During the 1838 Independence Day celebrations in Far West, Missouri, the military band passed in review of three men acting as Generals: Lott, Jared Carter, and Sampson Avard.

Once in Nauvoo, Lott took over management of Smith's farm and purchased some adjacent land, on which he built an eight-room farmhouse.

[6][9] While there, he served as a captain of Smith's bodyguard[6] and received his endowment with W.W. Phelps and Joseph Fielding.

Years later, Joseph Smith III, who was a boy at the time, recalled that the "rather old" Lott (then in his mid-forties and possibly with prematurely gray hair[11]) "was still strong and muscular and was usually willing to demonstrate his strength.

"[12] Smith related that not long after arriving in Nauvoo, Lott came to his father's red-brick store to purchase supplies.

[9] In late Spring 1848, Lott served as a captain in Heber C. Kimball's company, an early group crossing the plains.

[16] She refused, and according to her son, later church president Joseph F. Smith, Lott humiliated her throughout the trek.