Brigham Young University BYU ScholarsArchive Theses and Dissertations 1970 The Contributions of George A. Smith to the Establishment of the Mormon Society in the Territory of Utah C. Kent Dunford 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 Dunford, C. Kent, "The Contributions of George A. Smith to the Establishment of the Mormon Society in the Territory of Utah" (1970). Theses and Dissertations. 4653. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/4653 This Dissertation 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]. THE contributions OF GEORGE A SMITH TO THE establishment OF THE MORMON SOCIETY IN THE TERRITORY OF UTAH A dissertation presented to the department of church history and doctrine brigham young university in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree doctor of philosophy by C kent dunford august 1970 this dissertation by C kent dunford is accepted in its present form by the department of church history and doctrine in the college of religious instruction of brigham young university as satis- fying the dissertation requirements fforyoror the degree of doctor of history of religion date hyrum L andrus committee chairman milton V backman jr committee member rodney turner committee member lamar C berrett department chairman typed by hermine B horman TABLE OF ONTENTSCONTENTSC CHAPTER PAGE IIII1isy111 introduction 1 a 0 9 0 0 0 0 0 6 IIij11 THE TIMES 0 9 0 0 9 0 0 0 MAN 0 0 0 0 0 0 iliIII111 THE 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 18 IV YOUTH AND EARLY ADULTHOOD 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 36 V thevestwardTHEVEteeTHE STWARDWESTWARD MIGRATION 0 0 0 0 0 0 53 VI THE COLONIZER 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 78 VII FATHER OFTHEOF THE SOUTHERN utleutahsettlementsUTAH settlements 107 VIII THE CHURCH HISTORIAN 0 a 0 0 a 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0 a 128 IX THE politician 0 0 0 152 X CRISIS IN ZION THE UTAH WAR AND ITS AFTERMATH 178 XI THE preacherpromoterPREACHER PROMOTER 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 209 xiXIII1 THE GROWTH OF opposition INDIAN AND GENTILE CONFLICTS 240240 bibliography 0 0 0 a 0 0 0 0 286 iiilillii CHAPTER I1 introduction george A smith 181718751817 1875 was one of brigham youngs chief lieutenants and made significant contributions to the building of the mormon commonwealthcommonwealth in the territory of utah he was a prominent church leader missionary preacher colonizer historian and politician this dissertation is a study of his multi phased life and more parti- culcularlyarly his career in theutahthe utah territory in a strict sense this is not a biography of george A smith but an attempt to accurately describe and appraise his contributions in each oftheodtheof the above areas of his life for the utah period ordinarily historians when writingbitingwriting of the utah territorial period of mormon history havefocusedhave focused on the accomplishments of brigham young and have made only brief mention of his faithful assistants most of the latter gave unstintingly of their lives and talents to build a sturdy society in the isolated valleys of the great basin and their efforts should not become lost to historyhisioryhow incomplete a history of the american civil war would be if only the achievements of a lincoln or grant were considered or a history of the protestant reformation that dealt with only the contributions of luther and calvin likewise the story of the mormon people in the utah territory will be incomplete until the lives of all important persons have been analyzed among the many talented mormon leaders of the time it may someday be recognized that george A smith made a contribution to his people second only to 2 that of their great colonizer and prophet brigham young at least one prominent biographer of prespresidentident young suggested that george A smith perhaps more than any other assisted the mormon leader in carrying 1 the burdens of the kingdom this is one reason why a substantial study of this man is long overdue another austifjustifjustificationleation for this project is the large amount of historical source material left by george A smith which heretofore has not been considered as a whole in an endeavor to illuminate his life and times the immense personal correspondence of george A ffound in his personal papers letter books and church periodicals was the single most important source of infinformationarmatormat i1 on fforor this paper other major sourcesources such as church periodicals ward and stake fistorihistorihistorieses the man- uscript history of brigham young the journal history of the church and the collection of sermons entitled the journal of discourses were used extensively in accumulating the data for the dissertation journals especially those of george A smith john D lee james godson bleak and the church historianhistorians s office were useful in1n uncovering many of the lesser known activities of his life two previous attempts have been made at writing a biography of george A smith preston nibley formformerer assistant church historian produced an uncompleted biography which appeared serially in the church news section of the deseret news from january 4 1950 to october 18 1952 this sketchy life is often momorere eulogy than history and makes no extensive use of the primary sources mentioned above mr nibley preston sibleydibleynibley brighaibrigham yoengyoangyoung thee man and his work salt lake city deseret book company i96019 p 517j 3 ended the last article of the series with the statement that he intended to continue the research and publish a book on the subject apparently the press of other responsibilities prevented him from accomplishing this objective in 1962 a family genealogical biography entitled c2strycastryancestryan biogiabiograbiography and family of georeegeorge A smith was published this work by zora smith jarvis a granddaughter of george A contains valu- able information about georgegeorgea A smiths ancestors family and descend- ants but also leaves major sources untouched and makes little analysis or interpretation of those it does use mrs jarvis seems to rely princprincipallyjpallyspally on george AsA s personal journal preston nibleys biography and family genealogies for her information it is hoped that this dis- sertationsertationimprovessertation improves on some of these inadequacies there are several limitations to this study however which should be noted dutduidue to the abundance of historical material on george A smith it was felt that a complete treatment of his life would be too broad in scope fforor a paper of this type consequently the utah period ofhisochisof hishig life was selected as the majorareamajor areaavea of concentration united states and mormon histqryofhistory of the nineteenth century have been considered only insofar as was thought necessary to see george A in his historical context the history goals and theology of the church were significant in forminginforming his thinking aspirations and approach to historical writing but these subjects as well were mentioned only when considered applicable to the central thesis caution has been taken to avoid making judgments on the special religious claims of the latter day saint church As will be pointed out in the dissertation the difficulty of 4 assessing george A ISs ntributionscontributionsCO fullfulifullyyuliyy and accuratelyaccuacaurately is fequentlysequentlyfrequentlyr acute the mormon people were great believers in the impoimportancertanceartance of if counsel and cooperative effort and consequently most policy decisions and administrative functions were carried out by groups As a church leader george A seldseldomselgseigacted alalonealorieorieorle As a historian he vaswaswa s aided by a competent staff and it is not always easy to determine what hes accom- pliplishedshed independent 0of theirftheirotheir assistance the same problem applies to his work as a colonizer and politician noattemptno attempt will be made to ffindind substitutes for certain key words of mormon terminoterminologylogy the term if prophet is used in reference to josephsmithjoseph smith and brigham young members of the church of jesus christ of latterlatterdayday saints are designated Morcormonsmormonsmons saints and latterilatterblatter day saints while nonnonmormonsmormons are often referred to as 11genge- ntiles the mormonmormohchurchchurch itself is oftenoften denominadenominateddenominated thehe church 11 these terms are not meant to convey a positive or derogatory judgment by the wrwriteriter in outline chapters two through fouroffour of the dissertation are essentially introductory to the major body of the study the histori- cal mileau of early nineteenth century ameriamericaca is briefly examined in order to rereviewview some of the rmjormajor forces that shaped the liflifestylelifeilfee- style of persons living in those titimesme s Chaptchapterthreechaptererthreethree is a short personal portrait of george A smith with the purpose of introducing the reader to the man himself chapter ffouryourour is an overview of his early liflifeilfee and experiences in theldssheldsthe LDS church with emphasis oftononhohnsome of the most im- portant formative incidents as revealed in his own autobiography and journals the remainder of the dissertation