Elam Luddington
American missionary (1806-1893)
Elam Luddington, Jr. (also spelled Ludington; November 23, 1806 – March 22, 1893) was a Mormon pioneer, officer in the Mormon Battalion, first missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) to preach in Thailand, and 2nd City Marshall for Salt Lake City.
Luddington was born in Harwinton, Connecticut, to Elam Luddington, Sr. and Lena Monger. Luddington traveled to Nauvoo and met Joseph Smith, Jr. in the winter of 1840. On May 16 of that year, he was baptized by Smith into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He was ordained as an Elder that fall, and shortly thereafter Luddington and Eli G. Terrill were assigned as missionaries to the city of New Orleans (making them among the first Mormon missionaries to proselyte in the state of Louisiana). Luddington spent nearly three years in New Orleans. In June 1844, Joseph Smith and his brother, Hyrum Smith, requested that he travel as a missionary to Quincy, Illinois, in order to gather funds for the completion of the Nauvoo Temple.
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