Description
Stout’s two autobiographies provide a glimpse into his early life and conversion to Mormonism. Though Stout received only a frontier education, he nonetheless became literate and his writings are filled with wonderful prose. He was once a complex man who held a tender and genuine love for his circle of relatives and a long lasting commitment to his religion, but who was once at the same time an imposing figure with a sharp temper, able always to rebuke through force.
At the beginning published in the Utah Historical Quarterly in 1962, Stout’s two autobiographies have never been reprinted. The shorter autobiography, written in 1845 for his Seventies Quorum in Nauvoo, covers a later time frame than does the first and is written in almost abridged form. Stout commenced his second, more engaging autobiography at the same time as at Winter Quarters in 1847. Though incomplete (the final entry is for the year 1835), the work gives great insight into the complexities of Stout and the early life experiences that helped to shape the most important and controversial man, a figure who deserves to be much better known in the annals of Mormon history.