Daily Kennebec journal., 1908-12-28
Mornons Will Settle at
Home Of Joseph Smith.
Church Buys the Place On
Which to Establish Colony.
Many Prominent Mormons Were
Natives of Vermont.

Brattlcboro, VT, Dec. 21-The plans
which are being made by some Salt
...ke City Morm"ns To establish Nor
non colony III ROyalton and Sharon
and to erect !. large hotel on an estate
which recently has been acquired
lharc serves to recall the connection
which Vermont men had in the estab-
lishment and PRONUNCIATION Of the Nor
mon faith It's founder, Joseph Smith,
Jr was a native of Sharon and Il farm
whiCn rece ntly has been bought III
Hoyalton and Sharon by Mornons is
called the Joseph Smith farm.
Il force of men was employed the
past summer to beautify the Smith
farm b. constructing an artificial
pond which has been stocked with
fish, and by setting out thousands Of
shrubs. Within q few days Junius
Wells. the Mormon leader. who spept
several months on the Smith farm
with his wife and daughter. has been
instrumental. in securing for an organ
i2ation of Mormons another farm near
the Smith farm. making an estate of
20 acres A part of the forest on the
estate has been set apart and given
the name of SOphronia's glen in MEM
cry of Joseph Smiths sister.
Although Joseph Smith was the
founder of Mormonism the man who
most frequently comes to ones mind
at the mention of the sect Is Brigham
Young. Il native of Vermont Brigham
Young was born in WhitinSham. IN
Windham county on stage line out OF
Erattleboro. That is the town which a
few years ago produced Bradley c.
%ewhaN. who enjoyed fame as mag
retiC healer fer some months Young
was born June l. 1901. EARLY in life he
was Il Baptist. The hamlet where he
was born is practically deserted. and
many people have attributed the desc
lation of the place to the fact that
Youny was born there.
At the age Of II Young became
to Mormonism and in the same
wear he was ordained an elder in the
church. OF Batter Day SAINTS at kirt-
land. O. Seven years earlier there arose
in MiddletoWn. Vt. body of religious
led by Jacob Wood. VINO
made efforts to find gold. silver and
other metals. accompanying their
st arch with tn" lc'folmance' Of cer"am
religious rites and claiming to be Suld-
i, q by q divinin-: rod These ccrem PICS
have since been /, ferred to as tie
.'NNood rod affair
At that time there lived in nr near
MiddIctcwr Rev. solomon V. Spaufd-
ing. Joseph Smith. Brigham Young
ard Oliver CoWdry. and they after
ward made use of the divining rod in
with the Mormon doctrine.
The four migrated West. where Wood
had gone Spaulding wrote a
book on MormoniSm. hurving the man
,script in Manchester. \. Y. it is
charged. and the divning rod was
brought into use in discovering its
place of conceallncnt. A descendant oi
the Wood family was chief justice ot
the eupreme court of ohio Il years ana
governor Of the state four years. Smith
wls made the lirst president q the
Morn.ons and Young was made an el-
der at Eirtland, as stated. Young be
came an APOSTLE four years later. III"
MormonS We're driven from kirtland
t. Missouri in 1898. In 1914. after they
had been driven to Illinois, Smith was
shot dead by Il mob while he was at
tempting to escape from JAN, ana
Yourg was made president in his place.
The following year Young started
with his army of followers for titan,
arriving there in 1S41. after trip OF
two years acres the prairie. Pre2 Flll-
more appointed him governor of Utah
IN 1850. and he held the office four
years. subsequently the Mormons de-
fed the federal laws with respect to
and the appointment of a
United States governor in 1859 marked
the beginning of Youngs downfall. |
Young's 18th wife was granted di-
yorce bv the United States courts and
She separated from him in 1874. Young
lied three years later. leaving fortune
If $4,000 600 to be divided among l.
wives and 56 children.