Joseph J. Daynes

Who was Joseph J. Daynes?

Joseph John Daynes was the first organist at the Tabernacle in Salt Lake City, Utah and for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Daynes was born in Norwich, England, to parents John and Eliza Miller Daynes. The Daynes family later joined the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the immigrated to Utah Territory in 1862.

Upon their arrival in the valley, Brigham Young met the group of Latter-Day Saints with whom the Daynes family had traveled with to Salt Lake City. Brigham Young heard the eleven-year-old Joseph playing the melodeon and declared: "There is our organist for the great Tabernacle organ." This declaration came true in 1867, when Joseph H. Ridges completed the building of the organ in the Salt Lake Tabernacle. Joseph Daynes had been sent to study music in New York. Upon the organ's completion, he became the first Tabernacle organist at age sixteen, a position which he held until 1900. Daynes also served as the music conductor of the 20th Ward Choir in Salt Lake City.

Joseph came from a very musical family. Though his father, John, was a watchmaker by trade, his hobby was music. The piano which John purchased in England is the instrument Joseph learned to play on.