FORSCUTT, Mark Hill

FORSCUTT, UNSWORTH, SMITH, FITZPATRICK, PENCE, FAUNCE, PARR

Posted By: Sharon R Becker (email)
Date: 1/12/2016 at 14:23:20

Biography ~ Mark Hill Forscutt
Graceland University, Lamoni, Iowa

Mark Hill Forscutt was born in Manchester, England, on June 19, 1834. Upon joining the Latter Day Saint's Church in 1853 at the age of 19, Professor Forscutt was disowned by his father and forced out of his childhood home. From 1855 to 1860, he served as a missionary for the LDS Church in England. He moved to the United States from England on the day of his wedding in March of 1860 to Elizabeth Unsworth. The traveled on to the Utah Territory where he served as a secretary to Brigham Young. He broke from the LDS Church upon discovering the church's policy on plural marriages combined with several disagreements with Brigham Young, and joined the Morrisite organization of the church.

Enlisting in the U.S. Army at Fort Douglas in Salt Lake City, he served in the Civil War as a member of the 5th California Cavalry, station in Ruby Valley [present-day Nevada].

Professor Forscutt was baptized into the RLDS Church on January 1, 1865, in Salt Lake City, Utah, and became a high priest in November of 1868.

Mark Forscutt first served Graceland by conducting the opening devotional serivce that preceded the session of first classes held on September 17, 1895. He then succeeded "senior professor" Thomas Jefferson Fitzpatrick as Graceland's top administrator on September 5, 1896, when Forscutt was named as the college's first dean. In this role, Professor Forscutt was assigned to act as "senior professor" until a president for the college could be selected. His duties as dean included working with other members of he faculty in matters of discipline and order, being in charge of chapel exercises, collecting tuition and turning it over to the treasurer, and teaching English literature and history.

Professor Forscutt's position as Graceland's top administrator ended when Joseph T. Pence was elected as president in June of 1897.

"Uncle Mark" performed many leadership roles for the church, serving as assistant editor on Zion's Hope, writing church hymns, and providing ministerial work in the British Iles and Society Islands. He served as editor of Saint's Harmony, a RLDS hymnal published in 1889. He was a copyist in the process that led to the publication of the Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible in 1866. He was a close personal friend of Joseph Smith III. He became a RLDS minister and served in that capacity the remainder of his life.

Professor and Elizabeth Forscutt were the parents of three children: Amy Forscutt Parr, Ruby Forscutt Faunce, and Mark Zenas Forscutt.

Professor Forscutt died in Nebraska City, Nebraska, on October 19, 1903 [some sources give date date at October 18]. Elizabeth (Unsworth) Forscutt was born in 1835, and died in 1903. They were interred at Wyuka Cemetery, Nebraska City, Nebraska. Their epitaph reads, "They Did What They Could."

SOURCES:
Goehner, David. “The Graceland College Book of Knowledge: From A To Z.” Pp. 405-06. Herald House. Independence MO. 1997.

Edwards, Paul M. "The Hilltop Where. . . An Informal History of Graceland College." Pp. 18, 24. Venture Foundation. Lamoni IA. 1972.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Hill_Forscutt

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, December of 2015

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