Journal of Mormon History Vol. 38, No. 2, Spring 2012
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Moroni: Angel Or Treasure Guardian? 39
Mark Ashurst-McGee: Moroni: Angel or Treasure Guardian? 39 Moroni: Angel or Treasure Guardian? Mark Ashurst-McGee Over the last two decades, historians have reconsidered the origins of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the context of the early American tradition of treasure hunting. Well into the nineteenth century there were European Americans hunting for buried wealth. Some believed in treasures that were protected by magic spells or guarded by preternatural beings. Joseph Smith, founding prophet of the Church, had participated in several treasure-hunting expeditions in his youth. The church that he later founded rested to a great degree on his claim that an angel named Moroni had appeared to him in 1823 and showed him the location of an ancient scriptural record akin to the Bible, which was inscribed on metal tablets that looked like gold. After four years, Moroni allowed Smith to recover these “golden plates” and translate their characters into English. It was from Smith’s published translation—the Book of Mormon—that members of the fledgling church became known as “Mormons.” For historians of Mormonism who have treated the golden plates as treasure, Moroni has become a treasure guardian. In this essay, I argue for the historical validity of the traditional understanding of Moroni as an angel. In May of 1985, a letter to the editor of the Salt Lake Tribune posed this question: “In keeping with the true spirit (no pun intended) of historical facts, should not the angel Moroni atop the Mormon Temple be replaced with a white salamander?”1 Of course, the pun was intended. -
Oregon-California Trails Association Convention Booklet
Oregon-California Trails Association Thirty-Sixth Annual Convention August 6 – 11, 2018 Convention Booklet Theme: Rails and Trails - Confluence and Impact at Utah’s Crossroads of the West \ 1 | P a g e Table of Contents Page 2 Invitation & Contact Info 3 Registration Information 4 Acknowledgement of Risk 5 Menu 7 Mail in Form 9 Schedule & Daily Events 11 Activity Stations/Displays 12 Speakers 14 Activity Station Presenters 16 Tour Guides 17 Pre-& Post-Convention Tour Descriptions 20 Convention Bus Tour Descriptions 22 Special Events 22 Book Room, Exhibits, & Authors Night 23 Accommodations (Hotels, RV sites) 24 State Parks 24 Places to Visit 26 Suggested Reading List, Sun & Altitude & Ogden-Eccles Conference Center Area Maps 2415 Washington Blvd. Ogden, Utah 84401 27-28 Convention Center Maps An Invitation to OCTA’s Thirty-Sixth Annual Convention On behalf of the Utah Crossroads Chapter, we invite you to the 2018 OCTA Convention at the Eccles Convention Center in Ogden, Utah. Northern Utah was in many ways a Crossroads long before the emigrants, settlers, railroad and military came here. As early as pre-Fremont Native Americans, we find evidence of trails and trade routes across this geographic area. The trappers and traders, both English and American, knew the area and crisscrossed it following many of the Native American trails. They also established new routes. Explorers sought additional routes to avoid natural barriers such as the mountains and the Great Salt Lake. As emigrants and settlers traveled west, knowledge of the area spread. The Crossroads designation was permanently established once the Railroad spanned the nation. -
Joseph Smith Ill's 1844 Blessing Ana the Mormons of Utah
Q). MicAael' J2umw Joseph Smith Ill's 1844 Blessing Ana The Mormons of Utah JVlembers of the Mormon Church headquartered in Salt Lake City may have reacted anywhere along the spectrum from sublime indifference to temporary discomfiture to cold terror at the recently discovered blessing by Joseph Smith, Jr., to young Joseph on 17 January 1844, to "be my successor to the Presidency of the High Priesthood: a Seer, and a Revelator, and a Prophet, unto the Church; which appointment belongeth to him by blessing, and also by right."1 The Mormon Church follows a line of succession from Joseph Smith, Jr., completely different from that provided in this document. To understand the significance of the 1844 document in relation to the LDS Church and Mormon claims of presidential succession from Joseph Smith, Jr., one must recognize the authenticity and provenance of the document itself, the statements and actions by Joseph Smith about succession before 1844, the succession de- velopments at Nauvoo after January 1844, and the nature of apostolic succes- sion begun by Brigham Young and continued in the LDS Church today. All internal evidences concerning the manuscript blessing of Joseph Smith III, dated 17 January 1844, give conclusive support to its authenticity. Anyone at all familiar with the thousands of official manuscript documents of early Mormonism will immediately recognize that the document is written on paper contemporary with the 1840s, that the text of the blessing is in the extraordinar- ily distinctive handwriting of Joseph Smith's personal clerk, Thomas Bullock, that the words on the back of the document ("Joseph Smith 3 blessing") bear striking similarity to the handwriting of Joseph Smith, Jr., and that the docu- ment was folded and labeled in precisely the manner all one-page documents were filed by the church historian's office in the 1844 period. -
The Secret Mormon Meetings of 1922
University of Nevada, Reno THE SECRET MORMON MEETINGS OF 1922 A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in History By Shannon Caldwell Montez C. Elizabeth Raymond, Ph.D. / Thesis Advisor December 2019 Copyright by Shannon Caldwell Montez 2019 All Rights Reserved UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA RENO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL We recommend that the thesis prepared under our supervision by SHANNON CALDWELL MONTEZ entitled The Secret Mormon Meetings of 1922 be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS C. Elizabeth Raymond, Ph.D., Advisor Cameron B. Strang, Ph.D., Committee Member Greta E. de Jong, Ph.D., Committee Member Erin E. Stiles, Ph.D., Graduate School Representative David W. Zeh, Ph.D., Dean, Graduate School December 2019 i Abstract B. H. Roberts presented information to the leadership of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in January of 1922 that fundamentally challenged the entire premise of their religious beliefs. New research shows that in addition to church leadership, this information was also presented during the neXt few months to a select group of highly educated Mormon men and women outside of church hierarchy. This group represented many aspects of Mormon belief, different areas of eXpertise, and varying approaches to dealing with challenging information. Their stories create a beautiful tapestry of Mormon life in the transition years from polygamy, frontier life, and resistance to statehood, assimilation, and respectability. A study of the people involved illuminates an important, overlooked, underappreciated, and eXciting period of Mormon history. -
The Mormons Are Coming- the LDS Church's
102 Mormon Historical Studies Nauvoo, Johann Schroder, oil on tin, 1859. Esplin: The Mormons are Coming 103 The Mormons Are Coming: The LDS Church’s Twentieth Century Return to Nauvoo Scott C. Esplin Traveling along Illinois’ scenic Highway 96, the modern visitor to Nauvoo steps back in time. Horse-drawn carriages pass a bustling blacksmith shop and brick furnace. Tourists stroll through manicured gardens, venturing into open doorways where missionary guides recreate life in a religious city on a bend in the Mississippi River during the mid-1840s. The picture is one of prosper- ity, presided over by a stately temple monument on a bluff overlooking the community. Within minutes, if they didn’t know it already, visitors to the area quickly learn about the Latter-day Saint founding of the City of Joseph. While portraying an image of peace, students of the history of Nauvoo know a different tale, however. Unlike other historically recreated villages across the country, this one has a dark past. For the most part, the homes, and most important the temple itself, did not peacefully pass from builder to pres- ent occupant, patiently awaiting renovation and restoration. Rather, they lay abandoned, persisting only in the memory of a people who left them in search of safety in a high mountain desert more than thirteen hundred miles away. Firmly established in the tops of the mountains, their posterity returned more than a century later to create a monument to their ancestral roots. Much of the present-day religious, political, economic, and social power of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints traces its roots to Nauvoo, Illinois. -
William Smith, Isaach Sheen, and the Melchisedek & Aaronic Herald
William Smith, Isaach Sheen, and the Melchisedek & Aaronic Herald by Connell O'Donovan William Smith (1811-1893), the youngest brother of Mormon prophet, Joseph Smith, was formally excommunicated in absentia from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on October 19, 1845.1 The charges brought against him as one of the twelve apostles and Patriarch to the church, which led to his excommunication and loss of position in the church founded by his brother, included his claiming the “right to have one-twelfth part of the tithing set off to him, to be appropriated to his own individual use,” for “publishing false and slanderous statements concerning the Church” (and in particular, Brigham Young, along with the rest of the Twelve), “and for a general looseness and recklessness of character which is ill comported with the dignity of his high calling.”2 Over the next 15 years, William founded some seven schismatic LDS churches, as well as joined the Strangite LDS Church and even was surreptitiously rebaptized into the Utah LDS church in 1860.3 What led William to believe he had the right, as an apostle and Patriarch to the Church, to succeed his brother Joseph, claiming authority to preside over the Quorum of the Twelve, and indeed the whole church? The answer proves to be incredibly, voluminously complex. In the research for my forthcoming book, tentatively titled Strange Fire: William Smith, Spiritual Wifery, and the Mormon “Clerical Delinquency” Crises of the 1840s, I theorize that William may have begun setting up his own church in the eastern states (far from his brother’s oversight) as early as 1842. -
Planning Commission County of Alpine, State of California
PLANNING COMMISSION COUNTY OF ALPINE, STATE OF CALIFORNIA CORRECTED AGENDA Thursday, January 28, 2021 5:00 P.M. Nick Hartzell, Chair Meeting Location: Jim Holdridge, Vice-Chair VIRTUAL MEETING ONLY Tom Sweeney Bob Broyer VIRTUAL MEETING NOTICE The Planning Commission meeting will be conducted virtually and not available for in person public participation (pursuant to State Executive Order N-29-20). The meeting will be an internet based video and phone conference. Public participation is available at the following: Website link: https://zoom.us/j/97965207316 Phone number: 669-900-9128 Zoom meeting ID: 979 6520 7316 IMPORTANT NOTICE REGARDING COVID-19 AND PARTICIPATION IN THE PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING To participate in this Alpine County Planning Commission meeting, the public are invited to observe and address the Commission telephonically or electronically. Instructions for public participation are below: Public Participation Instructions: The meeting will be conducted via teleconference using the Microsoft Zoom program, and Commissioners will attend electronically or telephonically. The meeting will have no physical location to physically attend. The public may observe the Zoom meeting via computer by clicking on the following link: https://zoom.us/j/97965207316 or the public may listen via phone by dialing 1-669-900-9128 and then when prompted, entering the Meeting ID Access Code 979 6520 7316 You will be asked for a “Participant ID”. You do not need a Participant ID to join the meeting, press the pound key (#) again and you will be automatically connected. 1. If a member of the public wishes to comment on a particular agenda item, the public is strongly encouraged to submit their comments in writing via email to the Community Development Department at [email protected] by 2:00 p.m. -
Mormon Literature: Progress and Prospects by Eugene England
Mormon Literature: Progress and Prospects By Eugene England This essay is the culmination of several attempts England made throughout his life to assess the state of Mormon literature and letters. The version below, a slightly revised and updated version of the one that appeared in David J. Whittaker, ed., Mormon Americana: A Guide to Sources and Collections in the United States (Provo, Utah: BYU Studies, 1995), 455–505, is the one that appeared in the tribute issue Irreantum published following England’s death. Originally published in: Irreantum 3, no. 3 (Autumn 2001): 67–93. This, the single most comprehensive essay on the history and theory of Mormon literature, first appeared in 1982 and has been republished and expanded several times in keeping up with developments in Mormon letters and Eugene England’s own thinking. Anyone seriously interested in LDS literature could not do better than to use this visionary and bibliographic essay as their curriculum. 1 ExpEctations MorMonisM hAs bEEn called a “new religious tradition,” in some respects as different from traditional Christianity as the religion of Jesus was from traditional Judaism. 2 its beginnings in appearances by God, Jesus Christ, and ancient prophets to Joseph smith and in the recovery of lost scriptures and the revelation of new ones; its dramatic history of persecution, a literal exodus to a promised land, and the build - ing of an impressive “empire” in the Great basin desert—all this has combined to make Mormons in some ways an ethnic people as well as a religious community. Mormon faith is grounded in literal theophanies, concrete historical experience, and tangible artifacts (including the book of Mormon, the irrigated fields of the Wasatch Front, and the great stone pioneer temples of Utah) in certain ways that make Mormons more like ancient Jews and early Christians and Muslims than, say, baptists or Lutherans. -
Primary 5 Manual: Doctrine and Covenants, Church History
References Information given in the historical accounts in each lesson was taken from the sources listed below. Lesson 1 Church History in the Fulness of Times (Church Educational System manual [32502], 1993), pp. 21–24, 29–36. Dean C. Jessee, ed. The Personal Writings of Joseph Smith (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1984), p. 4. J. W. Peterson, “Another Testimony: Statement of William Smith, Concerning Joseph, the Prophet,” Deseret Evening News, 20 Jan. 1894, p. 11. Lucy Mack Smith, History of Joseph Smith, ed. Preston Nibley (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1958), pp. 67, 82. Lesson 2 Church History in the Fulness of Times (Church Educational System manual [32502], 1993), pp. 3–10, 17. Milton V. Backman Jr. American Religions and the Rise of Mormonism, rev. ed. (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1970), pp. 65–69, 179–81. Roland H. Bainton, Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1950), p. 185. Edwin Scott Gaustad, A Religious History of America (New York: Harper and Row, 1966), pp. 47–66. Lesson 3 Church History in the Fulness of Times (Church Educational System manual [32502], 1993), p. 37. Lesson 4 Church History in the Fulness of Times (Church Educational System manual [32502], 1993), pp. 41–43. J. W. Peterson, “Another Testimony: Statement of William Smith, Concerning Joseph, the Prophet,” Deseret Evening News, 20 Jan. 1894, p. 11. Lucy Mack Smith, History of Joseph Smith, ed. Preston Nibley (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1958), pp. 82–83, 87. Lesson 5 Church History in the Fulness of Times (Church Educational System manual [32502], 1993), pp. -
The Cultural History Of
THE KIRKWOOD INN THE CULTURAL HISTORY OF HELP PRESERVE THE PAST Kirkwood Station, as it was originally called, soon became a hostelry, post office and stagecoach Remember, as you explore the Kirkwood region you depot, which served many travelers through the are entering a historic area. You may find relics of KIRKWOOD Sierra in the late 1800's. In 2019, the Kirkwood the past and wonder how they got here. Inn celebrated its 155th year of friendly western hospitality. By leaving these items as you found them, you will CALIFORNIA leave in place clues that could help us answer these very questions. If you take artifacts home with you, or move them to other spots, you may destroy clues to the past. Every artifact is not merely something to be held and examined, it is also a piece of a puzzle which, when put together with other pieces, allows us to unravel the mysteries of the past. Please treat all historic and archaeological sites with care and respect when you visit them. The remains of prehistoric and historic cultures are a part of our Reno heritage. When artifacts are stolen and archaeological 80 Truckee 395 sites are destroyed, we lose important clues about the 80 89 Today the Inn is a popular restaurant and bar 50 Tahoe City past, forever. Strict laws protect artifacts and sites on Carson City located at Kirkwood’s entrance on Scenic California 50 Gardnerville state and Federal and Native American lands. Report 99 Auburn So. Lake Tahoe State Route 88. The Inn sits on the point where 49 88 395 80 89 violations to your local law enforcement or land 5 50 Alpine, Amador and El Dorado counties’ boundaries Placerville Sacramento 50 management agency. -
Brigham Young and the Massacre at Mountain Meadows
Book Reviews 149 Book Reviews WILL BAGLEY. Blood of the Prophets: Brigham Young and the Massacre at Mountain Meadows. (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2002. xxiv + 493 pp. Illustrations, maps, appendix, notes, bibliography, index. $39.95 hardback.) Reviewed by W. Paul Reeve, assistant professor of history, Southern Virginia University, and Ardis E. Parshall, independent researcher, Orem, Utah. Explaining the violent slaughter of 120 men, women, and children at the hands of God-fearing Christian men—priesthood holders, no less, of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints—is no easy task. Biases per- meate the sources and fill the historical record with contradictions and polemics. Untangling the twisted web of self-serving testimony, journals, memoirs, government reports, and the like requires skill, forthrightness, integrity, and the utmost devotion to established standards of historical scholarship. Will Bagley, a journalist and independent historian with sever- al books on Latter-day Saint history to his credit, has recently tried his hand at unraveling the tale. Even though Bagley claims to be aware of “the basic rules of the craft of history” (xvi), he consistently violates them in Blood of the Prophets. As a result, Juanita Brooks’ The Mountain Meadows Massacre remains the most definitive and balanced account to date. Certainly there is no justification for the Mountain Meadows Massacre. Mormon men along with Paiute allies acted beyond the bounds of reason to murder the Fancher party, a group of California-bound emigrants from Arkansas passing through Utah in 1857. It is a horrific crime, one that Bagley correctly identifies as “the most violent incident in the history of America’s overland trails” (xiii), and it belongs to Utah and the Mormons. -
Select Bibliography
select bibliography primary sources archives Aartsbisschoppelijk Archief te Mechelen (Archive of the Archbishop of Mechelen), Brussels, Belgium. Archive at St. Anthony Convent and Motherhouse, Sisters of St. Francis, Syracuse, NY. Archives of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts, Honolulu. Archives of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts, Leuven, Belgium. Bishop Museum Archives, Honolulu. Church History Library, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City. L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT. kalaupapa manuscripts and collections Bigler, Henry W. Journal. Church History Library, Salt Lake City. Cannon, George Q. Journals. Church History Library, Salt Lake City. Cluff, Harvey Harris. Autobiography. Handwritten copy. Joseph F. Smith Library Archives and Special Collections, BYU–Hawaii, Lā‘ie, HI. Decker, Daniel H. Mission Journal, 1949–1951. Courtesy of Daniel H. Decker. Farrer, William. Biographical Sketch, Hawaiian Mission Report, and Diary of William Farrer, 1946. Copied from the original and housed in the L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT. Gibson, Walter Murray. Diary. Church History Library, Salt Lake City. Green, Ephraim. Diary. Microfilm copy, Joseph F. Smith Library Archives and Special Collections, BYU–Hawaii, Lā‘ie, HI. Halvorsen, Jack L. Journal and correspondence. Copies in possession of the author. Hammond, Francis A. Journal. Church History Library, Salt Lake City. Hawaii Mission President’s Records, 1936–1964. LR 3695 21, Church History Library, Salt Lake City. Haycock, D. Arthur. Correspondence, 1954–1961. Courtesy of Lynette Haycock Dowdle and Brett D. Dowdle. “Incoming Letters of the Board of Health.” Hansen’s Disease.