Davies, Julie Adele (2018) the Mormon Mission to Wales.Pdf
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University of Wales Trinity Saint David The Mormon Mission To Wales 1840-49: A Reassessment J. Adele Davies PhD, 2018 Abstract The aim of this research has been to reassess assertions made about the Mormon mission to Wales between 1840 and 1849. It has considered the response to the mission by Nonconformist ministers, and in particular, that of the Baptist minister Revd W. R. Davies, Dowlais, and asked whether the primary explanation for Nonconformist opposition lay in their concern that Latter-day Saints were poaching some of their chapel members. It has also considered the extent to which the Latter-day Saints suffered persecution. With some notable exceptions, most of the scholarship on this subject has originated from the work of Mormon writers, in particular Ronald D. Dennis, formally of Brigham Young University, who has published a number of books on different aspects of the Mormon mission to Wales covering the period 1840 to 1862. Dennis’ interpretation of the story of the Welsh Mormon mission has provided a foundation for other work in this area, with other writers acknowledging indebtedness to his work. This research has investigated Dennis’ conclusions in order to ascertain whether or not the available evidence yields alternative conclusions. In order to understand the Welsh Mormon mission, it was necessary to establish the historiography of the subject. The study involved a reassessment of primary evidence including personal journals, Nonconformist and Mormon periodicals, letters and newspaper reports. The research has concluded that the established view of the early Welsh Mormon mission can be broadened. Evidence reveals that early Mormon missionary activity in Monmouthshire was more significant than previously considered, enabling us to learn more about missionary methods and the opposition encountered at this stage. An analysis of the contribution of W. R. Davies as the chief antagonist of Mormonism has revealed that some assertions may now be challenged, and that his opposition to the Latter-day Saints needs to be understood within a wider context. Newspapers reveal that there was antagonism and opposition to the Latter-day Saints, but this did not include serious violence or organised oppression. The thesis concludes that while the Latter-day Saints experienced opposition, to say that they experienced ‘persecution’ is to overstate the case. iii Table of Contents Abstract iii Acknowledgements v Dedication vi Introduction 1 Part 1 27 Chapter 1 Mormon Beginnings and Characteristics 29 Chapter 2 The Early Latter-day Saints Mission to Wales, 1840-1843 53 Part 2 101 Chapter 3 The Latter-day Saints Mission to Merthyr Tydfil, 1844-1849 103 Chapter 4 Outlining the Opposition to the Latter-day Saints’ Mission to 129 Wales 1840-49 Chapter 5 W. R. Davies: Arch-persecutor or Concerned Commentator? 185 Chapter 6 Newspapers and the Latter-day Saints 267 Conclusion 311 Bibliography 317 iv Acknowledgements At the outset, I wish to acknowledge the enormous debt of gratitude I owe to my supervisor, Dr Robert Pope. I have been privileged to benefit from his expertise, experience and professionalism. In particular, I am grateful for his patience, sensitive correction and guidance, and his constant generosity in the giving of his time. I could not have wished for a more committed supervisor. I also wish to thank Dr Sarah Lewis, as second supervisor, especially for her input at the start of this project. I would like to thank all the people in my life who have asked regularly about my progress and welfare, and kept me in their thoughts and prayers. Their interest and encouragement has been heart-warming, and their support much appreciated. A special debt of gratitude is owed to my husband, Wyndham, whose love, care, constant support and encouragement has enabled me not just to take on this project, but to see it though. I am also grateful for his listening ear which has allowed me to make the subject of this thesis a daily topic of conversation during the last few years. Finally, a big thank-you must go to my American cousin Marla, who made the decision to send me a copy of a little booklet entitled The Welsh in Utah. v Dedicated to my husband Wyndham. In memory of my parents: Daphne and Ken Evason 1917-2005 vi Introduction This thesis sets out to examine the early Mormon mission to Wales and to reassess the claims made in the historiography regarding both the beginning of that mission and the opposition it faced. The study focuses on the conclusions reached by Ronald Dennis, Welsh Mormonism’s primary chronicler, and how they might be challenged by evidence gathered from religious periodicals and secular newspapers when that information is set alongside that which is garnered from Mormon periodicals. My interest in the subject was first aroused when I discovered that a distant relation had been among Mormon émigrés to America in 1865. An American cousin had inherited a cedar chest full of family papers, including two short booklets, one entitled Mormonism: Its Origin and History,1 and the other, more arrestingly, The Welsh in Utah.2 This little booklet proved captivating reading. It recounted the history of some of the Welsh Latter-day Saints who had emigrated from Wales during the nineteenth century. It recorded engaging cameos of the many Welsh emigrants, from masons to musicians, who founded the Welsh Latter-day Saint communities in Malad and Samaria, Idaho, as well as Spanish Fork, Willard, and Wales, Utah. In particular, it recorded the role Welsh women played in the establishment of these communities. In order to discover more, I turned first to Ronald D. Dennis’ book The Call of Zion.3 The book contains a detailed account of the first mass emigration of Welsh Latter-day Saints to Salt Lake City organized and directed by Captain Dan Jones in February 1849. While this is an extraordinary story, it is a relatively unfamiliar one in the history of Wales. The image of 249 Welsh ‘Saints’, sailing from Swansea for Liverpool in February 1849, is an engaging one. The Cambrian recorded details of this momentous departure.4 Its account was reprinted in newspapers across Britain and in the United States. It contained a colourful description of the arrival of waggons 1 B. H. Roberts, Mormonism: Its origin and History, (Independence, Missouri: Zion’s Printing and Publishing Company, 1923). 2 Kate Carter, The Welsh in Utah, (Salt Lake City: Daughters of Utah Pioneers, 1949). 3 Ronald D. Dennis, The Call of Zion: The Story of the First Welsh Mormon Emigration, Religious Studies Center: Specialized Monograph Series, Vol.2 (Salt Lake City, Utah: Brigham Young University, 1987). 4 Cambrian (16 February 1849). 1 from Carmarthenshire, piled high with possessions, some owned by people aged in their seventies and eighties. The Cambrian added that many had travelled from Brechfa and Llanybydder, in rural Carmarthenshire. It also described the crowds of people who waved farewell to these resolute travellers as they departed from Swansea aboard the Troubadour en route to Liverpool. Captain Dan Jones, who had organized this enterprise, accompanied them on the journey. An additional seventy- seven Welsh converts had planned to join the 249 émigrés as they sailed aboard the Buena Vista from Liverpool to New Orleans. However, it was decided that the number of paying passengers exceeded the accommodation space and these passengers were reassigned to another ship. They sailed aboard the Hartley just over a week later. While the numbers are not vast, they are certainly noteworthy, which makes it somewhat surprising that historians have paid almost no attention to this event in the story of Welsh emigration, or even in the history of Wales itself Secondly, I turned to the website Welsh Mormon History,5 which collates information on all things pertaining to the history of the Welsh Mormon mission. This website forms part of a project run by Brigham Young University (BYU) at Salt Lake City, which aims to record the stories of the migrants who left Wales to join the Mormon community in America. Over the course of three decades, Ron Dennis who oversees this project, has amassed an extensive collection of biographies, journals, and photographs of the early Welsh Latter-day Saints, which continue to be digitized and uploaded to the website.6 While the economic depression of the 1840s encouraged many in Wales to leave their homeland simply to achieve a better life, and reports of vessels carrying emigrants were common in the press,7 clearly, the motivation in the case of the Latter-day Saints contained a different element. For the Mormons the culmination of their journey was their arrival at the ‘New Jerusalem’ in America. The courage and determination of 5 http://welshmormon.byu.edu accessed 12 September 2017. 6 The website is a project by Brigham Young University (BYU), Centre For Family History and Genealogy: http://welshmormon.byu.edu accessed 2 September 2017. 7 E.g. The Cardiff and Merthyr Guardian (21 July 1849) reported that there were ‘over 200 persons – men, women, and children, passed through Newport on Monday last, from Nantyglo and Tredegar, for a steamer to Bristol, en-route for Pittsburg.’ The same paper also reported that ‘there are three or four very fine vessels advertising to sail from Newport with passengers to Boston in the USA, in the dock at this present time.’ 2 these Welsh converts can scarcely be questioned. Following their arrival in New Orleans, their journey continued up the Mississippi and Missouri en route to Salt Lake City. At various stages of the journey they were beset with outbreaks of cholera. Hardship, suffering and death accompanied the Welsh ‘Saints’ on every part of their route. They finally reached journey’s end on 26 October 1849, eight months after they had left Liverpool, with only a quarter of the original party of 326, reaching ‘the goal of all faithful Welsh Mormons’.8 This willingness to endure such hardship led to questions about the motivation of the emigrants who had so longed to leave the land of their birth.