The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1907-04-25

L rom three states come Reports Ol
the proposed return of the Mormons
to the upper Mississippi valley, where
they held forth sixty years and more
ago. Not only are missionaries being
sent back to Missouri, Illinois and
Iowa from Utah to carry on the awak-
ening of Mormorism in the States
which once attempted by force of arms
to stamp it out, but the Utah branch
of the church is acquiring property
rights and officially recognizing the his
toric places which have been ignored
before.
Sometime ago the Utah Mormon cid
ers of the northern and southern Hi
nois and Iowa conference held their
annual meeting in the old Mormon
stronghold Of Nauvoo, H., from
whence their fathers had been driven
by force of arms sixty years ago. The
Utah Mormons revisited the site of
Smiths historic house and fraterniZed
with the sons of the men who had per-
secuted him.
Still more recently the Utah Nor
mons, twenty-one in number, made a
pilgrimage to Carthage, H., and pur-
chased the old Jail in which the foun-
der of the church, Joseph Smith, and
his brother, Hiram, had been killed.
Whether the Jail is to remain simply
shrine for pilgrimages or is to be
converted into modern tabernacle has
not yet been disclosed. Utah Mormons
In large numbers have recently reviS-
itedplaces in Lee County, Iowa, Gar
den Grove and Kanesville, in the West
ern part of the State, where the origi-
nal MormOns settled after being driven
out of Nauvoo, and before going en-
masSe across the plains to Salt Lake
City.
In Missouri, Illinois and Iowa more
Mormon PROSECUTING has been carried
on in the past year than ever before
There is a general awakening of in
terest in the places which once knew
Mormonism, but stamped it out. No
attempt is being made to return Sc
cretly. The deed to the Carthage iail
property reads ITO Joseph f. smith
in trust for the Church of Jesus Christ
of the Latter-Day Saints residing in
the city and county of Salt Lake, in
the State Of Utah"
The Nauyoo reunion was remark
able in many ways. 1t was the first
official revsiting of the first great
stronghold of Mormonism. Seventy
elders were in attendance for three
days, were given the freedom of the
quaint old town and had fine spir-
itual and social time" on the testimony
Of a Nauyoo newspaper.
In Iowa the revival of interest has
been especially marked Iowa is the
headquarters of the homogeneous
branch Of Mormonism headed by Jo-
scph Smith, a son of the original
prophet and seer. The two branches
Of the church are at enmity. but on
the occasion of the recent fire in La
moni, where many valuable records of
the Iowa church We're destroyed. sin
Cere expressions of sympathy were re-
ceiyed from the Utah branch. yalu-
able papers handed down from Joseph
Smith |. to his son, Joseph Smith H..
and intended for transmission on to
Frederick Smith, the future head of
the Iowa and Missouri Latter-Dav
Saints, were destroyed
Early Mormonism
This revival of interest in Mormon
ism and the apparent coming together
in a friendly feeling Of the Utah and
the Mississippi valley branches of the
church founded by Joseph Smith serves
to recall the story of Mormon settle
ment and occupation in Missouri, Hi
nois and Iowa more than half cen
tury ago, the prosecutions of the time
which drove the Mormons westward,
and that remarkable heglra across the
plains Of 10000 people which is one
of the most romantic and unsual pic
lures in the panorama of American his
tory.
The first attempt to found a colony
OF the followers of Joseph Smith. af-
ter his remarkable discovery in New
York of the sacred tablets and the
glasses by which to translate them.
was made at Kirkland, Ohio, with the
aid of Sidney Rigdon, an eloquent
preacher of the Christian, or Camp
bellite, church. On April 6, 1880, these
two men organized the church of Lat
ter-Day Saints
Then came the epochal revelation to
Joseph Smith. The Mormons were
commanded to found a colony In the
far west and build a temple in this
New Jerusalem
\ location was chosen in the vicinity
OF Independence, Mo-, and there the
devout converts strong in their faith,
moved. a large tract Of land was Sc
cured. houses were built. farms open
ed and the foundation laid for the
temple. But while Missouri was a
New Jerusalem to the Mormons. Mis-
souri, did not yearn for the company
of the religious enthusiasts. The citi-
zens of the western part of the State
became intensely hostile to the new
sect, and finally large mob gathered,
attacked its printing Office and other
buildings, and logged some of the
Mormon leaders.
Driven from Missouri.
Matters finally became so bad that
Governor Boggs called out the State
militia and volunteers, 5000 strong.