Church Service
Shortly after his conversion, Spencer and his family moved to Nauvoo, Illinois. Spencer served as the head of the University of Nauvoo. He also served as an alderman in Nauvoo. In April 1843 Spencer was sent on a mission to New Haven, Connecticut.
Spencer was elected mayor of Nauvoo in 1845, but he appears to not have served due to the revocation of the city charter. He would have succeeded his brother Daniel Spencer in this office. Prior to this he served as an alderman of the city of Nauvoo. As such he also served as a member of Nauvoo's municipal court. After the Nauvoo Charter was revoked Spencer served as an alderman of the much smaller town of Nauvoo.
Spencer served as president of the British Mission from early 1847 until the summer of 1848. During that time he also served as editor and publisher of the Millennial Star. In 1848 he was replaced by Orson Pratt, who found that the mission had had much success under Spencer's administration.
Spencer was the president of one of the five Mormon pioneer companies in 1849. This company consisted of about 100 wagons. In 1850, when the Deseret News began publication in Salt Lake City, Spencer served as assistant editor under Willard Richards.
Spencer was a member of the first legislative council of Utah Territory.
On August 28, 1852, Brigham Young commissioned Spencer to travel, together with Jacob Houtz, to Prussia. After reaching Berlin in late January 1853, he and his companion discovered that every step they took was observed by the Prussian secret police. After only one week, Spencer and Houtz were forced by the police to leave Berlin without having had any visible missionary success. They were the first Mormon missionaries to preach in Germany since Orson Hyde's visit in 1841.
Spencer served as an editor and writer on many newspapers from his conversion and was named the first chancellor of the University of Deseret in 1850.
Spencer went on a mission to Cincinnati in 1854. After being there a year he went to St. Louis where he replaced Erastus Snow as the regional church leader and editor of the
Read more about this topic: Orson Spencer
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