The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1907-04-11
L. D. S. CONFERENCE
Annual Gathering of Latter Day
Saints at Lamont is of Special
Interest to that Town.

The annual conference of the Reorgan-
lied Church of Jesus Christ, Latter Day
Saints is in session at Lamont, conven-
ing last Saturday and will remain in
session for nearly two weeks.
There are large number of delegates
and visitors present and the town is
taxed to it's utmost capacity to accom-
modate the many visitors, many OF whom
come from distant quarters of the globe.
Tho first organization of this church
was at Fayette, Seneca county, New
York, in 1880. This organization con-
tinued uninterrupted until t1S44, when
two of the principal men of the church,
Joseph and Hyrum Smith, We're killed at
Carthage, Hancock county, Illinois, by a
mob. This and other influences result
ed in the disorganization of the church,
the planting of faction at Salt Lake
City, Utah, under Brigham Young which
publicly proclaimed the doctrine of
polygamy in 1852, and the reorganiza-
tion of the church upon the original
foundation, the presidency of which
was accepted by Joseph Smith, the
eldest son of the first Joseph, in 1860,
who still continues at the head of the
church.
In 1S46 body of Mormons stopped at
Garden Grove while on their way from
Nauvoo, Hl.,to Utah, stopped and erected
church, but the following year most OF
them continued on their journey to
Utah, the last of them leaving this
county in 1851.
The present big settlement at Lamont
was the result of the anti-polygamus
branch which still remained in Illinois
selecting committee to look up a loca-
tion farther west, and in 1870 they came
to Decatur county and purchased a
large tract of land, and established
their headquarters, from which the
town of Lamont sprung. They built
church and in 1881 the publishing house
The present magnificent brick church
was erected in 1884. For many years
Lamont has been the head of this branch
of the Mormon church and here the
headquarters have been maintained
and big printing plant established
which gave employment to many people.
This plant was destroyed by fire on
Jan. 9Th of this year, and the question
as to whether it will be rebuilt at
Lamont is the important question
to be decided by the conference now in
session. For some years there has
been growing tendency among fac
tion of the church to remove the head
quarters from Lamont to independence,
Mo. About year ago President Joseph
Smith, nilsson Frederick M. Smith who
has been chosen as his fathers successor
and several of the prominent leaders of
the church moved to Independence and
have purchased property there. The
question Of moving the printing plant
has been up before and the advocates
of Independence have been working
hard since the fire to secure the enter
prise for Independence. The Lamont
citizens have not been asleep however
and have raised fund of nearly $4,000
as donation for the rebuilding of the
Office at Lamont.
At the conference delegates are pres
ent from the British Isles, Australia,
Hawaii, South Sea Islands, Canada, and
nearly every state in the union. The
reports show that the church has a
membership of 55,545, making a net
gain the past year of 1,264. The meet
ings of the conference are of great
interest and some able sermons will be
preached by noted men during the
session.