George Washington Bean: Pioneer of 1847, Lamanite Missionary, and Founder of Provo (1831–1915)

George Washington Bean (1 April 1831 – 1915) was born in Mendon, Adams County, Illinois, and crossed the plains as a Utah pioneer of 1847. He took an important part in the founding of Provo and, in 1855, was called as a missionary to the Lamanites—one of the early Indian missionaries of the restored Church who sought to fulfill the Book of Mormon promise to the remnant of Lehi. He later helped settle Richfield and left an autobiography preserved in the Church History Biographical Database. Brother Bean's life is a faith-promoting witness of the first generation of Utah pioneers who, with the Prophet Joseph's generation just before them, laid the foundation of Zion in the valleys of the mountains and carried the gospel to the children of Lehi.