The following is long because I want to make sure I approach the subject carefully. It is indeed a soft criticism upon statements given by a man I believe to be an Apostle of God, so I can understand if the very idea can be seen as offensive to some. I apologize for that offense, but I believe the criticism is valid.
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Archive for the ‘History’ Category
My Thoughts on Pres. Packer and Pres. Beck at the 2010 LDS General Conference
Monday, April 5th, 2010 — NoCoolName_Tom
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All Finished…
Sunday, July 5th, 2009 — NoCoolName_Tom
Whew, that was a LOT of writing. I wasn’t really expecting that when I decided to do this short series. Still, I think I got into the hang of keeping a regular blog. I doubt I’ll be able to keep it up daily like I have been, but we’ll see. I have a few idea for other interesting posts but for the next while things will get a lot more mundane around here.
I hope everyone enjoyed this series. Perhaps later I’ll go back and source material and such, but until then I’ll leave the comments open on all of them so that people can continue to add (or fix) material.
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Arrival in the Valley
Saturday, July 4th, 2009 — NoCoolName_Tom
If you found yourself, through some fluke of a time machine or something, walking the streets of 1870s Salt Lake and said to someone, “This is the right place!” it might be that they would have no idea what you were talking about.
“Um, yeah, it is; what are you talking about?” they might respond. Why? Because we don’t know whether Brigham Young actually said these famous words or not.
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The Handcart Tragedy
Thursday, July 2nd, 2009 — NoCoolName_Tom
Most Mormons are very familiar with the story of the Martin and Willie Handcart Rescue. The Rescue was a favorite story of heroism and courage for President Hinckley who made reference to the story many times. However, the story has been strongly mythologized in the ~150 years since it first occurred.
In 1856 two handcart companies, through a series of events, were traveling west to the Salt Lake Valley. They were very late in going and, though warned against doing so by the experienced members of their companies, felt that God would protect them and they continued on (see this Deseret News article for an interesting discussion by Mormon historians as to what and who was to blame for the tragedy). Notable in this part of the journey is Levi Savage; a man who was experienced with the trail, he urged the companies to winter in Iowa City, earn money for better quality handcarts and supplies, and try to set out again in 1857. The leaders of the company urged the immigrants to continue and that God would protect them. Levi Savage again warned them that they would face danger and even death, but said he would go with them and help them. He did so, and never (as far as I can find) spoke anything unkind against those leaders.
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Women of the Exodus
Wednesday, July 1st, 2009 — NoCoolName_Tom
It’s probably no secret that Brigham Young and Emma Smith never much cared for each other after Joseph’s death. Their personal distaste for each other eventually transformed into a quiet cold war between the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints that only really died out in the 1960s and 70s. Brigham Young possibly dissolved the Nauvoo General Relief Society, of which Emma was the elected President, because of this battle of wills between two very stubborn people, and didn’t bother re-forming the society for nearly twenty years, at which point he chose Eliza R. Snow to be President (and the RS Presidents have been called by the President of the Church ever since).
However, just because their organization was at this time absent did not mean that the women crossing the plains were content to simply let that be. Early Mormon women were strong characters and have always continued to be. The founding of the Nauvoo Relief Society corresponded with the fledgling Women’s Suffrage movement (which died during the Civil War only to rise again a generation later but that’s another topic entirely), nowadays viewed as the first wave of American feminism. This feminist strength continued throughout the history of Utah, a territory and state which saw women involved in many levels of organization and politics nearly since the beginning of the territory.
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Adam-ondi-Ahman
Wednesday, July 1st, 2009 — NoCoolName_Tom
This might be a little rushed and odd – this post was requested and I don’t have much free time to write it in. As such I really don’t have many sources. Feel free to call me out on anything wrong. I’ll try to either find sources or edit the post with the correct information.
Adam-ondi-Ahman (usually called simply Di-Ahman by the Mormon settlers) is located in Northern Missouri and was a sizable settlement during 1838. As one of the Mormon headquarters during the Mormon War of 1838 it held Mormon militia prepared to defend themselves and to take, by force occasionally, property from the enemy in recompense for property taken from them earlier by mobs of Missourians (the 1838 conflict is a messy affair and while the Mormons were, by far, not the most violent they did participate in fighting, plundering, and property burning of their own; this is the heyday of the Danites, a band of supporters of Joseph Smith whom he used sparingly but they often got out of control in following the prophet’s counsel).
The word had first appeared in a revelation given in 1832 (D&C 78). In this revelation the word was not defined, although the reference is quickly followed by “Michael”, who was identified by Mormons as the name Adam was known by before and after his mortal life. In 1835 another revelation related an event in the early religious history of humanity where Adam blessed his righteous posterity in a valley called Adam-ondi-Ahman.
A site settled in 1838, called Wright’s Ferry, was renamed by God through Joseph as Adam-ondi-Ahman (see D&C 116); Joseph prophesied that in a future day Adam shall come and visit his people and in this place the Ancient of Days, a title variously interpreted by Mormons as either Adam or God (as for Adam-God, nope, not going there!), will sit. Another revelation a few months later castigated the Saints for covetousness and poetically referred to Adam-ondi-Ahman as the “place where Adam dwelt”. These are the only canonical references.
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Brigham Young’s Transfiguration
Tuesday, June 30th, 2009 — NoCoolName_Tom
In August of 1844 the Church was reeling. Joseph Smith had been murdered at the Carthage jail months before and there was a serious power vacuum in Nauvoo. To make matters worse, Anti-Mormon sentiment in Illinois had not died down and seemed to be continuing to rise. The Church needed direction and leadership, but Joseph had not instructed the general membership of the Church as to what would happen to the Church after his death and had only privately left instructions for some people (like the Twelve). Joseph’s death had been sudden and unexpected and questions abounded: What of the Nauvoo Temple, still to be completed? What to do to lessen the lingering anti-Mormon feelings in Illinois? Should Nauvoo be fortified against attack or should they prepare to leave? Where would they go? If they left how would they sell their homes and their land; what would their creditors think? How should the Church deal with the massive debt it was in?
All of those questions centered, however, upon one all-encompassing question: Who’s in charge?
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Carthage Jail
Monday, June 29th, 2009 — NoCoolName_Tom
There were many factors that led to Joseph Smith’s martyrdom: polygamy, his running for President, the newly formed “Reform Church” operating in Nauvoo that was leading to a fracturing of social life, his public disdain for Missouri, and his leadership of the Nauvoo Legion (meaning that Joseph, as Mayor of Nauvoo, Leader of the Nauvoo Militia, and Leader of the Church was in charge of Nauvoo from a religious, political, and military perspective at the same time – that amount of power in a single person was troubling). However, the one factor that looms over them all is his decision, ratified by the Nauvoo City Council, to close the tabloidish paper: the Nauvoo Expositor (Note: Richard E. Bennett, BYU professor of Church history and doctrine disagrees; I like his post – a good focus on the scriptures. I need to do that more!).
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The Nauvoo “Cultural” Hall
Sunday, June 28th, 2009 — NoCoolName_Tom
The Nauvoo Cultural Hall is a part of the Church’s extensive renovation and restoration work on various buildings from Old Nauvoo. However, the building is not a full restoration and there are large differences between the modern building and it’s nineteenth-century counterpart.
Old Pictures of the Old Masonic Hall and 1978 Restoration
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Kirtland, Ohio
Saturday, June 27th, 2009 — NoCoolName_Tom
Kirtland, Ohio
As for the Kirtland Temple, it’s likely that those who tour the building will receive a lot of historical information. The building is owned by our cousins, the Community of Christ, and they usually run their tours in a historical fashion, as opposed to the Mormon sites which are almost always part of the Mission and staffed by missionaries. While the LDS missionaries are encouraged to study the history of the sites they service they are also expected to stay “on script” at most sites; the RLDS sites are usually staffed by historians or history students and, as such, you’ll probably get a different tour each time you go.
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