The Blood in Their Veins provides a fascinating history of the Kimballs

 

Review by Doug Gibson

I must say, immediately, that if you are one who pursues Mormon history, particularly its first century, "The Blood in Their Veins: The Kimballs, polygamy, and the Shaping of Mormonism," by Andrew Kimball, Signature Books, 2025, is a must have. (Amazon link here.)

It encompasses the extremely large family that early Mormon leader Heber C Kimball and spouse Vilate created with their marriage, conversion, embrace of polygamy, and journey to Utah. This is not a faith-promoting let's-leave-out-the-uncomfortable-bits books of the type that used to be the norm within The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 

But its honesty and candor provide a greater benefit. Readers will feel much affection and admiration for  these pioneers of the faith. We grieve with the hardships and tragedies they endured. The resilence and devotion to the early Mormon faith nearly all -- depicted in the book -- strived for is inspiring. And their weaknesses and frailities can provide empathy.

Told through diaries, journals, letters, newspaper accounts, and other historical ledgers, "The Blood in Their Veins ..." underscores how difficult times were then. Regular occurrences were infants, and mothers, dying at birth. Nature was more cruel than it is today; toddlers regularly died in accidents; injured and sick adults would linger and die from illnesses and accidents not fatal today. Both Heber and Vilate died within months of each other. Heber from the effects of a buggy accident.

His death did not lead to wealth. His large family, while possessed of an historical prominence, did not enjoy material success, or at times even comfort. Sons went into various tasks, including farming an icy section of Cache County, Utah. Others attempted to be salesmen or business entrepreneurs. Others served as writers, farmhands, scribes, municipal government employees, laborers. 

A liability of polygamy was an inability for parents to devote time to their many children, or husbands to devote time for wives. We read how Heber was respected but often away on church assignments. His death, long before anticipated, resulted in having children and wives thrust into inconvenient life situations. 

Dozens of the Kimball family members are profiled. Some of the more interesting characters are Helen Mar Whitney, married to Joseph Smith at 14. She endured near-fatal illness to marry Horace Whitney and bear 11 children. Only six survived. She was a survivor of depression and frequent poor health. Her defense of the church and polgamy made her well known and highly esteemed in Utah. Daughter Alice Kimball, another survivor, endured a criminally loathsome husband and eventually married Church President Joseph F. Smith.

The diaries and letters in the books cover other issues besides polygamy. Readers will learn more about the 19th century practice of church "adoptions" in which members would attach themselves, as part of a spiritual family, to prominent church leaders. Also is detailed accounts of kidnappings of Mormons by Native Americans. Although these conflicts invariable escalated to bloodshed at times, sometimes ransoms would be paid to release the hostages.

Kimball sons were marrying wives long past the Wilfred Woodruff era and church leaders were both aware and sometimes participants. The book later details the gradual real elimination of polygamy in the early 20th century that led to prominent excommunications.

Missions to Europe and the southern United States are in the book. The dangers for missionaries in the deep U.S. south is described. One Kimball son who presided over the U.S. southern mission was eased out of his position because he preached a too austere lifestyle for the missionaries. Requirements included no pocket money and a rule that they had to beg a place to sleep every night.

The handcart rescues in 1856 are covered. The "Dream Mine" hoax, and its temptations, is covered. Squabbles with press, including the Salt Lake Tribune, rabidly anti-Mormon back then, are part of the book. 

I enjoyed detailed sections on J. Golden Kimball, the general authority known for his wit and candor, and apostle Orson F. Whitney. J. Golden's section is a bit bittersweet as we learn he dealt with depression, a tough often contrary family, and his brother Sol, who was frankly at times a control freak who bullied family members for monies to preserve the Kimball home and the family legacy. Yet J. Golden in this book is portrayed as a survivor, one who despite his feelings of frustration and inadequacy, worked hard to fulfill his church responsibilites.

One passage interesting to readers is when apostle Wilfred Woodruff assures Kimball son Abraham that he will represent the family in temporal and spiritual matters. But Woodruff is not -- then -- the prophet. Abe isn't convinced he's the family leader until Church Prophet John Taylor decrees it.

Orson F. Whitney was for a while a believer in reincarnation. This concerned church leaders. However, after a booster of the offbeat doctrine that Orson admired suddenly died, he cooled on the subject, and eventually became a church apostle.

Alcoholism was a problem for many of the Kimball sons. It's a reminder that the Word of Wisdom, while a doctrine in that era, was not practiced by many members considered observant. Kimball son William, who was one of the leaders on the 1856 handcart rescues, struggled with alcoholism and periods of rebellion to principles he was taught.

But I want to stress to readers to not look down on these saints. They were resilient, endured much, and overcame more. God is a much more merciful deity than some portray him as. I admire the Kimball family and their rich legacy in the church. This book is a realistic tribute to the family.

Biographies of George Q Cannon, Joseph F Smith provide honest in-depth portrayals

 

Observations by Doug Gibson

Last fall I read two new biographies of 19th century/early 20th century LDS Church leaders Joseph F. Smith, who served as the church's president/prophet, and George Q. Cannon, who reached the first presidency of the church and would likely have been prophet if not for an untimely death in 1901.

I wasn't planning to review either, but they were both so good that I decided to spill some ink. They represent honest biographies that address a subject's totality; the strengths that made the exceptional, committed leader, and the weaknesses, personal and administrative, that sometimes tempered goals and showed human fraility in trying to deal with familial and business pressures.

"Like a Fiery Meteor: The Life of Joseph F. Smith," by Stephen C. Tayson (University of Utah Press, 2023), is an exceptional study of the life of the LDS Church's sixth president. "Like a Fiery Meteor" is an apt description. Joseph F. Smith was an impressive man and leader. He was pragmatic, understanding that the loose adherence to the first and second manifestos disallowing polygamy had to be strengthened, even to church disfellowship or excommunication for prominent members. Smith also ushered in the beginnings of church standardization in doctrine and lessons, initiated efforts toward the church becoming an expanded business force. He also weathered harsh testimony and brutal media attacks during Reed Smoot's successful effort to be U.S. senator. And just before his death, his revelation of the afterlife has become canonized as LDS church scripture.

Joseph F. Smith was not the always kind, mellow grandfather type so often portrayed within LDS culture. Indeed, he was a man who bristled with temper and resentments, a harsh taskmaster who could only spare little time with his many children but was excessively interested in shaping their lives. He was a sentimental man, who agonized over the early deaths of children and grandchildren. Still a young child when his father, Hyrum Smith, was murdered with uncle Joseph Smith, Smith crossed the plains with his mother, Mary Fielding Smith. His entire life Smith believed his mother was treated badly by church leaders and others in Utah. She died in 1852 when he was still a young teen, and his resentments and harsh early life left an inner rage that sometimes provoked violence. Due to his temper, which included assaults, LDS church leaders took a task used often then: get the troubled youth involved in church service.

Smith, as a teenager, was sent on a mission to the Hawaiian Islands. He thrived there, learning the language, and working hard. He became the mission leader. On one occasion, the teenage mission president excommunicated nine converts after a church meeting.

The young Smith had a complex relationship, likely rooted in romance, with a Smith cousin who lived in California. She was hostile to the church but they remained in correspondence for a lifetime. Taysom's accounts of this guarded friendship and often-hostile correspondence between the pair is very interesting. She was a sounding board for Smith's bewildered frustration that most of the Nauvoo Smiths had spurned the Utah Mormons. 

Smith's first marriage was a disaster. His wife, Levira, who would likely be classified as with clinical depression and other mental afflictions, needed a husband of extreme patience and empathy. Smith was not capable of dealing with this difficult marriage. His church duties had expanded, including a mission to England. Unable to check his anger, Smith on at least one occasion beat Levira. They eventually divorced. 

F. Smith later married five wives and fathered 48 children. His personal weaknesses aside, he was a valuable administrator and leader within the church, and soon became an LDS apostle. What Taysom notes well in his biography is that despite being an orthodox Mormon who essentially distrusted the media and culture outside Utah, Smith was talented, confident and formidable enough to confront that world, to go out and talk to religious, cultural and political leaders. Smith's' energy, as well as other church leaders of that era, refute the misconception that LDS leaders in the latter half of the 18th century avoided the public eye. 

Smith abhorred any sexual immorality, and defined it like a Puritan. He was the driving force for Apostle Albert Carrington to be excommunicated for adultery while mission leader in England. He was a fierce opponent of masturbation, which must have caused a lot of teens and men heavy guilt after one of his sermons. 

If he were alive today, he'd be thrilled at the scores of temples in the world. Temple work was a particular priority of his. Smith was a magnet of hatred for anti-Mormons in the first part of the 20th century. Ending his life as a successful church president can be considered a triumph for him.

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The second biography is "George Q. Cannon: Politician, Publisher, Apostle of Polygamy," by Kenneth L. Cannon II (Signature Books, 2023). It is one of Signature's recent "short" biographies (fewer than 300 pages). It is a superb book that provides a lot of information on this accomplished man's life. Like Joseph F. Smith, George Q. Cannon was a leader who both embodied the orthodoxy of early Mormonism, yet fully embraced the challenges of moving forward through changes in the latter 19th century. Cannon was a skilled politician, a superb journalist, and an experienced businessman. In the latter part of the 19th century, Cannon was handling many of the duties that the current presidents could not handle, due to their advanced age.

Cannon experienced tragedy early in his life. A native of Liverpool, England, his mother died on the ship taking her and George to Nauvoo. His father later died in Nauvoo. Early church leaders were impressed with the youth, who emigrated to Utah in 1847. Before he was 20 he was sent on missions to the gold regions of California and the Hawaiian Islands. Like Joseph F. Smith, he was a hard-working efficient missionary in Hawaii who mastered the language and amazingly, translated the Book of Mormon into the native language.

Cannon proved to be a natural writer, reporter, editor and publisher. He presided over the British mission and edited The Millennial Star. He also edited The Juvenile Instructor and other pubs. He oversaw the early Deseret News. He was also an accomplished diplomat and politician, serving as a territorial delegate in Washington D.C., and lobbying cultural and political powers to soften their stances against the young Mormon church, particularly on polygamy. 

He would lose on his efforts to soften blows against polygamy. He would lose his territorial seat, and eventually go into hiding as a fugitive. He would serve a short time in prison as a convicted polygamist. Prior to his incarceration, Cannon II relates an escape attempt after Cannon was located by marshals. Cannon jumped off a moving train and was badly injured.

Cannon was a fervent polygamist. He married six wives and fathered 43 children. His oldest sons occasionally caused him great stress. John Q. Cannon, a journalist and general authority, committed adultery with his wife's sister. John Q. Cannon impregnated Louie Wells. This resulted in his excommunication, divorce, and a hasty marriage to Louie. He also faced a criminal charge. Tragically, Louie, largely ignored by John Q., died soon after birthing a stillborn child. Cannon's' eldest son was later rebaptized and remarried to his former wife.

Another son, Frank, while possessing political and journalism talents, was an alcoholic and a rake. Frank, who served in political positions, was at times shielded by his father's power. Once George Q. Cannon died, Frank saw his influence diminish considerably. He later became a fierce antagonist against the LDS Church, and later President Joseph F. Smith, writing a book and lecturing against the LDS Church across the nation.

Cannon's heavy influence with church presidents Woodruff and Snow led to some criticism, although it may have been just jealousy. He was impulsive on business dealings for the church and himself. Not all succeeded, and he took criticism for some dealings. In his defense, it was a time of great anxiety. The LDS Church was in peril of financial obliteration due to legislation punishing the church for polygamy. 

Statehood was a goal for Cannon, and one way he helped was taking the LDS Church's political party, and moving members into conventional party politics, rather than the clannish LDS church party. 

In 1900, the elder statesman Cannon returned to Hawaii, 50 years after his mission. As Cannon II notes, he was greeted warmly, with love and respect. But his health was failing, and he died soon afterward in 1901.

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A postscript: In his introduction to "Like a Fiery Meteor ...," author Tayson says there are two previous biographies of Joseph F. Smith. Both, he notes, are hagiographies, "written for a casual LDS audience seeking faith-promoting portraits of LDS leaders." Taysom contrasts those two biographies with a biographical essay titled, "Before the Beard: Trials of the Young Joseph Smith." Taysom says that essay falls under the spectrum "described by biographer Oleg V. Khlevniuk as 'archival exposes.'" As Taysom notes, this is the practice of using newly released, less favorable historical documents "in such a way that only the sensationally negative aspects of the figure are revealed." As Tayson writes, "Both hagiographies and archival exposes suffer from the same malady: they tend to be one-dimensional and deeply invested in the 'morality' rather than than 'humanity' of their subjects."

Fortunately, the above biographies of Smith and Cannon avoid the tags of hagiography or archival expose. Readers are awarded with insights into their lives, their times, the families, their careers, and their humanity.

Lost Apostles a fascinating look into the early years of the LDS Church

 

Signature has a Mormon history book, "The Lost Apostles: Forgotten Members of Mormonism's Original Quorum of Twelve," that provides a valuable look at the early years of Mormonism. Authors William Shepard and H. Michael Marquardt outline characteristics of the original apostles. They were mostly frontier men, chosen for their candor, stamina, independence, testimonies and personalities. These 12 were not administrators; they were young action-oriented men, sent out with virtually no assistance to study during the day, preach at night and try to baptize enough new members to form a small branch. If they were rejected, they left the "unbelievers" with a curse. If an apostle encountered a comely, unattached young woman, it was not uncommon for him to marry her, enjoy a quick honeymoon, and then go back to the mission, with a young wife waiting for his return.

The "Lost Apostles" are John Boynton, Lyman Johnson, his brother Luke Johnson, Thomas Marsh, the first president of the 12, William Smith, brother to the church's founder, and William McLellin. To those with at least an acquaintance of Mormon history, perhaps only Boynton and Lyman Johnson are historical strangers, no more than pictures in a church almanac. They are the two who managed to divorce themselves emotionally from Mormonism. Of the others, two -- Marsh and Luke Johnson -- returned to the now-Utah church, one, McLellin, skipped from Mormon offshoot to offshoot, never content, and William Smith, the legitimate rogue of the outfit, was finally allowed into the reorganized LDS church led by his nephew, ... so long as he behaved himself.

"Lost Apostles," is most interesting when it details the passions, strife, successes, setbacks, celebrations and violence that characterized Mormonism's growth in the 1830s, prior to the emigration to Nauvoo. As Joseph Smith moved the Mormons into the frontier, there were inevitable clashes between the unified newcomers and the older settlers, who didn't cotton to a large new voting bloc roiling the land. A lack of tact and propensity toward violence from both sides inevitably led to outnumbered Mormons being forced out. These exoduses were conducted under duress, in dangerous situations, and innocents died. Although the apostles were supposed to be separate from administrative duties, in reality they were not. They were often caught in the conflicts, internal and external, that roiled Mormonism.

What led most of the "lost apostles" from Mormonism was the 1838-1839 years in Ohio and Missouri. Besides the increasing violence, which became deadly, church leaders made the common mistake of wanting to get rich quick. They started an "anti-bank," due to not being able to get a charter, and created their own money (this could be done 180 years ago). During a brief real estate bubble, investors imagined themselves rich. The bubble broke, sellers and investors wanted their money, and the "currency" of the financial institution became worthless. As the authors detail, there's nothing like disputes over money to destroy harmony. Boynton, the Johnson brothers, McLellin, and later Marsh, left the church during this period. Other prominent church leaders who left were Oliver Cowdery, Martin Harris and David Whitmer. Others who came close to long-time estrangement include apostles Parley P. Pratt, his brother Orson Pratt, and Orson Hyde. William Smith, a product of nepotism, clung to the quorum due to his familial relationship. However, after Joseph Smith was murdered in 1844, his thuggish behavior was not tolerated much longer.

There is a paradox in this account. All of these men witnessed what they believed were heavenly manifestations, they believed that Jesus Christ had blessed them through revelation and assigned them to be apostles.So why was the quorum shattered by greed and violence in only several years? The authors do note that despite disagreements that flared into violence, all of the men were either cordial to, or even confidantes toward one another for the rest of their lives. They were generally kind to the members of the faith they had left. Even John Boynton, who became a celebrated physician and inventor in the mid-1800s, took time out of a tour to visit his old friends in Salt Lake City. Boynton was a man who made pains to avoid mention of his youthful adventure with Mormonism, but decades later, was drawn to reminiscing with his old companions. The short answer to the paradox is that most of the early leaders of the "Mormonites" retained their belief in the Book of Mormon, as well as the early appeal that it was a book designed to usher in the return of Christ, within a generation. Their reasons for leaving, or being forced out via excommunication, were probably close to what the loquacious McLellin often said; in their opinion, the leaders, Joseph Smith, etc., became corrupted, and fell short of the principles they believed the church required.

The "Lost Apostles" is a sympathetic account of the six, but not hagiographies. The commitment to Mormonism that drove these men to be early-Mormon historical figures is acknowledged. Most of the book covers various episodes of Mormon history as the apostles related to them. Late in the book the apostles' lives post-1844 (Smith's death) are covered. As a scholarly offering of Mormon history, it's another of a series of books, including biographies of Parley P. Pratt and Brigham Young, that are part of an ongoing process of shedding "teddy bear" accounts of Mormon history with more detailed, accurate, and fulfilling, "grizzly bear" accounts. The book contains a few 1830s' journalistic accounts of the apostles' missionary efforts that are fascinating to read.

I'll conclude the review with brief recaps of the six apostles and how their lives ended:

John Boynton: Like Lyman Johnson, he was one of two apostles able to shed Mormonism. He became a legitimate celebrity of the 19th century, with inventions, 4,000 lectures and fame as a naturalist doctor. His ultimately unsuccessful marriage to a much younger woman in 1865 was illustrated in Harper's Weekly. He died in 1879 in Syracuse, N.Y.

Lyman Johnson: He stayed close to the roots of Mormonism, and was involved in legal cases of interest to the church in the 1840s. Cordial to his former apostles, he never returned to the LDS church. Tragically, he died Dec. 20, 1859, when the frozen Mississippi River broke while he and another man were crossing on a sled. He had just rented a nearby hotel to run.

Luke Johnson: Even as an excommunicated member, Johnson, as a marshal, helped the Smiths escape from lawmen seeking the Mormon prophet. In 1846, he returned to membership in the church. He emigrated to Utah, where his skills as a dentist helped the pioneers. In Utah, he assumed a respected standing west of Salt Lake City, but was passed over when a spot in the Quorum of the Twelve opened. He died in July 1861, somewhat broken by the recent murder of his son. His younger wife, America, outlived him by 39 years and is buried in Ogden.

Thomas Marsh: Many Mormons know Marsh through the myth of him "leaving the church due to his wife's fight with another sister member over milk strippings." That is nonsense. Marsh left the church in Far West, Mo., because he opposed the violence of some church members' retaliation against anti-Mormons. He testified against the church in hearings. Some blame Marsh's testimony for the extermination order against Mormons issued by Missouri Gov. Lilburn W. Boggs. When, almost 20 years later, Marsh, poverty-stricken, in ill health, abandoned by his wife, and virtually friendless, requested to be admitted to the Utah church, it was granted. Marsh died in Ogden, a pauper, on Jan. 25, 1865. Despite his return to Mormonism, Brigham Young and other church leaders frequently mocked Marsh in his last years, even when he was on the stand with them preparing to deliver a penitent lecture. This cruel behavior indicates that the circumstances of Marsh's apostasy must have had bitter roots.

William McLellin: Thanks to his legacy of diaries, McLellin is a well-traveled figure in Mormon history. Considered a learned but temperamental man, McLellin, perhaps engaging in historical license, created a history of himself joining a church of pure christianity, anchored by the Book of Mormon, without priesthood, apostles, etc. The mercurial McLellin, who lived a very long life, stayed in contact with his former colleagues, frequently reproving them. He joined several offshoots of Mormonism, often as a leader, but eventually became disenchanted and would leave each, usually within several months. He died in 1883.

William Smith: As the authors note, Smith was a legacy apostle, chosen over Phineas Young because brother Joseph Smith requested William. Although the authors note that William Smith was devoted to his brother's church, he was a scoundrel. He was a lecher, a chronic adulterer, a man who enjoyed the company of criminals, and was easily capable of abandoning a wife and young children. He skipped to many offshoots of Mormonism, only to be thrown out of the groups as soon as his character was revealed. In the later years of his life, Joseph Smith III, first president of the Reorganized LDS Church, allowed a chastened William to lecture about his father's early years, but kept his uncle on a very tight leash. William Smith died on Nov. 13, 1893, a few days after catching cold during an RLDS speaking engagement.

-- Doug Gibson

This post was originally published at StandardNET

‘Murder by Sacrament’ a Mormon-themed murder mystery

 

Those who yearn for Mormon-themed fiction without the obligatory faith-promoting climax might want to give Toom Taggert the once-over. He’s the protagonist of author Paul M. Edwards’ mystery novel “Murder by Sacrament,” from Signature Books. 

“Murder By Sacrament” is the second book featuring Taggert, who plays a somewhat cynical philosophy professor who also heads the education department of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, now known as The Community of Christ. Edwards is a former president of the Mormon History Association and he created Taggert in an image no doubt treasured by most explorers of Mormon history: He’s an unorthodox bureaucrat, coffee-drinking and less impressed by faith than his peers, uncomfortably nested in an environment of church hierarchy bureaucrats and hyperfaith junior members of the church staff. A bit of a loner, with a comatose wife, Toom’s closest friends are a cop buddy named Amos, and Marie, the church’s legal representation. There is romantic tension between Toom and Amos over Marie, who almost married the cop in the past.  

The book is set in the RLDS church’s Independence, Mo. headquarters, at the time period just before the RLDS church changed its name. Frankly, with the structure and tensions that Edwards creates, the novel could just as easily be set in LDS headquarters in Salt Lake City. In “Murder by Sacrament,” someone is killing major church donors via poison. The first donor is killed drinking the sacrament in the church’s temple, another is killed sampling chocolates at an expensive church party. Ultimately, the pressures of performing in an highly religious environment play into the murder plot.

This is a cerebral novel, with Taggert using his philosophy skills both to try to solve the murders, handle the anal behavior at work, and meander through a love affair he cannot consummate due to his ailing wife. One hobby that helps him keep sane is finding books with authors’ names that resemble the subject. For example, “Follow My Dust,” by Arthur Upfield, and so on. The reader can’t help but like Taggert, a man who uses his wit to maintain his faith, a product most would laud, except in an environment filled with certainty. It’s interesting to read a novel that pits faith as the opposite of certainty. There is an odd twist to the novel in which Edwards scrawls asides on the pages. One is a page number game (“go to page …”) that can lead the reader into a never-ending page maze.

There’s not a lot of violence in “Murder By Sacrament,” and often times other issues intrude on the plot. But it’s a well-paced, well thought-out mystery in a Mormon setting and the story builds to a satisfying climax, with a bureaucracy-mandated twist at the very end that leaves a killer with a good legacy. Edwards’ first Toom Taggert novel, “The Angel Acronym,” involved a RLDS church archivist murdered at the headquarters. The plot included certain documents discovered that cast the Prophet Joseph Smith in a harsh light. It’s a good read that can serve as a precursor to “Murder By Sacrament.”

-- Doug Gibson

Originally published at StandardNET

Review: Harold B. Lee: Life and Thought

 

Review by Doug Gibson

Harold B. Lee: Life and Thought, by Newell G. Bringhurst, Signature Books, 2022, provided a lot of information about a prophet of my lifetime who I admit I didn't know much about. Lee was president only slightly more than a year. He ushered in the long, and more popularly significent tenure of Spencer W. Kimball. 

But as author Bringhurst (who penned a biography of Fawn Brodie) notes, Lee had a tremendous effect on how The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints moved its way though the 20th century. To note his two major accomplishments, he essentially created the LDS welfare system, and he was the driving force behind church teaching correlation, which more or less is still with us today.

And Lee was so dedicated to his church callings that it's not an exaggeration to say he literally worked himself to death.

Lee, an Idaho native, was both a school teacher and adminstrator in his teens. He quickly gained notice for his skills while a missionary between 1920 and 1922. He married a former sister missionary, Fern Lucinda Tanner, and they raised two girls. Lee was something of a prodigy. Moving out of education, he flourished as a businessman and then a member of the Salt Lake Commission. He became the church's youngest stake president in 1930.

As President of the Pioneer Stake, Lee was noted for his church welfare/Bishop's Storehouse efforts, which were eventually adopted churchwide. Lee shared the general church leadership's sentiments that it was wrong for church members to be dependent on government. Lee eventually was named of the church's entire welfare system.

I get the impression from reading Bringhurst's book that Lee was esteemed enough -- overall -- to have been elected governor of Utah or as a U.S. senator. But his heart was with his church. By 1941 he was called as an apostle and quickly was called to a correlation committee. This proved to be a roughly two-decade project that eventually bore Lee's imprint. As Bringhurst notes, it was a struggle by Lee to rein in the independence many church auxiliaries had. They had enjoyed large budgets and even relative theological independence. 

Lee's skill as an economical money cruncher was also valued, as he worked hard to reduce church debts and move the church toward economic security. These two tasks -- correlation and budget-crunching -- required a leader who could say "no" easily and deal with colleagues' hurt feelings and dashed hopes. 

This is a 156-page biography. I have yet to read more detailed biographies of Lee, that may capture a more familial, softer side. What I gain from the book is a detailed look at a very talented, intelligent church leader who finessed his way through a large bureacracy. He was championed by fellow apostle J. Reuben Clark, who Bringhurst notes was a father figure. Lee's own father had been a bishop disciplined for misusing tithing donations, and there future relationship was strained.

It's very interesting to read about Lee's relationships among his church peers, including David O'McKay, Spencer W. Kimball, and Hugh B. Brown, among others. Lee is best described as an orthodox, mainstream Mormon leader of his times. He strongly embraced the church's incorrect codification of its priesthood ban on blacks, and also incorrectly opposed interracial marriages. He strongly opposed more liberal colleague Hugh B. Brown's public attempts to end the priesthood ban. However, Bringhurst does note that Lee believed the ban would someday be lifted.

Lee was a conservative adminstrator of church interests and was very good at it. Like Gordon B. Hinckley, he was heavily involved in caretaking church affairs before he actually became the prophet. He wrote a lot on church doctrine, including an essay called "The Iron Rod," which as Bringhurst notes, "emphasized obedience." In another essay he decried a society of "black called white and white called black, and sin called good and good called sin." He certainly was an influence for later church leaders such as Hinckley, Thomas S. Monson, and Boyd K. Packer.

A larger biography may have told us more details of his family life. Fern suffered poor health after the birth of two daughters. Soon after she died in 1962, Lee married an age-appropriate second wife, Freda Joan Jenson, who survived him until 1981. I can't get a complete feel of either marriage from the brief biography, other than Bringhurst's note that Fern, 27 to Harold's 24, "possessed a sophistication that Lee lacked." 

As a result, she was a valuable companion as he moved upward. She influenced her husband greatly, particularly in "convincing her husband to change careers." Teaching was low-paying for the Lees, and Harold had several extra jobs while a teacher, including as a watchman for Union Pacific, and as a grocery clerk with ZCMI. Harold eventually began a life of business prosperity as a salesman with Foundation Press, which sold upscale, illustrated stories from the Bible.

I've mentioned Lee was a workaholic. His health started to ebb later in his life and he suffered periodic illnesses. He mostly refused to take breaks or even ease up, though, and was constantly on the go as church president, a role he assumed on July 7, 1972. On Dec. 26, 1973, Lee, 74, woke up feeling very tired despite sleeping 10 hours. His heart was failing, and oxygen did not help. He was dead by 9 p.m., "six hours after his admission to the hospital," writes Bringhurst.

This is an excellent read from a fine writer/historian. The value of learning more about the life of Lee, and other LDS leaders during the 20th century, is that it provides a chart of the evolution of mores, politics, procedures, customs, stances and beliefs within the LDS Church. Lee was an integral part of that history.

B.H. Roberts biography provides an interesting review of his public life

 

Review by Doug Gibson

John Sillito, professor emeritus of libraries at Weber State University in my home city of Ogden, Utah, has done a really impressive job with "B.H. Roberts: A Life in the Public Arena," Signature, 2021. Its nearly 600 pages make for an interesting biography read, a turn-pager, rare for a book with so much information packed into it.

Although the subject's personal life is not Sillito's primary topic, it is emotional, at times heart-tugging, to read of the young B.H. Roberts, with a father gone and a mother far away in Utah, living a neglected life in England, badly treated by church members who were supposed to be caring well for him while his mother tried to get him to Utah territory.

He finally got to "Zion," walking most of the way with only his sister. When he arrived, he found his mother in another slowly failing marriage. The result was a rougher adolescence that a young man needed, and it likely contributed to a recurring problem with alcoholism, and depression that Roberts dealt with through his life.

Roberts, though, was determined to succeed, and sought an education, graduating from Deseret College. He thrived within the late 18th century LDS church, hierarchy, becoming a member of the First Council of the Seventy, and eventually marrying member Sarah Louisa Smith, a native of Centerville, Utah. 

He later took a second wife, Celia Dibble. Smith and Dibble bore him 15 children.

Roberts was sent on dangerous prostlyting missions, when it really was without purse or script, and threats from the opposition could be deadly. When LDS missionaries were murdered in the deep southern United States, Roberts showed great courage in treking into the dangerous locations, and undercover, retrieving the bodies for proper burial.

Sillito's research is impressive. He's combed archives, letters, transcripts, newspapers and more to present a picture of Roberts, a devout Latter-day Saint, clearly a leader, a great public speaker, researcher and organizer, and a sometimes rebel who clashed with powerful colleagues in the LDS hierarchy. 

Roberts was an active liberal in a time when many of his peers were on the opposite side, preferring to align with business interests. Roberts, disagreed, and found himself in spats with among others, Joseph F. Smith, and Utah's first senator, Reed Smoot. 

Roberts occasional bouts with alcoholism were tolerated by his ecclesiastical leaders, but the closest he came to official church discipline was due to politics, when he and another Democrat, apostle Moses Thatcher, clashed over the LDS hierarchy wanting greater say on members' political activities. Roberts' enthusiastic desire to run for U.S. Congress met with disapproval. They wanted Roberts to back a sort of manifesto that would allow church leaders to approve runs for political office.

Roberts, believing he had been forthright about his political aspirations, offered to leave his leadership callings. He was furious over what he regarded as unfair criticism directed at him. The situation for a time appeared to be untenable for either side.

For a time Roberts shunned church hierarchy, but eventually he was persuaded to accept their concerns without sacrificing his personal political beliefs. 

It's interesting that church leaders spent a lot time talking with Roberts, working to persuade him. It underscores his importance as a leader, missionary, spokesman and writer, Consider how another internal dissident, apostle MosesThatcher was treated. For similar reasons, Thatcher was dropped from the Quorum of the Twelve.

It's entertaining to read of Utah's early days of politics. Sentiment among voters was fluid, moving back and forth, just like today (nationally, not Utah). Interestingly, Roberts for a while opposed women's suffrage, and suffered politically for it. He also opposed high tariffs, which put him at odds with much of elite Utahns of that time.

Sillito does not avoid Roberts' racist views, which he expressed publicly. He was a creature of his times, and was echoing sentiments which were believed and practiced through the LDS Church in those times. 

Roberts was eventually elected to the U.S. Congress, despite having three wives and having been jailed for polygamy. After long hearings, and dreadful national press, Roberts failed to be seated, although he did later receive some badly needed back pay for while he was in Washington. This is my favorite part of Sillito's biography. Roberts was very naive that he could -- as a polygamist -- persuade Congress to seat him, but it shows both his tenacity, and intellectual ability, that he gave it a fight.

As mentioned, Roberts was married three times. His third marriage may have been after the Manifesto. Roberts seems to have partially neglected his earlier wives, particularly his first, preferring to spend most of the time with third wife, Dr. Margaret Curtis Shipp. This particularly caused tension with his first wife, discord that continued even after her death, in which her family made it clear to Roberts he was not welcome at her funeral.

Sillito writes of an incident in which the multi-married Roberts, several years after the Manifesto, appeares to have a serious crush on a young single Mormon woman, Leah Dunford. Sillito provides letters which provide fascinating reading. Nothing eventually happened. Any romance died in embryo. The whole event seems a bit kitschy, except that the young lady, already more or less engaged, was encouraged by her mother, Susa Young Gates, to accept Roberts' interest. These passages underscore the long time it took to deflate the toxic culture of polygamy.

Roberts, despite his 60 years, admirably became a U.S. Army Chaplain and served overseas during World War I. He later served as president of the Eastern States Mission, overseeing mission strategies that are still in use today.

Diabetes caused a physical collapse and after his mission tenure ended in 1927 -- third wife Margaret Shipp died during his mission -- he spent his last years with the Seventies before eventually succumbing to complications of diabetes in 1933. Before he died he suffered a bout of serious depression, what Roberts called the "black dog," when diabetes led to partial foot amputation. When Roberts died in late September of 1933, he was living with his sole living spouse, Celia.

Despite these challenges, Roberts stayed active in the public arena. He represented the LDS Church at the World Parliament of Religions, where he had been snubbed 40 years earlier. This time he was praised by parliament participants. Very late in his life, he was politically active, standing up for Utah miners he believed were being exploited by business interests. 

There's a lot of Roberts that interests me that Sillito omits, such as his writing (I love his novella Corianton), much of his family life, his opinions on the Book of Mormon, and a lot of ecclesiastical details. But that's OK; those issues have been covered in depth. We have a very satisfying biography of a great man's public life. His talents and his flaws are covered. To sum up, Sillito provides a book that shows readers why Roberts had such an impact on the 18th and 19th century LDS church, and why he was a popular church leader, speaker and politician. His influence extended well beyond Utah and Mormonism during his lifetime. 

(The Kindle version of B.H. Roberts: A Life in the Public Arena is only $8.99 as of the above date)

Nauvoo City Council’s minutes of 1840s provide chaos, contention and lies

 

Originally published, in slightly different form, in January 2012 in StandardBlogs

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The Nauvoo City Council and High Council minutes from 1839 to 1845, when accessible, were recorded. Signature Books, with the assistance of historian John Dinger, published almost a decade ago the minutes, along with notes, and they’re just plain fascinating for enthusiasts of history. Without spin, they lay out the controversy that swirled in Nauvoo prior to Joseph Smith’s murder and the LDS exodus west.

The documents lend credence to the belief that the then-secret doctrine of polygamy sparked much of the contention that roiled Nauvoo. Many of those associated with the anti-Smith publication, the Nauvoo Expositor, were accused of using polygamy as an excuse to commit adultery. In the city council meeting of June 8, 1844, Hyrum Smith is cited as claiming that Joseph Smith’s revelation on polygamy, read to the Nauvoo High Council on Aug. 12, 1843, “was in answer to a question concerning things which transpired in former days & had no reference to the present time.” 

As curiously noted, “Hyrum Smith married four plural wives in 1843.” It’s clear that Hyrum Smith had rationalized that it was OK to mislead. Also, on page 255 of the Nauvoo City Council minutes, the LDS prophet, and Nauvoo mayor, Joseph Smith, supports Hyrum’s incorrect words, saying that he had not preached the doctrine in public or private.

From reading the various minutes and notes commentary, polygamy was used as a cudgel in a conflict between the Smiths and their enemies, such as William Law, Wilson Law, Robert and Charles Foster, Chauncey and Francis Higbee, Sylvester Emmons, and others. These accusations were often judged in the non-secular, but equally powerful, Nauvoo High Council meetings. On May 24, 1842, “Chancy” Higbee was excommunicated by the high council after being judged guilty of adultery and for teaching “the doctrine that it was right to have free intercourse with women if it was kept secret …” Higbee, the minutes report, claimed “that Joseph Smith autherised (sic) him to practice these things.”

Other accusations used to discredit critics included counterfeiting, stinginess, and plots to kill Joseph Smith. The final accusation was probably closest to the truth, as the violence that was commonplace in that era made lynching and murder a real possibility. The City Council minutes note how the Smiths used Nauvoo civil law to construct a habeus corpus statute so far-reaching that it could blunt any attempt to have Smith or others extradited to Missouri or anywhere outside of Nauvoo. In fact, Smith used habeus corpus to initially avoid arrest for trashing the Nauvoo Expositor press.

The city council debate that preceded the Nauvoo police’s destruction of the Expositor press as a “nuisance” is very interesting. Anger from past atrocities against Mormons, notably the Haun’s Mill massacre, were used as rationales to destroy the Expositor’s press. Interestingly, one Nauvoo councilman, Benjamin Warrington, opposed destroying the press. He wanted to give the editors time to stop publishing and assess them a $3,000 fine.

Both Smiths spoke in opposition to Warrington’s proposal, Hyrum adding that he doubted the publishers had the money to pay the fine. Those in favor of the press’ destruction cited ” Blackwater’s Commentaries on the Laws of England,” a reference book widely used in that era. Nauvoo city attorney and councilman George P. Stiles used “Blackwater” as evidence, “{saying a} Nuisance is any thing {that} disturbs the peace of {the} community.”

The destruction of the Expositor began before the city council meeting authorizing the act had finished. As are most decisions made in haste and with excessive emotion, it backfired, increasing the danger to Joseph Smith and others. An attempt to use Nauvoo’s liberal habeus corpus law to escape legal heat failed, and to protect Nauvoo from armed mobs, Joseph and Hyrum agreed to be jailed in Carthage, Ill. Assurances of safety from a feckless governor, Thomas Ford, failed, and history records that both Smiths were murdered by a mob.

The Nauvoo City Council minutes after the Smiths’ murders are interesting. There is little of the anger or bluster that was part of the meeting that sanctioned the press’ destruction. It’s muted, and frankly reflects the shock and despair that must have surrounded Nauvoo and church members at the loss of their prophet. Much of the minutes cover discussion on how much the city must renumerate the Nauvoo Expositor for the destruction of its property. Hiram Kimball was assigned the task of dealing with the renumeration.

Also, it’s clear that city leaders were concerned that the mobs that had killed the Smiths were still eager to attack Nauvoo. The council endorsed pleas by Governor Ford and others to avoid violent reprisals.

“The Nauvoo City and High Council Minutes” is a massive, indispensable treasure trove of Mormon history in Illinois. Some accounts were amusing; one recounts a man brought for church discipline because he sold his wife for her weight in catfish!

-- Doug Gibson

On the edge of Mormonism's inside -- a review of Why I Stay 2

 

"Why I Stay 2: The Challenges of Discipleship for Contemporary Latter-day Saints," (Signature Books, 2021), is a collection of essays from Latter-day Saints -- many perhaps more liberal -- who explain why they remain active members of a church predominantly comprised of more conservative members, at least in the United States.

The book is edited by academic Robert A. Rees, who penned an introduction and also an essay. He notes how Mormonism has changed a lot since the initial "Why I Stay" book was published a decade ago. I recall reading "Leaving the Fold," published a generation ago, and it's true that reasons for so-called faith crisis have more impact at different eras. 

That's not to say questions and concerns ever disappear, but at times historical revision and transparency had a bigger impact than they do perhaps now. Issues of same-sex marriage, disputes over transgender rights issues, and even rancor over former U.S. President Donald Trump likely play roles in testing an individual's commitment to Mormonism. 

To me, the greatest value in the collection is it offers readers the opportunity to learn and appreciate that others -- Saints who want to do good -- are just as righteous as we are, regardless of our cultural and political differences. This may seem like an obvious truth, but assigning evil to others due to disagreement has been going on since Cain slew Abel. The unfortunate maxim -- we demand perfection from those we despise -- still thrives.

The late playwright Eric Samuelson, in his essay, recalls listening during his mission to a general authority provide useless sales-oriented advice to Samuelson and other missionaries. However, the experience taught Samuelson that inspiration is "intermittent," and therefore to be treasured as a gift of the spirit that blesses us. It taught him not everything he hears in an ostensibly spiritual setting is inspiration. His essay concludes with a powerful anecdote of a Spanish-speaking member providing him a blessing of health.

Writer Carol Lynn Pearson's essay posits that she stays because she finds love in the church, and if she encounters a situation where there is not love, the church provides her an opportunity to create love. This is a strong point, particularly in this era where there is strong division over sexual orientation and gender issues. I recall as an editorial page editor, more than a decade ago, receiving many phone calls over the issue of same-sex marriage, which was not legally decided at that time. Callers tended to express their opinions on the issue with hate, rather than love. While this happened on both sides it was predominantly expressed, by callers opposing the issue. 

An essay from Mitch Mayne, a gay Mormon who is active in the church, reminds readers that "Mormonism isn't merely a religion -- it is also a culture, and one that deeply embeds itself into who we are as humans." 

Mayne acknowledges it is tough to stay when he hears messages from other believers that he doesn't belong. But he doesn't want to lose his faith, his culture. He doesn't want the holes in his life that would result from leaving his faith. His essays tells us how he stays in the church, and it's inspiring. He knows he alone is tasked with following the Savior and being a spiritual person.

In a recent Dialogue, Maxine Hanks, who returned to the faith after an excommunication, counseled readers (she was speaking to a group in Utah County) that one way to strengthen our own commitment to the Gospel is to respect the faith journeys of our peers. Loving people brings spirituality. Denouncing people like us because they think the same creates contention, and pleases the Adversary.

"Why I Stay 2" can also make us think about our own personal faith crisis, or even just disagreements. We all have them. Acknowledging that can create some much-needed empathy. (Here is a link to "Why I Stay 2" at Amazon.)

-- Doug Gibson

The Thieves of Summer captures life in long ago Salt Lake City

Review by Doug Gibson

In 2014, Signature Books is released a novel, “The Thieves of Summer,” drafted by Linda Sillitoe just before her death in 2010. Sillitoe is best known for co-authoring the non-fiction crime book “Salamander: The Mormon Forgery Murders,” but also wrote novels, short stories, essays and poetry. In “Thieves of Summer,” Sillitoe combines several of her passions -- crime reporting, elephants, family, Mormonism and the culture of old Salt Lake City -- to craft a cluttered, but nevertheless entertaining summer story.

It’s 1938, and in Salt Lake City’s Liberty Park area the Flynn family is surviving the Depression as best it can. Dad Evan is a police detective, consumed with a case of missing children. His wife, Rose, stays at home and with dad raises Glenn, a new adult, troubled teen Joyce and three 11-year-old triplets, Annabelle, Bethany and Carolee. Nearby lives Princess Alice, a very independent elephant that is the main attraction at the Liberty Park zoo. 

Sillitoe has tossed a lot of ingredients into her novel’s conflict broth, and at times the reader will wonder what exactly is the main plot of “Thieves of Summer.” It probably fits into the genre of crime fiction, but there are long interludes in which the case of the missing children, and the thoroughly evil pedophile antagonist, disappear from the novel. Also, the elephant Princess Alice, tagged pretty early as a major character in the novel, makes cameo appearances until the novel approaches its climax. 

Perhaps a better title would have been “The Family Flynn” because they are the real focus of the novel, particularly the parents and the two oldest siblings. The family’s challenges, which include Glenn getting his girlfriend, Margie, in a family way, as well as emotionally maladjusted Joyce being caught stealing at work and trying to harm her new sister in law, are detailed from both secular and religious consequences. Sillitoe makes it clear that for an active Mormon family in 1938 Salt Lake City, every crisis includes a reaction from the dominant church. In one episode, in which an aunt dies of complications from mumps and pertussis, Sillitoe captures the culture well in the manner the family hustles away Glenn from the quarantined home due to the potential threat to his child-bearing future. The not-always-subtle discrimination against woman is captured in how some ecclesiastical leaders handle Glenn and Margie’s pregnancy.

The author captures the period piece of Depression-era Utah well, particularly in a family outing to Saltair, trips on the old public transportation system, horse-riding in the city, and an era of medicine that relied as much on hope as medical expertise. I particularly enjoyed the innocence of the conversations of the triplets regarding the crisis of Glenn, Margie, Joyce and even the stolen children. They are in that small pocket of life where they know something is amiss but are not actually sure what is amiss. Their ruminations comprise excellent writing.

The climax of the novel, which is the resolution of the criminal case, is easy to predict but nevertheless clever and the writing is very strong. As mentioned, the pedophile criminal is extremely evil and sociopathic. Spending several pages in his head leaves readers wondering if they need to take a shower. Sillitoe has the talent to effectively convey the emotions and thoughts of children and adults. The Flynn father, Evan, is an extremely fair-minded, patient man, and Cynthia Sillitoe, Linda Sillitoe’s daughter and an Ogden resident, notes in the novel’s forward how easy it is to see Evan in her grandfather.

After the novel’s conclusion, there are several actual newspaper articles, as well as a photo of the real Princess Alice elephant, which lived in Salt Lake City and was an attraction at the Liberty Park zoo between 1916 and 1918.

“The Thieves of Summer” is a quirky mix of family tension, crime drama and an homage to an elephant, but the writing is superb and Sillitoe has produced a tale that captures interest and provides entertainment.

-- Originally published at StandardNET

David O. McKay diaries charts his life as a prophet

"Confidence Amid Change: The Presidential Diaries of David O McKay," (Signature Books, 2019), edited by scholar Harvard S. Heath, contains endearing examples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' prophet. In one passage, McKay expresses how much he enjoyed an evening at the movies, watching "All About Eve." Throughout the diaries, McKay reveals his quiet pride in being treated graciously and with respect by U.S. presidents and other major political figures, notably presidents Dwight David Eisenhower and Lyndon Baines Johnson.

His personal emotions are revealed in diary entries. He hated the task of approving temple sealing cancellations. In another example, after what must have been a contentious meeting with his apostolic peers over a church personnel issue, McKay bristles that he had never been treated so harshly before in such a setting.

McKay served as LDS prophet from 1951 until his death in early 1970. His tenure was a bridge between Mormonism's foundation as a North American religion into its now global structure. A very conservative leader, fiercely anti-communist, McKay nevertheless served as a successful moderating influence to the political extremism of Apostle Ezra Taft Benson, who after serving as Agricultural Secretary to Eisenhower nursed national political ambitions. McKay also kept in check the ambitions of Brigham Young University, and church education leader, Ernest L. Wilkinson. A significant portion of the diaries include a long, back-and-forth saga over whether to retain then-named Ricks College in Rexburg, Idaho, or move it to Idaho Falls. McKay eventually chose to keep it in Rexburg, contrary to Wilkinson's wishes.

There are dozens of issues the diaries recall, often capturing the most private discussions in the highest councils of the LDS Church. They include concerns over the publication of Bruce R. McConkie's iconic "Mormon Doctrine," which McKay and others fretted contained more than 1,000 errors; quelling a fundamentalist rebellion among LDS missionaries in Europe; dealing with mismanagement; lobbying politicians on issues the church considered to be moral issues; trying to find a solution to several thousand black adherents in Nigeria who had already formed an unofficial church branch; dealing with Hollywood over a potential film adaptation of the Mountain Meadows Massacre; working with a financial expert -- successfully -- to improve the church's finances; debating the need for correlation in Sunday School and Priesthood lessons; planning the growth of temples, including some outside of the United States; and more.

We learn from the diaries the conversations McKay had with Utah leaders over policy, including the head of the Salt Lake City Chamber of Commerce and the publisher of the Salt Lake Tribune. With the Deseret News, McKay enjoyed considerable editorial power, and the diaries include one instance of his anger at a Deseret News editorial piece critical of Eisenhower that apparently slipped in without knowledge of higher ups at the paper. Another early incident in McKay's tenure was helping a U.S. congressman who had lied about his record arrange his resignation. He was deferred to by Utah's most senior politicians although his dealings with iconoclastic Utah pol J. Bracken Lee was more complex.

The diaries are excellent example of transparency that has been needed and -- in recent years -- of which we have seen a commendable increase of. Also captured are moments of unity and love expressed between the members of the First Presidency, Apostles, and others in the meetings. It's a reminder that despite the many debates, the group would function as supportive team once decisions were made. McKay, for most of his tenure, retained a strong independence, which weakened in his final years.

The diaries do no shirk from the racism of the period. While McKay was pragmatic on the black exclusion policy, allowing baptisms in cases where African lineage could not be conclusively proved, he did follow a cardinal policy at that time. It is distressing to read passages in which church leaders fret over Utah State University allowing black athletes, whom the leaders fear will date white young women, or read discussions to discourage the Armed Forces from moving African-American families to the Tooele area. The best that can be gleaned from this issue are indications from McKay, and others, that the policy would eventually be overturned via a revelation. In the diaries, it is sometimes justified using the context of the early apostles denying gentiles the opportunity to hear the Gospel, until the Lord determined otherwise.

Portions of the Heath-edited diaries include observations and notes from others, including McKay's longtime secretary Clare Middlemiss. Her entries become more poignant through the latter 1960s, as McKay's health slowly but consistently declines. One strength of the diaries is we experience the passage of a prophet's life. The initial burst of enthusiasm. The consistent energy of the leader's prime years, including highs and lows. We experience the personal strengths of his life, his relationship with his wife, Emma Ray, and the quiet fortitude his home in Huntsville often provided him. And we are witnesses to his decline, the more-frequent health problems and the longer periods of rest that are needed as his end nears.

These are poignantly captured, often by Middlemiss, with McKay's -- and occasionally his secretary's frustration -- with the prophet being excused from church duties by family members understandably concerned at the toll it was taking on his life. One of the more heart-rending accounts is very late in McKay's life when the prophet, with eyes closed, clutches his secretary Middlemiss' hand, saying he wants her with him. She recalls in the diaries that it would be the last time she was in his office.

Stephen L Richards, J. Rueben Clark, Benson, Harold B Lee, N. Eldon Tanner, Hugh B. Brown, Wilkinson, Alvin R. Dyer, a young Thomas S. Monson, all and many others occupy the diaries. I haven't done justice to how important this collection is to learn more about McKay's life, his role in the continuing evolution of the Latter-day Saints, and insights into how a church is governed. The best solution -- read it. The dead-tree book is expensive, but the Kindle version is an excellent buy at under $10.

-- Review by Doug Gibson

Diaries of the ‘cowboy apostle’ Ivins include secret Mormon plural marriages, political intrigue

On Sept. 12, 1932, Mormon apostle Anthony W. Ivins, first counselor to LDS President Heber J. Grant, made this diary entry. “On this date Prest. [Heber J.] Grant, who has been unwell for some time with prostrate gland trouble went to Chicago, for the purpose of undergoing an operation. He remained there for several weeks, during which time I was again alone in the office. [D]uring this time the October General Conference was held. I directed the [blank].” … According to editor, Elizabeth O. Anderson, Ivins stopped keeping a diary at this time, and died in 1934, at the then-very old age of 82.

Most of the entries in the latest Signature Books publication of early LDS leaders’ diaries are of the home, travel and work life “mundane.” Nevertheless, like other diaries, such as the 19th century Mormon apostle Abraham H. Cannon, “Cowboy Apostle: The Diaries of Anthony W. Ivins, 1875-1932,” it is fascinating reading for history buffs as well as scholars (Link). A day-to-day glimpse into the leaders who shaped the LDS Church in the first century of its existence. Ivins, called the “Cowboy Apostle” because he was an impressive physical specimen for most of his life, was a contrast to a typical LDS leader 100 to 120 years ago. He was a monogamist who was nevertheless sent to head the church’s Mexican mission, and conduct secret polygamous marriages years after the first Manifesto was issued. He was an active liberal Democrat who mulled a run for Utah governor and also clashed with another Mormon apostle/monogamist, Sen. Reed Smoot, a Republican.

Ivins arrived in Utah as an infant and his family settled in St. George. A cousin of Heber J. Grant, Ivins married a daughter of Mormon apostle Erastus Snow. In his early years, he was both a lawman and a district attorney in Southern Utah. He also helped on church exploration trips to Arizona and New Mexico.

There are a lot of “sexy” parts (think controversial) in the diaries, and I’ll get to some, but I prefer the “mundane” duties, the experiences, a mission president or apostle conducts during his life. Even today, the LDS Church hierarchy live lives cloistered even from the most active of members. That obscurity provides them a type of celebrity status in the church. Reading Ivins’ accounts of bargaining with a Mexican general to get land for suitable mission quarters, or taking in a “cockfight,” of all things, or resolving a dispute between two subordinates in the mission, or reading, “… went to Tecalco where we held meetings, I met a number of my old converts all of who I was glad to see & they seemed to reciprocate my feelings … (1902)” This is the wheat that provides nourishment for history to be recalled and taught.

As mentioned, Ivins was involved in expeditions as a young man, often under the supervision of his father in law, the apostle Erastus Snow. This entry from January 1878 is typical of Ivins’ life at the time: “This morning Bro. [Erastus] Snow started on with our team to camp at Navajo Springs and wait for us there. There being no forge at the ferry we could not weld the broken tire. We took a piece of heavy iron an[d] riveted it on the outside and I took the wheel back to bring up the wagons while Bro. Hatch made an axle for the one he had broken.”

Ivins witnessed the execution of John D. Lee for the massacre at Mountain Meadows. “… their guns resting on the spokes, the posse fired and Lee sank back upon the coffin, without a struggle, dead.”

A fascinating part of the diaries deals with an expedition, associated with Brigham Young Academy, to try to find Book of Mormon history. The late novelist Samuel Taylor has described this unsuccessful journey, but Ivins provides first-hand diary recollections, detailing the anguish some of the missionaries felt as the expedition stalled long before it could move beyond Mexico and into South America. As Ivins relates in his diaries from 1900, LDS President Lorenzo Snow and other church leaders urged the expedition leaders to disband and return, adding the promise that they would be honorably discharged from their “mission attempt.” The leader of the expedition, Brother Benjamin Cluff Jr., at one point, writes Ivins, “… said he greatly desired to go forward,” (adding) “… if he returned now the expedition would be a failure & his reputation was worth [more] to him than his life.” Ivins relates how church leadership gently tried to reassure Cluff and others that the mission could be ceased.

An interesting tidbit from the diaries is Ivins’ recording a speech from Church President Joseph F. Smith which specifically denounced the already-old “Adam-God” doctrine that Brigham Young had preached with enthusiasm. Ivins’ writes on April 8, 1912 “… Prest. [Charles W.] Penrose spoke on tithing. Adam God theory. Prest [Joseph F.] Smith. Adam God doctrine not a doctrine of the Church. …”

In the appendix of the diaries, there is a list of marriages that Ivins performed in Mexico, including many plural marriages after the First Manifesto. However, after the Second Manifesto, from President Joseph F. Smith at the time of Smoot’s efforts to become a U.S. senator, the ban on polygamy was finally taken seriously. Ivins’ diaries record the discussions between leadership in dealing with these post 1900 marriages. He writes in 1910, “... I have been in council with my quorum. … The question of plural marriages were discussed & it was decided that cases … where plural marriages were entered into prior to 1904 the parties to such marriages should not be molested unless they be cases where the interests of the church are involved. Where men are in prominence in the Church who have taken plural wives since Prest. [Wilford] Woodruff manifesto be removed where it can be done without giving unnecessary offence.” Prominent apostles disciplined for late plural marriages were John W. Taylor and Matthias Cowley.

Ivins lived a fascinating life; the diaries support that statement. Late in his life he disagreed with a statement that political rival Senator Smoot had done more for Mormonism than “all the missionaries,” countering that “he {Smoot] was not the only man in the church.”

These Signature diaries are very expensive but a treasures for those who love delving through history. Hopefully, they are in libraries for those with smaller wallets and purses to enjoy as well. (Another excellent review of this book is from Andrew Hamilton of the Association for Mormon Letters.)

-- Doug Gibson

-- Originally published at StandardBlogs

Polygamy opponents were swept aside in Nauvoo turmoil after Joseph Smith’s death

The months in Nauvoo following the murder of the LDS Church founder Joseph Smith were not surprisingly, filled with turmoil and political intrigue. The publication of “The Nauvoo City and High Council Minutes” by Signature Books provides detailed accounts of the Nauvoo Stake’s high council meetings. It’s very interesting reading. The High Council was also a political body used to cast out prominent church members who did not support Brigham Young’s claim of leadership, or the church’s still-secret embrace of polygamy.

The purge of those who did not support Young in the months following Smith’s murder is an important part of LDS Church history. The Machiavellian tactics, while ruthless and arbitrary, ultimately underscored why the Mormons survived the Nauvoo disaster and thrived. They needed a “dictator,” — Young — not afraid to seize control and exercise it.

The Sept. 7, 1844 high council case of Leonard Soby, who publicly opposed polygamy in 1843 and helped publish The Nauvoo Expositor a year later, is a typical example of 1844 post-Martyrdom. Despite his past dissident status, which included an association with the anti-Smiths Nauvoo Expositor newspaper, Soby retained an uneasy status among the Nauvoo LDS religious hierarchy.

However, his support for Sidney Rigdon as church leader, and an altercation between Soby, Rigdon, Young and Orson Hyde on Sept. 3 over ordination authority for Rigdon, led to high council members “surprising” Soby with a motion that he be disfellowshipped. Soby protested vigorously, arguing that he was not a sinner, such as an adulterer or a moonshiner, but simply had honest differences with his high council colleagues.

It didn’t help. Soby may have been a bit naive, or disingenuous. By September 1844, among the Nauvoo High Council, any hesitancy to damn Rigdon as a false prophet trying to usurp authority was a one-way ticket out of the LDS Church. By the end of the night, Soby was effectively disfellowshipped. He followed Rigdon to his church in Pennsylvania, which eventually failed. Soby, 34 when drummed out of the LDS Church, died in 1891 in New Jersey. He remains a footnote in early LDS Church history.

For Young’s majority in the Mormon leadership, there was a far bigger fish to fry than Soby, or even Nauvoo Stake President William Marks, whose support for Rigdon and opposition to polygamy also ended his tenure later in 1844. On Sept. 8, 1844, in a public meeting, Rigdon would be kicked out of the church he had worked with Smith to build, with a litany of LDS Church apostles offering evidence against him.

As Brigham Young mentioned, Rigdon and Soby has been caught by Young and allies ordaining persons as “prophets” and “kings” etc. It was clear that Rigdon, who had already lost popular support in a contest with Young for church leadership, was attempting to take what members he could from Nauvoo with him to set up a rival church.

According to Young ally Orson Hyde, Rigdon, when asked that he surrender his license, threatened to publish “the history of this people since they came to Nauvoo of all their iniquity and midnight abominations.” Rigdon was referring to polygamy, and it was personal to him. His daughter, Nancy Rigdon, when 19, had resisted Joseph Smith’s efforts to make her a plural wife.

The stress of the Nauvoo polygamy battle caused Rigdon further deterioration of a long-taxed body and mind. By late 1844, he was a feeble adversary for Young and his allies. Young, who had long lost patience with Rigdon, chastised Rigdon with contempt. Other apostles provided anti-Rigdon rhetoric similar to what apostle John Taylor, future prophet, offered. He said “… he (Rigdon) is in possession of the same spirit which hurled the devil & those who we{r}e with him from heave(n) down to perdition(.)”

Only Marks offered support for Rigdon. To what must have been a very hostile audience, the Nauvoo Stake president pointed out that over the course of years, allegations against Sidney Rigdon had always been unfounded. Marks also argued in favor of a first presidency-directed church, rather than one — as Young and others argued for — directed by the Quorum of the 12 Apostles.

Marks added, “… I do not know of any other man this day that has the same power to receive revelations as Sidney Rigdon(,) as he has been ordained to be a prophet unto this people, & if he is cut off from the body this day I wish to the man if there is any that has the same power as he (Elder Rigdon).”

Young caustically responded that “Sidney had done as much (as was needed to show his unworthiness) when he arrived from Missouri(;) he had done as much as would sever any man from the priesthood …” Various Young allies also began to charge that the late Joseph Smith had had very little regard for Rigdon, and that his reputation within the church had been overstated. This is not an uncommmon tactic to use, in war, business or religion, when a longtime member of a group is being deposed by a new generation.

As mentioned, the removal of Rigdon and allies such as Soby and Marks were needed if the Mormons were to survive as a religion. Rigdon was an ill man by 1844, both physically and emotionally. He had suffered great physical hardships due to persecution in the 1830s and severe depression and anguish brought on by the introduction of polygamy and attempts by Smith to marry his daughter. Had Rigdon somehow defeated Young as Smith’s successor the LDS Church would have withered away. Rigdon’s efforts to build his own church was a miserable failure, and he spent his later years as an obscure, almost iconic curio who few paid attention to. His eccentricities included long, rambling denunciations mailed to Brigham Young that were ignored or perhaps considered with bemusement by the Utah leader.

In fact, I suspect that support for Rigdon from Marks, Soby and others (several were excommunicated the same day that Rigdon was cast out) had more to do with disgust for polygamy and the knowledge that Young intended to continue the practice.

There’s no way to know if Joseph Smith — had he lived — would have abandoned his polygamy experiment.

Under Young’s leadership, however, it was here to stay, and opposition to “the principle” would not be tolerated.

-- Doug Gibson

-- Originally published at StandardBlogs