Their leader assassinated and their homes under attack, the Mormons of Nauvoo, Illinois, begin a long westward migration that eventually brings them to the valley of the Great Salt Lake in Utah.
The members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had been persecuted for their beliefs ever since Joseph Smith founded the church in New York in 1830. Smith’s claim to be a modern-day prophet of God and his acceptance of polygamy proved controversial wherever the Mormons attempted to settle. In 1839, Smith hoped his new spiritual colony of Nauvoo in Missouri would provide a permanent safe haven for the Saints, but anti-Mormon prejudice there proved virulent. Angry mobs murdered Smith and his brother in June 1844 and began burning homes and threatening the citizens of Nauvoo.
Convinced that the Mormons would never find peace in the United States, Smith’s successor, Brigham Young, made a bold decision: the Mormons would move to the still wild territories of the Mexican-controlled Southwest. Young had little knowledge of the geography and environment of the West and no particular destination in mind, but trusting in God, he began to prepare the people of Nauvoo for a mass exodus.
On this day in 1846, Young abandoned Nauvoo and began leading 1,600 Mormons west across the frozen Mississippi in subzero temperatures to a temporary refuge at Sugar Grove, Iowa. Young planned to make the westward trek in stages, and he determined the first major stopping point would be along the Missouri River opposite Council Bluffs. He sent out a reconnaissance team to plan the route across Iowa, dig wells at camping spots, and in some cases, plant corn to provide food for the hungry emigrants. The mass of Mormons made the journey to the Missouri River, and by the fall of 1846, the Winter Quarters were home to 12,000 Mormons.
After a hard journey across the western landscape, Young and his followers emerged out onto a broad valley where a giant lake shimmered in the distance. With his first glimpse of this Valley of the Great Salt Lake, Young reportedly said, “This is the place.” That year, some 1,600 Mormons arrived to begin building a new civilization in the valley. The next year, 2,500 more made the passage. By the time Young died in 1877, more than 100,000 people were living in the surrounding Great Basin, the majority of them Mormons.
Young, however, had not escaped the troubles that plagued the Church in the East. By early 1848, the Mormons’ haven became a U.S. territory after the American victory in the Mexican War. The Mormons had finally found a permanent home along the Great Salt Lake, but its isolation and freedom from persecution was short-lived.
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Persecuted? As usual, there was good reason for this “persecution”. The early Mormons were hardly the clean-cut, All Americans you see today.
The Warren Jeffs SECT and the bottom half of today’s Mormons are hardly clean-cut ALL AMERICANS.
As to the early Mormons, I’m sure they had their fair share of dirty shirts, but who wouldn’t have been resentful and/or fearful of their highly advanced pussy control?
If Mormon men are one thing, they are ALL TIME ANTI-CUCKS.
Don’t know much about their religion but I hear them getting slammed a lot. All I know is from the ones I’ve met, if the SHTF these are the kind of people I’d want to “throw in” with.
Like most cults – Islam, People’s Temple (Jim Jones), Charles Manson – the founder was in it for the pussy. They seem to have straightened up a bit since then.
Straightened up? Not really.
Women and children are still a COMMODITY like bushels of corn and pork bellies- which as bad is it may sound, is actually just a fact of life, especially in rough times.
Watch the documentary on NetFux.
They would most likely give a hard working outsider a starter wife and 40 acres.
The only catch is you have to give up 10% to 100% of your income depending on the SECT.
Not kidding.
FYI–when SHTF, the Mormon leadership will instruct their members to side with any government who claims control/authority. These nice Mormons you know will turn against you in droves. Don’t be fooled by these goof-balls.
Thanks for all your info/input.
Kind of vindicates me and what I’ve been telling people around here for years. (we live in the Northwest-lots of Mormons)
Mormons also murdered the Governor of Missouri on their way, and later massacred non-Mormons traveling through Utah….
All’s fair in war and polygamy.
I am from the area where the Mountain Meadows Massacre happened in 1857. Horrible, evil shit “the saints” did in those days. There was an executive order from the governor of Missouri issued in 1838 to exterminate Mormons that was active up until about 1976. I believe you’re referring to the assassination attempt of Lilburn Boggs in 1842 in the years after his issuance of his infamous “executive order 44”. That attempt was widely believed to have been by Smith’s bodyguard, Porter Rockwell (real mean son of a bitch). I like a good western tale with gunfighters, but I think you’re mistaken about Mormons having killed a Missouri governor. Certainly the assassination attempt of Boggs was tied to the church though. One of my favorite stories about Rockwell was when he rode around Temple Square in SLC on a unicycle while drunk, naked, and firing revolvers in the air.
Book of Mormon appears to be biblical plagiarism, much like the Koran.
The premise of the BOM was copied directly from a book from that era entitled: “A View Of The Hebrews” which was popular back then. The premise of that book was that a buried manuscript is uncovered which revealed the history of Jews in North America in ancient times.
So, like Elizabeth Warren, the Jews in N. America had American Indian DNA?
All the Mormons I’ve ever known are smart, extremely hard working, good people. They clearly do exercise in-group preference; however unlike another well-known religious group, they don’t undermine or exploit non-Mormons. That said, I suspect their church has been or is being corrupted from within much like Christianity, as the last few mission groups who have knocked on our door didn’t know anything about anything.
INSIGHTFUL
I say this as someone with the blood and a fairly firm grasp on the realities of their insular community.
If you really believe the above, then I have a piece of real estate on the Moon for sale. Behind your back and out of your sight the denigrate all other religions other than their own. Hard-core, Kool Aid drinking Mormons are entirely caught up in complete immersion cult system that totally engulfs their lives. This is especially true for those living in the Mormon-Belt.
As a former and still recovering Mormon… the above article was full of shite.
For one: The Mormons were being harassed because their ranks were filled with packs of thieves who ranged out from the Navoo center of Mormonism to raid and pillage outlaying farms and homes. Many thugs and thieves converted to the LDS Church and used it as a shield for their criminal activities. One such gunman was Porter Rockwell who Brigham Young used to enforce his dictates.
The “Mormon exodus” westward did not happen all of a sudden as you saw in that old Hollywood movies–it happened over a course spanning years. A small body left Navoo with Brigham Young (the hard core Kool Aid drinkers) and headed west. Many dropped out of the Mormon church completely being disgusted with Brigham Young’s thuggish style of governance–others broke off and former their own brand of Mormonism. At one point there were 17 distinct subsets of Mormonism.
Some Mormon converts did not want to trek across the continent, so they boarded a ship for a trip around the horn and wound up in San Francisco Bay–and when they were instructed to come to the Salt Lake Valley (a trip of about 1000 miles) across the Serra Nevada mountains and across the Nevada desert to a literal wasteland that was Salt Lake at that time. So they said ‘fuck this” and settled in the Sonoma and Nappa areas. Some of them were of Italian descent and this is how the wine region of California came about.
The Book Of Mormon was just a recruitment gimmick cooked up by Sydney Rigdon who then used Joseph Smith, who was then considered some sorta’ celebrated clairvoyant/gifted (along with his father) for money/treasure digging finding in up state New York in the early 1820’s. Rigdon (who happened to be one of Smith’s first converts) was a minister who regularly preached that a ‘new gospel’ would soon be discovered–and low and behold the Book of Mormon popped up (which he penned), of which the entire premise (Being a lost manuscript is discovered) was copied from a popular book or that era entitled “A View Of The Hebrews.”
Early on Rigdon was the one who ran the show of the Mormon Church–and Smith was present and used merely as a prop, as one would use a child preacher or healer in a traveling revival tent show. As things progressed and as Smith wised-up (getting older) he being more charismatic took over completely and pushed Rigdon aside. You will note that when Smith was killed (not martyred) Rigdon fought for control of the Mormon church with Brigham Young (and this struggle lasted many, many months). Rigdon then broke off and formed his own version of Mormonism.
The Book Of Mormon was in fact just a recruitment scam to draw followers into a new concocted religion. Early recruits (those scammed) were required to turn over all their money, land, homes to the church in a scam revelation by Smith called “The Law Of Consecration.” And of course both Smith and Rigdon controlled the purse strings. And of course the bank which they controlled failed (in Kirkland) and both Smith and Rigdon had to skip town.
The Mormon Church to this day is a scam and operates as a scam and a cult. With Mormon history open wide for all and easy to see on the internet, Mormon membership/recruitment is dwindling. Only the hard-core, Kool Aid drinking generational Mormons who pop out children like Hostess Twinkies keep the membership roles up in the Mormon Belt (Northern Arizon, Utah, Idaho). Most newlyt scammed members come from central America where much of real Mormon history is not available in Spanish as of yet. It is not uncommon for a Mormon missionary to have zero converts on their mission.
Keeping the Temples open is also becoming a struggle–because many of the hard-core Kool Aid drinkers/temple workers are dying off (the baby boomers) and there are fewer and fewer willing and available to take their place. Also many generational Mormons (especially in the Mormon belt) know full well that their religion is a pure scam–and they just go through the motions to keep their jobs and family relations.
More and more people are just dropping out of Mormonis. Even many in the Mormon-belt are leaving due to the fact that Utah is becoming more secular and that the Mormon crutch (note the word crutch) does not have the hold on the state it once had.
If you want to get a good picture of the early Mormon Church, read a book entitled: “Nightfall in Navoo” by Samuel Wooley Taylor (grandson of John Tayjor–Mormon Church President).
Even if everything you say is true (and it well may be, I know little of them), what I do know is if I had a choice seeking my survival between 20 Mormons and 20 WalMart shoppers, it’s no contest. I’ll take someone with a moral compass every time no matter how lacking their compass may be.
I don’t totally disagree with ST, but your words strike like lightning.
I’d throw in with Mormons, Amish, or really any group that lives by a compass or a code.
Remember, the Rhodesian Army was 2/3 black, so look who they were throwing in with—> people actively practicing Apartheid!
The 2/3 knew the score and knew what would happen if their white benefactors went down in flames—> Zimbabwe.
The Mormons will use you up and spit you out, unless you convert of course.
Do Not Trust Them. They’re similar to Islamists in how they treat non-believers.
As an atheist living in the belly of the beast (my town is 84% LDS), what you said about Mormons treating non-believers similar to Islamists is a complete and utter crock of shit.
Where do you people come up with these fantasies? Have you ever even left your house? Sheesh.
When the time comes, when the SHTF, they will show their true colors.
I know a bit about Latter Day Saints. The folks that originally bought into this where gullible beyond belief. The “prophet” invented some amazing shit, and I kid you not. Magic underpants, stuff only he could see, Jesus visiting the Americas, magic stones, etc. And people bought it.
Those born into it have an excuse. It is their religion. But the originals, and any converts? Holy hell.
Take Christianity – can you imagine what people would think if someone came along today claiming to raise the dead, walk on water, cure the ill, turn water into wine, rise from dead, etc.? For sure, mainstream folk would go crazy.
That said, there are only three people I have ever truly hated in my life, and one of them is a Mormon. All three of them are evil bastards, and the Mormon guy perhaps the most evil of the bunch. Interestingly, all three consider themselves upstanding, religios types – two “Christians” and the Mormon. I often consider how lucky each is to not have been badly beaten at a minimum, and how all but one does not know it. The Mormon knows it, as I had him off his feet held up by his throat. I eventually put him down. Due to where we were, I chose, somehow, to control myself. I have always wondered if it was the right decision, because he deserved a massive, life-altering beating. My experience is then that the most evil folks I have met have always professed to be moral and religious. Go figure.