Archives West Finding Aid

Joseph B. Toronto (1854-1933) was born in Magna, Utah. His father, Joseph B. Toronto Sr., was a native of Sardinia and his mother, Eleanor Jones, was a native of Wales. Joseph B. had excellent teachers early on and soon he was an assistant teacher himself at the Twentieth Ward Seminary (Salt Lake Stake). He later attended the University of Deseret from 1869-1875 before entering West Point Military Academy. He was disappointed in what he found at West Point, however, and even after many letters that implored him to stay, Toronto left the same year. He soon obtained a job as an instructor at the University of Deseret, teaching Ancient Languages, Mathematics, and Natural Science. His job title was later changed to Professor of Mathematics, Ancient Languages, and History. He also served as the faculty advisor for Delta Phi, the University's oldest fraternity. In 1889, he resigned and spent several years traveling and studying in Europe, Palestine, and Egypt. In 1894, he once more returned to the newly renamed University of Utah as a professor of Mathematics. In 1898, he was made vice-president of the University. He retired from the University in 1904 and died twenty-nine years later at the age of seventy-nine.