Why did the first three Mormon settlements fail? Because of religion and the growing number of converts. Also they formed new communities in Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois
Why were the Mormons better equipped to settle the Great Plains?
Although the struggle for survival was difficult in the first years of settlement, the Mormons were better equipped by experience than many other groups to tame the harsh land. They had pioneered other settlements in the Midwest, and their communal religious faith underscored the necessity of cooperative effort.
What happened to the Mormons in 1844?
In 1844, reeling from the murder of their founder and prophet, Joseph Smith, and facing continued mob violence in their settlement in Illinois, thousands of Latter Day Saints (better known as Mormons) threw their support behind a new leader, Brigham Young.
What happened to the Mormons after the Civil War?
Executive paralysis permitted terrorism, which forced Mormons to self-defense, which was immediately labeled as an "insurrection", and was put down by the activated militia of the county. Once Latter-day Saints were disarmed, mounted squads visited Mormon settlements with threats and enough beatings and destruction of homes to force flight.
Why did the Mormons settle in Utah?
Relying on reports of Western explorers and the low population, the Mormons set their eyes on Utah. Young and his fellow apostles considered options such as Texas (during its brief period as an independent republic), California and Canada.
Where were the most successful Mormon settlements?
While Salt Lake City, the headquarters of the LDS Church, is their most prominent achievement, many other settlements in the area were also very successful.
What was the Mormon settlement?
They had embarked on a treacherous thousand-mile journey, looking for a new place to settle the "Promised Land." On July 24, 1847, an exhausted Brigham Young and his fellow members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints arrived in Utah's Great Salt Lake Valley and called it home.
Why were the Mormons forced out of Illinois?
After Smith's assassination, the agitation against Mormons continued. The conflict escalated into what has sometimes been called the "Mormon War in Illinois". Opponents of the Mormons in Warsaw and Carthage began to agitate for the expulsion from Illinois of the Latter Day Saints.
Why did Mormons settle in the Great Basin?
The reasons for the settlement are given in President Brigham Young's official journal: to continue the chain of settlements from Salt Lake City to the Pacific; to provide a mail station; to cultivate olives, grapes, sugar cane, cotton, and other such desirable fruits and products; and, in President Young's words, “to ...
Why did some people oppose the Mormons?
Residents resented the Mormons' growing power, feared the poverty of some recent arrivals would lead to "pauperism," and even worried that local Mormon converts would deed their property to the church rather than relatives.
What challenges did the Mormon Trail face?
The journey along the Mormon Trail (as it later became known) was treacherous, and many pioneers were met with disaster. Rattlesnakes, blizzards, confrontations with Native Americans, and starvation were just a few of the challenges they faced.
When were Mormons kicked out of Missouri?
1838The 1838 Mormon War, also known as the Missouri Mormon War, was a conflict between Mormons and non-Mormons in Missouri from August to November 1838, the first of the three "Mormon Wars". Mormons expelled from Missouri and resettled in Nauvoo, Illinois.
Why did Mormons move their communities several times?
Why did the Mormons move their communities several times? They were persecuted by other groups.
Where was the first Mormon settlement located?
The Mormon pioneers were members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), also known as Latter-day Saints, who migrated beginning in the mid-1840s across the United States from the Midwest to the Salt Lake Valley in what is today the U.S. state of Utah.
Why did the Mormons settle in Utah and build a community there?
The Mormons wanted to settle somewhere isolated where they could practice their religion without other people bullying them or interfering with their beliefs. They also wanted to settle in a place where there was no government to bother them.
What state did the Mormons settle?
UtahWhy the Mormons Settled in Utah.
Why was the Mormon migration important?
In June 1845 the leader of the Mormons, Joseph Smith, was murdered. Brigham Young became the new leader of the Mormons. Due to the hostility shown towards the Mormons, he decided they needed to move somewhere safer. Young decided to migrate to the Great Salt Lake, just south of the Oregon Trail.
Do you have to pay to be a Mormon?
The church typically collects about $7 billion each year in contributions from members, according to the complaint. Mormons, like members of some other faith groups, are asked to contribute 10 percent of their income to the church, a practice known as tithing.
Did Mormons settle Utah?
Between 1847 and 1900 the Mormons founded about 500 settlements in Utah and neighboring states. At the same time, missionaries traveled worldwide, and thousands of religious converts from many cultural backgrounds made the long journey from their homelands to Utah via boat, rail, wagon train, and handcart.
How were Mormons better equipped?
Although the struggle for survival was difficult in the first years of settlement, the Mormons were better equipped by experience than many other groups to tame the harsh land. They had pioneered other settlements in the Midwest, and their communal religious faith underscored the necessity of cooperative effort. Basic industries developed rapidly, the city was laid out, and building began. Natural resources, including timber and water, were regarded as community property; and the church organization served as the first government.
What was the impact of the reports of Fremont and conversations with Father De Smet, a Jesuit missionary?
The reports of Fremont and conversations with Father De Smet, a Jesuit missionary to the Indians, helped to influence their choice to head for the Great Basin. An advance party, including three African-Americans, entered Salt Lake Valley July 22, 1847, and the rest of the company on July 24.
What was the Mormon village in Utah?
The Mormon village in Utah was to a degree patterned after Joseph Smith’s City of Zion, a planned community of farmers and tradesmen, with a central residential area and farms and farm buildings on the land beyond. Life in these villages centered on the day’s work and church activities. Educational facilities developed slowly. Music, dance, and drama were favorite group activities.
How did the missionaries travel to Utah?
At the same time, missionaries traveled worldwide, and thousands of religious converts from many cultural backgrounds made the long journey from their homelands to Utah via boat, rail, wagon train, and handcart.
When did Joseph Smith and Hyrum move west?
When Joseph Smith, Jr., founder of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and his brother Hyrum were assassinated at Carthage, Illinois, in June 1844, Brigham Young and other Mormon leaders decided to abandon Nauvoo, Illinois, and move west. Their exodus began February 4, 1846.
Who was the president of the Mormons during the Mexican War?
With the outbreak of the Mexican War, President James Knox Polk asked the Mormons for a battalion of men. Volunteers were recruited and the Mormon Battalion formed. During their famous march of 1846–1847 from Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, to San Diego, California, they forged a wagon route across the extreme Southwest.
Who are the two people who wrote the history of Utah?
BRIEF HISTORY OF UTAH. Ron Rood and Linda Thatcher. Utah’s thousands of years of prehistory and its centuries of known recorded history are so distinctive and complex that a summary can only hint at the state’s rich heritage.
Why did the Mormons settle in Utah?
Why the Mormons Settled in Utah. Young led the Mormons on their great trek westward through the wilderness some 1,300 miles to the Rocky Mountains—a rite of passage they saw as necessary in order to find their promised land. Young led the Mormons on their great trek westward through the wilderness some 1,300 miles to the Rocky Mountains—a rite ...
Why all the hostility against Smith and his fellow Mormons?
“They tended to vote in blocs, they tended to consolidate all their economic activity within their own communities. These kinds of things generated suspicion from people around them.”
What was the Mormon practice of plural marriage?
Though Young eventually agreed to be replaced as territorial governor, the Mormon practice of plural marriage would delay Utah’s statehood for nearly four more decades. Congress began passing laws trying to get rid of polygamy (or bigamy, as it was then called) in the early 1860s.
Why were Mormons drawn to the Salt Lake Valley?
Despite warnings about the region’s unsuitability for agriculture and the hostile Native Americans living near the smaller , freshwater Utah Lake, the Mormons were drawn to the low population of the Salt Lake Valley. And the mountains ringing the valley were stocked with freshwater streams and creeks that could nourish crops, despite the saltiness of the Great Salt Lake itself. “It didn’t seem to be wanted by any other white people,” Bowman says of Young’s chosen spot. “There was not a large Native American presence, but there was the potential for agriculture, and for supporting a large population.”
How many Mormons were in Utah in 1896?
By 1896, when Utah was granted statehood, the church had more than 250,000 members, most living in Utah. Today, according to official LDS statistics, Utah is ...
How many miles did the Mormons trek through the wilderness?
Two years later, Young led the Mormons on their great trek westward through the wilderness some 1,300 miles to the Rocky Mountains—a rite of passage they saw as necessary in order to find their promised land. Young, and 148 Mormons, crossed into the Great Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847. For the next two decades, wagon trains bearing thousands ...
Where did the Mormons go in 1844?
In 1844, reeling from the murder of their founder and prophet, Joseph Smith, and facing continued mob violence in their settlement in Illinois, ...
What was the political life of the Latter Day Saints?
At first Latter-day Saints found political life in Arizona difficult. In Apache County, friction among Mexicans, ranchers, and traders escalated into fierce struggles by 1880. In 1884 David K. Udall and a few others were imprisoned for practicing plural marriage; many fled to Mexico. But after the manifesto was issued in 1890, two-party politics were embraced and Church members found a place in Arizona's political institutions.
Who settled in Arizona in 1921?
McClintock, James H. Mormon Settlement in Arizona: Record of Peaceful Conquest of the Desert. Phoenix, Ariz., 1921.
When did the Colorado River start to colonize?
In 1873 colonization began in earnest.
When did the Mormons begin to colonize the Great Basin?
The Mormons began to tame the Great Basin as soon as they arrived in 1847. Under Brigham Young’s colonizing policy, 358 settlements were established by the time of his death in 1877. Thereafter, colonizing proceeded at a more leisurely pace until about 1900, when official Mormon colonizing was terminated, probably because Church membership was becoming too scattered and because few desirable places were left to settle.
Why did the Mormons choose Wyoming?
The Mormons preferred Wyoming, founded in 1855, over Nebraska City because it provided ample space for their staging ground and was well removed from criminal elements in the bigger port city. The Mormons constructed a few buildings of their own there, but nothing remains of old Wyoming today except an unmarked graveyard where a number of unknown Mormons were buried. Old Wyoming was doomed when the Missouri, Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy Railroad bypassed it.
Where is the Mormon Trail in Nebraska City?
The Mormons picked up the trail somewhere west of Nebraska City near highway 2 and crossed the Little Nemaha River near Syracuse. A marker is on old highway 40 near the Syracuse Hospital. The marker at Palmyra is about one-half mile south of the bridge on highway 802. The Mormons passed south of Lincoln, where another marker can be found at the southwest corner of an intersection of highway 77 and a section-line road from Bennett, approximately four miles north of highway 33.
How many Mormons were on the cutoff train?
Twenty-two organized immigrant companies, 6,500 Saints total, used the cutoff during its three-year service. Some 500 more Mormons traveled individually with other non-Mormon, freight wagon trains from nearby Nebraska City.
Where did the Mormon Trail go?
West of this junction the trail generally followed the Platte River to the Kearney and Adams county line west of Prosser, where it joined the Oregon Trail. From there it went due west to Fort Kearney, where the Mormons crossed the Platte and picked up the old Mormon trail of 1847.
What were the two colonies that were founded in the 1880s?
During the 1880s, because of the United States government’s vigorous prosecution of polygamists, two foreign colonies were founded: the Alberta Refuge, around Cardston, Canada, and the Mexican Refuge, consisting of seven colonies in northern Chihuahua and Sonora, the earliest of which was Colonia Diaz in 1885.
When was Utah colonized?
The second settlement strip consisted primarily of a fertile valley chain lying east of the mountains (the boundary of the first strip) and was colonized in the early 1860s. The third strip, including most of the remaining desirable areas in the middle Rocky Mountain region and the Colorado Basin, was colonized into the 1870s. These three areas account for seventy-five percent of all colonies established in Utah.
Where did the Mormon cooperative plan take place?
The cooperative plan was used in at least 200 Mormon communities, most of them in rural areas outlying the central Mormon settlements near the Great Salt Lake.
When did the LDS Church become a United Order?
From 1855 to 1858, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) once again considered living under the United Order. During this period, under the leadership of Brigham Young, church members were instructed to prepare deeds of consecration, but these deeds were never acted upon perhaps due to the community disruption caused by the Utah War .
When did the United Order of Enoch start?
It was not until 1874 that Young initiated the United Order of Enoch, beginning in St. George, Utah, on February 9, 1874. There were a number of differences between the United Order of Enoch and United Order communities established years earlier by Joseph Smith.
Overview
Background
Shortly after what Mormons consider to be the restoration of the gospel in 1830, Smith stated that he had received a revelation that the Second Coming of Christ was near, that the City of Zion would be near the town of Independence in Jackson County, Missouri, and that his followers were destined to inherit the land held by the current settlers.
If ye are faithful, ye shall assemble yourselves together to rejoice upon the land of Missouri, whic…
Shortly after what Mormons consider to be the restoration of the gospel in 1830, Smith stated that he had received a revelation that the Second Coming of Christ was near, that the City of Zion would be near the town of Independence in Jackson County, Missouri, and that his followers were destined to inherit the land held by the current settlers.
If ye are faithful, ye shall assemble yourselves together to rejoice upon the land of Missouri, whic…
Compromise breaks down, 1838
In 1837, problems at the church's headquarters in Kirtland, Ohio, centering on the Kirtland Safety Society bank, led to schism. The church relocated from Kirtland to Far West, which became its new headquarters. Mormon settlement increased as hundreds of members from Kirtland and elsewhere poured into Missouri. Mormons established new colonies outside of Caldwell County, including Adam-ondi-Ahman in Daviess County and De Witt in Carroll County.
Salt Sermon and Danites
At the same time, a leadership struggle between the church presidency and Missouri leaders led to the excommunication of several high-placed Mormon leaders, including Oliver Cowdery (one of the Three Witnesses and the church's original "second elder"), David Whitmer (another of the Three Witnesses and Stake President of the Missouri Church), as well as John Whitmer, Hiram Page, William Wines Phelps and others.I These "dissenters", as they came to be called, owned a signifi…
The Election Day Battle at Gallatin
The "Election Day Battle at Gallatin" was a skirmish between Mormon and non-Mormon settlers in the newly formed Daviess County, Missouri, on August 6, 1838.
William Peniston, a candidate for the state legislature, made disparaging statements about the Mormons, calling them "horse-thieves and robbers", and warned them not to vote in the election. Reminding Daviess County residents of the growing electoral power of the Mormon community, …
Mormons expelled from De Witt
In the spring of 1838, Henry Root, a non-Mormon who was a major land-owner in Carroll County, visited Far West and sold his plots in the mostly vacant town of De Witt to church leaders. De Witt possessed a strategically important location near the intersection of the Grand River and the Missouri River. Two members of the Far West High Council, George M. Hinkle and John Murdock, were sent to take possession of the town and to begin to colonize it.
Daviess County expedition
General David R. Atchison wrote a letter to Governor Lilburn Boggs on October 16, 1838. He stated that General Parks reported to him that "a portion of the men from Carroll County, with one piece of artillery, are on their march for Daviess County, where it is thought the same lawless game is to be played over, and the Mormons to be driven from that county and probably from Caldwell County." Atchison said further, "I would respectfully suggest to your Excellency the propriety of …
Battle of Crooked River
Fearing attack, many citizens of Ray County moved their wives and children across the Missouri River for safety. A Militia under the command of Samuel Bogart was authorized by General Atchison to patrol the no-man's land between Ray and Caldwell Counties known as "Bunkham's Strip" – an unincorporated territory 6 miles (9.7 km) east to west and 1-mile (1.6 km) north to south. Instead of staying in the strip, Bogart passed into southern Caldwell County and began t…