History of Salt Lake City, Part 82

Author: Tullidge, Edward Wheelock
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Salt Lake City, Star printing company
Number of Pages: 1194

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HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.

Old and New Testament plans, in the virgin valleys of the Rocky Mountains, where a new social experiment seemed eminently proper, viewed from a strict sociological standpoint.

The pioneers, as the leaders of a colony, or rather of a family of colonies, having located " the City of the Great Salt Lake," as we have seen, returned to Winter Quarters to bring up the body of the Church which had been driven from Nauvoo, while the British Mission of the Mormon Church was waiting to pour its tide of emigration into America, to populate the State which the leaders were founding. Meantime, the companies which followed close on the track of the pioneers, the same season, built the "Old Fort," located in the Sixth Ward of the city, and they survived the scarcity and hardships of the first winter. In September, 1848, Presidents Young, Kimball and Richards arrived in the Valley of the Great Salt Lake, with three large companies of the Saints from Winter Quarters' The parent colony numbered now nearly 6,000 souls. So much is repeated to take up the thread of those vast emigrations, of a later period, which have brought to America nearly a hundred thousand souls, in ships specially chartered by the Mormon Church, and given to these valleys, since 1847, in parents and offspring, not less than a quarter of a million of population. The majority of the parents and thousands of their children have passed away in the course of nature, but tens of thousands of their children, most of them American born, survive.

Next we take up a link of the plan and growth of Salt Lake City.

The genius of the social plan of the Rocky Mountain Zion was touched by Brigham Young on Sunday, July 25th, the next day after his arrival in the valley. Though feeble with the mountain fever, and scarcely able to stand upon his feet, the great colonizer arose and " told the brethren," says the historian Woodruff, " that they must not work on Sunday ; that they would lose five times as much as they would gain by it. None were to hunt or fish on that day, and there should not any man dwell among us who would not observe these rules. They might go and dwell where they pleased, but should not dwell with us. He also said, no man should buy any land who came here ; that he had none to sell ; but every man should have his land measured out to him for city and farming purposes. He might till it as he pleased, but he must be industrious and take care of it."

There is a new social system nascent in this diary note which needs, to the outside reader, and even to " the children of the fathers," an expounding from Mormon theory and phases of actual Mormon history of the date of the exodus and the founding of this city.

The note signifies that President Young, and his pioneer compeers, at that time, contemplated the building up of a Zion in these Rocky Mountains on the " perfect plan," or the " order of Enoch," laid down by Joseph Smith. Hence he said, " No man should buy land who came here; that he had none to sell," etc.

It was the design of the Prophet Joseph Smith, at the very opening of the " Latter-day dispensation," to construct for his followers a new social system, as well as to reveal a " new " spiritual religion, or rather to restore the "Everlasting Gospel," as taught to the ancients in the patriarchal ages of the world, and by Jesus at the opening of the Christian dispensation. Blending thus the genius and institutions of the Old and New Testaments-or as classified in modern theology,

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HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.

the patriarchal and gospel dispensations, the Mormon Church grew up as the spir- itual and temporal halves of a divine plan and government. Hence a " gather- ing dispensation " became, both to the Prophet and his disciples, as the signature of their " new covenant," and a gathering place was the very base of their mil- lennial work ; for such to them it was in the highest and broadest sense. ; or, in the common language of modern sociology, there were needed a Mormon Zion and a constant flow up of Mormon emmigrations; in fine, a well sustained system oi Mormon colonization to evolve and consummate the Prophet's plan. In keeping with this peculiar plan of social architecture, in a modern age, the Prophet, im- mediately after the organization of his church, removed from the State of New York to Ohio, which was then a virgin State, and at Kirtland, Ohio, he established Zion, to which the disciples "gathered," and there they built the first temple of the dispensation.

The evolution of these new and marvelous society plans of the Mormon Prophet was through the temporal institutions and government of the Church : and, it is important in the historical digest of that evolution, to know that the bishopric was appointed and in control of the temporal organization several years (four) previous to the organization of the quorum of the Twelve Apostles. And so it will be seen, as the exposition advances, that in Ohio, in Missouri, in Illinois and Winter Quarters, as in Salt Lake City and Utah generally, religious coloniza. tion and society founding have been as the alpha and omega of the Mormon work; and that upon the social plans laid down by Joseph Smith in Kirtland, Salt Lake City grew up. It is because of these cardinal social relations with the history of our Territory that the exposition is carried back to the Mormon Zion of fifty-five years ago

In the latter part of January, 1831, Joseph Smith, his wife Emma, Sidney Rigdon and Edward Partridge started from New York State for Kirtland, Ohio, where they arrived on the first of February; and the Prophet and his wife lived for a while at the house of N. K. Whitney, a merchant of the place and afterwards presiding bishop of the Church. The disciples at that place numbered one hun- dred members ; and to the mind of the Prophet these, with the Saints in New York State, were germs enough to plant in the social soil of a kingdom of God.

It now became necessary to effect the temporal organization of the Saints. The "gathering " of a Latter-day Israel had commenced. The Saints were fast be- coming a people.

The great organizing genius of Joseph (subsequently so wonderfully mani- fested in Brigham) was called into action, and the bishopric which has since grown into such magnitude-controlling both the social and ecclesiastical organizations of the people-sprang, as in a moment, into vigorous life. Its organization com- menced with a revelation, as seen from the following passage :

" And again, I have called my servant Edward Par- tridge, and given a commandment, that he should be appointed by the voice of the Church, and ordained a bishop unto the Church, to leave his merchandise and to spend all his time in the labors of the Church; to see to all things as it shall be appointed unto him, in my laws in the day that I shall give them. And this be-

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HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.

canse his heart is pure before me, for he is like unto Nathaniel of old, in whom there is no guile."

The Mormons from the State of New York-the birthplace of the Church- now began to come in and Bishop Partridge was directed how to settle the people and organize their temporal affairs ; and so rapidly did the Mormons increase that they soon began to colonize certain portions of the State of Missouri, and Jack- son County was named " Zion." This latter expansion of the system of Mormon colonization called forth another revelation directed to the bishopric, which gives the key to the first sermon of Brigham Young delivered in the valley of the Great Salt Lake, on the Sunday morning after the arrival of the pioneers. From it we excerpt the following passages, touching the settling of the Saints, the laying out of Zion, the dedication of the temple spot, and the publish- ing of the gospel to the ends of the earth :

And let there be an agent appointed by the voice of the church, unto the church in Ohio, to receive moneys to purchase lands in Zion.

"And I give unto my servant, Sidney Rigdon, a commandment that he shall write a description of the land of Zion, and a statement of the will of God, as it shall be made known by the Spirit unto him ; and an epistle and subscription, to be presented unto all the churches to obtain moneys, to be put into the hands of the bishop to purchase lands for an inheritance for the children of God, of him self or the agent, as seemeth him good or as he shall direct. For, behold, verily I say unto you, the Lord willeth that the disciples, and the children of men should open their hearts, even to purchase this whole region of country, as soon as time will permit. Behold, here is wisdom. Let them do this lest they receive none inheritance, save it be by the shedding of blood.

"And again, inasmuch as there is land obtained, let there be workmen sent forth of all kinds unto this land, to labor for the Saints of God. Let all these things be done in order ; and let the privileges of the lands be made known from time to time, by the bishop or the agent of the church ; and let the work of the gathering be not in haste, nor by flight, but let it be done as it shall be counselled by the elders of the church at the conferences, according to the knowledge which they receive from time to time.

"And let my servant Sidney Rigdon consecrate and dedicate this land, and the spot of the temple unto the Lord. And let a conference meeting be called, and after that let my servants Sidney Rigdon and Joseph Smith, Jun., return, and also Oliver Cowdery with them, to accomplish the residue of the work which I have appointed unto them in their own land, and the residue as shall be ruled by the conferences. *

Let the residue of the elders of this church, who are coming to this land, some of whom are exceedingly blessed even above measure, also hold a confer- ence upon this land. * * And let them also return, preaching the gospel by the way, bearing record of the things which are revealed unto them ;

* for verily the sound must go forth from this place unto all the world.

In the above revelation of the Prophet Joseph's social plan of the Zion, which he sought to establish in Ohio and Missouri, even before Brigham Young came into

635

HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.

the Church, we have the social prototype of his great successor's plan of the Zion of the Rocky Mountains, as laid down to the pioneers on their first Sabbath in the valley where the " city of the Great Salt Lake" grew up, for the first five years almost perfectly, on that model of social formation. During that period " the law of inheritance " was written on the family tablet of every household, in the Zion which Brigham and his apostolic compeers and the bishops sought to es- tablish in these valleys, as Joseph had before them in Kirtland and Jackson County. In the original plan, it was not designed that any man should " buy land" in these valleys. The pioneers " had none to sell ;" " but every man should have his land measured out to him for city and farming purposes. He might till it as he pleased, but he must be industrious and take care of it." These builders of society were colonists ; and these words the utterances of the master builder, ere this vast territory belonged to the domains of the United States. Ac- cording to the primal law of colonization, recognized in all ages, it was their land, if they could hold and possess. They could have done this so far as the Mexican government was concerned, which government, probably never would even have made the first step to overthrow the superstructure of these Mormon society builders. At that date, before this territory was ceded to the United States, Brigham Young, as the master builder of the colonies which were soon to spread throughout these valleys, could with absolute propriety give the above ut- terances on " the land question." In the early days of the Church, they applied to land not only owned by the United States, but within the boundaries of States of the Union : the Prophet, laying down the plan, (by revelation or otherwise as each different sociologist pleases to consider) said, let " an epistle and subscrip- tion " " be presented unto all the churches to obtain moneys, to be put into the hands of the bishop to purchase lands for an inheritance for the children of God; even to purchase the whole region of country, as soon as time will permit. Behold here it is wisdom. Let them do this lest they receive none inheritance, save it be by the shedding of blood."

The latter clause of the quotation signifies that the Mormon Prophet foresaw that, unless his disciples purchased " this whole region of country " of the unpop. ulated "Far west " of that period, the " land question " held between them and anti-Mormons would lead to the shedding of blood, and that they would be in jeopardy of losing their " inheritance." And this indeed was realized, notwith- standing the Mormons did purchase " this whole region of country." It was consummated by mobs, greedy for the " inheritances of the Saints," and by the exterminating order of Governor Boggs. Similar views and fears were entertained by the Mormon colonists of Utah, who not only obtained possession of the land by the primal claim of colonization ; but they or their followers, afterwards pur- chased from the United States, the bulk of the land upon which they had founded their cities and made their farms. And subsequent events and changes have rather strengthened than weakened the idea in the minds of the original colonists of Utah, that it is the " inheritances" of the Mormons-the possession and con - trol of Utah that the Gentiles want, and that the crusades against polygamy and upon other Mormon questions are merely means to the end.

There is another portion of the early history of the Mormon community

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HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.

closely allied with the original plan of the building up of a Zion and the securing of temporal " inheritances for the Saints," which is also closely related to the peo- pling of Utah at the onset, and still afterwards in the vast emigrations of the Mormons from Europe by the operations of the Perpetual Emigration Com- pany, which company itself shows the genius and plan of the foregoing revelation.

In the month of January, 1849, Brigham Young inaugurated a movement which sheds enduring lustre on his name, and, indeed, upon the Twelve. It was no less an undertaking than to remove all of the poor Siints out of the State.

When he broached the subject to the presiding bishop he was met with the discouraging answer, " The poor may take care of themselves, and I will take care of myself." But the prompt reply was ready and emphatic: " If you will not help them out, I will." Whereupon, at a meeting of the brethren, held Jan- uary 29th, 1839, as the record shows, " On motion of President Brigham Young, it was resolved that we this day enter into a covenant to stand by and assist each other to the utmost of our abilities in removing from this State, and that we will never desert the poor who are worthy, till they shall be out of the reach of the exterminating order of General Clark, acting for and in the name of the State."

The covenant then made was as follows :

" We, whose names are hereunder written, do each for ourselves individually covenant to stand by and assist each other, to the utmost of our abilities, in re- moving from this State in compliance with the authority of the State ; and we do hereby acknowledge ourselves firmly bound to the extent of all our available prop- erty, to be disposed of by a committee who shall be appointed for that purpose, for providing means for the removing of the poor and destitute who shall be con- sidered worthy, from this country, till there shall not be one left who desires to remove from the State : with this proviso, that no individual shall be deprived of the right of the disposal of his own property for the above purpose, or of having the control of it, or so much of it as shall be necessary for the removing of his own family, and to be entitled to the overplus after the work is effected ; and fur- thermore, said committee shall give receipts for all property, and an account of the expenditure of the same."*

This covenant was signed by the following nimes :

John Smith, James McMillan, William Huntington, Chandler Holbrook, Charles Bird, Alexander Wright, Alanson Ripley, William Taylor, Theodore Turley, John Taylor, Daniel Shearer, Reuben P. Hartwell, Shadrach Roundy, John Lowry, Jonathan H. Hale, Welcome Chapman, Elias Smith, Solo mon Hancock, Brigham Young, Arza Adams, James Burnham, Henry Jacobs, Leicester Gaylor, James Carroll, Samuel Williams, David Lyons, John Miller, John Taylor, Aaron M. York, Don Carlos Smith, Ges. A. Smith, Wm. J. Stewart, Damel H. Howe, Ising B. Chapman, James Braden, Roswell Stephens Jonathan Beckelshimer, Reuben Headlock, David Jones, David Holman, Wm. Fawcet, Joel Goddard, Cherle, N. Baldwin, Phineis R. Bird. Jesse N. Reed, Duncan Mc Arthur, Benjamin Johnson, Allen Tal . lev. Jonathan Hampton, James Hampton, Anson Call, Sherman .\. Gilbert, Peter Dopp, James S. Hol- min. Samuel Rolph, Andrew Lytle, Abel Lamb, Aaron Johnson, Daniel McArthur, Heber C. Kimball, W'm. Gregory, George W. Harris, Zenas Curtis, George W. Davidson, John Reed, Harvey Strong. Wilhem R. Orton, Ehzibeth Mackley, Samuel D. Tyler, Sarah Mackley, John H. Goff, Andrew More, Homes Butterheld, Harvey Downey, Dwight Hardin, John Maba, Norville N. Head, Lucy Wheeler, Steven V Foote, John Terpin, Jacob G. Bigler, William Earl, Eli Bagley, Zenas H. Gurley, Wm. Milam Joseph Cooledge, Lorenzo Clark, Anthony Head, W'm. Allred, S. A. P. Kelsey, Wm. Van Ansdell. Wie 1 1, Nithin K Knight, Opheha Harris, Zubi Mebonild, John Thorp, Andrew Rose, Mary Goff John S Martin, Harvey J. More, Albert Sloan, Francis Chase, John D. Lee, Stephen Markham. Eliphas March, John Outhouse, Joseph Wright, William F. Leavens, John Badger, Daniel Tyler, Levi Richards, Noch Rogers, Erastus Bingham, Stephen N. St. John, Elisha Everett, Francis Lee, John Isth. L.h Ler Levi Jackmin. Benjamin Covey. Thomis Guymin, Micheil Borkdull, Nahum Curtis,

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HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.

The foregoing covenant is given to preserve in the history of this city, and of Utah, the original of the covenant and organic plans by which the Mormon community was not only removed from Illinois to the Rocky Mountains, but also by which a hundred thousand Mormons have been emigrated to America from the old countries, partly by their own means and greatly by the operations of the Per- petual Emigration Company of the Church. And this covenant, moreover, is pertinent here, as it was the work of Brigham Young in removing the Saints from Missouri while Joseph was incarcerated in Liberty jail, just as it was principally his work in removing the community from Illinois and elsewhere, to colonize the val- leys of the Rocky Mountains after the martyrdom of the Prophet.

In Illinois the Mormons again attempted their society work as a religious com- munity, with similar results, and then they resolved to remove to the Rocky Mountains, where they hoped to build up their Zion upon the plan which the Prophet gave them, and which Brigham Young, as his successor, sought to fulfill. Having traveled as far as Winter Quarters in 1846, the community rested and es- tablished temporary stakes of Zion, at Garden Grove, Mount Pisgah and old Council Bluffs, and during the winter and the opening spring they more perfectly unfolded their religio-social methods and organization, upon which they designed to build up Zion in the valleys of the Rocky Mountains.

It was during the sojourn of the community at Winter Quarters that they evolved a part of their system, the plan and genius of which, though un- derstood from the revelations and teachings of their Prophet, had never till then found an opportunity for social embodiment. Up to this time it was but as seed sown, with which their social soil was pregnant waiting for the birth. This was the " Patriarchal Order :" and it was just at this stage of the evolution that "plurality of wives " came in, originally named " Patriarchal Marriage "-synonymous with " Celestial Marriage." The patriarchal order is historically worthy of a sufficient exposition, and this more so, seeing that Mormon patriarchal marriage is the national question of the present moment as applied to the Federal rule in Utah.

It is a remarkable fact, then, of Mormon history, that while the community sojourned " in the wilderness "-at Winter Quarters -- the Twelve Apostles, who are the types of the Twelve Patriarchs of the house of Israel, began to organize the people into grand branch families, symbolical of the twelve tribes of Israel, and patriarchal marriage among the community was openly declared. They were going to the unpeopled valleys of the Rocky Mountains and plural marriage, or polygamy, was at once a social and religious method of peopling those valleys and applying the Abrahamic covenant -- " In thee and thy seed," etc. At that time it

Miles Randall, Lyman Curtis, Horace Evans, Philip Ballard, David Dort, William Gould, Levi Hancock, Reuben Middleton, Edwin Whiting, Wm. Harper, Wm. Barton, Seba Joas, Elisha Smith, Chas Butler, James Gallaher, Richard Walton, Robert Jackson, Isaac Kerron, Lemuel Merrick, Joseph Rose, James Dun, David Foote, Orrin Hartshorn, L. S. Nickerson, Nathan Hawke, Moses Daley, Pierce Hawley, David Sessions, Thos. F. Fisher, P. G. Sessions, James Leithead, Alfred P. Childs, Alfred Lee, James Daley, Stephen Jones, Noah T. Guyman, Eleazer Harris, David Winters, Elijah B. Gaylord, John Pack Thomas Grover, Sylvenas Hicks, Alex. Badlam, Horatio N. Kent, Phebe Kellogg, Joseph \V. Pierce, Albert Miner, Thomas Gates, Wm. Woodland, Squire Bozarth, Martin C. Allred, Nathan Lewis, Jede- diah Owen, Philander Avery, Orrin P. Rockwell, Benjamin F. Bird, Chas. Squire, Truman Brace, Jacob Curtis, Sarah Wixom, Rachel Medfo, Lewis Zobriski, Lyman Stephens, Henry Zobriski, Roswell Evans, Morris Harris, Leonard Clark, Absolom Tidwell, Nehemiah Harmon, Alvin Winegar, Daniel Cathcart, Samuel Winegar, Gershom Stokes, John E. Page, Rachel Page, Levi Gifford, Barnet Cole, Edmund Durfee, Wm. Thompson, Josiah Butterfleld, Nathan Cheeney, John Killian, James Sherry, John Patten David Frampton, John Wilkins, Eliz. Pettegrew, Abram Allen, Chas. l'ompson, William Felshaw.

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HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.

was very likely that their society would grow for fifty years, in their own methods and forms, ere the American people would come up to invade their Zion. Be that, however, as it may, the Mormon Moses of Utah, as soon as he had "deliv- cred the community from their enemies," and sat down with them at Winter Quar- ters to wait the opening spring, began to perfect the social organizations of the people and to bring them into the patriarchal relations as the proper basis of their society work. Numerous families were also adopted by Brigham as his tribal sons and daughters, to so speak ; and Heber C. Kimball, Wilford Woodruff, Willard Richards, George A. Smith and others did the same. This will explain certain things which were done by the pioneers, in relation to the " land question," when they took possession of these valleys, and also many other affairs and features noticeable in the community, especially during the first ten years after the entrance of the pioneers, in 1847. This exposition of the original plan and genius of a Zion, as laid down by Joseph the Prophet, leads up to the revelation concerning the removal of the community to these valleys, and the laws of the formation of society under Brigham's leadership. It is the last contained in the Doctrine and Covenants, (late edition) and is entitled :

" The Word and Will of the Lord, given through President Brigham Young, at the Winter Quarters of the Camp of Israel, Omaha Nation, West Bank of Missouri River, near Council Bluffs, January 14th, 1847.

" The word and will of the Lord concerning the Camp of Israel in their journeyings to the west. Let all the people of the Church of Jesus Christ of Lat . ter-day Saints, and those who journey with them, be organized into companies, with a covenant and promise to keep all the commandments and statutes of the Lord our God. Let the companies be organized with captains of hundreds, cap- tains of fifties, and captains of tens, with a president and his two counselors at their head, under the direction of the Twelve Apostles ; and this shall be our cov. enant, that we will walk in all the ordinances of the Lord. Let each company provide themselves with all the teams, wagons. provisions, clothing, and other nec- essaries for the journey that they can. When the companies are organized, let them go to with their might, to prepare for those who are to tarry. Let each com - pany with their captains and presidents decide how many can go next spring; then choose ont a sufficient number of able-bodied and expert men, to take teams, seeds, and farming utensils, to go as pioneers to prepare for putting in spring crops. Let each company bear an equal proportion, according to the dividend of their property, in taking the poor, the widows, the fatherless, and the families of those who have gone into the army, that the cries of the widow and the father- less come not up into the cars of the Lord against this people. Let each company prepare houses and fields for raising grain, for those who are to remain behind this season, and this is the will of the Lord concerning his people. Let every man we all his influence and property to remove this people to the place where the Lord shall locate a stake of Zion ; and if ye do this with a pure heart, in all faith- fulness, ye shall be blessed ; you shall be blessed in your flocks, and in your herds, and in your fields, and in your houses, and in your families. Let my servants Ezra T. Benson and Erastus Snow organize a company; And let my servants Orson Pratt and Wilford Woodruff organize a company. Also, let my servants

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History of Salt Lake City, Part 82

Author: Tullidge, Edward Wheelock Publication date: 1886 Publisher: Salt Lake City, Star printing company Number of Pages: 1194

Author: Tullidge, Edward Wheelock
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Salt Lake City, Star printing company
Number of Pages: 1194