Category: Mormon History
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Q&A: The King Follett Discourse
The sermon “is widely recognized as his single most important preaching event and perhaps the most important Mormon sermon of all time.”
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“American Primeval” and the Mountain Meadows Massacre
Netflix’s American Primeval takes a wildly fictional swing at the Utah War, portraying Mormons as bloodthirsty villains in a brutal massacre of a U.S. Army camp that never happened.
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Joseph Smith and the Kinderhook Plates
Note: The following was originally printed in the July/August 2024 edition of Mormonism Researched. To request a free subscription, please visit here. Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are told by church leaders that Joseph Smith, Jr., the founder of their religion, had been given the ability by God to make reliable translations…
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Tracing the History of the Deseret Alphabet
In 1853, Brigham Young spearheaded the creation of the 38-character Deseret Alphabet to simplify English learning for immigrants and youth in Utah, but despite initial enthusiasm, costly printing efforts, and a brief stint in schools and the Deseret News, it floundered by 1870 due to resistance from English speakers, practical challenges, and its irrelevance to…
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Just What is “An Address to All Believers in Christ”?
Published in 1887 by Book of Mormon witness David Whitmer (1805-1888) just a year before he passed away, An Address to All Believers in Christ: A Witness to the Divine Authenticity of the Book of Mormon provides a look at the mindset of a man who was considered one of the “three witnesses” of the…
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Putting “History” Back in the LDS Church’s News Release on Historic Kirtland
Kirtland, Ohio was once the headquarters of what is today known as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. From February 1831 to January 1838 the church’s founder, Joseph Smith, lived in Ohio while directing the church’s affairs. The Kirtland years were very important in laying the foundation of the Mormon church. One LDS…
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Book Review: Conflict in the Quorum: Orson Pratt, Brigham Young, Joseph Smith
Review of Conflict in the Quorum: Orson Pratt, Brigham Young, Joseph Smith (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2002) by Gary James Bergera. Forget the idea that general authorities in the LDS Church have always gotten along. If anything else, reading Conflict in the Quorum by Gary James Bergera will certainly take care of that idea. In…
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Mormon Pioneer Mary Lightner’s Mythic Heroism
Latter-day Saint Glenn Rawson, writing for the Idaho State Journal, recently published an article, “‘I’m A Full-Blooded Mormon’: Mary Elizabeth Rollins Lightner.” Drawing from Mary’s autobiography, Mr. Rawson relates a story that demonstrated Mary’s “uncommon courage for her faith.” Mr. Rawson explains that near the close of the 1838 Mormon War in Missouri, the commander…
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Leaving Nauvoo, 1846
Last week the Fort Madison [Iowa] Daily Democrat reported on the LDS commemoration of the 171st anniversary marking the start of the Mormon pioneer trek from Nauvoo, Illinois to Salt Lake City, Utah. Beginning in early February 1846, Mormons left Nauvoo for a new home in the west. Every year since 1996 a gathering of…
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Why Does Mormon History Matter?
Though the LDS Church claims disillusioned members are not “leaving [the Church] in droves,” talks and articles about stemming the exiting tide continue to appear in the news. This week, Mormon-themed Meridian Magazine published “8 Things That Can Pull You Away From the Church” by Gary and Joy Lundberg. In this article, the Lundbergs explain,…
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Trouble in Paradise: Thomas Marsh Takes a Stand
Thomas B. Marsh was the President of the Quorum of the Twelve [LDS] Apostles in 1838. Over the years, he had proven himself a loyal and faithful supporter of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Joining the Mormon Church in 1830 and called as an apostle in 1835, Marsh stood with Joseph Smith through thick and thin…
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Ordinary Mormon Families of Utah Territory
Deseret News recently ran a story about Richardson’s Point, a historic spot in Iowa along the Mormon Trail. The graves of the first two casualties of the Mormon westward migration are found at Richardson’s Point. In March of 1849 toddler James Tanner fell off the tongue of a wagon and was killed when the wagon…
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Early Mormonism in Missouri
In 1838 the headquarters of the Mormon Church was located in western Missouri. Mormons began arriving in this state in the early 1830s settling in Jackson County, around the city of Independence. However, trouble erupted between the Mormons and the non-Mormon Missourians, which resulted in the Mormons being forced out of Jackson County in 1833.…
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Nauvoo’s Bloody Autumn of 1845
Nauvoo, Illinois, the city the Mormons built, was thriving and growing in the 1840s. The population was such that Nauvoo rivaled Chicago for “biggest city in Illinois.” Most visitors to today’s restoration of historic Nauvoo will learn that fact, perhaps from several different Mormon tour guides. One statistical comparison that isn’t mentioned, however, is that…
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Sexual Morality in Old Mormon Nauvoo
Sexual morality in early 1840s Nauvoo, Illinois, the City of Joseph [Smith], was enough to make most people blush. John C. Bennett, who had for 18 months been a member of Joseph Smith’s inner circle and close confidante, left the Mormon Church in May of 1842. He subsequently exposed “Joe Smith as the seducer of…
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In the Line of Duty: The Mountain Meadows Massacre
“There was a massacre in these hills.…” (Stewart Lee Udall, The Mountain Meadows [1990], from a poem written by Udall, a descendant of John D. Lee, and read at the reinterment of victims bones at Mountain Meadows, September 1999) It was spring of 1857. Promises of a bright future in the west beckoned. A collection…
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Proclamation of the First Presidency and Twelve, October 21, 1865 (rebuke of Orson Pratt)
From James R. Clark, comp., Messages of the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 6 vols. (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1965-75), 2:, p.235-240 1865-October 21-MS October 21, 1865 § PROCLAMATION of The First Presidency and Twelve. In an article entitled “The Holy Spirit,” published by brother Pratt in the Millennial…
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Hearken O Ye Latter-day Saints, August 23, 1865 (Rebuke of Orson Pratt)
From James R. Clark, comp., Messages of the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 6 vols. (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1965-75), 2:, p.229-235 1865-August 23-Millennial Star 27:657-663 (October 21, 1865) § HEARKEN, O Ye Latter-day Saints, and all ye inhabitants of the earth who wish to be Saints, to whom…
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Book Review: Massacre at Mountain Meadows
Written by Ronald W. Walker, Richard E. Turley Jr., and Glen M. Leonard The “Mountain Meadows Massacre,” as it has been called, has intrigued historians and laypeople alike for more than a century and a half. The story involves a group of southern emigrants to California on September 11th, 1857 (the original “September 11th”) who,…
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What I Learned on My Visit to Old Mormon Nauvoo
A few weeks ago I visited The City of Joseph: Nauvoo, Illinois. It was quick trip; I was only able to spend two days in the area, hurrying from place to place in an effort to do some primary source research. I had little success regarding the event on which I sought information, but I…