The Life of William Mclachlan, a British Convert to the Mormon Church
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Brigham Young University BYU ScholarsArchive Theses and Dissertations 1986 From Babylon to Zion: the Life of William Mclachlan, A British Convert to the Mormon Church Winifred Morse McLachlan Brigham Young University - Provo Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd Part of the History Commons, and the Mormon Studies Commons BYU ScholarsArchive Citation McLachlan, Winifred Morse, "From Babylon to Zion: the Life of William Mclachlan, A British Convert to the Mormon Church" (1986). Theses and Dissertations. 4931. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/4931 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. 8yay 0 tiptim FROM BABYLON TO ZION THE LIFE OF WILLIAM MCLACHLAN A BRITISH CONVERT TO THE MORMON CHURCH A THESIS PRESENTED TO THE department OF HISTORY BRIGHAM YOUNG university in partial fulfillment of the requirements forfor the degree master of arts winifredwinif red mclachlan 1986 by winifred morse mclachlan august 1986 this thesis by winifred morse mclachlan is accepted in its present form by the department of history of brigham young university as satisfying the thesis requirement for the degree of master of arts 7 G aieraleraleiandAleialegandand r committeehlchairman jaejaesjagjugjaehjugh s B allenalien committee member L A ata tadtodtae jemesjomesmes B alienailenA en department chairman 11 WILLIAM MCLACHLAN 1801840 1916 TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE VI chapter I1 prologue 1 II11 from babylon to zion 0 0 0 14 iliIII111 getting settled in zion 11 69 IV mission to new zealand 0 0 0 0 86 V return to zion 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 114 VI 0 the raid 0 0 0 0 0 0 132 vilVII after the manifesto 4 4 162 villVIII the mclachlan family 0 0 0 0 184 IX president of the pioneer stake 11 0 0 202 X epilogue 0 0 11 0 11 0 4 220 0 0 appendices A news articles about william mclachlansMcLach lans death 227 4 boB mclachlan family records 0 4 4 4 0 233 C co charles dickens on the amazon 0 0 0 0 0 239 D 11 0 spiritual giftsgifts 0 248 eoE miscellaneous news articles 0 250 foF the mclachlan farm 0 1.1 0 0 0 0 0 255 bibliography 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 258 ivIV illustrations photograph 1 william mclachlan 184019161840 1916 frontispiece 2 william mclachlan 0 0 0 0 0 272 3 gilbert mclachlan sr and his tombstone in morionmorton cemetery near gatelawbridge 0 273 4 the three wives of william mclachlan 274 505 some of the children of william mclachlan 275 606 london road braintreeBraintree essex england pioneer stake hall & seventh ward chapel 276 707 1910 testimonial program 277 map lo101 the united kingdom 278 202 the county of essex 279 303 gatelawbridge and thornhill in dumfriesshireDumfriesshire 280 404 utah with salt lake city nephi and manti 281 LIST OF TABLES 1 william mclachlansMcLach lans chart of british and american equivalents 0 0 40 v PREFACE the law of the lord is perfect converting the soul the testimony of the lord is sure making wise the simple psalms 197 historical studies on the background of the individ- ual mormon convert and the subsequent development of his life and personality are limited such studies are neces- sary however for an understanding of the mormon character and the mormon movement most biographies and diaries are written aboutabout or by the top leaders of great movements rather than the valiant men who assisted in making the movement successful and without whom very little progress could have been made this is the biography of one of these men on 19 june 1862 in braintreeBrain tree essex england william mclachlan a twenty two year old convert to the church of jesus christ of latter day saints commenced a journal which in the course of time became a series of at least eleven volumes recording the events of his life almost continuously until 31 july 1887 these volumes provide insight into the life of one british convert and an opportunity to study the influence of that conversion on the day to day life of carpenter and builder who liked to study vi and write his journals express the views and aspirations of a new convert and trace the development of a devout mormon into a local leader in that church the personal records of william mclachlan can become a basis for comparison in the study of other mormon converts who struggled to build zion his journals his letters his speeches and his life all were to achieve one ultimate goal to build the kingdom of god and to gain a place fforor himself and his family in that kingdom without such men of deep conviction there would be a difdlfdifferentf erent story a difdlfdifferentferent history in the first volume he wrote of his birth and early life in scotland his conversion in england and journey to utah his record of that journey by ship railway and wagon train was the official record of the traveling company the second volume of the journal begins on 1 january 1864 in salt lake city and outlines his struggle and discouragement in trying to establish himself in zion and learn a new occupation apparently this struggle resulted in a cessation of record keeping since no journal has been located for the period from 1865 to 1875 except for one paragraph in 1867 after receiving a call to a mission in new zealand in october 1875 he resumed his journal keeping and continued it until july 1887 except for two short periods which are missing consequently nine volumes are available but no journals have been located for the years vii from 1878 to 1880 and for 1886 more than twenty letters written to his wives during his mission to new zealand enrich our knowledge of that period of his life another fifty letters written to his family from 1885 to 1888 from manti provide additional information for those years the period from 1887 to 1916 can be reconstructed from a collection of 135 letters to his third wife lucy and from three pocket notebooks kept from 1898 to 1916 including the period he served as the first president of the pioneer stake 1 four of the journals are in the archives of the church of jesus christ of latter day saints I1 received photocopies of the other five journals from the following descendants books two seven and eleven from jed wilson of salmon idaho great grandson and books four and five from aileen lyon tate of salt lake city granddaughter the originals are purported to be in the hands of william sperry of pocatello idaho frances mcmillan of salt lake city and mary lyon miles of st george utah in addition to these I1 received typescriptstype scripts of the letters from new zealand and manti from jed wilson photocopies of the letters to his wife lucy came from nephi william mclachlan grandson who has the original letters grace mclachlan ithethe three notebooks are in the LDS church archives copies of the letters are in possession of winifwinifredred mclachlan the originals belong to N william mclachlan 1928 millbrook rd salt lake city hlllvlllvili foxley his youngest daughter gave me a sketch of his life that she wrote for the belvedere camp of the daughters of the utah pioneers an articulate writer william mclachlan provided us with a view of a latter day saint living his religion applying the principle of plural marriage to his family life preaching the gospel on foreign shores and working as a carpenter and builder in local and church enterprises his life illustrates the effects of governmental and ecclesiastical decisions upon a man and his family and how they react to the cataclysm it causes when the decisions clash A quotation from the bible or from mormon scripture has been used as the subtitle of each chapter this is to aid in setting the theme of the chapter ixIX acknowledgementKNOWLEDGEMENTAC special thanks to thomas alexander director of the charles redd center of western history and james B alienallenchairman of the history department of brigham young university for their guidance in the preparation of this manuscript and to lenora meeks and steven madsen for their support and encouragement but most of all my gratitude is extended to my husband james west mclachlan and my friend rosamae evans who patiently read the manuscript and offered their valuable criticism and encouragement which carried me through to its completion x CHAPTER I1 PROLOGUE and it shall come to pass in the last days that the mountain of the lords house shall be established in the top of the mountains isaiah 22 on sunday 3 december 1916 william mclachlan president of the pioneer stakestaker strode vigorously from the salt lake temple where he had conducted the usual sunday morning prayer circle and hastened to the 1000 am meet- ing of the high priests quorum in the pioneer stake hall six blocks away on fifth south A tall trim man with graying auburn hair and moustache his rugged body still strong and muscular though this was his seventy seventh winter he breathed deeply the cold crisp air enjoying his usual brisk sunday morning walk he was the concluding speaker on the agenda and on his arrival at the stake hall he silently sought the lord for inspiration when his turn came his work worn hands gripped the podium his strong voice rang through the hall as he preached faith and preparation for eternity with his usual vigor and his blue eyes kindled with firelrefire as he told of the glories of the kingdom of god in conclusion this gentle man praised the stake patriarch with the words 1 I wish I1 were as prepared 1 2 for my salvation as brother james