Son of David Miner and Sally Lavilla Hyde

Married Laura Marinda Hyde, 30 May 1856, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah

Married Annie Elizabeth Adams, 13 Jun 1879, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah

Treasures of Pioneer History, Vol. 4, p. 272

Aurelius Miner was born January 11, 1832 in Woodbury, Litchfield County, Connecticut, the son of David and Sally Lavilla Hyde Miner. At a very early age he showed an unusual aptitude for study and his early school years were rich with accomplishments of lessons earnestly studied and successfully mastered. Early in youth he entered a law school in New York and was graduated from the State and National College with a degree of Bachelor of Laws in 1852 at the age of twenty. His family lived in Ohio when he was a small boy and after his graduation he went to that state. On January 19, 1853 he was admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the State of Ohio. While building a law practice, he accepted a position as professor of mathematics in one of the colleges in Ohio. Desiring to expand the field of his opportunities he applied and passed all the requirements to practice law in the district courts of the State of Iowa, in Johnson County and was admitted on the 15th day of April, 1854.

With the prospects of success in the field of jurisprudence, Aurelius Miner decided to go West and hoped on reaching Great Salt Lake to visit with his uncle, Orson Hyde, member of the Council of the Twelve. He arrived in the valley September 1, 1854 and was kindly received by Mr. Hyde and lived in his home. He became favorably impressed with the family life and doctrines of the Gospel and on February 7, 1855 was baptized into the Church by his uncle. He was married to Marinda Hyde, May 30, 1856.

As a young man of twenty-two, Aurelius could not have foreseen how closely his life and fortunes would be interwoven with the destinies of the Church and how intimately he would be called to associate with those charged with the responsibility of carrying forward the work at home and abroad. In addition to many responsibilities of the Church assigned by Brigham Young, requiring the use of legal knowledge, he entered with enthusiasm into politics. After a brief visit to Ohio in 1856, where he closed up some of his legal business, he was admitted to practice law before the Supreme Court of the United States for the Territory of Utah.

On the 13th of July, 1857, he was commissioned Second Lieutenant of the Topographical Engineers of the Nauvoo Legion and of the Militia for the Territory of Utah by Brigham Young. Later he served as Prosecuting Attorney for Salt Lake County for eight years. He also served one term as Deputy Attorney General for Utah Territory and for three years was Chief Deputy District Attorney. The succeeding years brought many and varied political appointments to him. He was commissioned a Justice of the Peace for Salt Lake City Precinct by Governor John W. Dawson, December 9, 1861. He served in that capacity for a number of years and was again elected Justice of the Peace at an election held August 3, 1863; his commission, in this instance, having been issued by Acting Governor Amos Reed, March 9, 1864.

Having successfully established himself in his chosen profession and having received modest financial success, Aurelius Miner responded to a call from the Church to fill a mission to the British Isles. Eleven years had elapsed since reaching Salt Lake City, and as not one of his family had joined the Church, he was anxious to make personal contact with them at their home in Ohio.

Aurelius Miner arrived at the home of his father on the 4th of August and spent the next ten days with them pleasantly conversing on religious, political and scientific subjects. Returning to New York he secured passage on the steamship Virginia for England, landing in Liverpool on the 1st of September. He later had the responsibility of presiding over the entire missionary work in Scotland. Many important assignments were given to Aurelius Miner not only in presiding and preaching, but also using his legal information to set up correct accounting and statistical procedure to be followed in the more temporal concerns of the Church.

Aurelius returned from his mission in the late summer of 1868, and immediately took a leading part in preparing the legal matter involved in the organization of Zion's Cooperative Mercantile Institution. In the City Hall on Friday, October 16, 1868 he called a meeting on this business at which officers were selected.

His interest in politics continued and on February 12, 1872 he was selected Alderman of the Second Municipal Ward of Salt Lake City and ex-officio Justice of the Peace. During that same year he was elected as a delegate to the National Constitutional Convention which was held in Baltimore. While on his second mission to Great Britain met Annie Adams who later came to Utah, and whom he married June 13, 1879. They were the parents of fourteen children.

After the passage of the Edmunds-Tucker law, Mr. Miner was one of the men arrested on the charge of unlawful cohabitation. On November 14, 1885, Judge Charles S. Zane, in the Third District Court, disbarred him from the further practice of law. After serving his time in the State Penitentiary he was released on March 20, 1886. Undaunted by his disbarment, he continued to render valuable legal assistance as an adviser and counselor to the attorneys employed by the Church. He was later reinstated as a member of the bar, and continued in the practice until the time of his death. He passed away in Salt Lake City May 20, 1913 at the age of 81 years. Perhaps his life's book might close with the sentiment written in his journal at the close of 1867: "The history is written; the book is sealed with time's signet, awaiting the revelation of the Judgment Day, for the good or evil done, to be then justly weighed and the merit and demerit determined." Mabel M. Olsen.