History of Salt Lake City, Part 84

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

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side over a mission to England, to be the first foreign mission of the church of Christ in the last days."

Concerning this very important mission and crisis of the church, Heber C. Kimball says :

" On or about the Ist of June, 1837, the prophet Joseph came to me while I was seated in the front stand, above the sacrament table on the Melchisedek side of the Temple, in Kirtland, and whispering to me, said, 'Brother Heber, the Spirit of the Lord has whispered to me, Let my servant Heber go to England and proclaim my gospel and open the door of salvation to that nation.' "

Undoubtedly, had not such a revelation been given, Mormonism would have amounted to but little in the age, nor would the eyes of nations have been aston- ished with those vast emigrations of Mormon converts to America, which have contributed so much to the peopling of Utah.

The Apostles Heber C. Kimball and Orson Hyde were set apart by the Prophet to open Great Britain, and to them were added Elders Willard Richards, Goodson, Russell, Fielding and Snyder. Some of the principal men of the church were greatly opposed to this missionary movement into foreign lands, which has since produced such extraordinary results, and given to the Mormon church a missionary history scarcely paralleled since the days of Paul.

In 1840, after the Mormons had been removed from Missouri to Illinois, the majority of the Twelve, under the presidency of Brigham Young, took a second mission to England, and it was during this time that the emigration opened. The event is thus noted in church history :

" Saturday, 6th June, 1840, a company of 41 Saints, to-wit: Elder John Moon, and Hugh Moon, their mother and seven others of her family ; Henry Moon, (uncle of John Moon) Henry Moon, Francis Moon, William Sutton, Wil- liam Stritgreaves, Richard Eaves, Thomas Moss, Henry Moore, Nancy Ashworth , Richard Ainscough, and families sailed in the ship Britannia, from Liverpool for New York, being the first Saints that have sailed from England for Zion."

On the 8th of September, 1840, under the agency of Brigham Young, a company of emigrants, numbering 200, sailed from Liverpool for New York, bound for Nauvoo, under the presidency of Elder Theodore Turley, one of the American missionaries, and Elder Wm. Clayton, one of the earliest English con- verts. William Clayton was afterwards a member of the Pioneer band, and a prominent man in the history of Salt Lake City.

Owing to the expensiveness of the route via New York, many of this com- pany fell short of means to complete the journey to Nauvoo ; they, therefore, divided at Buffalo, a part going to settle in Kirtland and other settlements in Ohio, and the balance to Nauvoo, to which place Joseph Smith states he had the pleasure of welcoming one hundred of them in the fall of the year. The third ship sent under this agency, February, 1841, was the Sheffield, having on board 235 Mor- mon emigrants ; the fourth the Echo, which sailed in the same month with 109 souls ; the fifth the Eleste, which sailed in March, with 54 souls; and on the 20th of April, 1841, Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, Orson Pratt, Wilford Wood- ruff, John Taylor, George A. Smith and Willard Richards, with a company of

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1 30 Saints, went on board the ship Rochester, bound for New York, and sailed on the 21st.

About the time of the sailing of the Sheffield a company, gathered from Herefordshire and the neighboring counties, sailed from Bristol. Since that time up to the year 1856, the main emigration was direct from Liverpool to New Or. leans, but numerous individuals sailed between the seasons to New York,-Phila- delphia, Boston and other American ports. Few particulars have been preserved by the emigration agents respecting the earliest companies, but Parley P. Pratt stated in June, 1841, that about 1,000 persons had then emigrated.

The second period in the emigration table, for the years 1841-2, gave the number of ships, 10; and emigrants 1,991. The year 1843, ships, 5 ; emigrants, 769. The years 1844-6, ships, 8; emigrants, 990.

According to these tables of the British agency, nearly 5,000 Mormon emi- grants landed in America previous to the settling of Utah. Many of these were in the exodus, and among the pioneer companies which arrived in the Valleys in 1847 and 1848; and therefore, though the American element predominated, the British emigrants must be considered as forming a strongly marked vein in the original population of Salt Lake City. Probably, however, the Mormon emi- grants from Great Britain, prior to 1850, entered as largely into the population of St. Louis as into that of Salt Lake City ; but, from 1850, the emigration tide, from the foreign missions, flowed constantly into the population of Utah.

During the period of the removal of the community from Illinois to the Rocky Mountains, emigration from Great Britain was suspended ; but on the 20th of February, 1848, the Carnatic, Captain Mckenzie, re-opened the emigration, after a suspension of two years, and conveyed 120 passengers to New Orleans, under the presidency of Franklin D. Richards. This company was rapidly made up, and sailed under most pleasing anticipations of at length finding a Zion in the valleys of the Rocky Mountains. Nearly one hundred of the company were adults. They arrived at Council Bluffs just in season to be organized in Willard Richard's company, which followed the companies of Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball, when they brought up the body of the community.

Before the return of the pioneers to the mountains, they appointed Orson Pratt to preside over the mission in Great Britain, and to push on the emigratiors to the fullest extent, while Orson Hyde, George A. Smith and E. T. Benson were stationed at Council Bluffs to receive the emigrants from abroad, and to promote their speedy removal to the Valley, as well as the removal of those of the com- munity who had concentrated there after the exodus from Nauvoo. Orson Pratt's agency extended to February, 1851, and comprised twenty-one vessels, carrying 5,369 souls.

At the October conference held in Salt Lake City, in 1849, Heber C. Kim- ball brought up the subject of the covenant made in the Temple at Nauvoo, " that the Latter-day Saints would not cease their exertions until every individual of them who desired and was unable to gather to the Valley by his own means was brought to that place ; " and it was there and then unanimously voted to raise a fund for the fulfillment of the covenant.

" A committee, consisting of Willard Snow, John S. Fullmer, Lorenzo Snow,

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John D. Lee and Franklin D. Richards, was appointed to raise the money, and Bishop Edward Hunter, was appointed to carry it to the States, to purchase wagons and cattle, and to bring the poor Saints from the Pottawattomie lands. About five thousand dollars were raised this season. It was resolved, at the same conference, that Elders A. Lyman and C. C. Rich be appointed agents to gather up means for the fund in California ; also that the Perpetual Emigrating Fund for the poor, be under the direction of the first presidency of the Church.

" On the 29th of March, 1850, Elder Franklin D. Richards, one of the Twelve Apostles, arrived in England, having been appointed at Great Salt Lake City, on the 6th of October, 1849, to co-operate with Elder Orson Pratt, who was then presiding there, and immediately introduced the subject of the Perpetual Emigrating Fund to the British churches. Donations were made straightway, and the first received was 2s. 6d., from Mark and Charlotte Shelly of Woolwich, on the 19th of April, 1850. The next was fi from Geo. P. Waugh, of Edin- burgh, on the 19th of June. This fund during the second year of its existence was increased in value, in Utah, to about $20,000; and at a general conference in Great Salt Lake City, on the 7th of September, 1850, a committee of three, con- sisting of Willard Snow, Edward Hunter and Daniel Spencer, was appointed to take care of, and transact the business of the poor fund. It was also agreed to organize the committee into a company and get it chartered by the State.

In the same month the general assembly of the Provisional State of Des- eret passed an ordinance incorporating the Perpetual Emigrating Fund Company.

At a special conference of the Church, held on the 15th of the same month Brigham Young was chosen president of the company ; and Heber C. Kimball, Willard Richards, Newel K. Whitney, Orson Hyde, George A. Smith, Ezra T. Benson, Jedediah M. Grant, Daniel H. Wells, Willard Snow, Edward Hunter, Daniel Spencer, Thomas Bullock, John Brown, William Crosby, Amasa Lyman, Charles C. Rich, Lorenzo D. Young and Parley P. Pratt, assistants.

The organization was completed by electing Willard Richards, secretary ; Newel K. Whitney, treasurer ; and Thomas Bullock, recorder. Newel K. Whit- ney died on the 23d of the same month, and Daniel Spencer was elected treasurer in his stead. Elders Orson Hyde, Orson Pratt, Franklin D. Richards and John Brown, were appointed travelling agents.

The Saints in the British Isles contributed liberally to this fund. Donations as high as £400 were made to it by single individuals. The total amount con- tributed in that mission up to July, 1854, was $7, 113 0 s. 814 d. in addition to the value of the fund in Utah. The following interesting account from the Des- eret News of the first arrival in Salt Lake City, of P. E. F. emigrants, in the fall of 1852, is a worthy passage of our city history of that date :

" Captain A. O. Smoot's company, of thirty-one wagons, was escorted into this city, by the first presidency of the Church, some of the Twelve Apostles and many of the citizens on horseback and in carriages.

" Captain Pitt's band, in the President's spacious carriage, met the company at the mouth of Emigation canyon, where the Saints of both sexes, of nearly seventy years of age, danced and sung for joy, and their hearts were made glad

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by a distribution of melons and cakes ; after which the band came in the escort, and cheered the hearts of the weary travelers with their enlivening strains.

" Next in the procession came a band of pilgrims-sisters and children, walk- ing, sunburnt and weather-beaten, but not forlorn ; their hearts were light and buoyant, which was plainly manifest by their happy and joyful countenances.

" Next followed the wagons. The good condition of the cattle, and the general appearance of the whole train, did credit to Bishop Smoot, as a wise and skillful manager-who was seen on horse, in all the various departments of his company during their egress from the canyon to encampment.

" As the escort and train passed the Temple block, they were saluted with nine rounds of artillery, which made the everlasting hills to shake their sides with joy ; while thousands of men, women and children gathered from various parts of the city, to unite in the glorious and joyful welcome.

'. After coralling on Union Square, the emigrants were called together, and President Young addressed them as follows :-

" ' I have but a few words to say to the brethren and sisters, at the present time. First I will say, may the Lord God of Israel bless you, and comfort your hearts. (The company and bystanders responded Amen.)

"' We have prayed for you continually ; thousands of prayers have been offered up for you, day by day, to Him who has commanded us to gather Israel, save the children of men by the preaching of the gospel, and prepare them for the coming of the Messiah. You have had a long, hard, and fatiguing journey across the great waters and the scorched plains; but, by the distinguished favors of heaven, you are here in safety.

" ' We understand that the whole company that started under Brother Smoot's guidance, are alive and well, with but a few exceptions. For this we are thankful to our Father in heaven ; and our hearts are filled with joy, that you have had faith to surmount the difficulties that have lain in your path ; that you have over- come sickness and death, and are now with us to enjoy the blessings of the people of God in these peaceful valleys. You are now in a land of plenty, where, by a reasonable amount of labor, you may realize a comfortable subsistence.

" ' You have had trials and sufferings in your journey, but your sufferings have been few compared with thousands of your brethren and sisters in these valleys. * With regard to your circumstances and connexions here, I am little acquainted ; but this I can say, you are in the midst of plenty. No person here is under the necessity of begging his bread, except the natives ; and they beg more than they care for, or can use. By your labor you can obtain an abundance ; the soil is rich and productive. We have the best of wheat, and the finest of flour ; as good as was ever produced in any other country in the world. We have beets, carrots, turnips, cabbage, peas, beans, melons, and I may say, all kinds of garden vegetables, of the best quality.

" ' The prospects are cheering for fruits of different kinds. The grapes that we have raised this season, are, doubtless, as fine as were ever exhibited for sale in the London Market. The peach, we expect, will do well also. We had but few last year; this season we have more. We are under the necessity of waiting a few years before we can have much fruit ; but of the staple articles of food, we have a great abundance.

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" ' With regard to your obtaining habitations to shelter you in the coming winter-all of you will be able to obtain work, and by your industry, you can make yourselves tolerably comfortable in this respect before the winter sets in. All the improvements that you see around you, have been made in the short space of four years ; four years ago this day, there was not a rod of fence to be seen, nor a house, except the Old Fort, as we call it, though it was then new. All this, that you now see, has been accomplished by the industry of the people ; and a good deal more that you do not see, for our settlements extend 250 miles south, and almost too miles north.

" We shall want some of the brethren to repair to some of the other settle- ments, such as mechanics and farmers; no doubt they can provide themselves with teams, etc., to bear them to their destinations. Those who have acquaintances here, will all be able to obtain dwellings until they can make accommodations of their own.

"' Again, with regard to labor-don't imagine unto yourselves that you are going to get rich at once by it. As for the poor there are none here, neither are there any who may be called rich, but all obtain the essential comforts of life.

* I will say to this company, they have had the honor of be- ing escorted into the city by some of the most distinguished individuals of our society, and a band of music, accompanied with a salutation from the cannon. Other companies have not had this mark of respect shown to them; they belong to the rich, and are able to help themselves. I rejoice that you are here; and that you will find yourselves in the midst of abundance of the common necessaries of life, a liberal supply of which you can easily obtain by your labor. Here is the best quality of food ; you are in the best atmosphere that you ever breathed ; and we have the best water you ever drank. Make yourselves happy, and do not let your eyes be like the fool's eye, wandering after the things of this world ; but in- quire what you can do that shall be for the best interest of the kingdom of God.

"' No man or woman will be hurried away from the wagons ; but you may have the privilege of living in them until you get homes.

"' I hope the brethren who live near by, or those who live at a distance, will send our brethren and sisters some potatoes and melons, or anything else they have, that they may not go hungry ; and let them have them free of charge, that they may be blessed with us, as I exhorted the people last Sabbath.

" ' I have not anything more to say to you at this time, as my presence is wanted in another place. I pray the Lord God of Israel to bless you ; and I bless you in the name of Jesus. Amen.'"

Of the crowning period of the emigration from Europe to Utah, Mr. James Linforth, business manager of the Liverpool office, and since well known as an influential merchant of San Francisco, in his " Route from Liverpool to Great Salt Lake Valley," says :

" On the first of May, 1852, Elder Samuel W. Richards came into charge of the British Mission, and under his agency the emigration attained to greater per- fection, and was opened up to a larger number of individuals, in the same amount of time, than at any previous period. The anxiety of thousands of the Saints to gather to Utah, had become intense, so much so, that Elder Richards was fre-

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quently desired t organize companies who would walk the entire overland jour- ney, and assist to haul the provisions and luggage also. Much prudence and caution were now required to restrain the overflowing spirit which the Saints were giving way to, and at the same time to promote the emigration of as large a num- ber as practicable in the approaching season. In the meantime the seventh gen- eral epistle of the first presidency of the Church had been issued, and on the 17th of July was published to the British churches. The Saints were, in this epistle, exhorted to gather to Utah speedily, by tens of thousands. The language was- ' Let all who can procure a loaf of bread, and one garment on their back, be as- sured there is water plenty and pure by the way, and doubt no longer, but come next year to the place of gathering, even in flocks, as doves fly to their windows before a storm.' This needed no interpretation but was reiterated by hundreds of elders throughout the country, and gave fresh vigor to the desire already burn- ing in the breasts of thousands to emigrate in the coming season. This anxious desire had to be met in some way or other, and after much deliberation it was de- termined to fit out companies of emigrants in 1853, for the entire journey, at £10 for each person over one year old, and £5 each for those under that age, and it was hoped that by sending efficient men in advance to procure the necessary sup- plies and teams, the emigrants might be got through upon those terms. As many as 957 persons availed themselves of this arrangement, but it was found necessary to procure a loan upon the teams to complete the journey.

" Elder S. W. Richards was appointed, September 30th, 1852, an agent to the P. E. Fund Company, and during this season 400 persons were assisted out by the P. E. Fund, for whom similar arrangements were made to those for the £10 companies.

" There were 955 emigrants, who either made their own arrangements for the overland journey, or procured their teams by sending money forward in ad- vance of themselves by the agent charged with the superintendence of the P. E. Fund and the Lio emigration. The price of a team consisting of two pairs of oxen, two cows, and one wagon, was estimated at £40, and £2,748, Ios. was sent forward by this class. The emigration now consisted of four classes ; first, the P. E. Fund emigrants ordered from the Valley ; second, the P. E. Fund emi- grants selected in the British Isles ; third the £10 emigrants; and fourth, the ordinary emigrants, embracing those who sent money forward to procure teams, and all the balance. The entire expense involved in this season's emigration could not have been less than £30,000. The agent intrusted with the overland part of the journey, for both the P. E. Fund and fto emigration, was Elder Isaac C. Haight, who had in the previous year assisted Elder Smoot. The presi- dent of each ship's company, in which there were emigrants of these descriptions, had charge of them until their delivery to Elder Haight.

" From the experience of 1853, and the increased prices of cattle, wagons, and provisions, occasioned by the great California and Oregon emigration, which has scoured the frontiers and many miles around for several years past, it was found necessary during the last season to charge £13 per head, instead of L1o, for those who went in companies similar to the £10 companies of 1853. This amount will possibly cover the expense. The growing interest of P. E. Fund in

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the minds of the Saints, however, reduced this class to eighty-six, by inducing those of the emigrants who were not ordered from the Valley by the P. E. Fund Company, nor selected by its agent in Great Britain, or who did not provide their own outfit, to come under the auspices or arrangements of the P. E Fund Com- pany, and many of them donated to the fund all the money they had, and signed the bond to pay in the Valley, the whole cost of their passage money to that place. The amount thus donated was £1,800 8s., and, although the benefit of this was not felt last season, the fund was actually enriched to that amount.

" The ordinary emigration was not so large last season as it was in the pre- vious season, but more money was sent forward for the purchase of teams, the amount being £3,575. The price of a team was estimated at £45, but it appears from recent advices to be higher.

" The P. E. F. emigration of last season was very large, and the agent charged with the superindence of the overland journey is Elder Wm. Empey, a man of experience in the customs and business of the United States, and in the purchase of the outfit. He has the assistance of Elder Dorr P. Curtis, and of other elders of experience en route for the Valley. It is fully anticipated that their joint labors will be abundantly sufficient to carry the emigration in a pros- perous state into the Valley. The supervision of the emigrants from Liverpool until their delivery to Elder Empey, was given to the presidents of the respective ships, and they will aid, if directed, until the companies are through to the Valley.

" The total number of persons shipped under this agency was 4,346, and it was expected that very few would fail of going through to the Great Salt Lake Valley. The emigration of this number would involve from first to last an expen- diture of not less than £70,000.

" After the Latter-day Saints had established missions upon the continent, emigrants soon began to pass through Liverpool en route for Great Salt Lake Val- ley. The first company, numbering 28, was from the Scandinavian mission and was re-shipped at Liverpool, on board the Italy, for New Orleans, on the 11th of March, 1852, under the direction ot Elder Erastus Snow, one of the Twelve Apostles and founder of the Scandinavian mission. The next company was from the same mission, and numbered 297, and was re-shipped at Liverpool on board the Forest Monarch for New Orleans, on the 16th of January, 1853, under the direction of Elder Willard Snow, president of the mission at that time.

" Donations to the Perpetual Emigrating Fund having been commenced in Scandinavia, particularly in Denmark, £136 15s. 6d. was appropriated during Elder Willard Snow's presidency, to the assistance of a number of the persons that sailed in the Forest Monarch.

" The next company from the continent was seventeen persons from the Ger- man mission, who sailed from Liverpool in August or September, 1853.

" In January, 1854, and under the presidency. of Elder John Van Cott, Scan- dinavia sent out two companies, numbering 678 persons, two of which were as- sisted by the P. E. Fund. Elders were sent in charge of the Saints, and were to continue with them from Copenhagen to Great Salt Lake Valley, men who could speak both English and Danish, and had travelled the whole route before. To

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accomplish the overland journey, $3,667 was sent forward to Elder Empey, to procure the teams, provisions, etc. The point of embarkation from the Scandi- navian mission is Copenhagen, and to this place the emigrants gather, and form one company or more as the case may be. They are then conveyed from Copen- hagen to Liverpool. The route taken in 1853, was across the Baltic to Kiel, from thence per railway to Altona, from thence across the North Sea, to Hull and then per railway to Liverpool. During the last season the route was a little different, being from Kiel to Gluckstadt, instead of Altona. It will readily be conceived that the continental emigration is characterized by more vicissitudes than the British, and requires a proportionately greater amount of careful and prudent arrangement to preserve the lives of the people, and guard their pockets. Under the wisest and most economical guidance, the removal of this 678 people from their various homes in Frederickstadt, Osterzisoer, and Brevig, in Norway; Schana in Sweden ; and Zealand, Jutland, Lalland, Falster, Moen and Fyen, in Denmark, to Great Salt Lake Valley, will consume not less than £10,000.

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History of Salt Lake City, Part 84

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