Researching the Oregon-California Trail: The California Gold Rush and my GGG-GF Henry Petree

Chasing History: Exploring My Ancestral Roots - Post #19

by Tonya Graham McQuade

In my recent posts, I have discussed a few different relatives who traveled west on the Oregon and Mormon Trails in the 1800’s: Lewis Hale, who went with his wife Louisa and children Nancy and Charles to the Petaluma Valley in California in 1858 (Post #13); Jane Kennedy Hale and her son William Simpson Hale, who traveled with the Kennedy Train to Walla Walla, Washington, in 1862 (Posts #14-16); and my great great grandparents Robert Deacon and Mary Elizabeth Graham, who traveled to Salt Lake City, Utah in the early 1880’s (Post #18).

Today’s post goes back even further: to the California Gold Rush of 1849. Many Missourians joined the estimated 32,000 gold seekers who went West on the Oregon-California Trail through present day Nebraska, Wyoming, Idaho, and Nevada. As they neared California, they had to cross the Forty Mile Desert, “a hot, dry wasteland between the Humboldt and Carson rivers in present-day Nevada. Some people brought enough water for the crossing. Those who did not sometimes paid for this with their lives. Beyond the Forty Mile Desert, lay California, the land of gold. Some would find their fortunes there. Most would not” (http://www.shoppbs.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/kids/goldrush/journey_oregon.html).

While some from the east coast arrived in California by ship, that was a much more expensive undertaking, so most Forty-niners traveled in covered wagons pulled by oxen or mules, through vast stretches of wilderness. As they traveled, “they endured violent thunderstorms, torrential rain, and scorching heat. They traveled mile after mile of bumpy trails that choked their throats with dust in dry weather and turned to mudholes when rain fell. They lost their belongings and even their lives trying to cross rivers such as the Platte, the Green, and the Bear…. 

“Disease was the biggest killer. Forty-niners fell victim to cholera, mountain fever, pneumonia, and diphtheria. Hundreds of gold-seekers died and were buried along the trail. The strain took a toll on the oxen and mules as well. As they traveled, forty-niners lightened the load by throwing out everything they didn't need--from cookstoves and furniture to barrels of flour. Still, thousands of animals died from exhaustion or thirst and were left to rot in the sun” (http://www.shoppbs.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/kids/goldrush/journey_oregon.html).

One of the last vestiges of “civilization” they would pass through was Fort Laramie, which I wrote briefly about in previous posts. According to the Fort Laramie National Historic Site website, “The emigrant season at Fort Laramie was short, a maximum of 45 days. The timing of one's visit there hinged on two factors in an equation of survival. One left the Missouri River jumping-off place no sooner than the spring rains could green up the prairies for vital pasture for mules and oxen. This could be any time the last half of April. Near the other end of the journey was the barrier of the Sierra Nevadas; if you got there too late after your exhausting traverse of the arid Great Basin you could die of exposure in October snows. So you aimed to reach Hangtown (later Placerville) in the Mother Lode country no later than midSeptember. 

“Averaging 12 to 15 miles per day, including rest stops, over the total distance of near 2,000 miles, this meant a journey of four to five months, depending on the fortunes or misfortunes of the trail. This also meant that in 35 to 40 days from your starting point you should be at Fort Laramie, where you could rest, gird up, and regroup for the ordeal remaining…. [If you survived various cholera outbreaks], “there was a high casualty rate from trailside accidents, such as drownings, the careless use of firearms, and injuries from ornery mules and oxen. Because of overloads there was wholesale abandonment of excess baggage and equipment at Fort Laramie, and heavy wagons were often reduced to two-wheel carts” (https://www.nps.gov/fola/learn/historyculture/upload/FOLA_history.pdf)

My own great-great-great grandfather, Henry Petree (1804-1873) - father to Bailis Petree, who married MaryAnn Hale - traveled west in 1849 for the California gold rush, taking his two oldest sons, John and Benjamin, with him. Bailis and his two sisters, according to the 1850 Census, were left behind to live with the Schooling family since their mother, Mary Snowden (1811-1844), had died. I’m not sure if the Henry and Icyphene Schooling were relatives or just friends - I have not found them in my family tree - but Jane Kennedy Hale in one of her later letters from Linn County, Oregon, where the Schoolings had moved, describes them as an  “Uncle Henry and Aunt Icy” (letter dated 31 July 1875).

Henry returned one year later, married Sarah Strader (1826-1912), and had four more children; Benjamin returned in 1857. I write about this family “exit” to California in Chapter 3 of Missouri Daughter, where during a visit to St. Joseph, Bailis reflects on how lonely he felt at that time and how happy he was when his brother Benjamin returned:

Bailis felt so thankful for Benjamin. After Bailis’s mother Mary had died back in 1844 when Bailis was just four, a few months after they had moved here to Andrew County from Indiana, his father Henry had struggled to hold the family together. His older sister Sarah had tried her best to cook their meals and keep the house clean, but they had definitely appreciated the neighbors who brought them home-cooked meals in those early days. Then, his father Henry had decided in 1849 to head out to California to try his luck in the gold mines, and he took Bailis’s older brothers John, twenty-two, and Benjamin, then just fifteen, along with him.

 

Bailis had never felt so alone. His sister Sarah had already married by that time and moved to her own house, so he and his sisters Margaret, who was two years older, and Mary, who was two years younger, had gone to live with the Schoolings. Mr. And Mrs. Schooling treated them well, but Bailis missed the life he used to have. When his father had finally come home from California a year later, he’d gotten remarried and started a new family. Bailis and his sisters had tried living with them for a time, but it was clear their stepmother preferred they find somewhere else to go. She saved most of her kind words for her own children.

 

His brother John had decided to stay in California, and though he never found much gold, he had married and settled down in Sacramento. Bailis wondered if he would ever see John again or meet his wife and children. However, to his everlasting thankfulness, Benjamin had come home five years ago, and Bailis, Margaret, and Mary had moved in with him. That’s where he had lived until he married Mollie, and Margaret and Mary were still there. Lucy had taken them under wing and always made them feel welcome.

I’m really not sure why Bailis and his sisters went to live with his brother rather than continuing to live with their father and stepmother, but the 1860 Census records show that to be the reality. They lived with Benjamin and his new wife, Lucy, while their father lived in the same county with his second wife and their four children. Missouri Daughter is the historical fiction version of the story I am writing, so there is some guesswork involved.

Check back next time for an excerpt from Missouri Daughter, Chapter 7, where the Hale family in Andrew County, Missouri, receives another letter from a friend in California: Elias Edwards. Elias chose to stay in California and writes about California's scenery, its social scene, and its "scarcity of young ladies." 

Researching the Mormon Trail, the Mountain Meadows Massacre, and the Graham family's arrival in Utah

Chasing History: Exploring My Ancestral Roots - Post #18

by Tonya Graham McQuade

Mormon Pioneer Handcart Statue in Salt Lake City's Temple Square

In my previous post, I discussed some of the religious persecution Mormons faced that led them to decide to head west to the Valley of the Great Salt Lake starting in 1846, when that area was still part of Mexico. On their journey, they did not follow the same “Oregon Trail” many others followed, as was pointed out in the family letter written by Jane Kennedy Hale in 1862 (see Post #14). Perhaps they wanted “to avoid competition for forage and food with the emigrants on the Oregon Trail across the river” (1), or perhaps they followed a different trail due to the hatred, fear, and suspicion that was common between them and the “Gentiles,” or non-Mormons, on the other side of the river (see Post #17).

Whatever the reason, church leader Brigham Young became “convinced that the Latter-day-Saints would never find peace in the United States," and despite having little knowledge of the West and no specific destination in mind, he "made a bold decision: the Latter-day-Saints would move to the still wild territories of the Mexican-controlled Southwest” (2).

Young led about 1600 Mormons in a mass exodus, departing from Nauvoo, Illinois, on February 10, 1846. From there, the group made the westward trek in stages, with the first major stop being opposite Council Bluffs on the Missouri River in Iowa. Young “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 Latter-day-Saints made the journey to the Missouri River, and by the fall of 1846, the Winter Quarters were home to 12,000 Latter-day-Saints” (3).

On April 5, 1847, an advance company led by Brigham Young set off from Winter Quarters on the 1040-mile trek across the country to their new home. Made up of 143 men, three women, and two children, this advance company “was to arrive in the Salt Lake Valley as early as possible for the purpose of planting crops to feed the large numbers of saints to follow” (4).

After  a long and difficult journey, they reached the Valley of the Great Salt Lake, and Young looked out at the glistening lake and announced they had reached their destination. “That year, some 1,600 people arrived to begin building a new civilization in the valley. The next year, 2,500 more made the passage” (5). Between 1846 and 1869, some 70,000 Mormons traveled west on the trail, crossing parts of five states: Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming, and Utah.

Approximately 3,000 of these pioneers made the trek pulling handcarts. At the Handcart Pioneer Monument in Salt Lake City, where the statue pictured above is located, a nearby marker reads: "The Handcart Pioneer Monument is a tribute to the thousands of hardy Mormon pioneers who, because they could not afford the larger ox-drawn wagons, walked across the rugged plains in the 1850s pulling and pushing all their possessions in handmade all-wood handcarts. Some 250 died on the journey, but nearly 3,000, mostly British converts, completed the 1,350-mile trek from Iowa City, Iowa, to the Salt Lake Valley. Many Latter-Day Saints today proudly recount the trials and the triumphs of their ancestors who were among the Mormon handcart pioneers."

Mormon Handcart Tragedy of 1856 - Legends of America

Within two years of their initial arrival, the land on which the Mormons had settled changed hands. The U.S. defeated Mexico in the Mexican-American War, and with the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, “Mexico ceded 55 percent of its territory, including parts of present-day Arizona, California, New Mexico, Texas, Colorado, Nevada, and Utah, to the United States. Mexico relinquished all claims to Texas, and recognized the Rio Grande as the southern boundary with the United States.” That meant that while the Latter-day-Saints “had finally found a permanent home along the Great Salt Lake … its isolation and freedom from persecution was short-lived” (6). 

This huge “Mexican Cession” led to many debates over how best to incorporate the new land - as U.S. states or territories, large or small, slave or free. Brigham Young and his Latter Day Saints sought to create a State called Deseret that would encompass most of present-day Utah, as well as portions of many other surrounding states. Their petitions, however, were repeatedly denied - and it wasn’t until the Mormon church’s outlawing of polygamy that Utah was admitted as the 45th state in 1896.

Map of Utah Territory (in Blue) and proposed State of Deseret

In September 1850, however, as part of the Compromise of 1850, an Act of Congress created the Utah Territory; and in 1851, Brigham Young was inaugurated as the first governor of the Utah Territory. Under Young’s leadership, the Utah territory continued to seek “Deseret” statehood and operated with its own sort of “shadow government,” with church elders establishing many of the laws rather than the territorial legislature. Eventually, hearing distorted reports of activities in the state and believing he needed to subjugate a “Mormon Rebellion,” President James Buchanan sent federal troops to Utah in May 1857, along with a new governor to replace Brigham Young.

While all this tension was building, the Baker-Fancher wagon train was making its way to California from Arkansas, and their planned route required them to pass through the Utah Territory. Little did they know they were heading into a massacre - the Mountain Meadows Massacre, to be exact. Between September 7-11, 1857, Mormon militiamen disguised as Indians, as well as some Mormon-allied Paiute Indians, killed an estimated 120 men, women, and children, sparing only seventeen children under the age seven.

Drawing depicting Mountain Meadows Massacre

As explained on the LegendsofAmerica.com website: “The Mormon people feared their own destruction by the federal government. As a result, Brigham Young issued a proclamation of martial law on August 5th which, among other things, forbade people from traveling through the territory without a pass. In addition, the citizens of Utah were discouraged from selling food to immigrants, especially for animal use. It was into this atmosphere that the weary emigrants [of the Baker-Fancher wagon train] arrived in Salt Lake City on about August 10, 1857. A critical stop, the wagon train members needed to refurbish their equipment, refresh themselves and their stock, and replenish their supplies. The once friendly Mormons, usually eager to trade agricultural commodities for manufactured goods, were now hostile and reluctant to trade. The wagon train was then told by a Mormon guide that they should take the southern route because the northern route was dangerous due to Indian attacks and had the potential for severe winter weather, while the southern route provided for more fodder for their stock and less danger” (7).

Some in the train decided, despite this recommendation, to head north - and that group eventually reached California. Those who headed south basically walked into an ambush. In the months and years immediately following the massacre, Mormon leaders tried to blame the attack on Paiute Indians, but numerous investigations and various confessions eventually revealed the truth. It was not until twenty years later that the first punishment was meted out. In 1877, Maj. John D. Lee was finally convicted and executed - “before his death, Lee wrote out a full confession admitting his reluctant complicity. He claimed he was a scapegoat for the many Mormons … responsible for the massacre” (8).

Since the attackers made no effort to give the bodies a decent burial, the victims’ bodies and bones were scattered by foraging animals over a couple miles, with later travelers passing by and reporting on the remains. As one traveler passing through in 1859 stated: “The scene was one too horrible and sickening for language to describe. Human skeletons, disjointed bones, ghastly skulls and the hair of women were scattered in frightful profusion over a distance of two miles” (9). It was two years before federal troops came through and gathered up whatever remains they could find, gave them a proper burial, and erected a rock cairn memorial.

Mountain Meadows Massacre Site National Historic Landmark

The Mountain Meadows Massacre was the most deadly consequence of President Buchanan’s Utah Expedition (1857-58), aka. Utah War, Utah Campaign, Mormon War, Mormon Rebellion, and Buchanan’s Blunder (10). As 5,000 federal troops marched into Utah under U.S. General Albert Sidney Johnston, both the U.S. soldiers and Mormon militia, known as the Nauvoo Legion, prepared for war. However, the Mormon strategy was to avoid direct confrontation or engagement, and rather to hinder the federal troops as much as possible. 

Nauvoo Legion Lt. Gen. Daniel Wells instructed Major Joseph Taylor: “On ascertaining the locality or route of the troops, proceed at once to annoy them in every possible way. Use every exertion to stampede their animals and set fire to their trains. Burn the whole country before them and on their flanks. Keep them from sleeping, by night surprises; blockade the road by felling trees or destroying the river fords where you can. Watch for opportunities to set fire to the grass on their windward, so as, if possible, to envelop their trains. Leave no grass before them that can be burned. Keep your men concealed as much as possible, and guard against surprise” (11).  

No major battles occurred between the militia and federal army, but there were some small skirmishes, as well as some thefts and destruction of property. An estimated 150 people died during the one year war, including the 120 killed in the Mountain Meadows Massacre. At one point, Brigham Young prepared his followers to leave Salt Lake City to find somewhere new to live, with many packing up to begin the journey. However, such a move proved unnecessary - “negotiations between the United States and the Latter-day Saints resulted in a full pardon for the Latter-day Saints (except those involved in the Mountain Meadows murders), the transfer of Utah's governorship from church president Brigham Young to non-Mormon Alfred Cumming, and the peaceful entrance of the U.S. Army into Utah” (12).

That negotiated settlement, however, did not mean that fears disappeared for travelers going west. As I mentioned in my previous post, the diarists in Everell Cummins’s Train of Innocents: The Story of the Kennedy Train repeatedly mention fears and suspicions of Mormons working with Indians to steal their horses and other livestock and to attack their train. That was the same wagon train with which Jane Kennedy Hale and William S. Hale traveled in 1862 to Walla Walla, Washington, which Jane described in her letter to the family back in Missouri (see Post #14).

In his diary entry on July 22, 1862, James McClung wrote: “Some Mormon guerrillas pretending to be in pursuit of some Indians that had stolen some stock at Fort Bridger came riding up, some in front and some in the rear, and others passing through the middle of the train. We suspected them, and the company got their guns and fell into line, and the guerrillas scattered off in every direction … after we camped some time, we saw persons riding over the hills watching us” (13).

The following day, on July 23, McClung wrote: “After traveling several miles we passed a company of emigrants that had their stock stampeded last night. No doubt the Mormons done it. They were guarding it in their corral when it broke loose, running over tents, wagons and everything which came in their way and broke several wagons in running over them and crippling several of the guards” (14).

Author Everell Cummins goes on to say, “McClung’s comments about Mormon guerrillas and his certainty that the Mormons caused a stampede are the first but not the last indications that the emigrants of 1862 were quick to look to the Mormons as the cause of any misfortune” (15). The Kennedy Train had frequent issues with stampedes, which was one of the main reasons they took so much longer than expected to reach their destination. Whether some of those stampedes were caused by "Mormon guerrillas" seeking to steal their horses and cattle remains unproven.

When my great great grandparents, Robert Neville Graham (1830-1915, b. Ireland) and Mary Elizabeth Park Graham (1848-1928, b. Ohio), made the journey to Utah, it was sometime between 1883 (when their daughter Olive Lavina Graham (Bennion) was born in Covington, Fountain County, Indiana) and 1886 (when their son Robert Neville Graham was born in Bountiful, Davis County, Utah). I don't know whether they arrived by wagon train or transcontinental railroad (which reached Utah in 1869) - but I doubt they were pushing or pulling a handcart.

Photo of Robert and Mary Park Graham (seated) and Family:

Daughters Mattie Graham Nebeker, Olive Graham Bennion, and Belle Graham Smith

Sons Harry Hunt Graham, second from left, and Robert Neville Graham

Not Pictured: youngest daughter Helen Graham Lesueur

- Photo colorized using Ancestry.com's new "colorizing tool" (cool, huh?)

My great grandfather, Henry "Harry" Hunt Graham (1880-1963), is something of a mystery. Some records say he was born in Illinois; some, in Indiana; and one, in Utah (which I'm fairly sure is incorrect). He is listed as Robert and Mary's "son" in the 1900 census records (unfortunately, the 1890 records burned in a fire) and in their obituaries; but according to my dad and to another family history record, he was adopted into the Graham family and his original last name was "Hunt." I have tried and tried to find an actual adoption record, but so far I have had no luck.

So, if anyone reading this has any insights into the Graham family history to share, I'd love to hear what you have to say!

Robert & Mary Elizabeth (Park) Graham

I hope you've enjoyed this "shallow dive" into some Mormon Trail history. Check back next time to hear about my family "gold rush" and "silver mining" connections, and to read another excerpt from the book I'm working on, Missouri Daughter.

Endnotes:

1. “Mormon Trail History.” Utah.com, https://www.utah.com/things-to-do/attractions/mormon/mormon-trail-history/. 

2. Latter-day Saints begin exodus to Utah, 16 November 2009, https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/mormons-begin-exodus-to-utah. 

3. Ibid.

4. Nemec, Bethany. “Oregon Trail Chronology – End of the Oregon Trail.” End of the Oregon Trail, 3 April 2019, https://historicoregoncity.org/2019/04/03/oregon-trail-chronology/. 

5. Latter-day Saints begin exodus to Utah, 16 November 2009, https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/mormons-begin-exodus-to-utah. 

6. “Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848) | National Archives.” National Archives |, 20 September 2022, https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/treaty-of-guadalupe-hidalgo. 

7. “Mountain Meadows Massacre – Legends of America.” Legends of America, https://www.legendsofamerica.com/ut-mountainmeadows/. 

8. Ibid

9. Ibid.

10. “Utah War.” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utah_War#cite_note-FOOTNOTEBancroft1889-8. 

11. Bancroft, Hubert Howe. History of Utah, 1540-1886. San Francisco: The History Company, 1889.

12. “Utah War.” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utah_War#cite_note-FOOTNOTEBancroft1889-8. 

13. Cummins, Everell. Train of Innocents: The Story of the Kennedy Train. AuthorHouse, 2005, pg. 86.

14. Ibid, pg, 87.

15. Ibid, pg. 87.

Researching the Oregon Trail - The Missouri “Mormon War” of 1838

Chasing History: Exploring My Ancestral Roots - Post #17

by Tonya Graham McQuade

Site of dedication of Independence Temple

As I mentioned in my previous post, Jane Kennedy Hale’s letter from the Oregon Trail left me with some questions. Jane wrote in her letter dated June 2, 1862, that while the Kennedy train was in Nebraska Territory “traveling on the north side of Big Platte … within twenty-five miles of Fort Laramie,” there were “nine hundred Mormons on the other side of the river." 

I knew many Mormons - including my great-great grandparents on my dad's paternal side - had moved west to escape religious persecution. In fact, about 70,000 Mormons crossed the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains, passing through Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, and Wyoming as they traveled to the "Valley of the Great Salt Lake" between 1846 to 1869, departing from Illinois and other midwest starting points, with some even coming from other countries to join the church community. 

Map of Mormon Trail

So, why did they follow their own trail? According to “The Oregon Trail” on the Legends of America website, the Mormons often “seemed inclined to make use of different routes that would parallel or intercept the regular routes … [because] there existed a deep hatred, coupled with fear, between them and the Gentiles (non-Mormons).... All travelers of the trails were inclined to be just as watchful of the Mormons as they were of the Indians, and perhaps rightly too, for records show that many depredations were committed by them under the guise of Indians.”

Incidents such as the Mountain Meadows Massacre in 1857, which I will discuss more next time, contributed significantly to this perception.

As a result, while most non-Mormon travelers (such as Jane Kennedy Hale in the Kennedy Train) traveled on the northern side of the Platte River, the Mormons traveled along the southern side. At times their paths would converge, then they would diverge again. The “watchfulness” and wariness mentioned above also rings true with what I read in Everell Cummins’s Train of Innocents (see Post #16), where the diarists repeatedly mention fears and suspicions of Mormons working with Indians to steal their horses and other livestock and to attack their train.

 

Clearly, significant distrust existed between the two groups.

 

As I started to research more into the reasons for the animosity, I quickly realized that Missouri - especially the western portion that is the focus of much of my research for my books - played a much bigger role in Mormon history than I ever knew. For one, though I was aware of some of the troubles Mormons had faced in other places they lived, such as Illinois, I knew nothing about the "Mormon Wars" in Missouri that drove an estimated 10,000 out of the state. Without wanting to delve too deeply into Mormon history or theology, I decided to "review" my Mormon timeline so I could see where exactly they fit into what I was learning about the Oregon Trail. 

 

I quickly found myself going much deeper than anticipated - lost down another interesting rabbit hole. Ah, the lures and “time sucking abilities” of ancestry research! So, if you want to hear some interesting Mormon history, read on. If not, check back next time for more about the Mormon Trail.

 

According to Mormon teachings, Joseph Smith had his first vision of God the Father and Jesus Christ in 1820 in New York when he prayed for guidance as to which church to join. He was told not to join any of the churches - that they were all incorrect in their doctrine. Later, in 1823, he claimed the angel Moroni led him to "golden plates" that had been buried for 1400 years, on which the prophet Mormon, as well as Moroni (his son), had written the history of a group of Hebrews who allegedly migrated from Jerusalem to American in about 600 BCE, as well as the words of the ascended Jesus who supposedly visited them here. 

Detail from "The Heavens Were Opened" by Gary L. Kapp

From these golden plates, which Smith finally retrieved in 1827, he claimed to have translated (from "reformed Egyptian", a language unknown to linguists or Egyptologists) the Book of Mormon, which he first published in March 1830. One month later, he and five others formally organized the Church of Christ (the original name of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) at Fayette, New York. As they grew in number, they faced increasing persecution, so in 1831 Smith and many of his followers moved to Kirtland, Ohio, where Mormon missionaries had converted several hundred people. There, they hoped to live in peace. 

 

In Kirtland, Smith continued to grow his church and send out missionaries to other regions. He and other church leaders also founded Kirtland Safety Society Bank, the first LDS-controlled bank. However, when this bank failed during the national financial Panic of 1837, leading to huge losses for his 200 investors, "he fled to avoid potential criminal prosecution by angry and disillusioned former believers, some of whom claimed he had mismanaged their investments," escaping while hidden in a wooden box during the night (https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/joseph-smith-abandons-ohio). Those still faithful to him then followed him to Far West, Missouri, where a large community of Mormons had already settled.

 

Missionaries had been sent to western Missouri as early as September 1830, six months after the official organization of the church, to preach to the “Lamanites,” one of the four ancient peoples the Book of Mormon claims settled in the ancient Americas. These “Lamanites,” aka. Native Americans, had for the most part been forcibly relocated to reservations west of Missouri, which at the time was the westernmost border of the United States.

 

So why did the Mormons head to Missouri? The answer to this question was one I had never heard before: “Smith claim[ed] to have had a revelation in 1831 that this area was the New Jerusalem, the site of the Garden of Eden, the construction site of Noah's Ark and where the Second Coming of Christ will occur" (https://www.kcur.org/show/central-standard/2015-02-12/the-bloody-history-of-mormonism-in-jackson-county). Additionally, Smith told his followers that the “City of Zion” would be near the city of Independence in Jackson County Missouri and, “If ye are faithful, ye shall assemble yourselves together to rejoice upon the land of Missouri, which is the land of your inheritance, which is now the land of your enemies” (Doctrines and Covenants 52:42). 

 

According to another article from the Washington Post titled “Missouri remains land of religious promise for Mormons,” dated September 20, 2012, “A year after completing the Book of Mormon, Smith said God had told him a ‘New Jerusalem, a land of peace, a city of refuge, a place of safety for the saints’ would be built in Jackson County, Mo…. The revelations declared that a temple would be built on a lot in Independence, 10 miles east of Kansas City, and would be the site of a gathering for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.”

 

After Smith's revelation, Mormon settlers began to flock from New England states to Missouri to settle. Smith himself visited Independence in the summer of 1831, where he presided over the dedication of the anticipated Independence Temple site on August 3, laying the northeast and southeast cornerstones. In 1833, Smith revealed his plan for the City of Zion to be built on the site, which would include “a complex of 24 temples in the center of a city with side streets crossing at right angles” (https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/independence-temple/).

 

By 1833, there were at least 1,200 Mormons living in Jackson County – about half the population – and a large piece of property had been purchased for the construction of the temple. However, many Missourians did not like this influx of new settlers; eventually, a mob drove the Mormons out of Jackson County in 1833. They resettled in Clay County and other parts of northern Missouri, but tensions continued to arise with non-Mormon residents.

A map of the nine counties in central western Missouri

where church history events took place

Eventually, in an effort to keep the peace, the Missouri state legislature passed a law in 1836 creating Caldwell County specifically for Mormon settlement. This compromise was also designed to compensate them for property losses in Jackson County. They made Far West the new county seat, and this became the headquarters of the church in early 1838 when Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon (another early church leader) relocated to Far West after fleeing the previous church headquarters in Kirtland, Ohio. 

 

As explained in Wikipedia: “Joseph Smith taught that the Garden of Eden had been in Jackson County and that when Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden, they moved to the area now comprising Caldwell and Daviess Counties, Missouri. While headquartered in Far West, the official name of the church was changed to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, after previously being known as the Church of Christ from 1830 to 1834 and as the Church of the Latter Day Saints, and variations of that name, since 1834.”

 

Soon, Mormon settlers again began to spread into other neighboring counties, and tensions again flared, with many non-Mormons becoming fearful and angered by the church’s unorthodox teachings, its rumors of polygamy, and its members’ growing political and economic power. In response to growing persecution, church leader Sydney Rigdon gave a rousing speech on July 4, 1838 in Far West, stating: 

 

“We take God and all the holy angels to witness this day, that we warn all men in the name of Jesus Christ, to come on us no more forever. For from this hour, we will bear it no more, our rights shall no more be trampled on with impunity. The man or the set of men, who attempts it, does it at the expense of their lives. And that mob that comes on us to disturb us; it shall be between us and them a war of extermination; for we will follow them till the last drop of their blood is spilled, or else they will have to exterminate us: for we will carry the seat of war to their own houses, and their own families, and one party or the other shall be utterly destroyed.—Remember it then all MEN” (https://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/digital/collection/NCMP1820-1846/id/2816).

 

His speech only exacerbated the situation, and a series of conflicts ensued - including an election day brawl in Gallatin, the looting and burning of several Mormon farms and homes, the sacking and burning of the city of Gallatin and other businesses and farms in Daviess County by Mormon vigilantes called the Danites, and finally the Battle of Crooked River. Eventually, Missouri’s Governor, Lilburn Boggs, called out 2,500 state militiamen to put down what he called a "Mormon rebellion." 

"The Battle of Crooked River" by C.C.A. Christensen

Boggs also issued Missouri Executive Order Number 44, sometimes called the “extermination order,” to rid the state of Mormons. Dated October 27, 1838, the order reads in part:

 

“I have received … information of the most appalling character, which entirely changes the face of things, and places the Mormons in the attitude of an open and avowed defiance of the laws, and of having made war upon the people of this state. Your orders are, therefore, to hasten your operation with all possible speed. The Mormons must be treated as enemies, and must be exterminated or driven from the state if necessary for the public peace—their outrages are beyond all description. If you can increase your force, you are authorized to do so to any extent you may consider necessary.” 

 

Three days later, acting on their own, a vigilante band of approximately 250 men attacked a group of Mormon families in eastern Caldwell County, brutally killing 17 men and boys who rallied to defend the settlement while women and children ran to hide. The attack, which became known as the Haun’s Hill Massacre, sparked terror throughout the Mormon settlements, and many fled to Far West for protection. No Missourians were ever prosecuted for their role in the attack.

 

Soon, under orders from the governor, Major General Samuel D. Lucas marched the state militia to the Mormon headquarters at Far West to lay siege. Wanting to prevent further bloodshed and persecution of church members, Joseph Smith sent the head of Caldwell County’s Mormon militia, Col. George M. Hinkle, to negotiate terms for surrender. Hinkle was told “the Latter-day Saints were to give up their leaders for trial and to surrender all of their arms. Every Mormon who had taken up arms was to sell his property to pay for the damages to Missourian property and for the muster of the state militia. Finally, the Mormons who had taken up arms were to leave the state” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1838_Mormon_War).

 

Smith and about 60 other church leaders rode to the Missouri militia camp, where they were promptly arrested and later put on trial for treason, murder, arson, and robbery, among other charges. However, when Lucas ordered General Alexander William Doniphan to “take Joseph Smith and the other prisoners into the public square of Far West and shoot them at 9 o'clock tomorrow morning,” Doniphan refused to obey the order, replying, “It is cold-blooded murder. I will not obey your order. My brigade shall march for Liberty to-morrow morning, at 8 o'clock, and if you execute those men, I will hold you responsible before an earthly tribunal, so help me God!” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1838_Mormon_War).

 

Smith and the others were NOT killed. Some of the prisoners were eventually released, while others were held over for trial. Smith and five others were jailed for several months in Liberty, Missouri. In April 1839, they were taken to Gallatin in Daviess County for another hearing. There, the judge decided to change the location of the trial to Columbia. However, as they were being transferred to Boone County, the Daviess County sheriff and other “guards” permitted them to escape, even giving them two horses for their journey (https://ensignpeakfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/MHS2.1Baugh.pdf).

Smith and the others then fled to Quincy, Illinois, which had become a temporary gathering place for the exiles under Brigham Young, where they reunited with their families. Later in 1839, the Mormons purchased the small town of Commerce in Illinois and in 1840 renamed it Nauvoo, a Hebrew word meaning “they are beautiful” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Nauvoo,_Illinois). Repeated efforts by Missouri to have Smith and other escapees extradited for trial never succeeded.

 

According to the web article “From High Hopes to Despair,” by Alexander L. Baugh, “The Missouri period is considered one of the darkest eras in the story of the latter-day Church. During 1831–39, the Latter-day Saints’ hopes of a Zion community in Jackson County were dashed by misunderstandings, animosity, and mob action, culminating in the confiscation and destruction of property, and expulsion of some 8,000 to 10,000 Latter-day Saints by order of the state’s chief executive. In the pages of many history books, discussion of the Missouri ‘Mormon episode’ consists of only a few pages and footnotes. But to Latter-day Saints, the scenes that transpired on Missouri soil—principally in Jackson, Clay, Ray, Carroll, Caldwell, Daviess, and Livingston Counties—continue to be a significant part of the Church’s spiritual heritage” (churchofjesuschrist.org).

 

In Nauvoo, Smith continued to face his share of troubles and controversies. After he declared his candidacy for president of the United States, a group of dissenting Mormons from a different sect published a newspaper criticizing Smith’s leadership and his church’s practice of polygamy. Smith had their printing press destroyed; then later, fearing violence, he called up a militia in Nauvoo, resulting in Illinois authorities charging him and his brother with treason and conspiracy. They were jailed in the city of Carthage.

 

There, on 27 June 1844, he and his brother Hyrum were killed by a rampaging mob that broke into the jail. Some thought the church would die with him, but such was not the case. Under Smith's leadership, Church membership grew from six to over 26,000. Two years later, facing continued persecution, the new church leader, Brigham Young, led the first group of Mormon pioneers from Nauvoo to the Valley of the Great Salt Lake in the territory that would eventually become the state of Utah.

 

Whew! That was a lot of history! I hope you enjoyed learning a bit more about the events that led so many Mormons to head west to Utah, where they established the thriving Mormon community that is still there today. 

 

Check back soon to hear more about the Mormon Trail and my dad’s paternal relatives who settled in Salt Lake City.