Textualizing the Mormons, 1857 - 1873


SOME FACTS
1820's: in upstate New York Joseph Smith claims, through a series of visions, to have been guided to The Book of Mormon, a record of the ancient inhabitants of America
1830: Smith and others found the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
1830's & 40's: members of the sect try to settle in Missouri and then Illinois, but are driven out (and Smith is killed) by other inhabitants
1847: Brigham Young leads the Mormons to the Valley of the Great Salt Lake
1850: Utah organized as a territory, with Young appointed first Governor
1857: Mountain Meadows Massacre of about 100 pioneers passing through Utah
1860: Census puts population of Utah Territory at 40,273
1862: U.S. Congress passes a law prohibiting polygamy
1870: Census puts population of Utah Territory at 86,786

OTHER ACCOUNTS
MT's ACCOUNT

SELECTED ILLUSTRATIONS
Burton's City of the Saints
Hyde's Mormonism
Ward's Travels
Guidebook Illustration
Hickman's Destroying Angel
Roughing It
Roughing It

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