Mormon Emigration from England

 This is a chapter from Isaac's history I am working on.  It explores Mormon Emigration from Utah.

Chapter Four: The Call to Zion

“I stayed there until I had enough money to emigrate to America”

O Ye Mountains High

O ye mountains high, where the clear blue sky
Arches over the vales of the free,
Where the pure breezes blow and the clear streamlets flow,
How I’ve longed to your bosom to flee!
O Zion! dear Zion! land of the free,
Now my own mountain home, unto thee I have come;
All my fond hopes are centered in thee.

Tho the great and the wise all thy beauties despise,
To the humble and pure thou art dear;
Tho the haughty may smile and the wicked revile,
Yet we love thy glad tidings to hear.
O Zion! dear Zion! home of the free,
Tho thou wert forced to fly to thy chambers on high,
Yet we’ll share joy and sorrow with thee.

In thy mountain retreat, God will strengthen thy feet;
Without fear of thy foes thou shalt tread;
And their silver and gold, as the prophets have told,
Shall be brought to adorn thy fair head.
O Zion! dear Zion! home of the free,
Soon thy towers shall shine with a splendor divine,
And eternal thy glory shall be.

Here our voices we’ll raise, and we’ll sing to thy praise,
Sacred home of the prophets of God.
Thy deliv’rance is nigh; thy oppressors shall die;
And thy land shall be freedom’s abode.
O Zion! dear Zion! land of the free,
In thy temples we’ll bend; all thy rights we’ll defend;
And our home shall be ever with thee.

Text: Charles W. Penrose, Utah.1832–1925 Hymns 34

As early as six months after the Church was organized, revelation was received with regards to gathering.  Joseph Smith received revelation, and issued calls to numerous missionaries.  (See D&C sections 25, 45 and 52)  Because of persecution, the Mormon Zion moved from place to place.  They were forced to leave both Ohio and Missouri and settled in Nauvoo, Illinois.  After the prophet, Joseph Smith and his brother were murdered in 1844, the Saints forced to leave Illinois in 1846.  They eventually settled in the Great Basin, Salt Lake area, over 1000 miles from the Missouri River taking off point of Florence, Nebraska.  P.A.M. Taylor quotes William Clayton about finding a home “where the Saints can live in peace and enjoy the fruits of their labours, and where we shall not be under the dominion of gentile governments, subject to the wrath of mobs, and where the standards of peace can be raised, the Ensign to nations reared, and the kingdom of God flourish until truth shall prevail, and the Saints enjoy the fullness of the Gospel.” (Taylor, P.A.M. p 50)

As a result of mob persecution, and having been ejected from their homes on several occasions the decision was made to move West.  “Not surprisingly, church leaders, led by Brigham Young… became convinced they needed to find a new home for their congregation.  Although they considered the more common migrant destinations of Oregon and California, Mormon leader liked the idea of the arid basin land around the Great Salt Lake near the Rocky Mountains in Utah.  They believed that the difficulties they would face building a settlement in such a rough country would ensure that they would be free to build their own economic and social order with little outside interference.  They knew it would be hard.  They had no idea just how hard. 

Before they could plant and harvest crops, the Mormons had to build dams and canals to irrigate the bone-dry valleys.  Before they could build homes or businesses, they had to build sawmills.  Almost all the essentials they needed, such as sugar, cloth, iron, and glass, had to be brought from the East by oxcart which made these items expensive.  (Press p 37)

Brigham Young Explained why the Saints gathered so far from civilization.  "We wish strangers to understand that we did not come here out of choice, but because we were obliged to go somewhere and this was the best place we could find.  It was impossible for any person to live here unless he labored hard and battled and fought against the elements, but it was a first-rate place to raise Latter Day Saints, and we shall be blessed in living here, and shall make it like the Garden of Eden"  (Skousen)

After Zion was established in the Great Basin, the following call was issued in the Millennial Star:

The channel of Saints’ emigration to the land of Zion, is now opened.  The long-wished for time of gathering has come.  Good tidings from Mount Zion!  The resting place of Israel, for the last days, has been discovered.  Beautiful for situation, and the ultimate joy of the whole earth is the Stake of Zion established in the mountains.  In the elevated valley of the Salt and Entau [Utah] Lakes, with the beautiful river Jordan running through it from south to north, is the newly established stake of Zion.

  Now rejoice, and lift up your heads, O ye pure in heart, and let the laboring and heavy laden, that have been bowed down under the weight of accumulated oppressions, in every nation, prepare themselves to come to their inheritance in the land of promise.  The day of release dawns, and the notes of millennial jubilee reverberate form the mountain heights of Zion.  Let all that can, gather up their effects, and set their faces as a flint to go Zionward in due time and order.  All things are now ready.  The word of the Lord comes forth from Zion to the upright of all the earth, “gather yourselves to the place of your rest, for there is no time to be lost.”  Let your preparations, however, be in wisdom, and not in heedless precipitancy. (Millennial Star X p 40)

 The call had been given to gather to Utah, but to do so in wisdom.  “Confronted by Church and Kingdom on the one hand, and the unredeemed world on the other, the convert’s duty was to migrate to “gather” to “Zion”; and this was as much a doctrine as any of the others...”   (Taylor, P.A.M. p 8)

The Mormon converts were to flee from Babylon… and gather to Zion, which would not only give them safety but also a positive role in building the Kingdom.  To reassure them about the character of the journey, Millennial Star printed abundant reports and letters from leaders of emigrant companies, or letters from ordinary emigrants to their relatives in Britain.   To keep Zion firmly in their minds, the journal carried numerous reports and articles describing conditions in Utah… Such articles commonly bore the title “News form Home,” for it was an essential part of Mormon teaching that, for a convert his birthplace, his original home, in Europe was really an exile. (Taylor, P.A.M. p26)

               

During the period of the Mormon Pioneer, 1846-1869 over 70,000 Mormons would cross the Mormon Trail, most of them walking over 1000 miles to get to their Zion.  (See Sonneborn p 7)  The spirit of gathering was felt by the first British convert. “…The youthful George D. Watt, enthusiastically spoke of migrating to America within two weeks of his baptism, despite the missionaries’ reticence on the topic… Watt’s stirring came after reading prophetic passages in the Saint’s Book of Mormon… (Walker, p 32)

The call to Zion was real and persistent in Church hymns, discourses and literature:

Then, brethren, haste to gather up;

We shall rejoice to meet;

When we have drunk the bitter cup,

We’ll share the heavenly treat. (Hymn 1890, 37)

Strike the Lyre

“…Poor outcasts we, still forced to flee,

By mad sectarians driven,

Condemned, despised, robbed, and reviled,

Without an insult given.

For many years we’ve sown in tears,

Yet, dauntless we’ll remain!

With Ephraim blest, we soon shall rest;

So strike the lyre again, again,

So strike the lyre again. (Lyon)

The Millennial Star, the church publication in England included poems of the immigration, and stories of happenings in Utah.  One of the themes was that the individual was no longer “home” but “home” was in Zion, the Mountains of Utah.  Co-travelers with Isaac expressed this sentient in Iowa.  “We have yet to travel thirteen hundred miles before we reach home. The testimony of us both is that we like Mormonism better than ever and we would like all that we respect on the earth to be engaged in the same good cause.”  (Bleake, BYU) It is interesting that they refer to Zion as home, before having arrived there.

Andrew Olsen in his book “The Price We Paid” describes the “push and pull to emigrate.”  “The ‘push’ or the practical reasons, existed mainly for those who were poor, for whom emigration would provide an opportunity to improve their oppressive economic and social situations.  The ‘pull’ or the spiritual reasons for emigrating, existed for converts of all economic levels.  They wanted to gather to Utah so they could join the community of Saints in the common goal of building Zion” (Olsen p 15, 16)

The Push

Some people explain the success for the church, in terms of its meeting an economic need of the people.  That people joined the church not for spiritual reasons but because of the help they would receive in immigrating to America.  However such was not the case.  “…Mormon teaching about gathering to Zion included an economic element.  That was inevitable, for the Church was proclaiming a Kingdom of God in this world, on the continent of America… It would be harder, however, to sustain the argument that the Mormon Church won its successes because of its economic appeal…  (Taylor, P.A.M. p.33)

In previous chapters we have discussed the economic conditions of the society in England, as well as that among recent converts to Mormonism.  True, escaping a society with no property ownership, long work days and very little income, barely enough to survive day to day, could motivate one towards emigration.

There were other mitigating circumstances which made the call to Zion more urgent.  One of those was persecution--economic, verbal and physical.  Ebenezer Crouch talks of his father being forced out of his mercantile business after the family converted to Mormonism because “His old patrons withdrew their patronage and did all they could to injure his business.”  (Crouch, BYU)

The British Empire, during Isaac’s youth, was involved in numerous wars.  There were conflicts in South Africa, India, China and Turkey.  (Wikipedia)  About the time when Isaac joined the Church, England was fighting the Crimean War in which the British and French were defending the Turks against the Russians.  The Millennial Star, which could have been shared with Isaac, reported on the war: 

The Horrors of War.—A Constantinople letter says: “All horrors sink into insignificance compared with the state of the unfortunate passengers of the Colombo.  This vessel left the Crimea on the morning of the 24^th Sep.  Wounded men were being placed on board for two days before she sailed, and when she weighed anchor she carried the following numbers: 27 wounded officers, 422 wounded soldiers, and 104 Russian prisoners—in all 553 souls.  To supply the wants of this mass of misery were four medical men, one of whom was the surgeon of the ship—sufficiently employed in looking after the crew.  The ship was literally covered with prostrate forms, so as to be almost unmanageable.  The officers could not get below to find their sextants, and the run was made at hazard.  The worst cases were placed on the upper deck, which in a day or two became a mass of putridity.  The neglected gunshot wounds bred maggots, which crawled in every direction, infecting the food of the unhappy beings on board.  The putrid animal matter caused such a stench that the officer and crew were nearly overcome, and the captain is now ill from the effects of the five days’ misery.  All the blankets, to the number of 1599, have been thrown overboard as useless.  Thirty men died during the voyage.  The vessel is quite putrid, but a large number of men will be employed to fumigate her, and thus avoid the danger of typhus, which generally arises in such conditions.  Two transports were towed by the Colombo, and their state was nearly as bad.”  (Millennial Star, Volume XVI, page 735)

            The British Government was sending 1000 men a month to the war.  Many of these were through conscriptions.  The church, especially the branch on the Rock of Gibraltar was greatly affected by the war, as the new converts would frequently have to go to the war.  (ibid. p 499)

            Uncle Orrin, in his history of Isaac, wondered how much the “push” had to do with his desire to emigrate.  “England, at that time, was a nation beset by religious controversy, international war, and the problems of an emerging industrialism.  (Wardle, Orrin p. 1)  He further talked of the religious environment, the economic conditions and the Crimean War:

This must have had an impression on Isaac as he may have wanted to get away from the wars and conscription that hung over the young men of Europe in the mid-1800’s; as he wanted to explore his own conscience in relation to the religious teachings of his day; as he sought for a way to break out of the life of drudgery that had enslaved his common people ancestors for centuries and more especially as it had burdened his own shoulders by child-labor… Was he, as a young man in his teens, looking for a better way—a way that might be “better” both economically and spiritually?  The way of life he saw and personally experienced in England was not the easiest and the most pleasant of lives for someone in Isaac’s social position.  (Wardle, Orrin p 2)

Even the Prophet Brigham Young was worried some may be gathering for the wrong reason.  He was quoted in the Millennial Star, advising the Mission President, “Be wary of assisting any of those who come into the Church now, during these troublesome times for Britain, whose chief aim and intention may be to get to America.”  (Millennial Star XVII p 814)

Even so, it was possible for someone to emigrate for the wrong reasons, and to not be prepared for the hardship ahead:

A Word To Saints Who are Gathering

by Eliza R. Snow

Think not, when you gather to Zion,

Your troubles and trials are through--

That nothing but comfort and pleasure

Are waiting in Zion for you.

No, no; 'tis design'd as a furnace;

All substance, all textures to try --

To consume all the "wood, hay and stubble,"

And the gold from the dross purify.

Think not, when you gather to Zion

That all will be holy and pure --

That deception, and falsehood are banish'd;

And confidence wholly secure.

No, no; for the Lord our Redeemer

Has said that the tares with the wheat

Must grow; until the great day of burning

Shall render the harvest complete.

Think not, when you gather to Zion,

The Saints here have nothing to do

But attend to your personal welfare,

And always be comforting you.

No, the Saints who are faithful are doing

What their hands find to do, with their might;

To accomplish the gath'ring of Israel

They are toiling by day and by night.

Think not, when you gather to Zion,

The prize and the victory won --

Think not that the warfare is ended,

Or the work of salvation is done.

No, no; for the great Prince of Darkness

A tenfold exertion will make'

When he sees you approaching the fountain

Where the truth you may freely partake.

 The Pull

There was a desire among all classes of people, to unite themselves with the Saints in Utah, and to be part of the building of the Kingdom.  The spirit of Zion was real.  A single woman, Susanna Stone, who traveled with the Willie Company, expressed it in this manner, as quoted by Andrew Olsen.  “But I had the spirit of gathering and the Lord opened the way and I come to Utah in 1856 with a handcart company.”  (Olsen p 40)

This attitude is summarized by Liz Sonneborn, “Some … were not drawn to the West by land gold or silver.  Instead they hoped ,  find the freedom to worship as they wished.  Among them were the Mormons.”  (Sonneborn p 7)

An Epistle from the Quorum of the Twelve, and signed by Brigham Young, sent shortly after the Saints first established in Salt Lake and sent with advice to be read in all the branches, and published in the Millennial Star, talked about the “pull:”

We wish the Traveling Elders… to… say naught to this generation but repentance…  And if they want further information tell then to flee to Zion.—There the servants of God will be ready to wait upon then, and to teach them all things that pertain to salvation… Should any ask, Where is Zion? tell them in America;  and should any ask, What is Zion? tell them the pure in heart.

Let all Saints who love God more than their own dear selves—and none else are Saints—gather without delay to the place appointed… Come, then, walking in righteousness before God, and your labour shall be accepted… For the time has come for the Saints to go to the mountains… to establish it upon the tops of the mountains, and the name of the Lord will be there, and the glory of the Lord will be there, and the excellency of the Lord will be there, and the honour of the Lord will be there, and the exaltation of his Saints will be there, and they will be held as in the hollow of his hand…

The kingdom which we are establishing is not of this world, but is the kingdom of the Great God.  It is the fruit of righteousness, of peace, of salvation to every soul that will receive it, from Adam down to his latest posterity…

Come, then, ye Saints; come, then, ye honorable men; come, then, ye wise, ye learned, ye rich, ye noble, according to the riches, and wisdom, and knowledge of the great Jehovah; from all nations, and kindreds, and kingdoms, and tongues, and people, and dialects on the face of the whole earth, and join the standard of Emmanuel, and help us to build up the kingdom of God, and establish the principles of truth, life, and salvation, and you shall receive your reward among the sanctified, when the Lord Jesus Christ cometh to make up his jewels; and no power on earth or in hell can prevail against you…

Come then ye Saints of Latter-day, and all ye great and small, wise and foolish, rich and poor, noble and ignoble, exalted and persecuted, rulers and ruled of the earth, who love virtue and hate vice, and help us to do this work, which the Lord hath required at our hands; and inasmuch as the glory of the latter house shall exceed that of the former, your reward shall be an hundred fold, and you rest shall be glorious. (Millennial Star X 44-48)

Many of the poems and songs of the day, appealed to both the push and the pull:

Zion by; Rebecca Heaton

Oft while I stand beside the jingling loom,

I think of Zion’s peaceful, happy home,

Where men of God with bold ardour fired,

And with the Spirit of their Lord inspired,

Stand ready to receive Je

hovah’s will,

Which they to us in distant lands reveal;

That we me learn the mind and will of God,

And tread the path the faithful Saints have trod;… (Millennial Star XIX p

Cheer Saints Cheer by; J.F. Bell

Long, long in Bab’lon we have liv’d in sorrow,

But God in His mercy hath open’d up our way;

“Hope points before, and shows the bright tomorrow,

“Let us forget the darkness of today.”

chorus

Cheer, Saints, cheer! We’re bound for peaceful Zion;

Cheer Saints, cheer! For that free and happy land!

Cheer, Saints, cheer! We’ll Israel’s God rely on,

We will be led by the power of His right hand!

See, see the judgments o’er the earth extending,

Pestilence, earthquake, famine, fire, and sword;

Soon shall the rulers of this world “come bending,”

Shorn of their glory, for “thus saith the Lord.”

Chorus

Come, come away, unto the “hill of Zion;”

Come, come away, to the “temple of the Lord;”

Come ye and hear the roaring of the Lion,

Where all the faithful in latter-days are blest.

Chorus

Away, far away to the “everlasting mountain;”

Away, far away to the “valley of the west;”

Away, far away to yonder gushing fountains

Where “Ephraim’s children tremble” at the word.

Chorus

Sing, sing aloud the song of adoration;

Yea, sing aloud for the goodness of our King;

Ye who are blest to see the great salvation,

Lift up your voices, and make the mountains ring.  (Millennial Star XVII p 272)

Chorus

Even though these poems, hymns pointed to the conditions of living in “Babylon” they also pointed to the advantages of being in Zion; where they could hear the prophet’s “roaring of the lion” and participate in temple blessings.

Another part of the “pull” was to obey commandment:

The Lord never yet gave a commandment to His people, but what, if they would go to with full purpose of heart and try to obey it, they could do so.  The commandment to gather out to the land of America is just as binding on the Saints, so far as it is possible for them to accomplish it, as it was in the first place to be baptized for the remission of sins.  If the Saints would lay hold of the subject with the faith that it is their privilege to exercise, the very elements would be moved upon to accomplish their deliverance.  (Millennial Star XVII p 601)

By 1856, the burn to emigrate was greater and greater.  In preparation for the emigration of that year, William H. Kimball reported to President Franklin Richards, of the British Mission:

People who once felt they would rather die than leave “happy England,” who use to sing “Happy land,” …who looked upon other countries with supreme contempt… now perceive that they have been in bondage, in darkness, and in Babylon, and sing with joyful hearts—

“There is a land beyond the sea,

Where I should like to be;

And dearer far than all the rest,

Is that bright land to me.”

They are determined to

“Burst off all their fetters,

And break the Gentile Yoke.”

Not many of them can raise means to go through to the Valley this season, but more have given in their names to go to the States and the Valley in the first ships than went all the last season.  (Millennial Star XVII p 765)

P.A.M. Taylor did a study of Mormon emigration from England, from which he concluded the pull had an effect on the emigration pattern.  The Mormon emigration did not parallel that of Britain in general.  His study confirms that the Mormon emigration deviated from English patterns.  He concluded there were more than just economic motivations behind the Mormon migration.  “We have to acknowledge the plain fact, that before emigrating, these people went through a process of conversion which marked them as a strange minority within British religious life; that they lived in the Church for some time, under the scrutiny of leaders; that they had to gain those leaders’ approval, in many cases, before receiving the financial aid they needed.  (Taylor, P.A.M. p 154)

Escape from destruction was only one side of the doctrine of “gathering.”  In Zion the Saints would enjoy positive opportunities.  They would be in direct contact with leaders of the Church, and would hear the pure Gospel from their lips.  They would be free from persecution.  They would be able to work together under inspired counsel in “rolling forth” the Kingdom. (ibid p 9)

 

Mormon immigration was different than the general emigration from England in other important ways.  These differences would affect the success of the migration.  First, the demographics of those traveling more reflected an English community than the demographics of other emigrating groups.  In other words there were a high percentage of young and old people with in the group.  Over 30 percent were under 14, with a good number of infants.  Almost 16 percent were over 41 with one percent over 60.  80 percent of Mormon emigrants traveled in family groups.  (See Taylor, P.A.M. pp 146-47)

Another way Mormon emigration differed from the English population is the Mormon emigrants were of a lower economic class than the English population in general.  30 percent of the English population could be considered middle class or above, while only 11.5 percent of the Mormon emigrants could be considered such.  Most of those middle class emigrants traveled to Zion early, in the 1840s.  Each subsequent decade saw the social class of those emigrating move downward. (ibid p 150)

The logistics of the emigration were difficult:

Spread as it was over five thousand miles of ocean, plain and mountain, the Mormon emigration system could not be fully centralized.  …In 1855 a message normally took two and a half months to pass from Utah to Britain… Some decisions of considerable importance were therefore left to the British Mission… Such decisions, of course, were taken by leaders who were missionaries from the Church’s American headquarters; and with Mission presidents enjoying an average tenure of less than two years, they had Brigham Young’s major policies very clear in their minds. Even so, many examples of more centralized planning can be found.  Broad police was laid down in General Epistles rather regularly issues.  More frequently, letters, which were not so solemn, communicated the details of the central authorities’ plans.  (ibid pp 113-114)

 

The American missionaries serving in England played a major role in recruiting Saints for the emigration, and in preparing them:

 Missionaries often had a more precise responsibility for organizing the emigration.  They had to explain instructions to people who might be unable to read them.  They had to decide who was eligible for financial aid.  They might often give practical advice when the converts needed to sell off their possessions before starting their journey.  After perhaps two years of such labours, missionaries received letters of release, permitting them to return to America… Bur release did not mean that all the work was done.  Again and again, the American missionaries were appointed to command companies of emigrants some or all of the way to Utah. (ibid pp 29-30)

The final result is that many people emigrated from England to Utah.  The 1860 and 1870 U.S. Censuses show that 25 percent of Utah residents were British born. In 1870 this represented 20,772 British-born immigrants. This does not include those of British descent.  55,000 Mormons from Great Britain were part of the western migration.  (ibid. p 96 p 244 and appendix)

The year 1856 saw more Mormon immigrants than any other year, over 3500.  The only other year with over 3000 was the year before, 1855.  Over 2000 of those emigrating in 1856 did so by handcart, assisted by the Perpetual Emigration Plan.

Some examples effecting the emigration of 1856 were the decision to abandon the route through St. Louis because of the disease and frequent deaths.  The decision was made to use handcarts which will be covered in the next chapter.  Also “the Church authorities tried in 1856 to lay down 1 August as the latest date for leaving the Missouri, and in 1857 very properly changed this to 1 July.  (ibid. p 121)

Isaac does not indicate his personal reasons for immigrating.  I imagine the “push and pull” both played parts in his decision.  Perhaps his reasons reflect those of other families.  “We were anxious to emigrate to where we could enjoy our religion more freely.”  (Steward, BYU)  Langley Bailey described the motivation of his parents for gathering to Zion.  “They did not like the company we were in.”  (Bailey, BYU)  Another thought in Isaac’s mind may have been to go first, and then, through increased wages, help the rest of his family emigrate, because that is what he did.  Even though he may not have been the first to be baptized, he was the first to travel to Utah.

Certainly Isaac saw others immigrate from the local branches.  He may have even participated in a “farewell.”  This would often include an open house, and then those who could, would accompany the individual or family to the train station.    It was apparent Isaac was anxious to travel to Zion, as indicated by his willingness to leave his family home and seek out conditions where he could earn more money.  This he would use for himself, and to help other family members to follow.  Finances must have been a hindrance to him.  He needed assistance to make the journey, and that was presented to him in 1856.