The Voyage of the Julia Ann

Between 1840 and 1890, approximately 90,000 Latter-day Saints traveled east to west from Europe to America via a total of 543 oceanic voyages. Although shipwrecks were a common occurrence in the nineteenth century, none of the Atlantic ships carrying Latter-day Saint converts were reported among those that went down. However, little is known about the vessels that brought converts from the west to the east across the Pacific. The story of the Julia Ann, the only vessel known with Mormon passengers where lives were lost due to a shipwreck, is one such case.

The Julia Ann left Sydney Australia on 7 September 1855, under the command of 32-year-old Captain Benjamin F. Pond, the co-owner of the vessel. The Saints sang “The gallant ship is under weigh,” a hymn written by the famous LDS poet and hymn writer W. W. Phelps, as the ship left port. Captain Pond being impressed with the passage of Australian Latter-day Saints to America the previous year was eager to be of service once again. The LDS Australian periodical, Zion’s Watchman, reported that Pond and others had certified “that they never saw business more correctly and expeditiously transacted, than was the business pertaining to the shipment of that company, and they also stated that they never saw a company that were so easy to be governed, by the voice of one man as that company of Saints were, who, they remarked, were always ready to hear and obey my counsel.”

According to the Meridian Magazine article titled “The Pioneer Story You’ve Never Heard: The Wreck and Rescue of the Julia Ann” by Fred E. Woods, Captain Pond recalled that the first two weeks of the voyage were “exceedingly unpleasant” with “head winds accompanied with much rain.” However, upon entering the southeast trades, “everything brightened, promising a speedy and pleasant voyage.” That brief period of tranquility, however, proved to be the calm before the storm.

According to the Meridian Magazine article, John McCarthy, one of the crew members, recalls that on 4 October 1855, “as the ship was sailing at 11 ½ knots per hour, the sea became broken up and the boat with a tremendous crash, dashed head on to a coral reef. She immediately swung round with her broadside to the reef, and the sea made a complete breach over her at every swell.”

Shipwrecked

The Meridian Magazine article continues with the recounting of the incident by one of the passengers, Andrew Anderson, the second missionary to Australia in the early 1840s:

About half-past eight o’clock she struck on a reef. . . . This was an awful event in our lives. There was four of our children asleep and in bed; there was very few in the steerage, chiefly on the steerage house, poop, &c. I had been asked two or three times why I was not out,—was I well enough? Yes, well enough thank you, but lazy or something else, (it seems a foreboding of what took place,) there was Sister Harris, Sister Logie, my wife and myself in the steerage house at the moment the Julia Ann struck, my wife ran to me and said what shall we do, I said I do not think there is much the matter, compose yourself. Mr. Owens, 2nd mate, came in and told us to compose ourselves and remain as we were. . . .

Word came out from someone for the passengers to go to the cabin, and by the time I got the four children out of bed, the water was knocking about the boxes, I got my leg very much bruised with a large box, with difficulty we gained the cabin, and about ten minutes after we left, house, galley, and box was all over board, preparations were made to go on the rocks to ascertain whether we could get any footing, as there was no land in sight, the ship was breaking up fast.

Getting Everyone to Safety

According to the Meridian Magazine article, as the ship was rapidly breaking apart, Captain Pond “called for a volunteer to attempt to reach the reef by swimming with a small line. One of the sailors instantly stripped; the log line was attached to his body, and he succeeded in swimming to the reef. . . . By this means a larger line was hauled to the reef, and made fast to the rocks.” Many of the passengers were able to escape from the damaged ship to the reef by hanging on to the rope, but two women and three children drowned in the process.

The article continues with Peter Penfold’s account of the 5 Latter-day Saint passengers who were drowned during the escape:

Sister [Martha] Humphries, and sister [Eliza] Harris and infant, were drowned in the cabin. Little Mary Humphries and Marian Anderson were washed off the poop and drowned. . . . After I had helped to get them all out of the cabin, I came up and found the vessel all broken into fragments, except the cabin, and into that the water was rushing at a furious rate, sweeping out all the partitions.

Throughout the entire ordeal Captain Pond’s concern was for the safety of the passengers and crew. The article recounts a noble act by Captain Pond during the episode:

While the crew were engaged in getting the passengers ashore, Mr. Owens, the second mate, was going to carry a bag containing eight thousand dollars belonging to the Captain, ashore. The Captain ordered him to leave the money and carry a girl ashore; . . . the child was saved, but the money lost.

Castaways in Hope of Rescue

The nearest land was 10 miles away. The survivors were able to patch up a row boat and assemble a raft from spars and drift wood. Led by Captain Coffin, the women and children were placed into the boat, and the men remained on the reef for a second night.

The next morning provisions and clothing were placed on rafts, and the men swam and waded beside them along the reef. All the while they were being pursued by a school of sharks and often had to seek safety by climbing upon the rafts. They were finally able to reach the island after two days without any food or water where they were greeted by children who took them to a water supply which came from holes dug beneath the coral sand. Three days later, Pond led an exploring party to look for more provisions to sustain the castaways. They would spend two months on a series of islands with shell fish, turtle, sharks, cocoa nuts, and brackish water for their sustenance. They also planted a garden to grow pumpkins, peas, and beans.

In spite of their hardships, the Saints still held worship services on a regular basis.

After eight weeks of being stranded on the Scilly Islands, Pond and 9 brave men launched out in a boat which they had repaired to find help. Their destination was the Society Islands which were 200 miles away.

A Missionary’s Dream and the Providence of God

In his autobiography which was published four decades later, Pond recounted the prophetic dreams of a Mormon Elder which were instrumental in guiding the 10 man crew in the direction they were to go to seek safety. The dreams are included in the Meridian Magazine article:

My passengers were mostly Mormons, bound to Salt Lake City, densely ignorant and very superstitious and were bitterly opposed to my first proposition of trying to reach the Navigator Islands. They argued, the distance to be so great, some fifteen hundred miles, that if we succeeded in reaching them they would starve to death before we could hope to send them relief. They could not, or would not understand why we might not steer in face of head wind and sea to the Society Islands which were so much nearer. We, however, as nautical men, determined to act on our own judgment in that matter, and steadily continued our preparations until our plans were blocked in a most unexpected manner.

One of their Elders had a dream or vision. He saw the boat successfully launched upon her long voyage, and for a day or two making satisfactory progress. Another leaf in the vision, and the boat is seen floating bottom up, and the drowned bodies of her crew floating around her. This tale, so wrought upon the superstitions that not a man would volunteer to go with me, and I was reluctantly compelled to change my plan.

After some days the same Mormon Elder came to me having had another vision. I asked him if it was a good one. Yes, a very good one. He saw the boat depart with a crew of ten men, bound to the eastward; after three days of rowing, they reached a friendly island where a vessel was obtained and all hands safely brought to Tahiti.

The castaways on Scilly Island were rescued on 3 December 1855. The Meridian Magazine article continues with the account of John S. Eldredge who expressed his profound gratitude:

We were delivered from our exiled and desolate situation by the untiring perseverance of Captain B. F. Pond, master of the barque Julia Ann, connected with the charitable good feeling of Captain Latham, master of the schooner Emma Packer, that came to our relief. We were taken off the Scilly Isles, where we were wrecked, on the 3d of December, making it two months that we were left in this lonely situation on an uninhabited island. I need not attempt to describe our feelings of gratitude and praise which we felt to give the God of Israel for His goodness and mercy in thus working a deliverance for us; for I have not language to express my own feelings, much less the feelings of those around me, suffice it to say, I am thankful to know that His mercy endureth forever.

Keith L. Brown

Keith L. Brown is a convert to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, having been born and raised Baptist. He was studying to be a Baptist minister at the time of his conversion to the LDS faith. He was baptized on 10 March 1998 in Reykjavik, Iceland while serving on active duty in the United States Navy in Keflavic, Iceland. He currently serves as the First Assistant to the High Priest Group for the Annapolis, Maryland Ward. He is a 30-year honorably retired United States Navy Veteran.

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1830 First Edition of the Book of Mormon – How Rare a Possession

Among the rare artifacts that have been recovered from early Church history is an original 1830 first edition of the Book of Mormon. Although the edition is not considered the rarest LDS publication, it is in fact a treasured commodity to be had by serious collectors as it marks the beginning of the Lord’s true Church in this dispensation. Only five thousand copies of the first Book of Mormon were printed, and each sold for the cost of 75 cents. Today it is estimated that only a few hundred copies remain in any condition, and a majority of those are not complete copies. It is interesting to note that in 1998, Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, purchased an 1830 first edition copy of the Book of Mormon.

Two back-to-back pages, which became referred to as “References to the Book of Mormon,” were placed inside copies of the first copies of the 1830 edition of the Book of Mormon to be used as a navigation tool – an index – by missionaries as they used the Book of Mormon to teach the gospel. The pages were not attached which made it easy for them to be lost or destroyed. Together with the pages from the 1830 first edition, these have become some of the rarest and most expensive printed pages in the history of The Church of Jesus Christ.

1833 Book of Commandments – First Record of Printed Revelations

In July 1833, the early Church was to publish the first collection of printed revelations in a book titled “Book of Commandments.” The press and the thousands of pages waiting to be folded and cut was located on the upper floor of the home of William W. Phelps. The publication was abruptly disrupted on 20 July 1833 when a mob broke in, chased Phelps’ wife and children out, and destroyed the press. The printed pages were dumped into the street with the intent of the mob to destroy them.

In an act of courage, 15-year-old Mary Elizabeth Rollins and her 13-year-old sister Caroline grabbed up as many sheets as they could hold and ran. They were discovered and chased by the mob, but were never found. The pages that they were able to salvage were hand cut and bound into 15 incomplete copies of the Book of Commandments with covers made out of leather, goat hair, and even wood. In 2001, a rare complete copy of the Book of Commandments was sold at auction at Christie’s in New York for the hefty price of $391,000 – the most money ever paid for a nineteenth century American book.

The destruction of the Book of Commandments did not thwart the work of the Lord from progressing, nor His Word from going forth. The Brethren immediately began work on compiling another Book of Commandments. However, after deliberating that the book contained more than just commandments, it was agreed that the new book should be titled “Doctrine and Covenants,” and in an 1835 conference, the Doctrine and Covenants was accepted as scripture.

Kirtland and Early Mormon Currency

In 1836, the first attempts of producing Mormon currency took place in Kirtland, Ohio when the young growing Church decided to establish a bank. The Ohio legislature denied their charter, and so they created the Kirtland Safety Society Anti-Banking Company. The currency that was distributed, known as Kirtland Safety Society Notes, were signed by Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon.

Coins were also made and used as currency. In 1846, while camped in Iowa Territory, Peter Haws created a brass coin which became known as “Do Your Duty” Coin which was used by members of The Church of Jesus Christ throughout Pottawattamie County. According to the LDS Living.com article dated 8 August 2014, “He embossed one side with a beehive and the slogan “Do Your Duty.” On the other side, he embossed hands clasped together with the motto “Union Is Strength.””

In 1848, after the Saints had settled in the Great Salt Lake Valley, President Brigham Young directed the Brethren to establish a mint for the production of gold coins. The production of the coins began in 1849. The LDS Living.com article describes the coins as follows:

Like all 1849 gold Mormon coins, the ten dollar denomination features an open eye and a crown surrounded by the words “Holiness to the Lord.” The reverse side of the coin shows two hands clasped. “Pure Gold” and “Ten Dollars” is written around the hands.

Unfortunately, the life of the gold coins was short-lived because of their rejection in non-Mormon territories due to their substandard weight. Some banks did accept them at a 25 percent discount, but most were melted.

1842 Book of Mormon – Last Edition Published Under Direction of Joseph Smith

The 1842 edition of the Book of Mormon has become the scarcest of all copies of the Book of Mormon as it was the last edition that was published under the direction of the Prophet, Joseph Smith, in Nauvoo, Illinois. Joseph’s father had passed away before the volume was complete, and so it is the only volume that credits him without the usual suffix of “Junior.”

The Legacy of the Early Church

The Saints lived under constant persecution, and were often attacked and forced to flee for their lives to find solace in unexplored territories. Oftentimes they took flight with nothing more than the clothes on their backs, and their children at their side. Many valuable and meaningful journals and documents had to be left behind, and in time were completely lost or destroyed. With such precious losses, a part of their legacy was also lost. Nevertheless, they continued to press forward by faith. We can be thankful that with the discovery of rare artifacts from early Church history, a large part of that legacy can be reclaimed. We can also be thankful that in spite of the opposition, the work of the Lord continues to roll forth. The Prophet Joseph Smith declared:

The Standard of Truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done.

Keith L. Brown

Keith L. Brown is a convert to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, having been born and raised Baptist. He was studying to be a Baptist minister at the time of his conversion to the LDS faith. He was baptized on 10 March 1998 in Reykjavik, Iceland while serving on active duty in the United States Navy in Keflavic, Iceland. He currently serves as the First Assistant to the High Priest Group for the Annapolis, Maryland Ward. He is a 30-year honorably retired United States Navy Veteran.

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Missionary Work – Taking the Gospel to the World

At the close of His earthly ministry, before ascending to the Father, the Lord commanded His disciples:

Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover (Mark 15:15-18).

David O. McKay, the 9th President and Prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (inadvertently referred to as the Mormon Church by the media and others), taught, “True Christianity is love in action. There is no better way to manifest love for God than to show an unselfish love for your fellow men. This is the spirit of missionary work” (David O. McKay, Gospel Ideals [1954], 129.)

Concerning the importance of missionary work, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (the second highest governing body of The Church of Jesus Christ) taught:

Missionary work isn’t the only thing we need to do in this big, wide, wonderful Church. But almost everything else we need to do depends on people first hearing the gospel of Jesus Christ and coming into the faith. … With all that there is to do along the path to eternal life, we need a lot more missionaries opening that gate and helping people through it (Jeffrey R. Holland, We Are All Enlisted, Ensign, November 2011, 46–47.)

Today, in response to the Lord’s Great Commission, there are thousands of Mormon missionaries throughout the world, who like the fisherman on the Sea of Galilee, have left their boats and their nets – their educational aspirations, professions, and career goals – and as a result of their willingness and obedience to follow the Master and to do His will, He has made them literal “fishers of men”, filling their nets with precious souls that are waiting to hear and to accept the message of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.

The Gospel to be preached in Season and Out of Season

Modern-day revelation, as recorded in Doctrine and Covenants 58:64, teaches that “the sound must go forth from this place into all the world, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth—the gospel must be preached unto every creature, with signs following them that believe.” However, despite the humble efforts of those who are willing to take “the sound” of the glorious message of the gospel to the uttermost parts of the world, the message is not always readily received in all areas. As in all things, there are oppositions. These oppositions attempt to hinder the spreading of the Good News. Such is the case with preaching the gospel in countries such as Italy.

Since the early years of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Italy has drawn the attention of Church leaders as a “field [which] is white already to harvest” (see Doctrine and Covenants 4:4). In 1850, Lorenzo Snow, the 5^th President and Prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ, dedicated the land of Italy to the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Thus, Italy became one of the first non-English-speaking countries opened to missionary work by the Church. Over the course of time, the Church of Jesus Christ has faced many challenges in trying to move the work forward, but in spite of the opposition, the Church has maintained a solid presence.

The challenges and oppositions that The Church of Jesus Christ have faced over the years ring true to the teachings of the Apostle Paul to his young son in the faith, Timothy, when he exhorted him:

Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry (2 Timothy 4:2-5).

Laboring in the Father’s Vineyard in Italy – The Beginning

Early Church leaders had a keen interest in the country of Italy because of its notable role in religious and cultural history, and because of its strategic geographical location in the Mediterranean world. The first missionaries were called to preach the gospel on the continent of Europe by Brigham Young, the President of The Church of Jesus Christ at that time, during the October 1849 General Conference. Lorenzo Snow, then serving as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and Joseph Toronto, an Italian convert, were assigned to begin the missionary work in Italy. While en route to Italy from England, Elder Snow called Elder Thomas B.H. Stenhouse, a recent British convert, and Elder Jabez Woodard to serve as missionaries in the new mission. Elder Snow arrived in Italy on Sunday, 23 June 1850.

Upon his arrival in Genoa, Italy on 25 June 1850, Elder Snow carefully surveyed the conditions of the area, as well as the possible prospects, and made the decision to begin proselyting among the people (known as Waldenses) of a small Protestant community in the Piedmont region of northwest Italy, located at the base of the Alps in the Luzerne Valley. Soon after his arrival he wrote:

With a heart full of gratitude, I find an opening is presented in the valleys of Piedmont, when all other parts of Italy are closed against our efforts. I believe that the Lord has there hidden up a people amid the Alpine mountains, and it is the voice of the Spirit that I shall commence something of importance. [1]

The Italian Mission was officially organized on Thursday, 19 September 1850, when Elder Snow, accompanied by Elders Stenhouse and Woodard, atop a prominent mountain peak near the city of La Tour, Italy (today known as Torre Pellice), offered a prayer dedicating the land of Italy to the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ. By this time, Elder Stenhouse had departed to teach his family in Sicily.

The work had begun, and the missionaries were busy about the Father’s business, teaching the gospel to all who would listen. Elder Snow had written and published a missionary tract titled The Voice of Joseph which circulated throughout northern Italy. They received the first fruits of their labors on Sunday, 27 October 1850, when Elder Snow baptized Jean Bose, the first convert. He also supervised the translation of the Book of Mormon (Libro di Mormon) into the Italian language, and the first edition was published in London in 1852.

During the next 15 years, missionary work was hindered by opposition from ministers, anti-Mormon literature, deeply rooted religious and political traditions, and the poverty of the people. By the time the mission closed in 1867, about 180 persons had been baptized: approximately 70 of these immigrated to Utah, and the remainder either apostatized or were excommunicated. Many prominent Latter-day Saint families – Beus, Cardon, Malan, Bertoch, Pons, and Chatelain – are descendants of these original Waldensian converts. [2]

World War II and Beyond

Through the reading of Latter-day Saint publications, some Italians were converted prior to World War II. Among those converts was Vincenzo di Francesca. His conversion story was told in a 1987 Church film titled How Rare a Possession (you can view the video in Italian by going here). During World War II, Latter-day Saint servicemen’s branches were established in several locations in Italy, but there were no proselyting efforts made during that time.

The first member conferences were held in April 1963 in Vicenza, Italy, and in March 1964 a new edition of the Italian translation of the Book of Mormon was published. In November 1964 Elder Ezra Taft Benson met with Italian government officials in Rome, Italy to discuss the reopening of missionary work in Italy. Later that month he organized the Italian District of the Swiss Mission. By February 1965, 22 elders from the Swiss mission were called to preach the gospel in seven cities in Italy.

On 2 August 1966 Elder Benson reestablished the Italian Mission in Florence with John Duns Jr. as president, and in November 1966 he rededicated Italy for the preaching of the gospel at Torre Pellice, near the site of Elder Snow’s 1850 dedicatory prayer. The Italian Church periodical La Stella (The Star) commenced circulation in June 1967 and was thus published until its title, along with those of all other Church international magazines, was changed to Liahona in January 2000. By June 1971 Church growth necessitated the formation of two missions, and by 1977 four missions had been organized: Italy Rome, Italy Catania, Italy Milan, and Italy Padova. A major historical event was the first visit of a Church president to Italy – President Spencer W. Kimball arrived in August 1977. After years of groundwork, a milestone was achieved on 22 February 1993 when Italian president Oscar Luigi Scalfaro signed papers granting formal legal status to the Church. A total of three stakes exist in Italy: the first was established in Milan (June 1981), the second in Venice (September 1985), and the third in Puglia (March 1997). The Church Educational System, which has operated in Italy since 1975, includes five full-time supervisors, 220 teachers, and about 1,500 students enrolled in seminary and institute classes. [2]

A Little Child Shall Lead Them

Marie Madeleine Cardon was born in 1834 to Waldensian parents. She was just 5 or 6 years of age, living near Torino, Italy in the Alps, when in 1840 she received a witness of “a marvelous work about to come forth among the children of men” (see Doctrine and Covenants 4:1) on the other side of the world. She would later state that it was an event that would change “the career of my whole life.” [3] She recounted the dream in which three messengers bearing the restored gospel of Jesus Christ came to Italy:

I was upstairs in bed. A strange feeling came over me. It appeared that I was a young woman instead of a mere child. I thought I was in a small strip of meadow, close to our vineyard, keeping my father’s milk cows from the vineyard. It seemed that I was sitting in the grass reading a Sunday school book. I looked up and saw three strangers in front of me. As I looked into their faces I dropped my eyes instantly, being very much frightened. Suddenly the thought came to me that I must look at them that I might remember them in the future. I raised my eyes and looked them straight in the face. One of them, seeing that I was afraid said: “Fear not, for we are the servants of God and have come from afar to preach unto the world the everlasting gospel, which has been restored to the earth in these last days, for the redemption of mankind.” They told me that God had spoken from the heavens and had revealed his everlasting gospel, to the young boy Joseph Smith. That it would never more be taken from the earth, but that His kingdom would be set up and that all the honest in heart would be gathered together. They told me that I would be the means of bringing my parents and family into this great gathering. Moreover, the day was not far off when we would leave our homes and cross the great ocean. We would travel across the wilderness and go to Zion where we could serve God according to the dictates of our conscience. When they had finished their message to me they said they would return soon and visit us. They took some small books from their pockets and gave them to me, saying, “Read these and learn.” Then they disappeared instantly. [3]

She straightaway told her father, Phillipe Cardon, about the dream she had. Approximately 10 years later, after a royal decree granted from to the Waldensians, the family moved to Piedmont, Italy. It was there that Phillipe heard of three men preaching the same message that his young daughter had related to him from her dream.  He “became so excited and so intensely interested that he could not proceed with his work.” Instead, he went home, changed into his Sunday clothes, and went off in search of the three strangers. [3]

Marie recalls:

He traveled over mountains and through valleys and arrived on Sunday morning just in time to hear Elder Lorenzo Snow preach. My dear father was most happy to hear the pure truth so well and so earnestly explained. His heart was full of joy. After the meeting my father approached these servants of God, shook hands and kindly invited them to come to our home where he desired them to make their headquarters. They kindly and willingly accepted his hospitality. [3]

Marie and most of her family soon came to accept the restored gospel of Jesus Christ in its entirety, and became members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She also did member missionary work by accompanying the missionaries and translating their messages as they preached to her neighbors in the mountains. In 1854, the family immigrated to Utah. In Utah, she married John A. Guild and together they had eleven children, and eventually settled in Piedmont, Wyoming. Marie died in 1914, but she left a legacy for her children in the form of an autobiography in which she bore her testimony of the faith and the gospel that had changed the course of her life.

 My dear children, I cannot doubt the faith and the principals which I have embraced. My whole soul is filled with joy and thankfulness to God for his regard for me and for you in His manifesting to me the divinity of his great work in so remarkable a manner. How sincere is my prayer that you my children may realize how wonderful and yet how real and true is this, my life’s testimony to you. [3]

The Work Rolls Forth

Current statistical reports of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints indicate that there are 24.970 members of the Church; 2 missions; 100 congregations; and 49 Family History Centers throughout Italy, with a Mormon temple complex under construction near Rome.

The work continues to roll forth as faithful members of The Church of Jesus Christ continue to answer the call of the Master, “Andate dunque, e ammaestrate tutte le nazioni, battezzandole nel nome del Padre, e del Figlio, e dello Spirito Santo” (Matteo 28:19) [Translation: “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost” (Matthew 28:19)]. As they are willing and obedient to “launch out into the deep, and let down [their] nets for a draught” (see Luke 5:4), the Savior has promised to make them “pescatori di uomini” (“fishers of men”).

Keith L. Brown

Keith L. Brown is a convert to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, having been born and raised Baptist. He was studying to be a Baptist minister at the time of his conversion to the LDS faith. He was baptized on 10 March 1998 in Reykjavik, Iceland while serving on active duty in the United States Navy in Keflavic, Iceland. He currently serves as the First Assistant to the High Priest Group for the Annapolis, Maryland Ward. He is a 30-year honorably retired United States Navy Veteran.

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Nauvoo, sometimes called the city of Joseph, was central to the heritage of The Church of Jesus Christ. The historical marker will be built at the Trail of Honor Park in Black River Falls, Wisconsin. It will sit near the mills where Latter-day Saints harvested more than one and a half million board-feet of lumber and then floated it down the Black River to Nauvoo some 400 miles away. The Choir will dedicate the site June 19, 2013. Ron Jarrett, president of the Choir, said:

The sacrifices of these logging pioneers are not well known, even among Church members. We wanted to honor these unsung heroes by singing their praises. [1]

Settling in Nauvoo

At the beginning of 1839, the early members of The Church of Jesus Christ were being forcefully evicted from their homes in Missouri under threat of violence. They found refuge in Illinois and were able to purchase land along the banks of the Mississippi, including a small town called Commerce. There were only a handful of dwellings at the time, and the land was swampy. The Prophet Joseph Smith, the first president of The Church of Jesus Christ, renamed the town Nauvoo, a Hebrew word meaning “beautiful.” The pioneers drained the swamp, platted the land, and began building up the towns. The state Legislature granted the Nauvoo Charter, which gave the Latter-day Saints the right to establish the local government as well as a local militia, a municipal court, and a university. The Prophet Joseph extended a call to members of the Church to gather to the area, and they came by the thousands. [2]

Between 1839 and 1846, Nauvoo grew from “a humble town with one stone house and a few poorly constructed cabins to a metropolitan city rivaling the population of Chicago.” During this period of rapid growth, the Latter-day Saint pioneers built more than 2,500 homes as well as countless other business establishments, including stores, mills, and public and Church buildings. [1] The Latter-day Saints were also encouraged to beautify their homes and their city by planting and cultivating trees, vines, and bushes. [3] The most ambitious architectural projects were the Nauvoo House (which was a large hotel built to accommodate strangers who came to the city to learn about the Latter-day Saints) and the Nauvoo Temple—the Latter-day Saints’ place of worship. [1]

Mission to the Wisconsin Pineries

The decision to construct both the Nauvoo House and the Nauvoo Temple at the same time greatly increased the need for more lumber. However, lumber was scarce in the area, and imported lumber was too expensive for the Latter-day Saint pioneers’ limited financial resources. Church leaders received reports that they could obtain quality, inexpensive lumber in Wisconsin. Thus, the decision was made to send men up there to establish sawmills. A small contingent of 32 pioneers traveled to Wisconsin in September of 1841, and within four years an estimated 200 Church members were working in the mills and logging camps. Ultimately, the Church members in Wisconsin operated four sawmills and six logging camps to supply the mills. [1]

The work was difficult and the conditions were often harsh. Substantial amounts of food were required to sustain not only the people but also their livestock, which were essential to the work. The first season—before the pioneers planted gardens—the loggers’ diets mainly consisted of salt pork, flour, and potatoes as well as the game, fish, berries, and nuts when they could be found. [1]  Winters were especially hard as heavy snows made it difficult to obtain supplies. Allen Joseph Stout, who was a carpenter, wrote of his experience during the winter of 1843–44:

About the last of Mar. [1844] our provisions gave out, so as to leave us quite hungry. Some ate an ox after he had been dead three weeks and I cut of [sic] a piece and salted it and set it away but it stank so that it made me sick, and just as I was done fixing my stinking meat two sled loads of flour hove in sight so I did not eat any of that old carcas [sic]. (Dennis Rowley, “The Mormon Experience in the Wisconsin Pineries, 1841–1845,” BYU Studies, 32(1–2), p. 133.)

The pioneers “harvested an estimated one and a half million board feet of milled lumber, over two hundred thousand shingles, and an inestimable number of loose logs, hewed timber and barn boards. The short, straight and relatively mellow Black River floated a dozen lumber-laden rafts 400 miles to Nauvoo.” [1]

Through the remarkable labor and the many sacrifices of the loggers in the Wisconsin pineries, members of The Church of Jesus Christ were able to build and beautify their city. Members in the area remember the sacrifice their forebears’ made to help build a “City Beautiful” as well as a temple to their God. Mary Jurgaitis, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ who lives half a block from one of the logging sites, said:

They came here to honor God. I like to imagine the loggers’ satisfaction at the moment they came around the last bend in the Mississippi and the Nauvoo Temple was brought into their view. What a thrill that must have been for them. [1]

Additional Resources:

Picturing history: Historical marker commemorating Mormon pioneer loggers dedicated at Neillsville, Wisconsin

Black River Falls

Lisa M.

I am a wife and mother of 4 beautiful children in a small town in the mountains of Idaho. We ski as a family in the winter and camp, fish, and go to the beach in the summer. I’m a lifelong member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and I am grateful for the Savior and the blessings of the gospel in my life.

Less well known is Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s visit to Utah more than thirty years after writing a book set among “sinister” and “nefarious” Mormons in Salt Lake City. He admitted that he had been misled before his visit by the writings of the time, and he apologized for his inaccurate portrayal. He wrote that he had “great respect for the Mormons.”2

But a visit to the Mormons by prominent educator, author, orator, and presidential advisor, Booker T. Washington and what he thought about them is almost completely forgotten. This year marks the 100th anniversary of Washington’s visit to Utah and The Deseret News recently published an article describing what brought him to Utah.

Booker T. Washington was the most prominent African-American of his generation. In late March 1913 he traveled to Utah to “‘get right into the midst of the Mormons to see what kind of people they are, what they look like, what they are doing, and in what respect they are succeeding.’”

After his two-day visit, he wrote a 2,000-word account for the New York Age, which was one of the most influential African-American newspapers at that time.

“‘They have certainly made the desert blossom as a rose,’” he wrote. “‘I have never been among a more intelligent, healthy, clean, progressive, moral set of people than these people are.’”

During his visit he met with African-Americans and “local leaders, attended receptions in his honor and spoke to educators.” He also spoke to a large assembly of University of Utah students, where he was “‘greeted by vociferous applause.’”

Washington said of Utah students: “‘It has been my privilege to address schools and universities in nearly every part of America, and I saw without hesitation that I have never addressed a college anywhere where the students were more alert, more responsive, more intelligent than is true of the students in these Mormon colleges.’”

According to Max Mueller, who is writing a forthcoming paper titled “Booker T. Washington’s March 1913,” the superintendent of Salt Lake City schools visited Tuskegee Institute—the teachers college that Washington founded—and invited him to come and speak.

Washington’s visit was evidently in response to an invitation, a curiosity about the Mormons, and possibly a quest to obtain funding for his college.

Mueller said that Washington hoped to “‘create an independent, self-sufficient, respected community of industrious, conservative people’” and thought the Latter-day Saints were a model of that type of community. “‘The saints and African Americans actually have a shared history of exclusion from the mainstream, of persecution. So they had that in common.’”

Washington wrote:

“‘First  . . . the Mormons were most inhumanly persecuted almost from the first organization of their church. This was especially true in Missouri and Illinois. Hundreds of their followers were put to death. The courts gave them little protection. The mob that either killed or wounded the Mormons was seldom, if ever, punished. . . . but out of this inhuman and unjust treatment grew the strength of these people . . .

‘The second parallel between the Mormon and the Negro is this. These people, I am sure, have been misrepresented before the world. . . . The Negro is suffering today just as the Mormons are suffering and have suffered, because people from the outside have advertised the worst in connection with Mormon life and they seldom called attention to the best in connection with the life of the Mormons.’”

Washington’s observations are also interesting because “at that time The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints did not allow its members of African descent to be ordained to the priesthood.” (All worthy males are ordained to the priesthood now.) And because of racially discriminatory policies of the time, Washington wasn’t allowed to stay in the prestigious Hotel Utah.

But Mormons recognized their similarities with African-Americans and often “spoke out about extralegal violence against African-Americans.”

Booker T. Washington visited Utah to “see what kind of people” the Mormons were because he knew the value of getting “right into the midst” of them:

“‘I have learned by experience and observation that it is never safe to pass final judgment upon a people until one has had an opportunity to get into the real life of these people.’”

Notes:

1. The Voyage of the Amazon: A Close View of One Immigrant Company

2. 100 years since Booker T. Washington’s historic visit to the Mormons

This article was written by Paula Hicken, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Paula Hicken was an editor with the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship from 2000 to 2013. She earned her BA degree in English from Brigham Young University. She edited Insights, the Maxwell Institute newsletter, and was the production editor for Faith, Philosophy, Scripture, Hebrew Law in Biblical Times (2nd ed.), Third Nephi: An Incomparable Scripture, and was one of the copy editors for Analysis of the Textual Variants of the Book of Mormon. She also helped manage the Maxwell Institute intellectual property and oversaw rights and permissions. She has published in the Ensign, the Liahona, the LDS Church News, and the FARMS Review.

Additional Resources:

Black Mormons in Utah

A Mormon Declaration

paulah

Paula Hicken was an editor with the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship from 2000 to 2013. She earned her BA degree in English from Brigham Young University. She edited Insights, the Maxwell Institute newsletter, and was the production editor for Faith, Philosophy, Scripture, Hebrew Law in Biblical Times (2nd ed.), Third Nephi: An Incomparable Scripture, and was one of the copy editors for Analysis of the Textual Variants of the Book of Mormon. She also helped manage the Maxwell Institute intellectual property and oversaw rights and permissions. She has published in the Ensign, the Liahona, the LDS Church News, and the FARMS Review.

Torleif was baptized at the age of 21 in a river that was frozen and had to be cut with a saw. His love of the gospel and strong testimony caused him to turn down an art scholarship to Rome in order to immigrate to Utah in 1905. That was the beginning of Torleif’s lifelong association with church art projects. He worked on many, many temples and was even called to serve a mission in Paris just to study art. This time was a wonderful boon to him, especially since he had given up the chance to study in Rome.

Upon returning home, Torleif continued his work on temples and in the 1920s completed the original Handcart Pioneers statue. In 1947, he completed the larger replica of the same statue that is now displayed on Temple Square.

Torleif’s artistic works for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are found in many places around the United States. Perhaps none are so large and recognizable, however, as his monument of the angel Moroni which stands on the Hill Cumorah.

The Church acquired the land for the Hill Cumorah in 1928, and immediately Torleif recommended to the Brethren [church leaders] that a monument should stand there commemorating the important event of Moroni visiting Joseph Smith and giving him the brass plates.

While the Brethren had not commissioned Torleif to create this monument, Torleif felt so strongly about it that he created seven sketches on his own and went to the Lord in prayer for guidance about which sketch was the most accurate and if he should formally present his plan to the Brethren. One night in 1929 he climbed Ensign Peak in Salt Lake City and knelt in prayer, with his sketches spread out on the ground. In answer to his plea, an angel appeared to him and pointed to one of the sketches saying, “This is the one.” The angel also told Torleif to visit the Brethren in the church offices the next morning and that they would be waiting for him.

The next day, Torleif did as he had been instructed. The Brethren welcomed him and unanimously chose the picture the angel had singled out. Official permission to begin the project soon followed. Torleif was understandably very private about his encounter with the angel. He only shared his experience a couple of times, and when a friend asked him if the angel had been Moroni, Torleif said, “That’s my secret.” His second wife, Rebecca, though, said Torleif had told her it had been the angel Moroni.

The final statue of Moroni stands 9 feet tall and is gold plated. It rests on a granite pillar, which Torleif also created. He spent five years on the design and creation of the monument, which was more than double the time he spent on any other single work of art in his life.

Immediately after Torleif had been granted permission to work on the project, he looked for a model. He found the physique he wanted in Elwin Clark, a bricklayer, but he felt Elwin’s face was too young to accurately represent the mature Moroni. He fasted and prayed for a suitable model for the face. One day an older gentleman caught his eye in the city. After following him for some time, Torleif approached the man and asked if he would consider being a model for him. He persuaded the man, who had just moved to Utah from Wyoming, to come with him to his studio right then.

Elwin was already at the studio waiting for Torleif. To everyone’s surprise, Elwin recognized the older man as his father, Hyrum Don Carlos Clark. This “coincidence” confirmed to Torleif that these men were the appropriate models for him to use.

The monument was placed on the Hill Cumorah in 1935, which had been replenished during the previous year with 10,000 trees on its barren landscape. Each of the four sides of the base has a bronze plaque depicting a significant event which took place in the area: the west side shows Moroni delivering the plates to Joseph Smith; the south side shows Moroni revealing the plates to the three witnesses; the east side depicts Joseph Smith showing the plates to the eight witnesses; and on the north side is the text from Moroni 10:4–5, which reads, “And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost. And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.”

The statue of Moroni shows him holding the plates in his left arm while raising his right arm to call attention to the gospel message. Other religious symbols are explained to visitors on nearby plaques.

As for Torleif’s personal life, he married Emilia “Millie” Helena Christensen in 1909 in the Salt Lake Temple. However, she passed away in 1931, leaving six children, the youngest just 15 months old. He refused to split up the family, despite offers from friends to adopt the younger children, and did his best to be both father and mother to his children until he remarried eight years later, a woman named Rebecca Marie Knaphus.

A reporter asked Torleif in the late years of his life what he considered his greatest work. He said, gesturing to some family photos and a pedigree chart on his wall, “My family and this genealogical research have been my greatest work in life.” Historians have estimated that Torleif personally submitted 10,000 of his Norwegian ancestors’ names for temple work. Elder LeGrand Richards of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said he knew of no other person who had done more genealogy work than Torleif. Torleif passed away June 14, 1965, at the age of 83.

It is easy to look back on Torleif’s life and see many turning points which led him to the gospel, but which could have gone another way. For example, what if his roommate had not invited him to attend that concert in the first place? God’s hand is truly guiding each of our lives. If we let Him, He will use us for His purposes and will make a masterpiece out of us. Torleif had such an impact for good in the lives of those around Him because He turned His life to God.

This article was written by Doris White, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

dwhite

Doris White is a native of Oregon and graduated from Brigham Young University with a degree in English and a minor in Editing. She loves to talk with others about the gospel of Jesus Christ.

However, Mormonism  has never been a cult. The idea of the Mormon cult was put forward by enemies of Joseph Smith who believed that members of the Mormon Church were enraptured by Joseph Smith. This misconception has persisted to the present day, with many people believing that Mormons worship Joseph Smith and not Jesus Christ. However, early members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were converted on the basis of their testimonies of Jesus Christ. They knew and recognized Joseph Smith to be a remarkable man, a literal prophet called of God to lead His people and to restore the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ to the earth in the modern days. However, they also knew that he was a man. Thus, the Mormon cult is a fictitious label put on the Mormon Church by those who want to destroy it.

There is a modern-day scripture, recorded in the book of the Doctrine and Covenants 135:3, that “Joseph Smith, the Prophet and Seer of the Lord, has done more, save Jesus only, for the salvation of men in this world, than any other man that ever lived in it.” Mormon doctrine teaches this to be true. Mormons believe Joseph Smith to have been called of God, and that he fulfilled his calling, to restore the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ to this earth and then to seal his testimony with his own blood. He was murdered in cold blood by a mob in 1844, which fulfilled this part of his calling. Enemies of the Mormon Church (which they considered as the Mormon cult) really believed that once Joseph was dead, the Saints would disband and the “threat” of Mormonism would dissolve. The reason this did not happen is Mormonism has never been based on man, but on Jesus Christ. Mormons do not worship Joseph Smith; they worship Jesus Christ as their Savior and Redeemer.

More than 180 years have passed since the Mormon Church was organized and has even been recognized as the Mormon sect. There has been a steady succession of sixteen prophets in the modern day. Joseph Smith recognized his work was not his own, but was God’s work. Joseph knew he would die, but he knew the work would go on after him just as steadily as it had gone on with him, because no hand can stay or slow down the work of God and because there is no Mormon cult associated with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

dwhite

Doris White is a native of Oregon and graduated from Brigham Young University with a degree in English and a minor in Editing. She loves to talk with others about the gospel of Jesus Christ.