David Patten Kimball

Who was David Patten Kimball?

David Patten Kimball was an early Mormon leader, one of the three young men of the Sweetwater handcart rescue.

Kimball was born on August 23, 1839, in Nauvoo, Illinois the son of Heber C. Kimball and his wife the former Vilate Murray. His father was an Apostle in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and left to serve a mission in England about the time of David's birth.

In the winter of 1856, Kimball helped a company of handcart pioneers stranded near the Sweetwater River, in response to a request from Brigham Young. Several accounts of the event imply that Young promised Kimball and others a guaranteed place in heaven for their efforts, although no direct evidence attributing this statement to Young exist.

Kimball served as president of the Bear Lake stake in Utah before moving to Arizona in 1877. He was a teamster, and when he died he was first counselor in the St. Johns Arizona stake.

In November 1881, Kimball was making a freight run between Maricopa railroad station and Prescott when he was caught in a snowstorm near Prescott and contracted pneumonia.