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History is often portrayed as the story of movements and their leaders. Typically, historians emphasize key figures who change the course of history by their charismatic personalities, genius, creativity —or simple good fortune. In Latter-day Saint history there has been a tendency to ignore what happens below the top level of administration. The lives of those who drive the engines of history are ignored, often because they leave no written records, but just as often because they are not considered important. Such an attitude is unfortunate, for the vitality and strength of any movement is expressed in the diversity of its experience as well as its unity of purpose. Mormon history abounds with people of all shapes, sizes, nationalities, and personalities. Their individual stories are not well enough known. Quite apart from the notable lives of the General Authorities there is a wealth of experience in the stories of the members —men and women who, as teachers, bishops, stake presidents, and Relief Society presidents, served faithfully in the vineyards to which they were called. Historians have a vast reservoir of personal records to tap as they present the human side of Mormon history, as well as the institutional side. When one of the authors compiled Guide to Mormon Diaries and Autobiographies, he found nearly three thousand first-hand accounts in public repositories; at least that many more remain virtually unknown in the possession of family members. In this decade alone, thousands of personal histories have been written in response to the counsel of President Spencer W. Kimball. Though many of these will interest only the family of the person keeping the record, many others will certainly interest future historians as they describe the recent expansion of the Church and explore what it means to be a Latter-day Saint in Japan, in Mexico, in Africa—in all parts of the world. Of the many stories which could be told, we have selected these for their intrinsic value and because they illuminate [p.viii] various facets of our history: early conversion and sacrifice, proselyting, gathering, colonizing, building the kingdom in distant lands, and transforming and modernizing Church programs. For the most part, these are "mainstream Mormons," Latter-day Saints whose lives reflect the beliefs and values of traditional Mormonism. Only two were General Authorities. All were committed to the restored gospel, although some understood it differently than others. All had their burdens to bear, which they did in their own ways and with varying degrees of success. They are not objects of veneration but human beings who, like the rest of us, struggle to be worthy of the title Latter-day Saint. They are Saints without halos. Portions of some chapters have appeared in different form in Arizona and the West, BYU Studies, the Church News, the Las Vegas Sun, and the New Era. We have benefited from the research and editorial work of Scott Kenney and express our appreciation for his help. |
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[p.3] The first period of Mormon history was not long, but it exceptionally varied and restless. The main lines are well known: Joseph Smith's youthful quest for religious certainty and the spiritual manifestations that followed; the coming forth of the Book of Mormon; the organization of the Church in upstate New York; the move to Kirtland, Ohio; the gathering to Missouri; the persecution in both places; the establishment of a new headquarters in Nauvoo, Illinois; the martyrdom of the Prophet; the expulsion from Nauvoo and the trek across the plains to refuge in the Great Basin. Such is the main story line of the Church's first decades. But there were many subcurrents and side eddies. The missionary net was flung wide and each convert gathered in had his or her own story to tell. Joseph Knight, one of the first to hear the restoration message, came to Joseph Smith's aid when he needed help to continue translating the Book of Mormon, participated in events leading up to the organization of the Church, and became a stalwart in the first branch. Jonathan Hale, a good example of the first missionaries who spread the gospel message, also played an important role in the move of the "Kirtland Camp" to Missouri; he later assisted the poor to relocate in Illinois and eventually helped supervise the evacuation of Nauvoo. Lyman Wight, second in command of Zion's Camp, member of the stake presidency in Missouri, fellow-prisoner with the Prophet in Liberty Jail, and finally, apostle, left the main body of the Church and led his own band of followers to Texas. His experience reminds us that people were moving out of the Church as well as coming in. Nine apostles in Joseph Smith's first Quorum of the Twelve were excommunicated, and thousands of others have left the Church for their own reasons, many after having made significant, enduring contributions to the advancement of the gospel. Thomas Kane, a nonmember, entered the picture just as Lyman Wight was leaving. Touched by the plight of the refugees from Nauvoo, he offered help on many occasions. His intervention on behalf of the Saints in 1857 was especially [p.4] crucial and may have been responsible for averting war with the United States. One experience shared by most early converts was that of gathering with the Saints. A prominent missionary theme for sixty years, the principle of gathering induced thousands of converts to forsake their homes and move to Missouri, Illinois, and finally to the Great Basin. Between 1849 and 1857 alone, more than 15,000 British converts moved to Utah. One of these was Jean Rio Griffiths Baker. Making the trip as a widow with her seven children in 1851, Jean kept a detailed diary of her ocean voyage and overland trek, giving us an eloquent firsthand account of the experience shared by tens of thousands of nineteenth-century Saints. |
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[p.51] The Mormon migration west continued for many years after 1846. By, wagon, handcart, and eventually railroad, Latter-day Saints continued to gather in the Great Basin. Until the mid-1880s, gathering was an official Church policy. Even after gathering to Utah, the pioneering was far from over. To be sure, some immediately staked out a claim in the Salt Lake Valley, built a house, and within a year or two were settled for the rest of their lives. But others were called upon to uproot their families and head out for a new location in Utah, Arizona, Idaho, Nevada, California, Wyoming, and eventually Mexico and Canada. The gospel ensign to the nations was intended to wave over North and South America and eventually the world, carried forth from a secure base in the Great Basin. Historian Milton R. Hunter listed 350 settlements established during Brigham Young's lifetime, and each of them was, for its settlers, a new exodus and a new beginning. The initial gathering place for this period was, of course, Salt Lake City. Among its most prominent leaders was Bishop Edwin D. Woolley, who presided over the Thirteenth Ward for twenty-seven years. A practical man with an independent streak, Bishop Woolley's primary concern was the temporal and spiritual welfare of his people. Occasionally he locked horns with Brigham Young and Eliza R. Snow, but they were able to work through their differences with some judicious give and take. Charles Walker was a salt-of-the-earth Saint who responded to the colonizing call with a simple faith and an accepting heart, and who endured the deprivations of pioneering with an ebullient sense of humor. Lucy White Flake was born in the Church, in Illinois. She walked across the plains with her family and helped settle Lehi, Cedar City, and Beaver, Utah, then Allen's Camp and Snowflake, Arizona. Though her husband was not religious when they married, largely through her persistent efforts he eventually became one of the pillars of the Church in Arizona. Lucy's poignant autobiography reveals her heartache at plural marriage, and her alternate fortitude and depression through the hardships of pioneering. [p.52] Edward Bunker was a member of the Mormon Battalion and a missionary to England. He led a company of handcart pioneers across the plains, served as a bishop in Ogden and Santa Clara, Utah, and founded Bunkerville, Nevada. His experience with the Santa Clara and Bunkerville United Orders helps us appreciate the difficulties encountered by those who tried to implement the economic ideals inspired by the revelations of Joseph Smith. Of all the colonizations attempted in the generation after Brigham Young, none was more grueling than settling the San Juan region of southeastern Utah. In fact, it is hard to imagine how any settlement, at any place or time, could have demanded more than this incredible journey down the Hole-in-the-Rock chute as told through the experience of the Lemuel H. Redd family. Chauncey West's 1895 diary gives us a view of the life and times of an extraordinary young man in Brigham City, Utah. |
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[p.107] Some years ago the great Western historian Walter Prescott Webb told the authors, "Mormon history has everything. It is the ideal topic for a historian. It has sacrifice, persecution, great movements across space, pioneering, economic experimentation, political struggle, and religious zeal. And it has a beginning, a middle, and an end." Webb and some other historians seem to feel that the adjustments associated with the Manifesto and the coming of statehood to Utah ended the distinctiveness of Mormonism. According to this interpretation, Latter-day Saints entered the American mainstream and became virtually indistinguishable from the rest of society. There is some truth to this view, of course, because changes of policy did occur, and in many respects the Mormons, tired of constant harrassment, welcomed the "respectability" of full-fledged citizenship. But the adjustment was far from an abandonment of principle; it was a creative adjustment that enabled the Saints to pursue the main goals of their theological and ecclesiastical program. Too much that is genuinely exciting has occurred in the twentieth century to conclude that Mormon history ended with the nineteenth. From 1840 to the present, one or more members of the Richards family has served almost continuously in the leading councils of the Church. George F. Richards is an especially interesting link in this great chain because so many advancements were made during his lifetime (1861-1950). From the very beginning, Latter-day Saints have been theologically and culturally interested in the American Indian. Helen Sekaquaptewa is a Hopi who joined the Church in 1953. Her life before and after baptism illustrates the inspiration and the conflict generated by the traditions of her people as she bridges two cultures. Though his professional training led philosopher Ephraim E. Ericksen to make a critical evaluation of the Church's theology and programs, his contributions on the YMMIA General Board and in the classroom have had significant impact on modern Mormonism. The contributions of his wife [p.108] Edna Clark Ericksen were equally important to the development of the Primary's Trail Builder program. Following her immigration from Switzerland during World War II, Margrit Feh Lohner made an unusually successful adaptation to American society. She became a prominent member of the YWMIA General Board and general Church Music Committee. Her enthusiasm for the arts and the Church has made her an especially effective leader of young women throughout the Church. As a missionary, T. Edgar Lyon experienced spiritual gifts which helped sustain his faith throughout his life. Later, as a mission president in Holland he witnessed the effects of the Depression and Nazism in Europe. As a seminary and institute teacher, Ed Lyon earned a rare reputation—that of a devoted teacher, and, at the same time, a respected scholar. |
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[p.154] In an attempt to explain Mormonism to his English audience, G.K. Chesterton once wrote, "A number of dull, earnest, ignorant, black-coated men with chimney-pot hats, chin beards or mutton-chop whiskers, managed to reproduce in their own souls the richness and the peril of an ancient Oriental experience." We appreciate Chesterton's backhanded acknowledgement of Mormonism as a genuine religious movement, but his caricature commits several common errors. First is the mistake, more common in the nineteenth century than in the twentieth, of depicting Mormons as dull and ignorant. While it is true that the advantages of formal education were not available to many early Saints in America and Europe, as well as many modern Saints in today's developing countries, there were and are exceptionally literate and educated men and women who have left us thoughtful diaries and oral interviews reflecting a keen awareness of the world around them and a deep sensitivity to their own experiences. Next, apparently because he identifies the Church with its ecclesiastical leadership, Chesterton ignores the importance of women in Mormonism—a common oversight that is becoming increasingly recognized. A third common mistake is to treat Mormonism as a thing of the past. Despite the phenomenal growth of the Church worldwide in this century, even Sydney E. Ahlstrom's recent A Religious History of the American People concludes its discussion of Mormonism in the mid-nineteenth century. In these brief biographical sketches we have tried to give dimension to the vast range of Mormon experience—from the beginnings to modern times, from the uneducated to the professional teacher, from enthusiastic converts to discouraged colonists, from loyal critics to a headstrong rebel. We have seen women as homemakers, pioneers, and innovative leaders. We would like to have included more women, more experiences [p.155] beyond the Wasatch Front, and more individuals in the largely untapped second century of Mormonism. But there are limits to what can be accomplished in such a short work. In the hundred-and-fifty-year history of Mormonism, developments within the Church have maintained its relevance in the modern world. Some of those developments can be seen in the lives we have described. But there is also a strong sense of continuity with the past—an abiding commitment to the original religious impulses of Mormonism's first generation. Revelation, priesthood authority, and the implementation of religious ideals in day-to-day living remain the hallmarks of Mormonism. It is certainly much more than "an ancient Oriental experience." It may be that one of the ultimate values of Mormonism lies in the meaning it gives to the lives of its "ordinary" members— enlarging their vision and enriching their opportunities. We have found that the story of Mormonism is, as the personalities examined in the book demonstrate, the story of extraordinary deeds accomplished by ordinary people. |
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[p.156] Except where indicated, all unpublished manuscripts are located in the Historical Archives of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Chapter 1. In addition to Joseph Knight, Jr., "Incidents of History from 1827 to 1844," we have drawn information from the following published works: "Joseph Knight's Recollections of Early Mormon History," edited by Dean C. Jessee, Brigham Young University Studies 17 (Autumn 1976): 29-39; "Newel Knight's Journal," Scraps of Biography (Salt Lake City: Juvenile Instructor Office, 1883); Larry C. Porter, "The Colesville Branch and the Coming Forth of the Book of Mormon," BYU Studies 10 (Spring 1970): 365-85; and History of Broome County, edited by H.P. Smith (Syracuse, N.Y., 1885). Chapter 2. Of special value was the Jonathan H. Hale Journal, 2 vols., and the Aroet Hale Journal, 2 vols. Also helpful was the diary of Wilford Woodruff. See one published portion in "The Kirtland Diary of Wilford Woodruff," edited by Dean C. Jessee, BYU Studies 12 (Summer 1972): 365-99. A published biography is Heber Q. Hale, Bishop Jonathan H. Hale of Nauvoo: His Life and Ministry (Salt Lake City: privately published, 1938). Chapter 3. The main sources for the essay on Lyman Wight are: History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, edited by B.H. Roberts, 7 vols., 2nd ed. (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1964); Lyman Wight, An Address by Way of an Abridged Account and Journal of My Life from February 1844 up to April 1848 (Austin, Texas, 1848); Marvin J. Hunter, The Lyman Wight Colony in Texas (Bandera, Texas, n.d.); Davis Bitton, "Mormons in Texas: The Ill-Fated Lyman Wight Colony, 1844-1858," Arizona and the West 11 (1969): 5-26; Philip C. Wightman, "The Life and Contributions of Lyman Wight," (M.A. thesis, Brigham Young University, 1971); and The Reminiscences and Civil War Letters of Levi Lamoni Wight, edited by Davis Bitton (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1970). Chapter 4. Information for this chapter was gained from the letters exchanged between Thomas L. Kane and Brigham Young. We have also drawn information from the following published works: Norman R. Bowen and Albert L. Zobell, Jr., "General Thomas L. Kane: The Soldier," Ensign 1 (June 1971): 23-27; "General Thomas L. Kane: The Pioneer," Ensign 1 (October 1971): 2-5; Albert L. Zobell, Sentinel in the East: A Biography of Thomas L. Kane (Salt [p.157] Lake City: Nicholas G. Morgan, 1965); The Private Papers and Diary of Thomas Leiper Kane: A Friend of the Mormons, edited by Oscar O. Winther (San Francisco: Gelber-Lilienthal, 1937); Elizabeth Wood Kane, Twelve Mormon Homes Visited in Succession on a Journey Through Utah and Arizona, edited by Everett L. Cooley (Salt Lake City: Tanner Trust Fund, 1974); and Leonard J. Arrington, "In Honorable Remembrance: Thomas L. Kane's Service to the Mormons," BYU Studies 21 (Summer 1981): 150-170. Chapter 5. The main source for this chapter was the diary of Jean Rio Baker Pearce, typescript. Chapter 6. Leonard J. Arrington, From Quaker to Latter-day Saint: Bishop Edwin D. Woolley (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1976), and Preston W. Parkinson, The Utah Woolley Family (Salt Lake City: Privately published, 1967) are the principal sources. Also see Minutes of Bishops Meetings, Salt Lake City, 1852-1882; and the minute books of the Thirteenth Ward. Chapter 7. The Diary of Charles Lowell Walker, 2 vols., edited by Andrew Karl Larson (Logan, Utah: Utah State University Press, 1980); and the Veprecula, which contains several Walker compositions and verses, were the main sources for this chapter. Chapter 8. The material for this chapter comes from Lucy Hannah White Flake, Autobiography and Diary, manuscript; and, Roberta Flake Clayton, Pioneer Women of Arizona (mimeographed, Mesa, 1969). See also Leonard J. Arrington, "Latter-day Saint Women on the Arizona Frontier," New Era 4 (April 1974): 42-50. Chapter 9. Published information on Edward Bunker and Bunkerville is included in Leonard J. Arrington, Feramorz Y. Fox, and Dean L. May, Building the City of God: Community and Cooperation Among the Mormons (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1976); Juanita Brooks, "The Water's In," Harper's Monthly Magazine, 182 (May 1941); LeRoy R. and Ann W. Hafen, The Joyous Journey: An Autobiography (Glendale, Calif.: Arthur H. Clark, 1973); Elbert B. Edwards, 200 Years in Nevada: A Bicentennial History (Salt Lake City: Publishers Press, 1978); The Bunker Family, edited by Joseph B. Walker (Delta, Utah: Privately published, 1957); and Leonard J. Arrington, The Mormons in Nevada (Las Vegas, Nevada: Sun, 1979). Unpublished sources are Myron A. Abbott Diary, typescript; Edward Bunker Autobiography, typescript; Bunkerville Ward Historical Record, Bunkerville Ward Manuscript History, Santa Clara Ward Manuscript History, Saint George Stake Historical Record, and Juanita Brooks, "The History of Bunkerville," typescript. Chapter 10. In addition to the San Juan Stake History, we have used the following published works: Reed W. Farnsworth, "The San [p.158] Juan Mission," The Power of Adversity (Cedar City, Utah: Privately published, 1979); David E. Miller, Hole-in-the-Rock: An Epic in the Colonization of the Great American West (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1966); Lemuel Hardison Redd, Jr., 1856-1923: Pioneer, Leader, Builder, edited by Amasa Jay Redd (Salt Lake City: Privately published, 1967); and Charles Redd, "Short Cut to the San Juan," 1949 Brand Book of the Denver Posse of Westerners (Denver, 1950): 1-25. Chapter 11. The main source for this chapter was the 1895 diary of Chauncey W. West. See also Davis Bitton, "Six Months in the Life of a Mormon Teenager,"New Era 7 (May 1977): 44-49. Chapter 12. We have used the diaries of George F. Richards, Church Archives, and autobiographical sketches by Joel Richards and LeGrand Richards, typescripts in our possession. Chapter 13. Sources for this chapter were Me and Mine: The Life Story of Helen Sekaquaptewa, as told to Louise Udall (Tuscon: University of Arizona Press, 1969); Grace F. Arrington, "Biography of an Indian Latter-day Saint Woman," Dialogue 6 (Summer 1971): 124-26; and an untranscribed oral history of Helen Sekaquaptewa, interviewed by Lamar Helquist, 1 November 1978, copy in possession of Maureen Ursenbach Beecher, Salt Lake City, Utah. Chapter 14. The material on Ephraim and Edna Ericksen comes from E.E. Ericksen, The Psychological and Ethical Aspects of Mormon Group Life (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1922); E.E. Ericksen, "Bendt Jensen Ericksen," and "Ephraim Edward Ericksen: His Memories and Reflections," typescripts in the possession of Edna Ericksen, Salt Lake City. Also valuable were, Scott Kenney, "The Religious Life and Thought of E.E. Ericksen: Crusading Heretic," unpublished paper in possession of the authors; taped interviews with Edna Ericksen, 1973-1981, in possession of Scott Kenney; Scott Kenney, "E.E. Ericksen: Loyal Heretic," Sunstone 3 (July-August 1978): 16-27; and various publications of the YMMIA and Primary Association. Chapter 15. The material on Margrit Feh Lohner comes from oral history interviews by Sylvia Bruening (August 1972). Chapter 16. T. Edgar Lyon, oral history interviews conducted by Davis Bitton, November 1974 to January 1975 provided the major source of information for this chapter. See also T. Edgar Lyon, "Church Historians I Have Known," Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 11 (Winter 1978): 14-22. |
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