Becky Bartholomew History Blazer, December 1995 At the end of her voyage to America, contemplating whether to continue to Utah or remain in Iowa for a season, Welsh pioneer Priscilla Merriman wrote: “[My husband was offered] Ten Dollars a day to work at his trade of iron roller, but money was no inducement to us….” The Evans put together an …
A Nine-Year-Old Girl Triumphed over the Handcart Tragedy
W. Paul Reeve History Blazer, August 1995 The heavy morning frost on the Wyoming Plains west of Fort Laramie made walking unpleasant for those who were barefoot or in tattered shoes among the ill-fated 1856 Mormon handcart companies destined for Salt Lake City. Both the Willie and Martin companies, replete with Mormon faithful eager to join fellow Saints in the …
Handcart Companies
William G. Hartley Utah History Encyclopedia, 1994 By the mid-1850s LDS church leaders needed less expensive ways to move poor immigrants to Utah. The Perpetual Emigrating Fund that loaned to the needy was depleted, and costs for wagons and ox-teams were high. Therefore, Brigham Young announced on 29 October 1855 a handcart system by which the church would provide carts …
Perpetual Emigrating Fund Company
Richard L. Jensen Utah History Encyclopedia, 1994 Initiated in 1849 primarily to help Mormon refugees from Nauvoo, Illinois, migrate to Utah, the Perpetual Emigrating Fund Company (PEF) also became a major instrument for gathering Latter-day Saint converts to Utah from abroad. It assisted some 26,000 immigrants–about 36 percent of the approximately 73,000 Latter-day Saints who emigrated from Europe to the …
Pioneers
Thomas G. Alexander Utah, The Right Place In spite of the fears of some governmental officials that Mormons might plant themselves on the Missouri indefinitely, in December 1846, the Saints began to plan in earnest for their exodus to the Great Basin. Agreeing to send a small pioneer company to establish a settlement, they prepared for the evacuation of the …
Mormon History
From “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints” James B. Allen Utah History Encyclopedia, 1994 The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (“Mormons”) was founded by Joseph Smith, who was born in Sharon, Vermont, on 23 December 1805. In 1816 he moved with his family to western New York state, sometimes known as the “Burned-over District” because of …
Mormon Battalion
Susan Easton Black Utah History Encyclopedia, 1994 In July 1846, under the authority of U.S. Army Captain James Allen and with the encouragement of Mormon leader Brigham Young, the Mormon Battalion was mustered in at Council Bluffs, Iowa Territory. The battalion was the direct result of Brigham Young’s correspondence on 26 January 1846 to Jesse C. Little, presiding elder over …
The War with Mexico
Miriam B. Murphy The History Blazer, April 1995 When Americans elected James Polk as their eleventh president in 1844 they ushered in an era of expansionism and war that would soon reshape the nation. The new administration sailed along on a slogan coined by an editor in the summer of 1845, Manifest Destiny. Historian Bernard DeVoto called it “one of the …
Colonization of Utah
Leonard J. Arrington Utah History Encyclopedia, 1994 The establishment of settlements in Utah took place in four stages. The first stage, from 1847 to 1857, marked the founding of the north-south line of settlements along the Wasatch Front and Wasatch Plateau to the south, from Cache Valley on the Idaho border to Utah’s Dixie on the Arizona border. In addition …
This Is the Place
The Mormon Trail: A Photographic Exhibit Stan Layton After leaving Nauvoo, Illinois, in 1846, the Mormons headed west. They spent the winter of 1846–47 in Winter Quarters near Omaha and at various places in Iowa, resuming their journey in the spring. First to leave Winter Quarters that spring was the advance party under the personal direction of church president Brigham …