This name was given to the Moors in Spain after their nominal
and compulsory conversion to Christianity.
See MOORS: A. D. 1492-1609.
MORMAERS,
MAARMORS.
A title, signifying great Maer or Steward, borne by certain
princes or sub-kings of provinces in Scotland in the 10th and
11th centuries. The Macbeth of history was Mormaer of Moray.
_W. F. Skene,
Celtic Scotland,
volume 3, pages 49-51._
See, also, SCOTLAND: A. D. 1039-1054.
MORMANS, Battle of.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1814 (JANUARY-MARCH).
----------MORMONISM: Start--------
MORMONISM: A. D. 1805-1830.
Joseph Smith and the Book or Mormon.
"Joseph Smith, Jr., who … appears in the character of the
first Mormon prophet, and the putative founder of Mormonism
and the Church of Latter Day Saints, was born in Sharon,
Windsor County, Vermont, December 13, 1805. He was the son of
Joseph Smith, Sr., who, with his wife Lucy and their family,
removed from Royalton, Vermont, to Palmyra, New York, in the
summer of 1816. The family embraced nine children, Joseph,
Jr., being the fourth in the order of their ages. … At
Palmyra, Mr. Smith, Sr., opened 'a cake and beer shop,' as
described by his signboard, doing business on a small scale,
by the profits of which, added to the earnings of an
occasional day's work on hire by himself and his elder sons,
for the village and farming people, he was understood to
secure a scanty but honest living for himself and family. …
In 1818 they settled upon a nearly wild or unimproved piece of
land, mostly covered with standing timber, situate about two
miles south of Palmyra. … Little improvement was made upon
this land by the Smith family in the way of clearing, fencing,
or tillage. … The larger proportion of the time of the
Smiths … was spent in hunting and fishing … and idly
lounging around the stores and shops in the village. … At
this period in the life and career of Joseph Smith, Jr., or
'Joe Smith,' as he was universally named, and the Smith
family, they were popularly regarded as an illiterate,
whiskey-drinking, shiftless, irreligious race of people—the
first named, the chief subject of this biography, being
unanimously voted the laziest and most worthless of the
generation. … Taciturnity was among his characteristic
idiosyncrasies, and he seldom spoke to anyone outside of his
intimate associates, except when first addressed by another;
and then, by reason of his extravagancies of statement, his
word was received with the least confidence by those who knew
him best. He could utter the most palpable exaggeration or
marvellous absurdity with the utmost apparent gravity. … He
was, however, proverbially good-natured, very rarely if ever
indulging in any combative spirit toward anyone, whatever
might be the provocation, and yet was never known to laugh.
Albeit, he seemed to be the pride of his indulgent father, who
has been heard to boast of him as the 'genus of the family,'
quoting his own expression. Joseph, moreover, as he grew in
years, had learned to read comprehensively, in which
qualification he was far in advance of his elder brother, and
even of his father. … As he … advanced in reading and
knowledge, he assumed a spiritual or religious turn of mind,
and frequently perused the Bible, becoming quite familiar with
portions thereof. … The final conclusion announced by him
was, that all sectarianism was fallacious, all the churches on
a false foundation, and the Bible a fable. … In September,
1819, a curious stone was found in the digging of a well upon
the premises of Mr. Clark Chase, near Palmyra. This stone
attracted particular notice on account of its peculiar shape,
resembling that of a child's foot. It was of a whitish, glassy
appearance, though opaque, resembling quartz.
{2231}
Joseph Smith, Sr., and his elder sons Alvin and Hyrum, did the
chief labor of this well-digging, and Joseph, Jr., who had
been a frequenter in the progress of the work, as an idle
looker-on and lounger, manifested a special fancy for this
geological curiosity, and he carried it home with him. …
Very soon the pretension transpired that he could see
wonderful things by its aid. … The most glittering sights
revealed to the mortal vision of the young impostor, in the
manner stated, were hidden treasures of great value, including
enormous deposits of gold and silver sealed in earthen pots or
iron chests, and buried in the earth in the immediate vicinity
of the place where he stood. These discoveries finally became
too dazzling for his eyes in daylight, and he had to shade his
vision by looking at the stone in his hat! … The imposture
was renewed and repeated at frequent intervals from 1820 to
1827, various localities being the scenes of … delusive
searches for money [for carrying on which Smith collected
contributions from his dupes], as pointed out by the
revelations of the magic stone. … Numerous traces of the
excavations left by Smith are yet remaining as evidences of
his impostures and the folly of his dupes, though most of them
have become obliterated by the clearing off and tilling of the
lands where they were made." In the summer of 1827 "Smith had
a remarkable vision. He pretended that, while engaged in
secret prayer, alone in the wilderness, an 'angel of the Lord'
appeared to him, with the glad tidings that 'all his sins had
been forgiven'; … also that he had received a 'promise that
the true doctrine and the fulness of the doctrine and the
fulness of the gospel should at some future time be revealed
to him.' … In the fall of the same year Smith had yet a more
miraculous and astonishing vision than any preceding one. He
now arrogated to himself, by authority of 'the spirit of
revelation,' and in accordance with the previous 'promises'
made to him, a far higher sphere in the scale of human
existence, assuming to possess the gift and power of 'prophet,
seer, and revelator.' On this assumption he announced to his
family friends and the bigoted persons who had adhered to his
supernaturalism, that he was 'commanded,' upon a secretly
fixed day and hour, to go alone to a certain spot revealed to
him by the angel, and there take out of the earth a metallic
book of great antiquity in its origin, and of immortal
importance in its consequences to the world, which was a
record, in mystic letters or characters, of the long-lost
tribes of Israel, … who had primarily inhabited this
continent, and which no human being besides himself could see
and live; and the power to translate which to the nations of
the earth was also given to him only, as the chosen servant of
God. … Accordingly, when the appointed hour came, the
prophet, assuming his practised air of mystery, took in hand
his money-digging spade and a large napkin, and went off in
silence and alone in the solitude of the forest, and after an
absence of some three hours returned, apparently with his
sacred charge concealed within the folds of the napkin. …
With the book was also found, or so pretended, a huge pair of
spectacles in a perfect state of preservation, or the Urim and
Thummim, as afterward interpreted, whereby the mystic record
was to be translated and the wonderful dealings of God
revealed to man, by the superhuman power of Joseph Smith. …
The sacred treasure was not seen by mortal eyes, save those of
the one anointed, until after the lapse of a year or longer
time, when it was found expedient to have a new revelation, as
Smith's bare word had utterly failed to gain a convert beyond
his original circle of believers. By this amended revelation,
the veritable existence of the book was certified to by eleven
witnesses of Smith's selection. It was then heralded as the
Golden Bible, or Book of Mormon, and as the beginning of a new
gospel dispensation. … The spot from which the book is
alleged to have been taken is the yet partially visible pit
where the money speculators had previously dug for another
kind of treasure, which is upon the summit of what has ever
since been known as 'Mormon Hill,' now owned by Mr. Anson
Robinson, in the town of Manchester, New York. This book …
was finally described by Smith and his echoes as consisting of
metallic leaves or plates resembling gold, bound together in a
volume by three rings running through one edge of them, the
leaves opening like an ordinary paper book. … Translations
and interpretations were now entered upon by the prophet," and
in 1830 the "Book of Mormon" was printed and published at
Palmyra, New York, a well-to-do farmer, Martin Harris, paying
the expense. "In claiming for the statements herein set forth
the character of fairness and authenticity, it is perhaps
appropriate to add … that the locality of the malversations
resulting in the Mormon scheme is the author's birthplace;
that he was well acquainted with 'Joe Smith,' the first Mormon
prophet, and with his father and all the Smith family, since
their removal to Palmyra from Vermont … ; that he was
equally acquainted with Martin Harris and Oliver Cowdery, and
with most of the earlier followers of Smith, either as
money-diggers or Mormons; that he established at Palmyra, in
1823, and was for many years editor and proprietor of the
'Wayne Sentinel,' and was editorially connected with that
paper at the printing by its press of the original edition of
the 'Book of Mormon' in 1830; that in the progress of the work
he performed much of the reading of the proof-sheets,
comparing the same with the manuscript copies, and in the
meantime had frequent and familiar interviews with the pioneer
Mormons."
_P. Tucker,
Origin, Rise and Progress of Mormonism,
chapters 1-5, and preface._
It is believed by many that the groundwork of the Book of
Mormon was supplied by an ingenious romance, written about
1814 by the Rev. Solomon Spalding, a Presbyterian minister of
some learning and literary ability, then living at New Salem
(now Conneaut), Ohio. This romance, which was entitled "The
Manuscript Found," purported to narrate the history of a
migration of the lost ten tribes of Israel to America. It was
never published; but members of Mr. Spalding's family, and
other persons, who read it or heard it read, in manuscript,
claimed confidently, after the appearance of the Book of
Mormon that the main body of the narrative and the notable
names introduced in it were identical with those of the
latter. Some circumstances, moreover, seemed to indicate a
probability that Mr. Spalding's manuscript, being left during
several weeks with a publisher named Patterson, at Pittsburgh,
came there into the hands of one Sidney Rigdon, a young printer,
who appeared subsequently as one of the leading missionaries
of Mormonism, and who is believed to have visited Joseph
Smith, at Palmyra, before the Book of Mormon came to light.
{2232}
On the other hand, Mormon believers have, latterly, made much
of the fact that a manuscript romance without title, by
Solomon Spalding, was found, not many years since, in the
Sandwich Islands, by President Fairchild of Oberlin College,
Ohio, and proved to bear no resemblance to the Book of Mormon.
Spalding is said, however, to have written several romances,
and, if so, nothing is proved by this discovery.
_T. Gregg,
The Prophet of Palmyra,
chapters 1-11 and 41-45._
ALSO IN:
_E. E. Dickinson,
New Light on Mormonism._
_J. M. Kennedy,
Early Days of Mormonism,
chapters 1-2._
MORMONISM: A. D. 1830-1846.
The First Hegira to Kirtland, Ohio, the Second to Missouri,
the Third to Nauvoo, Illinois.
The Danites.
The building of the city and its Temple.
Hostility of the Gentiles.
The slaying of the Prophet.
"Immediately after the publication of the Book the Church was
duly organized at Manchester. On April 6, 1830, six members
were ordained elders—Joseph Smith, Sr., Joseph Smith, Jr.,
Hyrum Smith, Samuel Smith, Oliver Cowdery and Joseph Knight.
The first conference was held at Fayette, Seneca county, in
June. A special 'revelation' at this time made Smith's wife
'the Elect Lady and Daughter of God,' with the high-sounding
title of 'Electa Cyria.' In later years this lady became
disgusted with her husband's religion. … Another revelation
was to the effect that Palmyra was not the gathering-place of
the Saints, after all, but that they should proceed to
Kirtland, in Ohio. Consequently, the early part of 1831 saw
them colonized in that place, the move being known as 'The
First Hegira.' Still another revelation (on the 6th of June)
stated that some point in Missouri was the reliable spot.
Smith immediately selected a tract in Jackson county, near
Independence. By 1833 the few Mormons who had moved thither
were so persecuted that they went into Clay county, and
thence, in 1838, into Caldwell county, naming their settlement
'Far West.' The main body of the Mormons, however, remained
in Kirtland from 1831 till they were forced to join their
Western brethren in 1838. Brigham Young, another native of
Vermont, joined at Kirtland in 1832, and was ordained an
elder. The conference of elders on May 3, 1833, repudiated the
name of Mormons and adopted that of 'Latter-Day Saints.' The
first presidency consisted of Smith, Rigdon, and Frederick G.
Williams. In May, 1835, the Twelve Apostles—among them
Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball and Orson Hyde—left on a
mission for proselytes. … The Mormons were driven from
Missouri by Governor Boggs's 'Extraordinary Order,' which
caused them to gain sympathy as having been persecuted in a
slave State. They moved to Hancock county, Illinois, in 1840,
and built up Nauvoo [on the Mississippi River, 14 miles above
Keokuk] by a charter with most unusual privileges."
_F. G. Mather,
The Early Days of Mormonism
(Lippincott's Magazine, August 1880)._
In the midst of the troubles of Smith and his followers in
Missouri, and before their removal to Nauvoo, there arose
among them "the mysterious and much dreaded band that finally
took the name of Danites, or sons of Dan, concerning which so
much has been said while so little is known, some of the
Mormons even denying its existence. But of this there is no
question. Says Burton: 'The Danite band, a name of fear in the
Mississippi Valley, is said by anti-Mormons to consist of men
between the ages of 17 and 49. They were originally termed
Daughters of Gideon, Destroying Angels—the gentiles say
devils—and, finally, Sons of Dan, or Danites, from one of
whom was prophesied he should be a serpent in the path. They
were organized about 1837 under D. W. Patten, popularly called
Captain Fearnot, for the purpose of dealing as avengers of
blood with gentiles; in fact they formed a kind of death
society, desperadoes, thugs, hashshashiyun—in plain English,
assassins in the name of the Lord. The Mormons declare
categorically the whole and every particular to be the
calumnious invention of the impostor and arch apostate, Mr.
John C. Bennett. John Hyde, a seceder, states that the Danite
band, or the United Brothers of Gideon, was organized on the
4th of July, 1838, and was placed under the command of the
apostle David Patten, who for the purpose assumed the name of
Captain Fearnot. It is the opinion of some that the Danite
band, or Destroying Angels as again they are called, was
organized at the recommendation of the governor of Missouri as
a means of self-defence against persecutions in that State."
_H. H. Bancroft,
History of the Pacific States,
volume 21, pages 124-126._
"The Mormons first attracted national notice about the time
they quitted Missouri to escape persecution and took refuge in
Illinois. In that free State a tract of land was granted them
and a charter too carelessly liberal in terms. The whole body,
already numbering about 15,000, gathered into a new city of
their own, which their prophet, in obedience to a revelation,
named Nauvoo; here a body of militia was formed under the name
of the Nauvoo legion; and Joe Smith, as mayor, military
commander, and supreme head of the Church, exerted an
authority almost despotic. The wilderness blossomed and
rejoiced, and on a lofty height of this holy city was begun a
grotesque temple, built of limestone, with huge monolithic
pillars which displayed carvings of moons and suns. … Nauvoo
was well laid out, with wide streets which sloped towards
well-cultivated farms; all was thrift and sobriety, no
spirituous liquors were drunk, and the colonists here, as in
their former settlements, furnished the pattern of insect
industry. The wonderful proselyting work of this new sect
abroad had already begun, and recruits came over from the
overplus toilers in the British factory towns. … But there
was something in the methods of this sect, not to speak of the
jealousy they excited by their prosperity, which bred them
trouble here as everywhere else where they came in contact
with American commonplace life. It was whispered that the
hierarchy of impostors grew rich upon the toils of their
simple followers. Polygamy had not yet received the sanction
of a divine revelation; and yet the first step towards it was
practised in the theory of 'sealing wives' spiritually, which
Smith had begun in some mysterious way that it baffled the
gentile to discover. Sheriffs, too, were forbidden to serve
civil process in Nauvoo without the written permission of its
mayor.
{2233}
All these strange scandals of heathenish pranks, and more,
besides, stirred up the neighboring gentiles, plain Illinois
backwoodsmen; and the more so that, besides his 3,000 militia,
the Mormon prophet controlled 6,000 votes, which, in the close
Presidential canvass of 1844, might have been enough to decide
the election. Joe Smith, indeed, whose Church nominated him
for President, showed a fatal but thoroughly American
disposition at this time to carry his power into politics.
This king of plain speech, who dressed as a journeyman
carpenter, suppressed a newspaper which was set up by seceding
Mormons. When complaint was made he resisted Illinois process
and proclaimed martial law; the citizens of the surrounding
towns armed for a fight. Joe Smith was arrested and thrown
into jail at Carthage with his brother Hiram. The rumor
spreading that the governor was disposed to release these
prisoners, a disorderly band gathered at the jail and shot
them [June 27, 1844]. Thus perished Smith, the Mormon founder.
His death at first created terror and confusion among his
followers, but Brigham Young, his successor, proved a man of
great force and sagacity. The exasperated gentiles clamored
loudly to expel these religious fanatics from Illinois as they
had been expelled from Missouri; and finally, to prevent a
civil war, the governor of the State took forcible possession
of the holy city, with its unfinished temple, while the Mormon
charter of Nauvoo was repealed by the legislature. The Mormons
now determined [1846] upon the course which was most suited to
their growth, and left American pioneer society to found their
New Jerusalem on more enduring foundations west of the Rocky
Mountains."
_J. Schouler,
History of the United States,
volume 4, pages 547-549._
ALSO IN:
_T. Ford,
History of Illinois,
chapters 8 and 10-11._
_A. Davidson and B. Stuvé,
History of Illinois,
chapter 41._
_J. Remy and J. Brenchley,
Journey to Great Salt Lake City,
book 2, chapters 2-3 (volume 1)._
_R. F. Burton,
The City of the Saints,
page 359._
MORMONISM: A. D. 1846-1848.
The gentile attack on Nauvoo.
Exodus of "the Saints" into the wilderness of the West.
Their settlement on the Great Salt Lake.
"During the winter of 1845-46 the Mormons made the most
prodigious preparations for removal. All the houses in Nauvoo,
and even the temple, were converted into work-shops; and
before spring more than 12,000 wagons were in readiness. The
people from all parts of the country flocked to Nauvoo to
purchase houses and farms, which were sold extremely low,
lower than the prices at a sheriff's sale, for money, wagons,
horses, oxen, cattle, and other articles of personal property
which might be needed by the Mormons in their exodus into the
wilderness. By the middle of May it was estimated that 16,000
Mormons had crossed the Mississippi and taken up their line of
march with their personal property, their wives and little
ones, westward across the continent to Oregon or California;
leaving behind them in Nauvoo a small remnant of 1,000 souls,
being those who were unable to sell their property, or who
having no property to sell were unable to get away. The twelve
apostles went first with about 2,000 of their followers.
Indictments had been found against nine of them in the circuit
court of the United States for the district of Illinois at its
December term, 1845, for counterfeiting the current coin of
the United States. The United States Marshal had applied to me
[the writer being at that time Governor of Illinois] for a
militia force to arrest them; but in pursuance of the amnesty
agreed on for old offences, believing that the arrest of the
accused would prevent the removal of the Mormons, and that if
arrested there was not the least chance that any of them would
ever be convicted, I declined the application unless regularly
called upon by the President of the United States according to
law. … It was notorious that none of them could be
convicted; for they always commanded evidence and witnesses
enough to make a conviction impossible."
_T. Ford,
History of Illinois,
chapter 13._
"The Saints who had as yet been unable to leave Nauvoo
continued to labour assiduously at the completion of the
temple, so as to accomplish one of the most solemn prophecies
of their well-beloved martyr. The sacred edifice was
ultimately entirely finished, at the end of April, 1846, after
having cost the Saints more than a million dollars. It was
consecrated with great pomp on the 1st and 2nd of May, 1846.
… The day after the consecration of the temple had been
celebrated, the Mormons withdrew from the building all the
sacred articles which adorned it, and satisfied with having
done their duty in accomplishing, though to no purpose
otherwise, a Divine command, they crossed the Mississippi to
rejoin those who had gone before them. Nauvoo was abandoned.
There remained within its deserted walls but some hundred
families, whom the want of means and the inability to sell
their effects had not allowed as yet to start upon the road to
emigration. The presence of those who were thus detained,
together with the bruit caused by the ceremony of dedication,
raised the murmurs of the gentiles, and seemed to keep alive
their animosity and alarm. Their eager desire to be entirely
rid of the Mormons made them extremely sensitive to every idle
story respecting the projects of the latter to return. They
imagined that the Saints had only left in detachments to seek
recruits among the red-skins, meaning to come back with
sufficient force once more to take possession of their
property in Illinois. These apprehensions rose to such a pitch
that the anti-Mormons plunged into fresh acts of illegality
and barbarism. … On the 10th of September, 1846, an army of
1,000 men, possessing six pieces of artillery, started to
begin the attack under the direction of a person named Carlin,
and of the Reverend Mr. Brockman. Nauvoo had only 300 men to
oppose to this force, and but five small cannon, made from the
iron of an old steamboat. The fire opened on the afternoon of
the 10th, and continued on the 11th, 12th and 13th of
September." Every attack of the besiegers was repulsed, until
they consented to terms under which the remnant of the Mormons
was to evacuate the town at the end of five days. "The Mormons
had only three men killed and a few wounded during the whole
affair; the loss of their enemies is unknown, but it would
seem that it was heavy. It was agreed that a committee of five
persons should remain at Nauvoo to attend to the interests of
the exiles, and on the 17th of September, while the enemy, to
the number of 1,625, entered the city to plunder, the remnant
of the Mormons crossed the Mississippi to follow 'the track of
Israel towards the west.' …
{2234}
About the end of June, 1846, the first column of the emigrants
arrived on the banks of the Missouri, a little above the point
of confluence of this immense river with the Platte, in the
country of the Pottawatamies, where it stopped to await the
detachments in its rear. This spot, now known by the name of
Council Bluffs, was christened Kanesville by the Mormons. …
At this place, in the course of July, the federal government
made an appeal to the patriotism of the Mormons, and asked
them to furnish a contingent of 500 men for the Mexican war.
Did the government wish to favour the Saints by affording them
an opportunity of making money by taking service, or did it
merely wish to test their fidelity? This we cannot decide. …
The Saints generally regarded this levy as a species of
persecution; however … they furnished a battalion of 520
men, and received $20,000 for equipment from the war
department." The head quarters of the emigration remained at
Kanesville through the winter of 1846-47, waiting for the
brethren who had been left behind. There were several
encampments, however, some of them about 200 miles in advance.
The shelters contrived were of every kind—huts, tents, and
caves dug in the earth. The suffering was considerable and
many deaths occurred. The Indians of the region were
Pottawatamies and Omahas, both hostile to the United States
and therefore friendly to the Mormons, whom they looked upon
as persecuted foes of the American nation. "On the 14th of
April [1847], Brigham Young and eight apostles, at the head of
143 picked men and 70 carts laden with grain and agricultural
implements, started in search of Eden in the far-west. … The
23rd of July, 1847, Orson Pratt, escorted by a small advanced
guard, was the first to reach the Great Salt Lake. He was
joined the following day by Brigham Young and the main body of
the pioneers. That day, the 24th of July, was destined to be
afterwards celebrated by the Mormons as the anniversary of
their deliverance. … Brigham Young declared, by divine
inspiration, that they were to establish themselves upon the
borders of the Salt Lake, in this region, which was nobody's
property, and wherein consequently his people could follow
their religion without drawing upon themselves the hatred of
any neighbours. He spent several weeks in ascertaining the
nature of the country, and then fixed upon a site for the holy
city. … When he had thus laid the foundations of his future
empire, he set off on his return to Council Bluffs, leaving on
the borders of the Salt Lake the greater portion of the
companions who had followed him in his distant search. During
the summer, a convoy of 566 waggons, laden with large
quantities of grain, left Kanesville and followed upon the
tracks of the pioneers. … On their arrival at the spot
indicated by the president of the Church, they set to work
without a moment's repose. Land was tilled, trees and hedges
planted, and grain sown before the coming frost." The main
body of the emigrants, led by Brigham Young, moved from the
banks of the Missouri about the 1st of May, 1848, and arrived
at the Salt Lake the following autumn.
_J. Remy and J. Brenchley,
Journey to Great-Salt-Lake City,
book 2, chapter 4 (volume 1)._
"On the afternoon of the 22d [August, 1847] a conference was
held, at which it was resolved that the place should be called
the City of the Great Salt Lake. The term 'Great' was retained
for several years, until changed by legislative enactment. It
was so named in contradistinction to Little Salt Lake, a term
applied to a body of water some 200 miles to the south."
_H. H. Bancroft,
History of the Pacific States,
volume 21, chapter 10._
MORMONISM: A. D. 1850.
Organization of the Territory of Utah.
See UTAH: A. D. 1849-1850.
MORMONISM: A. D. 1857-1859.
The rebellion in Utah.
See UTAH: A. D. 1857-1859.
MORMONISM: A. D. 1894.
Admission of Utah to the Union as a State.
See UTAH: A. D. 1894.
----------MORMONISM: End----------