Читать книгу The History of Salt Lake City and its Founders, Volume 1 - Edward William Tullidge - Страница 14

SOCIOLOGICAL EXPOSITION. SOURCES OF OUR POPULATION. EMIGRATION. POLYGAMY

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For the completeness of the history a sociological exposition of the peopling of Utah should be here presented, with its ethnological elements and methods out of which society first grew in the isolation of these Rocky Mountains; nor should the causes be ignored which have brought so many tens of thousands of souls from Europe to this country, for the very purpose of organizing a new society and creating a State of the American nation.

In the history of Great Salt Lake City, the Mormon emigrations from Europe may be considered as the most relevant to its population; for, especially at the onset, this city grew out of. those emigrations. The American pioneers did no more, in the matter of population, than plant the germs of society in these valleys, nor could they possibly do more with so small a community as that which left Nauvoo in the exodus. A decade must have passed before there could have been any perceptible increase to the population by offspring, had not the emigrations from abroad yearly poured into these valleys, vitalizing a community almost exhausted by repeated exterminations. Thus replenished, by a new fusion from the dominant parent races, from which the pioneers had themselves descended, population was increased ten-fold within the first decade. Great Britain and Scandinavia gave the bulk of this population, by their tens of thousands of emigrants, and next by their prolific increase of offspring; but the American pioneers were the originators of that emigrational movement of the Mormon people from Europe to this country.

The following general epistle from the Twelve, dated at Winter Quarters, Omaha Nation, December 23rd, 1847, will be of interest in this connection:

"To the Saints in England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, and adjacent islands and countries, we say, emigrate as speedily as possible to this vicinity, looking to and following the counsel of the Presidency at Liverpool: shipping to New Orleans, and from thence direct to Council Bluffs, which will save much expense.

Those who have but little means, and little or no labor, will soon exhaust that means if they remain where they are, therefore it is wisdom that they remove without delay; for here is land on which, by their labor, they can speedily better their condition for their further journey. And to all Saints in any country bordering upon the Atlantic, we would say. pursue the same course, come immediately and prepare to go west,—bringing with you all kinds of choice seeds, of grain, vegetables, fruit, shrubbery, trees, and vines—everything that will please the eye, gladden the heart, or cheer the soul of man, that grows upon the face of the whole earth; also the best stock of beast, bird, and fowl of every kind; also the best tools of every description, and machinery for spinning, or weaving, and dressing cotton, wool, flax, and silk, etc., etc., or models and descriptions of the same, by which they can construct them; and the same in relation to all kinds of farming utensils and husbandry, such as corn shelters, grain threshers and cleaners, smut machines, mills, and every implement and article within their knowledge that shall tend to promote the comfort, health, happiness, or prosperity of any people. So far as it can be consistently done, bring models and drafts, and let the machinery be built where it is used, which will save great expense in transportation, particularly in heavy machinery, and tools and implements generally."

And here must be noticed the covenant of the emigration. Previous to leaving Nauvoo President Young prompted the Mormons to enter into a solemn covenant in the temple, that they would not cease their exertions until every individual of them who desired and was unable to gather to the valley by his own means was brought to that place. No sooner were they located in the Rocky Mountains, than the Church prepared to fulfill this covenant, extending its application to the Saints in all the world. The subject was introduced at the October Conference, in 1849, by President Heber C. Kimball, and a unanimous vote was there and then taken to raise a fund for the fulfillment of the promise. A committee was appointed to raise money, and Bishop Edward Hunter sent to the frontiers to purchase wagons and cattle, to bring the poor Saints from Pottawatomie lands. About $5,000 were raised that season. The fund was designated "The Perpetual Emigration Fund," and the method of its application is well set forth in the following from a letter to Apostle Orson Hyde, who was at the time presiding at Winter Quarters:

Great Salt Lake City, October 16th, 1849.

President Orson Hyde:—Beloved brother, we write to you more particularly at this time, concerning the gathering, and the mission of our general agent for the Perpetual Emigration Fund for the coming year, Bishop Hunter, who will soon be with you, bearing the funds already raised in this place.

In the first place, this fund has been raised by voluntary donations, and is to be continued by the same process, and by so managing as to preserve the same and cause it to multiply.

* * * As early in the Spring as it will possibly do, on account of feed for cattle, Brother Hunter will gather all his company, organize them in the usual order, and preside over the camp, travelling with the same to this place, having previously procured the best teamsters possible, such as are accustomed to driving, and will be kind and attentive to their teams.

When the Saints thus helped arrive here, they will give their obligations to the Church to refund to the amount of what they have received, as soon as circumstances will permit; and labor will be furnished, to such as wish, on the public works, and good pay; and as fast as they can procure the necessaries of life, and a surplus, that surplus will be applied to liquidating their debt, and thereby increase the perpetual fund.

By this it will readily be discovered that the funds are to be appropriated in the form of a loan rather than a gift; and this will make the honest in heart rejoice, for they have to labor and not live on the charity of their friends, while the lazy idlers, if any such there be, will find fault and want every luxury furnished them for the journey, and in the end pay nothing. * * * "Brother Hunter will return all the funds to this place next season, when the most judicious course will be pursued to convert all the cattle and means into cash, that the same may be sent abroad as speedily as possible on another mission, together with all that we can raise besides to add to it; and we anticipate that the Saints at Pottawatomie and in the States will increase the fund by all possible means the coming winter, so that our agent may return with a large company.

"The few thousands we send out by our agent at this time is like a grain of mustard seed in the earth; we send it forth into the world, and among the Saints —a good soil—and we expect it will grow and flourish, and spread abroad in a few weeks: that it will cover England, cast its shadow on Europe, and in process of time compass the whole earth; that is to say, these funds are destined to increase until Israel is gathered from all nations, and the poor can sit under their own vine, and inhabit their own house, and worship God in Zion.

"We remain your brethren in the gospel,

Brigham Young,

Heiser C. Kimball,

Willard Richards."

A similar epistle was written to Orson Pratt, President of the British Mission, saying at the close: "Your office in Liverpool is the place of deposit for all funds received either for this or the tithing funds for all Europe, and you will not pay out only upon our order, and to such persons as we shall direct."

These instructions and general epistles are the more important in the emigrational history, as they are substantially the basis upon which all the emigrations and business thereof have been conducted from that time to the present.

Donations in England were made straightway. The first received was 2s. 6d. from Mark and Charlotte Shelley, of Woolwich, on the 19th of April, 1850.

The next was £1, from George P. Waugh, of Edinburgh, on the 19th of June; but in time the various emigration funds of the British Mission alone became immense.

The mode of conducting the emigrations from Europe was as patriarchal as the Church itself. As the emigration season came round, from every branch and conference the Saints would be gathered and taken to Liverpool by their elders, who saw them on shipboard in vessels chartered for their use. Not a moment were they left to the mercy of "runners" and shipping agents. When on board, the companies, which in some cases have amounted to more than a thousand souls per ship, were divided into wards, each ward being under its president or bishop, and his two councilors, and each company under its president and councilors; and besides these were the doctor, steward, and cook, with their assistants. During the passage, regular service was daily observed, —morning and evening prayers, preaching meetings and councils. Besides these were numerous entertainments, concerts, dances, etc., so that the trips across the Atlantic were like merry makings, enjoyed by the-captains and their officers as much as by the Saints. Reaching America a similar system was pursued up the rivers, on the railroads, and across the plains until the Saints arrived in the valleys, when they were received, in the old time, by Brigham and "the authorities in Zion," and sent by Bishop Hunter to the various settlements where they were most needed to people the fast-growing cities of Utah.

It may be here suggestively noted that, at the date of this emigrational circular, there were not in all Utah more than eight thousand souls; while, at about the same date, in the British mission there were thirty thousand members of the Mormon Church. The resources of population the community possessed abroad; at home the resources were not sufficient to people Great Salt Lake City. The colonizing genius of this "peculiar people" was now greatly in demand; and it soon began to manifest itself in gigantic efforts to populate these valleys, and to found the hundreds of cities and settlements which Utah possesses to-day, and which the Mormon leaders designed to people when they laid off the City of the Great Salt Lake in 1847. This genius of colonization the community had manifested from the beginning, as was observed in the opening chapter, but it had hitherto operated chiefly abroad, in creating a population for the "building up of a Zion" on the American continent. True there had sailed a few ship loads of Mormons from the shores of Great Britain for Nauvoo; but only a few thousand of the British people were mixed in the actual society problem of the Mormons in America, until after the settlement in the valleys of the Rocky Mountains. Indeed, it had not been possible for the Mormon leaders to have emigrated a large European population to any of the eastern States, for the formation of a community. As it was, the American Mormon population was too large for both Missouri and Illinois. But in Utah, with a Territory given them by the United States, that they might people with their fruitful resources of population from foreign missions, the Mormons for the first time found full aim and scope for their colonizing genius and religion. From that moment Mormonism meant the peopling of Utah and the building of cities and settlements, and that too, chiefly at the onset, by yearly emigrations of converts from Europe; Great Salt Lake City being the initial society work.

Accordingly at the October Conference of 1849, held in this city, after establishing the Provisional Government of the State of Deseret, and the organization of the Perpetual Emigration Fund Company, "for the gathering of Israel from the nations," as set forth in the circular, the Presidency and Twelve Apostles set apart John Taylor, for France, to open a mission in that country; Lorenzo Snow for a similar purpose to Switzerland and Italy; Franklin D. Richards for England, to start the operations of the Perpetual Emigration Fund Company in Europe; while Apostle Erastus Snow was sent to open the "new dispensation" to the Scandinavian races.

In 1849, there was not a branch of the Mormon Church in all Scandinavia; to-day (1883) nearly one-third of the Mormon population of Utah, including their offspring, is Scandinavian. In 1849, the emigrations from Great Britain, direct for Utah commenced; from that date to their suspension for a while, in consequence of the Buchanan expedition, with which we shall presently deal, the Mormon emigrations to America embraced about thirty thousand souls, the majority of whom became compounded in the population of Utah; and still on, down to the present time, the British mission, though greatly depleted by her supplies has continued emigrations to this Territory. During this time a large accession to the population also poured in from every State of the Union, sustaining the native American element.

In connection with this subject of population, it is proper that polygamy should be considered, as a social factor of this Territory. Polygamy as a system of family relations was published in 1851. With it as a religious institution the historian has nothing to do, nor is it his province either to question or approve of the special legislation passed against it; but sociologically and ethnologically history has much to do with it in the peopling of Utah. The population of this Territory, in fact, has grown largely out of Mormon polygamy; and instead of deteriorating the race it has, in this case, replenished and improved it. Emigrations from Europe pouring in yearly, bringing a surplus of females from the robust and fruitful races of Scandinavia and Great Britain, their marriage with a dominant pioneer element of the American stock has given stamina to families and population to the country. Indeed, Mormon polygamy has done nearly as much for the population of Utah as emigration itself; and with it, further than the statement of its facts, the writer has nought to do in a sociological exposition. Thus it will be seen that, having planted the germs of society in these valleys, the American portion of the population united in marriage with the emigrants—and the whole became one people in the colonization of Utah—one people very much in race as they were already in faith. The exposition will further show that though the population a quarter of a century ago was largely foreign, to-day it must naturally be chiefly native American, for while the emigrant parents have by thousands passed away by death, their children born in these valleys have grown up to manhood and womanhood, and are themselves parents to day.