John Bennion: Welsh Convert and 1847 Pioneer (Salt Lake Valley, September 1847)

John Bennion (1820-1877) was a Welsh convert who joined the Church in Liverpool, England, emigrated to America, and trekked to the Salt Lake Valley with the LDS pioneers in 1847. He and his brother Samuel were not included in the original Brigham Young pioneer company but arrived in the Salt Lake Valley in September 1847, where John became one of the early settlers of the valley. He and his wife Esther Ann Birch reared a family that would figure prominently in the settling of Utah and in the leadership of the Church. His emigration is a faith-promoting witness of the Welsh Saints who, having heard the restored gospel in Liverpool, forsook their homeland and crossed the plains to gather with the Saints, that they might help build up Zion in the tops of the mountains.