| Saints Without Halos: Part 1 From the Beginnings to the Great Basin |
| Part 1. From the Beginnings to the Great Basin | |||
| First period, from the beginning to Utah | [3] The first period of Mormon history was not long, but it exceptionally varied and restless. The main lines are well known: Joseph Smith's youthful quest for religious certainty and the spiritual manifestations that followed; the coming forth of the Book of Mormon; the organization of the Church in upstate New York; the move to Kirtland, Ohio; the gathering to Missouri; the persecution in both places; the establishment of a new headquarters in Nauvoo, Illinois; the martyrdom of the Prophet; the expulsion from Nauvoo and the trek across the plains to refuge in the Great Basin. Such is the main story line of the Church's first decades. | ||
| Knight: early convert, friend of Joseph Smith, Colesville branch leader | But there were many subcurrents and side eddies. The missionary net was flung wide and each convert gathered in had his or her own story to tell. Joseph Knight, one of the first to hear the restoration message, came to Joseph Smith's aid when he needed help to continue translating the Book of Mormon, participated in events leading up to the organization of the Church, and became a stalwart in the first branch. | Newel Knight: Friend to the Prophet | |
| Hale: early missionary, Kirtland Camp, Nauvoo | Jonathan Hale, a good example of the first missionaries who spread the gospel message, also played an important role in the move of the "Kirtland Camp" to Missouri; he later assisted the poor to relocate in Illinois and eventually helped supervise the evacuation of Nauvoo. | Jonathan Hale: Preaching the Restored Gospel | |
| Wight: Zion's Camp leader, stake presidency, Liberty Jail inmate, apostle, schismatic | Lyman Wight, second in command of Zion's Camp, member of the stake presidency in Missouri, fellow-prisoner with the Prophet in Liberty Jail, and finally, apostle, left the main body of the Church and led his own band of followers to Texas. His experience reminds us that people were moving out of the Church as well as coming in. Nine apostles in Joseph Smith's first Quorum of the Twelve were excommunicated, and thousands of others have left the Church for their own reasons, many after having made significant, enduring contributions to the advancement of the gospel. | Lyman Wight: Wild Ram of the Mountains | |
| Kane: friend of the Saints from Winter Quarters through the Utah War | Thomas Kane, a nonmember, entered the picture just as Lyman Wight was leaving. Touched by the plight of the refugees from Nauvoo, he offered help on many occasions. His intervention on behalf of the Saints in 1857 was especially [4] crucial and may have been responsible for averting war with the United States. | Colonel Thomas L. Kane: A Friend in Need | |
| 15,000
British converts to Utah between 1849 and 1857 Baker: stalwart immigrant, pioneer, widow raising 7 children |
One experience shared by most early converts
was that of gathering with the Saints. A prominent missionary theme for
sixty years, the principle of gathering induced thousands of converts to
forsake their homes and move to Missouri, Illinois, and finally to the Great
Basin. Between 1849 and 1857 alone, more than 15,000 British converts moved
to Utah. One of these was Jean Rio Griffiths Baker. Making the trip as a
widow with her seven children in 1851, Jean kept a detailed diary of her
ocean voyage and overland trek, giving us an eloquent firsthand account
of the experience shared by tens of thousands of nineteenth-century Saints. |
Jean Baker: Gathering to Zion | |
| Copyright 1981 Signature Books. Online permission granted to saintswithouthalos.org. |