Moses Thatcher

Family Background

1842. February 2: Born in Sangamon County, Illinois. His family migrated to the Salt Lake Valley in 1847. Two years later, touched with the gold fever, they moved to Sacramento, California, where his father operated an "eating house."

Moses earned his keep by watering miners' horses for as much as five dollars a drink. He also mined, extracting moss and gold from the crevices of rocks on the banks of the American River with a butcher knife and a milk pan.

Missionaries frequently visited the Thatcher home, and fourteen-year-old Moses was baptized in the Rio Puta in 1856. Three months later he was ordained an elder. In 1858 Moses and his brothers moved to Salt Lake City, where he joined the police force. In 1860 the Thatcher family moved to Cache Valley, Utah, where Moses married Lettie Farr in 1861. He later married Lydia Ann Clayton (1868) and Georgie Snow, daughter of Erastus Snow (1885).

Businessman

1870. Appointed superintendent of Cache Valley schools, as well as director and secretary of the Utah Northern Railroad, a company which he eventually managed. As his wealth increased, Thatcher became a vice-president and director of ZCMI and Deseret National Bank, and president of Thatcher Brothers' Banking Company. He was well respected in Cache and Rich counties, serving as territorial legislator for ten years.

Apostle

1879. April 9:After two years as a stake president in Logan, Utah, Thatcher was ordained an apostle and, six months later, called on a mission to Mexico.

1880. February: He returned to Salt Lake City with a proposal to colonize Utah Saints in Mexico, but the Twelve decided against the measure and Thatcher returned to Mexico City in December.

1881. April: Dedicated Mexico for the preaching of the gospel. The first Mormon mission to Mexico was in 1874.

1883. Prosecution of federal anti-polygamy laws made the prospect of Mexican colonies more attractive. Thatcher and his future father-in-law, Erastus Snow, were dispatched to find suitable sites. Thatcher knew key Mexican officials, and his business acumen qualified him to negotiate complicated agreements.

Dedicating Colonia Juarez on a 75,000-acre tract in Corrales Basin in 1887, Thatcher promised, "As long as saloons are banned, and profanity kept off the streets, this spot will remain a place of refuge for all who need it." Mormon polygamists found refuge in Juarez and seven other Mexican colonies until 1910, when they were abondoned during the Mexican Revolution.

Political Dissident

Abraham H. Cannon alleged that Thatcher "constantly opposed the increase of power in the hands of the President of the Church."

1885. February 4: According to Cannon, "The Council of Fifty met in the old City Hall, and Moses opposed the proposition to anoint John Taylor as Prophet, Priest and King." In 1889 Thatcher objected to the selection of Wilford Woodruff as president of the Church on grounds that the eighty-two-year-old apostle could not cope with increasing Church difficulties over polygamy.

1892. Moses Thatcher, B. H. Roberts, and Charles W. Penrose, campaigning for the Democratic Party, were censured by their Republican brethren, who felt it unwise for them to "take to the political stump at that time."

1896. Thatcher, a Democratic Senatorial candidate, and B. H. Roberts, Democratic candidate for Congress, suffered disciplinary action for accepting nomination without approval from Church leaders. Wilford Woodruff explained: "When a man was appointed to the apostleship, or presidency, orin any office, as a teacher of the people, it placed on him a very grave responsibility; and no man was counted at liberty, from the organization of the church, to engage in any branch of business, politics, or anything else to take him entirely away from his calling, business, duty or responsibility for a length of time, without first counseling with the presidency of the church, or with his quorum, on its propriety, and getting permission to do so."

After both Thatcher and Roberts were defeated, the First Presidency prepared a "political manifesto" which stipulated that "before accepting any position, political or otherwise, which would interfere with the proper and complete discharge of his ecclesiastical duties, and before accepting a nomination or entering into engagements to perform new duties, [every leading] official should apply to the proper authorities and learn from them whether he can, consistently with the obligations already entered into with the church upon assuming his office, take upon himself the added duties and labors and responsibilities of the new position."

Although B. H. Roberts eventually endorsed the document, Thatcher steadfastly refused. He was convinced that the manifesto would be used selectively to stifle Democratic candidates: "I could not consent to the adoption of a rule that would effect the political liberty of so many people, and give so great power to the church authorities."

The entire matter was complicated by Thatcher's prolonged ill health and morphine addiction. Heber J. Grant recorded during this time that he called on Moses one evening "and found him very low indeed. … He told me that he felt impressed with the idea that he had a cancer in his stomach. He is a wonderfully sick man and it looks to me that he can not live long unless there is a change for the better." He did not die for fifteen years. His refusal to sign the manifesto resulted in his name not being presented for endorsement in April conference.

Deposed Apostle

1896. November 19: Dropped from the Quorum of the Twelve [p.370] and deprived of the right to use his priesthood. One year later, to avoid excommunication, he signed a prepared statement: "That in taking the position that the authorities of the Church, by issuing the declaration of principles on April 6, 1896, acted in violation of pledges previously given and contrary to what they had published in the Deseret News and given to the Salt Lake Times, he was in error and in the dark. … That he was mistaken in conveying the idea that the church authorities desired and intended to unite church and state to exercise undue influence in political affairs."

Death

1909. August 21: Having returned to his business interests and family in Logan, Moses Thatcher died there at the age of sixty-seven. Buried in the Logan Cemetery.

Sources
Deseret News, 19 October 1895, 28 November 1896.
Hatch, Nelle Spilsbury. Colonia Juarez: An Intimate Account of a Mormon Village. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1954.
Ivins, Stanley S. The Moses Thatcher Case. Salt Lake City: Modern Microfilm Company, n.d.
Journal of Discourses, 26:328
Madsen, Truman G. B. H. Roberts: Defender of the Faith. Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1981.
Reasoner, Calvin. Church and State: The Issue of Civil and Religious Liberty in Utah. Salt Lake City, 1896.
Roberts, B. H. Comprehensive History 6:330-336.
Salt Lake City, Utah. LDS Church Archives. Abraham H. Cannon Journal, 14 October 1886, 2 December 1895.
_____. Heber J. Grant Journal.
Salt Lake City, Utah. University of Utah. J. Willard Marriott Library. John Henry Smith Journal.
The Thatcher Episode: A Consise Statement of the Facts in the Case. Salt Lake City: Deseret News Publishing Company, 1896.

	A Book of Mormons Richard S. Van Wagoner and Steven C. Walker Copyright 1982, Signature Books Salt Lake City, Utah Contents


	Moses Thatcher (1842-1909)

				Moses Thatcher was a businessman, apostle, and political dissident. Photograph courtesy LDS Church Archives.


	Family Background 1842. February 2: Born in Sangamon County, Illinois. His family migrated to the Salt Lake Valley in 1847. Two years later, touched with the gold fever, they moved to Sacramento, California, where his father operated an "eating house." Moses earned his keep by watering miners' horses for as much as five dollars a drink. He also mined, extracting moss and gold from the crevices of rocks on the banks of the American River with a butcher knife and a milk pan. Missionaries frequently visited the Thatcher home, and fourteen-year-old Moses was baptized in the Rio Puta in 1856. Three months later he was ordained an elder. In 1858 Moses and his brothers moved to Salt Lake City, where he joined the police force. In 1860 the Thatcher family moved to Cache Valley, Utah, where Moses married Lettie Farr in 1861. He later married Lydia Ann Clayton (1868) and Georgie Snow, daughter of Erastus Snow (1885). Businessman 1870. Appointed superintendent of Cache Valley schools, as well as director and secretary of the Utah Northern Railroad, a company which he eventually managed. As his wealth increased, Thatcher became a vice-president and director of ZCMI and Deseret National Bank, and president of Thatcher Brothers' Banking Company. He was well respected in Cache and Rich counties, serving as territorial legislator for ten years. Apostle 1879. April 9:After two years as a stake president in Logan, Utah, Thatcher was ordained an apostle and, six months later, called on a mission to Mexico. 1880. February: He returned to Salt Lake City with a proposal to colonize Utah Saints in Mexico, but the Twelve decided against the measure and Thatcher returned to Mexico City in December. 1881. April: Dedicated Mexico for the preaching of the gospel. The first Mormon mission to Mexico was in 1874. 1883. Prosecution of federal anti-polygamy laws made the prospect of Mexican colonies more attractive. Thatcher and his future father-in-law, Erastus Snow, were dispatched to find suitable sites. Thatcher knew key Mexican officials, and his business acumen qualified him to negotiate complicated agreements. Dedicating Colonia Juarez on a 75,000-acre tract in Corrales Basin in 1887, Thatcher promised, "As long as saloons are banned, and profanity kept off the streets, this spot will remain a place of refuge for all who need it." Mormon polygamists found refuge in Juarez and seven other Mexican colonies until 1910, when they were abondoned during the Mexican Revolution. Political Dissident Abraham H. Cannon alleged that Thatcher "constantly opposed the increase of power in the hands of the President of the Church." 1885. February 4: According to Cannon, "The Council of Fifty met in the old City Hall, and Moses opposed the proposition to anoint John Taylor as Prophet, Priest and King." In 1889 Thatcher objected to the selection of Wilford Woodruff as president of the Church on grounds that the eighty-two-year-old apostle could not cope with increasing Church difficulties over polygamy. 1892. Moses Thatcher, B. H. Roberts, and Charles W. Penrose, campaigning for the Democratic Party, were censured by their Republican brethren, who felt it unwise for them to "take to the political stump at that time." 1896. Thatcher, a Democratic Senatorial candidate, and B. H. Roberts, Democratic candidate for Congress, suffered disciplinary action for accepting nomination without approval from Church leaders. Wilford Woodruff explained: "When a man was appointed to the apostleship, or presidency, orin any office, as a teacher of the people, it placed on him a very grave responsibility; and no man was counted at liberty, from the organization of the church, to engage in any branch of business, politics, or anything else to take him entirely away from his calling, business, duty or responsibility for a length of time, without first counseling with the presidency of the church, or with his quorum, on its propriety, and getting permission to do so." After both Thatcher and Roberts were defeated, the First Presidency prepared a "political manifesto" which stipulated that "before accepting any position, political or otherwise, which would interfere with the proper and complete discharge of his ecclesiastical duties, and before accepting a nomination or entering into engagements to perform new duties, [every leading] official should apply to the proper authorities and learn from them whether he can, consistently with the obligations already entered into with the church upon assuming his office, take upon himself the added duties and labors and responsibilities of the new position." Although B. H. Roberts eventually endorsed the document, Thatcher steadfastly refused. He was convinced that the manifesto would be used selectively to stifle Democratic candidates: "I could not consent to the adoption of a rule that would effect the political liberty of so many people, and give so great power to the church authorities." The entire matter was complicated by Thatcher's prolonged ill health and morphine addiction. Heber J. Grant recorded during this time that he called on Moses one evening "and found him very low indeed. … He told me that he felt impressed with the idea that he had a cancer in his stomach. He is a wonderfully sick man and it looks to me that he can not live long unless there is a change for the better." He did not die for fifteen years. His refusal to sign the manifesto resulted in his name not being presented for endorsement in April conference. Deposed Apostle 1896. November 19: Dropped from the Quorum of the Twelve [p.370] and deprived of the right to use his priesthood. One year later, to avoid excommunication, he signed a prepared statement: "That in taking the position that the authorities of the Church, by issuing the declaration of principles on April 6, 1896, acted in violation of pledges previously given and contrary to what they had published in the Deseret News and given to the Salt Lake Times, he was in error and in the dark. … That he was mistaken in conveying the idea that the church authorities desired and intended to unite church and state to exercise undue influence in political affairs." Death 1909. August 21: Having returned to his business interests and family in Logan, Moses Thatcher died there at the age of sixty-seven. Buried in the Logan Cemetery. Sources Deseret News, 19 October 1895, 28 November 1896. Hatch, Nelle Spilsbury. Colonia Juarez: An Intimate Account of a Mormon Village. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1954. Ivins, Stanley S. The Moses Thatcher Case. Salt Lake City: Modern Microfilm Company, n.d. Journal of Discourses, 26:328 Madsen, Truman G. B. H. Roberts: Defender of the Faith. Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1981. Reasoner, Calvin. Church and State: The Issue of Civil and Religious Liberty in Utah. Salt Lake City, 1896. Roberts, B. H. Comprehensive History 6:330-336. Salt Lake City, Utah. LDS Church Archives. Abraham H. Cannon Journal, 14 October 1886, 2 December 1895. _____. Heber J. Grant Journal. Salt Lake City, Utah. University of Utah. J. Willard Marriott Library. John Henry Smith Journal. The Thatcher Episode: A Consise Statement of the Facts in the Case. Salt Lake City: Deseret News Publishing Company, 1896.