Brigham Young University BYU ScholarsArchive Theses and Dissertations 1971 History of the South African Mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, 1853-1970 Farrell Ray Monson Brigham Young University - Provo Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd Part of the History Commons, Missions and World Christianity Commons, Mormon Studies Commons, and the Political Science Commons BYU ScholarsArchive Citation Monson, Farrell Ray, "History of the South African Mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, 1853-1970" (1971). Theses and Dissertations. 4951. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/4951 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]. HISTORY OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN MISSION OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRITCHRIST OF LATTERDAYLATTER DAY SAINTS 185319701853 1970 A thesis presented to the department of church history and doctrine brigham young university in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree master of arts by farrell ray monson may 1971 copyright 1971 by farrellfarparre 11 ray monson roy utah acknowledgments this history of the south african mission 185319701853 1970 was not completed without the invaluable assistance of many friends teachers librarians and families failure to acknowledge them all does not mean that the writer is ungrateful all have contributed in some way which is appreciated sincere appreciation and gratitude is expressed to dr milton V backman jr chairman of the advisory commi- ttee for his guidance direction support and endless hours of willing assistance far beyond that which was required by the graduate school and to dr howard H barrenbarron member of the advisory committee for his constructive assistance encouragement and suggestions gratitude is expressed to many who assisted in gathering the needed material to A william lund and his capable library staff of the latter day saint historianhistorians office in salt lake city to the brigham young university library in provo utah to all who loaned personal diaries journals and letters for without these personal feelings and attitudes of some of the mission presidents mission- aries and members of the mormon church would have remained unknown appreciation I1iss expressed to ernal anderson for his professional assistance in making the maps and to bishop ross H johnson martha morrise and althea roberts for proofreading the manuscript and rendering helpful encour- agement the writer wishes to express his deepest gratitude and love for his parents mr and mrs lyman lynn monson who taught him to appreciateappreciatvappreciativ the gospel of jesus christ and iii iv instilled within him the desire to fulfill a mission and to live for thethelthei lords blessings last but certainly not least to his wife darlene the writer expresses all the thanks gratitude and love that is humanly possible for the countless hours of personal sacrifice for being willing to overlook the inconsistencies of his behavior and for the encouragement to finish this project when obstacles and discouragement occurred to darlene and our four children leann eric lesa and kyle with all their little distractiondistractionssP this work is sincerely dedicated PREFACE having fulfilled a mission for the church of jesus christ of latter day saints in south africa between 1954 and 1957 the writer became interested in the history and devel- opment of the mormon church and its activities in that land it was discovered that there was not a single record or volume written on the south african mission therefore it was deemed necessary by the author to complete a history including the activities of the church in south africa the purpose of this study is to summarize the history of the south african mission from 1853 to 1970 to give an account of the proselyting activities of the mormon mission- aries and to consider the growth and development of that mission A careful study has been made of all known available material pertaining to the problem some of the more informative sources of information concerning the history of the church of jesus christ of latter day saints in south africa are the followfollowingifollowingtfollowingsingi 1 manuscrmanusarmanuscript history of the south african missionmissioni A manuscript in several large looseleafloose leaf journals from 1853 to the present located in the LDS church historians office in salt lake city utah 2 south african mission quarterly historical report A manuscript in several large looseleafloose leaf journals from 1926 to the present located in the LDS church his- rianstorianstorianatotorian office in salt lake city utah 3 mission annual relfortrel2ortreporttreporte A manuscript in several large looseleafloose leaf journals from 1920 to the present located in the LDS church historians office in salt lake city utah 4 branch and conference minutes statistical records and histories of the various organizations of the v vi church ffromrom 1853 to the present which are in the handwriting of the clerks of the various branches of the church in south afafricarica generally speaking they are well written and informative but their importance to this history varies with the period of time covered and with the emphasis and detail supplied by the various record keepers located in the latter day saint church historians office in salt lake city utah 5 books and articles on specific problems relating to the mormon church in south afafricari ca located in the brigham young university in provo utah 6 journals and diaries of mission presidents missionaries and members of the church of jesus christ of latter day saints from south africa which often relate intimate details about the mission and members of the church not otherwise available 7 many letters of mission presidents and mission- aries have also been read which presented many of the problems of the mission and their solutions not otherwise available in other sources 8 the latter dazdayd saints millennial star and cumorahtcumo rahrahtrahs s southern messenger contain pronouncements on church programs and doctrine news ffromrom the mission corres- pondencepondence and history of the mission written by the mission presidents missionaries and members of the church complete sets are available at both the church historians office and the special collections library at the brigham young university provo utah the three large manuscripts housed in the church historians office south african mission history 1853- 1970 south african mission quarterly historical report 192619701926 1970 and the mission annual report 192019701920 1970 were especially useful because they included eye witness accounts taken from diaries journals and letters of members of the church as well as mission presidents and viivilVI 1 missionaries they also contain newspaper articles concern- ing missionary activities in south africa the library of the historianhistorians office at the church headquarters in salt lake city utah was the chief source of information on the history of mormon activities in south africa here the mission records have been compiled by the library staff of the church the brigham young university library at provo utah was also useful in providing many books and articles containing information relating to the church of jesus christ of latter day saints in south africa and the history of south africa as a nation TABLE OF CONTENTS page acknowledgments iii PREFACE v LIST OF MAPS xii chapter I1 SOUTH AFRICAN historical background TO 1853 1 JAN VAN RIEBEECK AND christianity 2 II11 THE OPENING OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN MISSION 13 missionary activities PRIOR TO 1853 13 JOSEPH RICHARDRICHARDSSt VISIT TO CAPE OF GOOD HOPE 16 CALL AND ARRIVAL OF THE FIRST missionaries 16 FIRST missionary EFFORTS 18 FIRST FRUITS OF THE missionaries0 LABORS 20 organization OF THE FIRST BRANCH conference AND FINAL EFFECTS OF THE missionaries 21 receptivity OF THE PEOPLE 24 THE FIRST EMIGRANTS 26 iliIII111 difficulties AND opposition encountered BY MISSION 0 f 0 0 29 difficulties encountered BY THE missionaries 29 legal problems 0 d 10 d 30 language problem 0 0 0 0 0 30 lack of church literature 0 0 32 opposition ffromrom mobs 0 e 0 0 34 opposition ffromrom the press 36 viii ixIX chapter page the polygamy issue 40 colored problem and the priesthood 42 clergy opposition 0 46 opposition from the police and government 49 effects of opposition and persecution 59 size of the MiESmissionsionslon 60 IV METHODS OF proselyting IN SOUTH AFRICA 63 missionary WORK progressed SLOWLY 63 EARLY proselyting METHODS 65 distribution of tracts 0 0 0 65 holding public meetings e 0 0 0a 66 Tractingtracking from door to door 0 0 0 v 0 66 proselyting without purse or scrip 70 street meetings 1 0 0 0 it 0 P it 0 71 illustrated lecture proselyting 72 music a proselyting method 0 73 sport proselyting & P 0 P P 0 74 EVERY MEMBER A missionary e 75 POST WORLD WAR ilII11 proselyting METHODS 0 0 80 the anderson plan 0 0 9 80 south african mission proselyting plan 0 0 81 systematic plan 0 0 1.1 11 4 P it 0 83 worldwideworld wide mission plan 0 a a e 83 afrikaans for south african missionaries 84 missionary training school 85 V GROWTH OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN MISSION 87 IMPORTANT organizational developments 87 origin of conference in south africa 87 emigration policy of the church 0 88 MISSION organization