only as sons and daughters but husbands and wives, fathers and mothers, grandfathers and grandmothers, grandsons and granddaughters, bound together forever in loving families."

—Henry B. Eyring

On his father's side, Samuel David Steiner f/k/a Vernon Lee Leggett is related to each of the seventeen prophets of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (also known as the Mormon or LDS Church). Steiner is also related to nine of the current members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

Neal Ash Maxwell , and example of former Apostles related to Mr. Steiner, died in Salt Lake City, from leukemia. He was originally diagnosed with leukemia in 1996, eight years before his death.

Another example is Boyd Kenneth Packer, an American religious leader and former educator, who served as president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the LDS Church.

A third example is Lowell Tom Perry. A fourth example is Bruce Redd McConkie.

Other examples are, Marion George Romney, Oliver H. P. Cowdery (next in authority to Joseph Smith in 1830 and a Witness), Martin Harris (Video - The Witness: Martin Harris), Lucy Harris, wife of Martin Harris, etc.

Other notable LDS figures related to Mr. Steiner are John Willard Marriott, Sr. (an American entrepreneur and businessman) and his son, John Willard "Bill" Marriott, Jr., Jon Meade Huntsman, Sr. (an American businessman and philanthropist) and his son, Jon Meade Huntsdman, Jr., Willard Cleon Skousen (an American conservative author and faith-based political theorist), Jon Steven "Steve" Young (a former professional American football quarterback, Grant Hart Palmer (educator) and both Karen Strong and her husband, Kirk Strong (former Director of B.Y.U. admissions).

Former Presidents

Current President

Based on his genealogy (family tree) charts, and backed up by three of the newest DNA tests (Genetic Genealogy), Samuel David Steiner f/k/a Vernon Lee Leggett is related to each of the 17 Presidents of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints shown above. He is related to 1) Joseph Smith Jr., 2) Brigham Young, 3) John Taylor, 4) Wilford Woodruff, 5) Lorenzo Snow, 6) Joseph Fielding Smith, Sr., 7) Heber J. Grant, 8) George Albert Smith, Sr., 9) Vernon Leggett is related to Emma Ray Riggs McKay, the wife of David O. McKay, 9th President of the Church, and their seven children as well as 45 other wives married to the sixteen Presidents shown above. 10) Joseph Fielding Smith, Jr., 11) Harold Bingham Lee, 12) Spencer Woolley Kimball, 13) Ezra Taft Benson, 14) Howard W. Hunter, 15) Gordon B. Hinckley, 16) Thomas Spencer Monson, sixteenth President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 17) President Russell Marion Nelson, Sr., M.D., Ph.D., and former U.S. Army Captain, and first wife, Dantzel White Nelson. , and second wife, Wendy Watson Nelson. (President Dallin Harris Oaks, J.D., First Counselor in the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints a/k/a The LDS Church. President Henry Bennion Eyring, M.B.A., D.B.A. Second Counselor in the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints a/k/a The LDS Church.)

Orrin Porter Rockwell

Another early church figure Samuel Steiner is related to is Orrin Porter Rockwell (June 28, 1813 – June 9, 1878). Rockwell was a figure during the Wild West period of American History. He was a Mormon Danite, and a law man in the Utah Territory. Nicknamed “Old Port” and labeled as the Destroying Angel of Mormondom, Rockwell was as famous and controversial during his lifetime as Wyatt Earp or Pat Garrett.

He was a bodyguard and personal friend of Joseph Smith, the founder of the Latter-day Saint movement, and Brigham Young, the second President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church).

Another relative of Samuel Steiner, Willard Richards, served as historian and recorder of The Council of Fifty (also know as The Living Constitution or The Kingdom of God) from 1844 to his death in 1854. George Quayle Cannon (January 11, 1827 – April 12, 1901) was an early member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and served in the First Presidency under four successive presidents of the church: Brigham Young, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, and Lorenzo Snow. He was the church's chief political strategist, dubbed "the Mormon Premier" and "the Mormon Richelieu" by the press. He was also a five-time Territorial Delegate to the US Congress. He also served as the final recorder for The Council of Fifty from 1867 to his death in 1901.

With their leader assassinated (1844) and their homes under attack, the Mormons of Nauvoo, Illinois, begin a long westward migration that eventually brings them to the valley of the Great Salt Lake in Utah.

The members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had been persecuted for their beliefs ever since Joseph Smith founded the church in New York in 1830. Smith’s claim to be a modern-day prophet of God and his acceptance of polygamy proved controversial wherever the Mormons attempted to settle. In 1839, Smith hoped his new spiritual colony of Nauvoo in Missouri would provide a permanent safe haven for the Saints, but anti-Mormon prejudice there proved virulent. Angry mobs murdered Smith and his brother in June 1844 and began burning homes and threatening the citizens of Nauvoo.

Convinced that the Mormons would never find peace in the United States, Smith’s successor, Brigham Young, made a bold decision: the Mormons would move to the still wild territories of the Mexican-controlled Southwest. Young had little knowledge of the geography and environment of the West and no particular destination in mind, but trusting in God, he began to prepare the people of Nauvoo for a mass exodus.

Mr. Samuel David Steiner f/k/a Vernon Lee Leggett, has been asked by many Seventh-day Adventist, friends, and family to share an introduction to the teachings found in The Book of Mormon that would have motivated the early Mormons to sacrifice everything to follow their Prophet to Utah. The following are four videos of talks given by one of Samuel Steiner's relatives which provide that insight. Please watch them in the following order:

ONE

TWO

THREE

FOUR

The three men who are mentioned by President Hinckley (right) are:

  • George W. Grant is the son of The Captain of the Advance Rescue Company, Captain George Davidson Grant. Samuel Steiner's relationship is found here.
  • Samuel Steiner's relationship to David Patten Kimball, the second young man, can be found here.
  • The third young man is: Clark Allen Huntington. When President Brigham Young was organizing the men to go out and help rescue the handcart companies that were stranded in Wyoming in 1856, Clark Allen Huntington, twenty-four years of age, joined that rescue party. He was one of the young men that showed his heroism by carrying hundreds of women and children across the icy waters of the Sweetwater River. They would break the ice before them as they waded from shore to shore. The strain was terrible, and Huntington developed a cough that stayed with him his entire life.

HELP US TO BE WISE

I pray Thee be our eyes, and watch us where we go. And help us to be wise, in times when we don't know. Let this be our prayer, as we go our way. Lead us to a place, guide us with Thy Grace, to a place where we'll be safe.

The following is a list of famous heart surgeons related to

Samuel David Steiner f/k/a Vernon Lee Leggett

  1. President Russell Marion Nelson, Sr., M.D., Ph.D. (First Successful Pediatric Cardiac Operation)
  2. Alfred Blalock, M.D. (Research on Shock & Tetralogy of Fallot)
  3. Dwight Emary Harken, M.D. (Developed the Intensive Coronary Care Unit)
  4. Wilfred Gordon "Bill" Bigelow, M.D. (Developed Hypothermia in Open Heart Surgery)
  5. John Heysham Gibbon, M.D. (Invented the Heart-Lung Machine)
  6. John Webster Kirklin, M.D. (Developed the Cardiopulmonary Bypass Machine)
  7. Norman Edward Shumway, M.D. (Performed First Successful Heart Transplantation in the U.S.)
  8. Steven R. Gundry, M.D. (Infant & Pediatric Heart Transplant Specialist)
  9. William James Mayo, M.D. (Founder of the Mayo Clinic)
  10. Denton Arthur Cooley, M.D. (Performed the First Implantation of a total Artificial Heart)

Dr. Nelson

Dr. Gibbon

Dr. Cooley

The following is a list of links to other Mormon

figures throughout history who are

related to Samuel David Steiner f/k/a

Vernon Lee Leggett

  1. Relatives of Samuel Steiner who are former LDS General Authority Seventies.
  2. Relatives of Samuel Steiner who are Direct Descendants of the Early Church, United States.
  3. Relatives of Samuel Steiner who are Presidents, Famous Professors and Donors of BYU.
  4. Relatives of Samuel Steiner who are associated with Brigham Young University Idaho (BYUI)
  5. Relatives of Samuel Steiner who are former Deseret Industries Benefactors, United States.
  6. Relatives of Samuel Steiner who were in the Mormon Battalion.
  7. Relatives of Samuel Steiner who are wives of LDS Prophets.
  8. Relatives of Samuel Steiner who are former organists of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
  9. Relatives of Samuel Steiner who are former authors of the hymns in the LDS hymnal.
  10. Relatives of Samuel Steiner who were part of Zion's Camp.
  11. Relatives of Samuel Steiner in the Martin Handcart Company.
  12. Relatives of Samuel Steiner in the Willie Handcart Company.
  13. Relatives of Samuel Steiner in the William B. Hodgetts Company.
  14. Relatives of Samuel Steiner in the John A. Hunt Company.
  15. Relatives of Samuel Steiner who were Rescues of Handcart Companies.
  16. Relatives of Samuel Steiner who are part of The Steiner & Dehlin Rescue Party.
  17. Relatives of Samuel Steiner who are former governors of Utah, United States.

In December of 1997, Mr. Steiner received word his father was dying. Mr. Steiner was out of federal prison on bail working on his appeals. Mr. Steiner's relative, Judge D. Lowell Jensen, signed papers allowing Mr. Steiner to return to Nashville, Tennessee so that he could see his father one last time. Just before Mr. Steiner was to leave for his visit, his two brothers returned to their jobs believing that their father was having a recovery and might live some time longer. Mr. Steiner decided to wait until his brothers indicated that their father was again near death. One week later his father got worse and died in the middle of January 1998, Mr. Steiner's attorney could not reach Judge Jensen and was thus not able to secure another pass allowing Mr. Steiner to travel. Mr. Steiner had composed the following song for his father in December, and it was played at the gravesite as his family, and several Seventh-day Adventist ministers lowered the casket of Mr. Steiner's father into his grave. To this day Mr. Steiner grieves that he was not given a second pass that would have allowed him to travel back to Tennessee to be with his father just before he passed (R. Hill, et al.).




Samuel David Steiner f/k/a Vernon Lee Leggett

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מציץ מן החרכים

(meitzit min ha-charakim)


“five cracks in the wall”