THE MORMONS
from the 1881 History of Marshall County, Iowa

It is necessary, in order to preserve a full record of the brief sojourn of the first white settlement in the county, to digress from the actual history of Marshall for a time, and relate the story of the inception of Mormonism, its rise to power in the East, its overthrow in Illinois, and the causes which led to the exodus of the believers in the faith from that State to the far-off unexplored region of Salt Lake. In the narrative here given will be found the origin of the "accident'' which united indissolubly the name but not the principle of Mormonism with the early history of Marshall County.

Let us first consider who the Mormons were and what were the causes which necessitated the relinquishment of wealth and political power by them, and the seeking of a home far beyond the reach of the strong arm of the law. The peculiar tenets of a sect like the Mormons are not the product of sudden inspiration, but are developed by degrees from some centralizing thought, and in their growth often so change in character the whole structure as to leave it at the last with really as little likeness to the original as the butterfly bears to the grub. For example, Mormonism's most distinctive feature to-day, polygamy, is something that was not only denied by its first followers, but was bitterly denounced by them in their Book of Mormon as sinful. In many ways, as first originated, the Mormon system was crude and indefinite, its founders even seeming to have little idea how vast was the field they had entered upon for selfish ambitions. It was one of those projects whose success, in the eyes of the ignorant and credulous, seems to justify its claimed origin.

In briefly reviewing the history of this peculiar people, we have taken such facts as are necessary from Appleton's Cyclopedia and various other sources. Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism, and its chief prophet, sprang from an obscure family in Sharon, Windsor County, Vt., and was born Dec. 23, 1805. When he was 10 years old, the family moved to Palmyra, N. Y., where they bore the reputation of being a visionary set, even intemperate and immoral, Joseph being the black sheep of the flock. He manifested the traits which afterward distinguished him very early in life, for at 15 years of age he began to see visions, and claimed to have been informed from supernatural sources that he was destined to perform a great work. He was shiftless and worthless in all practical matters, and gave up his time to digging in the earth for hidden treasures, and like occupations, and to playing the part of seer. In that way his education was wholly neglected. His deficiencies in this respect his disciples freely admit; and later in his career, when it became necessary for him as a leader to make speeches and deliver proclamations, he was obliged to depend upon others for their preparation.

In 1823, when he was 18 years old. he announced that an angel had appeared to him three times in the night, who revealed to him that there were buried in a certain hill in Ontario County, N. Y., some marvelous gold plates upon which was written, in a language no longer understood upon earth, a history of the first inhabitants of America, and of how God dealt with them. Furthermore, it was revealed to him that with these hieroglyphic plates, set in bows like spectacles, were two transparent stones, through which only could these records be read. He secured the plates and the stones, and then, lest profane eyes should see the sacred revelations, he hung a curtain across the corner of his room, and with the magic lenses to his eyes read the " Book of Mormon," or the "Golden Bible," as he called it, his friend Oliver Cowdery transcribing as he read. This book was printed in 1830. Three men, Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer and Martin Harris, called by the Mormons, " the three witnesses," appended to it this statement: "We declare, with the words of soberness, that an angel of God came down from heaven, and brought and laid before our eyes that we beheld and saw the plates and the engravings thereon.

However, years afterward, when the "three witnesses" had quarreled with Smith, and had withdrawn from allegiance to his faith, they confessed that this was perjured testimony. To sustain this confession there are others who declare that at this time Smith himself admitted that it was all a hoax, but that he intended to carry out the fun. The Golden Bible is made up of sixteen different books, which are assumed to be written at various times by various prophets. It is a medley of the historical and legendary, written in antique style, and interpersed with frequent passages from the common English translation of the Bible. This latter admixture being by far the best part of the work, is the most frequently quoted by believers in defense of their faith.

To offset the assumption of the mysterious production of the Mormon Bible, there are facts which fully oestablish its real author to be Solomon Spalding, a somewhat eccentric man, and a graduate of Dartmouth College. He was very poor, and had a strong predilection for literary pursuits; but his productions were so worthless that he could never find a publisher, and his only public was the few friends who were forced to listen to his reading of his own works. Spalding was born in Connecticut, but during the years 1810, '11 and '12, he lived in Conneaut, Ohio, where, true to his instinct for composition, he wrote a romance, to prove that the American Indians were descendants of the lost tribes of Israel. To this romance he gave the name of "Manuscript Found," and his intention was to make it appear that it had been discovered in a cave in Ohio. He put it into the hands of a printer in Pittsburgh, with whom Sidney Rigdon, later a prominent disciple, was associated. It seems, however, that the work was not issued, for some reason unknown, but the manuscript was returned to Mr. Spalding, who died shortly afterward.

When Smith published the "Book of Mormon," as a translation from the golden plates, Mrs. Spalding at once recognized it as her husband's work. She could only understand its being in Rigdon's possession on the supposition that he had purloined it from the Pittsburgh office. She protested against its being put to such sacrilegious uses, and said: " The air of antiquity thrown about the composition doubtless suggested the idea of converting it to purposes of delusion. Thus, a historical romance, with a few pious expressions and extracts from the sacred Scriptures, has been construed into a new Bible, and palmed off upon a company of poor, deluded fanatics as divine." When Rigdon secured this manuscript, it was evidently with a view to making capital out of it, for he shortly afterward started out as a preacher. He advocated some peculiar doctrines, some of which afterward became a part of the Mormon religion. He became associated with Smith in 1829, and it is supposed that it was through his agency, and to carry out Smith's assertion of the plates of gold, that he placed the manuscript in Smith's hands. At all events, there is abundant testimony to prove that Spalding's romance and the Book of Mormon arc-identical in the main.

At the outset, neither Smith nor Rigdon had any very definite ideas of their own doctrines; but subsequent opportunities developed form and purpose out of the chaos. There was a strong leaning in both to Millenarianism—a subject much under discussion at that period—and they preached that America was to be the final home of the saints at the closely approaching millennium, and that somewhere in the interior of the continent was to be the New Jerusalem. They drew about them a small following, and a church was first regularly organized at Manchester, N. Y., April 6, 1880. This consisted chiefly of Smith's family and associates, and some who had previously followed Rigdon's preaching. This they called the Church of the Latter-Day Saints.

A year later, Smith, who seems to have been of a restless, aggressive nature, guided, as he professed, by celestial visions, led his band of believers to Kirtland, Ohio, which was to be the new Zion. Here converts were drawn to them in such numbers that it was not long before they felt the need of greater scope, and it was decided again to change their locality. Smith and Rigdon were sent out to reconnoiter for a suitable place, and they finally fixed upon Independence, Jackson County, Mo., where, after choosing and dedicating a site for a temple to be erected in the future by the saints, they returned to Kirtland. They had yet far too little money with which to carry out their plans, and they proposed to spend five years in making it, before launching out in their project. They, therefore, established a mill, a store and a bank, which was without a charter, and of which Smith was President and Rigdon, Cashier. It was not long before the country was flooded with notes of a doubtful character, and that, with some other business transactions of a dubious nature, so incensed the people that on the night of March 22, 1832, the two prophets were dragged unceremoniously from their beds and tarred and feathered. However, this stigma upon their fame was easily removed, as Smith had another vision, in which the angels declared their sins, as well as the transgressions of another prominent leader, Frederick G. Williams, forgiven; and these latter two were anointed as equals to Smith, and the three were jointly made Presidents over the Church. This was styled the First Presidency.

It was at this period of the history of the Saints that Brigham Young became connected with them; and, almost from the first, his shrewdness of character and his leading business qualities made him a man of rule. He was soon ordained an Elder, and at the end of three years, when the quorum of the Twelve Apostles was instituted, he was made one of them, and was sent out with the rest to preach. He was, at this time, 34 years old, and proved very successful in drawing converts into the fold. Meantime, a large and costly temple had been in the process of construction at Kirtland, which was dedicated in 1836, and, a year later, Orson Hyde and Ileber C. Kimball, who had been a Mormon member for five years, were sent out to England as missionaries. From the time of this initiatory missionary work, the Mormon policy has been to evangelize, and their ranks have been largely recruited from the working classes of Great Britain—chiefly Wales—as well as, in some degree, from Norway, Sweden, Germany and Switzerland. Later, an " emigration fund " was established, and a thoroughly systematized plan of importing foreign converts was, and is still, successfully carried out.

In 1888, the Kirtland Bank failed, and Smith & Rigdon, already under a ban, fled in the night to escape the resentments of the people, and took refuge in far west Missouri, their creditors giving hot chase. In this State, large numbers of Mormons had collected from various quarters, but, as a people, were in constant conflict with their neighbors, by whom they were charged with every kind of violation of law, plundering, incendiarism, and even with secret assassinations. They had been driven from place to place by outraged bands of residents, and even in this last refuge, Far West, they were at continual war with the Missourians, and at last fell to quarreling with each other. Some of the leaders forsook Smith, and accused him of grave crimes. In October, 1838, Thomas B. March, President of the Twelve Apostles, and Orson Hyde, another of the Twelve, made the following affidavit before a Justice of the Peace, in Ray County, Missouri: " The plan of said Smith, the Prophet, is to take this State; and he professes to his people to intend taking the United States, and, ultimately, the whole world. This is the belief of the Church. The Prophet inculcates the notion; and it is believed by every true Mormon, that Smith's prophecies are superior to the law of the land. We have heard the Prophet say that he would yet tread down his enemies and walk over their dead bodies; that, if he was not let alone, he would be a second Mahomet to this generation, and that he would make it one gore of blood from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean."

This menacing spirit aroused a great excitement against the Mormons, and the conflict soon assumed the grave proportions of a civil war. The Mormons fortified their towns, the militia of the State was called out, and Smith and Rigdon were arrested, charged with treason, murder and felony. As the troops were greatly in excess of the Mormons, the latter were forced to yield, and promised to leave the country. Several thousand of them crossed the Mississippi into Illinois, where Smith followed them, having broken out of prison to do so. An extract from the Message of the Governor of Missouri at this time will explain the character of the occurrences that resulted in the expulsion of the Mormons from that State :"These people had violated the laws of the land by open and avowed resistance to them; they had undertaken, without the aid of the civil authority, to redress their real or fancied grievances; they had instituted among themselves a government of their own, independent of and in opposition to the government of this State; they had, at an inclement season of the year, driven the inhabitants of an entire county from their homes, ravaged their crops and destroyed their dwellings. Under these circumstances, it became the imperious duty of the Executive to interpose and exercise the power with which he was invested to protect the lives and property of our citizens, to restore order and tranquility to the country and maintain the supremacy of the laws."

The Mormons met with cordial treatment from the people of Commerce, Carthage County, Ill., where they had taken refuge. This pleasant change in their neighborly affairs caused Smith to have another vision, in which, as a people, they were directed to establish themselves at Commerce and build a city, which should be called Nauvoo. A considerable tract of land was presented to Smith to encourage settlement, and this he divided up and sold to his adherents at large prices, and that, together with other successful speculations, soon swelled his fortunes into upward of $100,000. Nauvoo soon grew into a village of several thousand inhabitants, and a vision of the Prophet commanded all followers of the faith to assemble there and build a costly temple.
A charter was granted by the Legislature of the State, conferring most astonishing civil powers upon Smith and Rigdon. They were authorized to organize a military body, which they did, calling it the "Nauvoo Legion," of which Smith was commander, with the rank of Lieutenant General.
In addition to this, he was first President of the Church and Mayor of Nauvoo, and by his own revelations he was made " Seer, Translator, Prophet, Apostle of Jesus Christ and Elder of the Church," and his authority, both civil and religious, was unrestricted.
He laid the foundations of the temple with great pomp and ceremony; and the faithful were not only called upon to contribute funds to its erection, but were obliged to labor upon it every tenth day.

It was about this time that Smith, having been guilty of enticing various women from the right path, and having aroused Mrs. Smith's jealousy, received a revelation from heaven authorizing the taking of numerous wives. This made great scandal, as the Book of Mormon expressly prohibited it; and it was ten years before, as a sect, they openly adopted polygamy.
Some of the Mormons, resisting this debauchery on the part of Smith, established a paper called the " Expositor," in which they denounced him without stint. Smith thereupon, with a party of his adherents, summarily destroyed the office with its contents. Dr. Foster, its publisher, and William Law, his assistant, were obliged to flee, and they took refuge at the county seat, where they obtained warrants against Joseph and Hyrum Smith, his brother, and sixteen others. The Constable who served the warrants was driven out of Nauvoo. The militia was called out and a civil war impended, when the Smiths were persuaded to give themselves up and take their trial. They were removed to the jail at Carthage, and a guard appointed over them for their protection.

On the evening of June 27th, a mob, mostly of Missourians, attacked the jail, overpowered the guard and fired with rifles upon the prisoners through the door. Hyrum Smith was instantly killed, and Joseph, after returning the fire until he had emptied his revolver, was shot dead. This caused intense confusion and excitement among his people for a time, and the leadership was disputed, Rigdon aspiring to it, but Brigham Young achieving it. The next year, the State of Illinois repealed the charter of Nauvoo, and the Saints then turned their faces toward the Rocky Mountains. Council Bluffs, Iowa, was the temporary resort of many, those remaining at Nauvoo keeping up continual strife with the surrounding people, until in September of the same year, after a three-days siege, they were finally driven out at the point of the bayonet. Straggling parties of refugees crossed the plains at intervals, and Brigham Young arrived there in 1847, the main body of the Mormons following in May 1848.

The name of Deseret, signifying " The Land of the Honey Bee," was given to the State which they organized. They framed a Constitution and sent it to Washington, but the General Government refused to recognize it as a State. It was made into a Territory, with the name of Utah, and President Fillmore appointed Brigham Young as its first Governor.

The part played by the Mormons in the history of this county is merely incidental, and illustrates the theory of accident to which we alluded at the opening of this chapter. Had chance led the straggling band into some other sections, there would now be no association of the name of Mormonism with the presence of white men in Marshall County. As it was, a brief page is devoted to that subject; but it is one upon which more physical suffering is recorded than any that relates to the subsequent introduction of actual settlers. Its full record cannot be made, for none of the participants in the events of those fearful times now live to tell of the hardships of the Winter of 1847. The record left behind them was not written on perishable paper by ink that vanishes, but is carved in lasting symbols on the hillsides by the river.

Two of the fleeing band came to the county after the departure of the main body of Mormons; but those men were reticent at the time as to the events of those days, and have long since removed beyond the inquiring reach of the historian. All that can be gathered to-day from those who one* conversed with the last of the party is here recited. The men referred to are Voris and Gordon, neither of whom wintered here. They came to Marshall County from Iowa City.

After the death of Smith, at Nauvoo, Brigham Young assumed command of the Mormons. It may be true that he had more knowledge of the causes, which led to the overthrow of the house of Smith and his own elevation to power than he cared to divulge. Be that as it may—whether or not his own ambitious scheming produced the outbreak of the people, by the misrepresentation of the motives and actions of Smith, and created a feeling of enmity toward the sect, with the deliberate intention of instituting a government, with himself at the head—it is historic fact that the Smiths were deprived of office and power by violent death, and that Young assumed the leadership. The events at Nauvoo necessitated the departure of the Mormons from the settled part of the United States to a region remote from the presence of the law; for in no other locality could Young develop and maintain the grand project with which his mind was weighted. Far beyond the Rocky Mountains, in the unexplored regions of the West, lay the land of safety, of immunity from law and of absolute freedom to himself. The apparent inaccessibility of that country, and the expectation that it would never be occupied by civilized man as an abiding place, confirmed Young in his intent to reach the valley west of the mountains. Wise as he was and foreseeing in his wisdom, Young could not discern the miraculous development of the West during the quarter of a century succeeding the erection of his empire. He builded well, but his edifice was constructed of error and crime. It lacked the elements of stability.

From the instant of the inception of his grand yet erroneous plan, Young encountered difficulties gigantic enough to intimidate a less heroic spirit. The Mormons were expelled from their resting place at Nauvoo in a' penniless condition, so far as the masses were concerned. They were poor in purse, ignorant and unsuited to self-government. They were unprepared for a long and wearisome march over the country. But the edict had gone forth, and the faithful were compelled to obey. The timid members of the society were coerced and driven into obedience by the Elders. Those few who refused to accompany the expedition—among them Mrs. Joseph Smith, who remained at Nauvoo— were subjected to indignities of all kinds. The order was for the society to separate into several bands and make their way toward the Missouri River, at Council Bluffs. This method of exodus was adopted because of the scarcity of provisions, and it was feared that the bands would perish of hunger if they traveled together in large numbers. The country was uncultivated, and dependence would have to be placed upon such forage as the native woods and fields supplied.

One of these bands reached Marshall County in the Winter of 1846-7, and was obliged to go into permanent quarters until the opening of Spring. Without shelter or means of erecting cabins, the company was in a most distressing condition. It is impossible to give a statement of the exact number of this party, but Judge W. C. Smith was informed by one of the Mormons, who forsook the company at Iowa City and came to this county in 1848, that at least one thousand men, women and children encamped here. The site chosen by them is now known as Mormon Ridge, and is on the Iowa River, northwest of Marshalltown. There the party dug caves in the hillsides, which served as rude resting places for the sick and feeble. Delicate, misguided women were there confined by the score, the babes usually dying from lack of nourishment and from exposure, while the poor mothers suffered a no less terrible fate. It is impossible to portray the real condition of affairs, but it requires no very vivid imagination to conceive of the misery of that enised community and bearing the brand of disgrace, these poor wretches were forced to endure actual privations that took them down to death's door, with no loving hand to close their eyelids or give them Christian burial. The company was not only in suffering and want, it was also in slavery. The tyranny of the leaders was equaled by nothing save that which characterized the oppression of the African slave. Escape was impossible, because of the watchfulness of those who had at heart the desire to exercise dominion over a benighted faction in the Far West.

In this manner the Winter dragged slowly by. When Spring began to lender wild life more endurable, those who remained of the company were taken to Iowa City by Government teams sent to their relief, and from that point continued their journey westward. Soon there were no traces of the camp except the new-made graves, the caverns, the stripped elm trees and the debris of a Winter's resting place by a filthy band of ignorant people. The greatest suffering endured was occasioned by the lack of food and of suitable clothing. The small stores accumulated before leaving the outposts of civilization were soon exhausted, and reliance had to be made upon the capture of such game as roamed over the prairies in Winter. Large numbers of deer and elk, and some buffalo, were slaughtered for food; but the exclusive use of game flesh is a diet at once repugnant and dangerous. There were no vegetable substances within reach, except the bark of elm trees, and this was used largely as a substitute for breadstuffs. Imagine the impossibility of sustaining the life of a mother and new-born child upon such food. No wonder, surely, that the mortality of the band was enormous.

The history of the company prior to reaching Council Bluff's, in the Spring of 1848, is no less obscure than that of the Winter time. The journey was made on foot, as it was all the way to Utah, many of the company dragging hand-carts laden with goods. An aunt of Mrs. V. C. Smith was one of the general band which went across the plains in 1848, although not one of those who wintered here. The woman attempted to escape several times, but was prevented. Her name was Nancy Ott She drew a hand-cart from Council Bluffs to Salt Lake City. Many incidents of this kind might be related, but enough has been said to give an idea of the character of the original presence in this county of white men and women. The first so-called religious services ever held in Marshall County were observed by these Mormons; but we shrink from according to these mistaken people the title of worshipers. We do this from no sense of bigotry, but because tyranny seems to us to be incompatible with the worship of God.

The two men who came to this county after the departure of the Mormons, were George W. Voris and Thomas Gordon. Both were men high in the councils of the sect. The cause of their disaffection was never known, but was probably the result of a quarrel or disagreement among the leaders. At all events, the party moved on and these two men remained behind.
Gordon settled on the farm now occupied by William Arney, in Iowa Township. He afterward sold this place and bought the Archibald Clemons farm, in Marion Township. Becoming frightened over the prospect of the return of the Pottawatomie Indians, Gordon went away from the county, and was absent a year or two. He then returned and finally engaged in mercantile business at Steamboat Rock, Hardin County. At last accounts he was living in, Cedar Falls. Voris became interested in the village of La Fayette (later called Albion), shortly after its survey in 1852. He soon sold out and removed to Monona Co., Iowa, where he made a farm. In 1862-63, he moved to Colorado.
Neither of these men believed in polygamy, and they were honorable in their dealings with their fellow-men. They evidently left the Mormon band because they could not indorse the actions of the leaders, while they still retained their belief in the doctrines of the Book of Mormon.