Jesse B. Broadbent (1822-1897) was born in Leeds, Yorkshire, England, and died in Omaha, Nebraska. He worked as a laborer and moved to the United States in June 1862, taking a ship from Liverpool, England, to New York, New York, as one of nearly 90,000 Latter-day Saint converts who crossed the oceans during the nineteenth century. His family then made their way to Omaha, Nebraska. Traveling by pioneer wagons in the Homer Duncan Company, they left Omaha for the Salt Lake Valley in Utah on July 22, 1862, arriving there two months later on September 21, 1862. Broadbent was baptized as a member of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in May 1868. He was expelled from the RLDS Church on July 4, 1874. In 1876, he was ordained as one of the Seventy Elders in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. After studying with Jennie B. Fenn, a student of Mary Baker Eddy's, Broadbent also became a student of Eddy's, completing her Primary class in February 1889 and becoming a member of the Christian Scientist Association.

See more letters.