Dan Barker's Blog, page 5

The “Runaways”

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When the four government officials “ranaway” from Utah in 1851 and started spreading their falsehoods about the Church in Washington D.C, the Saints received help from an unexpected source to douse the stories. Who came to the Saints rescue?a.                  Lilburn W. Boggsb.                  Martin Van Burenc.                   Thomas L. Kaned.                  John W. GunnisonYesterday’s answer:B   In the next lifeDaniels [William P.], as a tailor in Mowbray, nearby Capetown, became a singular figure in the history of black Mormonism in South Africa. A tailor by trade, Daniels and his wife, Alice, also rented riding horses and ran a horse-drawn taxi company. After meeting his first Mormon elder, Elder Alfred J. Gowers, Daniels was impressed by the missionary’s devotion: “He had come 13,000 miles to preach the Gospel, and was not receiving a penny. . . . This struck me very forcibly, and I compared his position with that of my minister who was earning a comfortable if not fat salary and was living in a house given him free by the congregation.” In 1915, Daniels traveled to Utah to meet Church President Joseph F. Smith in person; Smith willingly gave a blessing to Daniels by the laying on of hands, assuring him that someday he would receive the priesthood. The blessing touched Daniels: “Someday,” he told fellow Saints, “perhaps in the next life, he would be able to hold the priesthood.” When he asked what Smith wanted him to tell his countrymen about Mormonism, including the priesthood ban, Smith told him: “Tell them the truth.”Russell W. Stevenson, Sonia’s Awakening: White Mormon Expatriates in Africa and the Dismantling of Mormonism’s Racial Consensus, 1852-1978, Journal of Mormon History, Fall 2014, 215.

When They Would Receive the Priesthood

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Black, South African, William P. Daniels, stated in 1915 that he and his race would receive the Priesthood, when?a.            June 1978b.            In the next lifec.             Before the end of 1915d.            When Spencer W. Kimball became the prophetYesterday’s answer:D   Primary and MIAOn the re-opening of the Italian Mission in 1965: Two of these organizations proved especially attractive in Italy: the Primary, which was directed at children under age twelve, and the Mutual Improvement Association (MIA), which focused on teens. The Primary organization, which met on a weekday after school, quickly became popular not only among the few member families with children still in the home but also with many non-Mormons who liked the idea of religious instruction designed just for children. According to Duns, “You’d hold a Primary [in Italy] and we’d pack the place full. You wouldn’t believe the number of youngsters that wanted to come to Primary. They’d just absorb it. And then we were hoping that through them they’d take it home. . . We touched more people through the Primary than anything.” The MIA program for young adults also proved successful in attracting interest. Indeed, mission leaders tried to ensure that it was functioning as quickly as possible in all areas. MIA was held on a week night, and activities might include discussion of current events and religious topics, instruction on vocational and practical matters,  games, singing, dancing, talent shows, and performing plays and numbers that, as Duns [John Jr. Mission president] commented, “Some nights we’d begin to wonder whether we would be able to handle all of it.” James A. Toronto, The “Wild West” of Missionary Work” Reopening the Italian Mission, 1965-71, Journal of Mormon History, Fall 2014, 50.

Attracting the Italians

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What were the two programs that attracted the Italian people when the Italian mission was reopened in 1965?a.                  Tithing and the MIAb.                  Primary and the missionary programc.                   Welfare and the Relief Societyd.                  Primary and MIAYesterday’s answer:C   Why the next prophet is the president of the twelveA week later on March 28, [Wilford] Woodruff wrote [Heber J.] Grant a second lengthy letter, in which he quoted Grant’s persistent question: “Do you know of any reason in case of the death of the president of the church why the twelve apostles should not choose some other person besides the president of the twelve to be the president of the church?” Woodruff firmly answered: “I have several very strong reasons why not.” He then listed two broad arguments, each with specific sub points. First, as the most senior apostle, Woodruff possessed as much presiding authority as if he had been assisted by two counselors. He pointed out that, during the discussions establishing a First Presidency for Brigham Young and John Taylor, no one had ever asserted that anyone else claimed a superior right to the quorum presidency and Church leadership, because, by that juncture “they were already [literally] the president of the church.” If either man had been deemed unfit to be president of the Church, he was certainly unfit to preside over the Quorum of the Twelve either. His second point was that it would take a majority of the twelve apostles to appoint a new Church president upon the death of the incumbent. Therefore, “it is very unreasonable to suppose that the majority of that quorum could be converted to depart from the path marked out by inspiration and followed by the [original] apostles at the death of Jesus Christ and also [by the first latter-day Quorum of Twelve Apostles] since the death of Joseph Smith.” He concluded decisively, and perhaps somewhat impatiently: “Again I see no reason for discussing this subject until there is some cause for it.” Woodruff’s explanation was clear and firm—and should have decisely answered Grant’s questions—even if the young apostle did not entirely agree with him. However, Grant continued in quiet resistance to Woodruff, joined by the increasingly defiant Apostle Moses Thatcher, during an extended period which demonstrated a rather shocking breach of deference to the most senior of Church authorities. Edward Leo Lyman, Succession by Seniority: The Development of Procedural Precedents, in the LDS Church, Journal of Mormon History, Spring 2014, 116-117.

Questioning the Prophet

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Heber J. Grant questioned President Woodruff about what?a.                  Why tithing was 10% and not 5%b.                  Why the Relief Society could not hold the priesthoodc.                   Why the next prophet is always the president of the twelved.                  Why missions were three years and not twoYesterday’s answer:C.   The Saints getting on the locals telling them that God has given them the countyThe Mormons and Missourians alike expected the other to conform because each community laid claim to the lands in Jackson County. In speaking of gathering to Zion, the revelations and articles in the Evening and the Morning Star designated Jackson County as the land of the Mormon inheritance. Some Mormons interpreted that designation to mean that God had given the Saints the land by divine decree. As a result, “there were among us a few ignorant and simple-minded persons who were continually making boasts to the Jackson county people that they intended to possess the entire country.” Mormon resident David Whitmer stated. Jackson County resident John McCoy related an account of an “old, gray-headed Mormon named Pryor,” who claimed God had given him their Missouri lands. “’Brother M[cCoy], I have the greatest regard and friendship for you,’” the old man would say to John’s father. He continued: “’ this land of promise is already parceled to the Saints by divine authority. Your tract, brother M., is included in my inheritance and in the Lords’ own good time I will possess it, for it is so recorded. But fear not, brother M. The Lord will either open your eyes to become one of us, or He will make me an instrument for your welfare.’”Bitter at the condescending tone of such claims, the Missourians complained, “We are daily told, and not by the ignorant alone, but by all classes of them, that we, (the Gentiles) of this county are to be cut off, and our lands appropriated by them for inheritances.” Isaac McCoy, a Baptist minister, estimated that the Mormons had declared “perhaps hundreds of times, that this county was theirs, the Almighty had given it to them, and that they would surely have entire possession of it in a few years.” Jackson County resident and militia officer Thomas Pitcher asserted that “the troubles of 1833, which led to [the Mormon] expulsion from the county, were originated by those fanatics making boasts that they intended to possess the entire county, saying that God had promised it to them and they were going to have it.” W. W. Phelps, editor of the Evening and the Morning Star, warned non-Mormons that if they did not repent and receive baptism they would be “taken out of the world by the pestilential arrows of the Almighty.”Matthew B. Lund, A Society of Like-Minded Men: American Localism and The Mormon Expulsion From Jackson County, Journal of Mormon History, Summer 2014, 181-183.

The Start of the Troubles

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What caused the start of the troubles in Jackson County?a.                   The Saints getting on the locals for practicing slaveryb.                   The Saints getting on the locals that they did not belong to the true churchc.                   The Saints getting on the locals that God had given them the countyd.                   The Saints getting on the locals to repent and be baptizedYesterday’s answer:C   The Church’s baseball teamBaseball in the South African Mission:   With a season of successful baseball under their belts, Don Mack Dalton and his missionaries set out to capitalize on their new, positive image in South Africa. However, this was not always an easy task, especially when Dalton had only nine new missionaries sent to his mission in 1933 and eight in 1934. To put these figures in perspective, during World War I, only two missionaries were called to South Africa in 1920 and nine in 1921; however, from that point on, the mission had consistently received fourteen or more missionaries annually until this unprecedented low in 1933. Fortunately for the Cumorah’s, one of these elders was Stan Smith, quickly nicknamed “The Bogy Man of Local Batters” by the Cape Argus. Next to Dalton, Stan Smith of Salt Lake City was easily the most influential Mormon in all of South Africa during his tenure in the country. The Cape Times also published features on his baseball prowess. According to an editorial circulated by the Cumorah’s Southern Messenger, Smith’s heroics on the diamond received more attention than Prince George’s visit to the Cape in 1935. While Smith’s pitching arm was undoubtedly his greatest prize, he was no slouch at the plate or on the bases either. In South African parlance, he received one of the greatest honors that could have possibly been bestowed on a player of a non-major sport when the Cape Arguscalled him “the Bennie Osler of Baseball.” Smith played two and a half years for the Cumorah’s and Western Province and was a key component in the sport’s popularity in those first few years in Cape Town.To the South African Mission and Mormons in South Africa, Elder Smith was much more than a great pitcher and clutch hitter; he was key in reinventing the image of the Mormon Church in that land. “His prowess has probably brought the South African mission more publicity, and has placed the name of ‘Mormon’ on more lips than any other single thing,” one editorial in the May 1935 Cumorah’s Southern Messenger read: “he has, no doubt, done more to shake the cold unfriendly barriers of distrust and skepticism concerning the Mormons there than any other person, for through his baseball he has moved with ease among the higher social circle and government officials. But more than all of this, he is the friend of more young people, staunch admirers, than any other lad in South Africa.”With Smith’s help the Mormons became known for something other than emigration and polygamy. This notoriety is perhaps best exemplified by the inclusion of a short chapter on the “Mormons in Africa” in Stars and Stripesin Africa by amateur historian Eric Rosenthal. Rosenthal’s work was designed for the growing tourist population of Americans in South Africa, and it seems safe to assume that, without the success of the Cumorah’s, there would have been no reason to include the Mormon Church in this work. Rosenthal exclaims emphatically: “[They] are the Union’s most successful baseball team!”The timing of Stan Smith’s mission aligned perfectly with the baseball season. He arrived in November 1932, just a couple of months after the organization of the Western Province Baseball Association and the Cumorah’s and was released two and half years later in May 1935 just over a month after an impressive pitching performance that earned Western Province the national championship. Smith’s departure occurred two months after Don Mack Dalton’s own release that same year. The two made an impressive pitcher/catcher combination in the field, and their two-three punch in the lineup was always difficult to defend. However, their success, to Mormons and their Church, was measured in terms of positive publicity rather than in wins and losses. The Cumorah’s Southern Messenger devoted a major article to bid Smith farewell:The Press is one hundred per cent, for “Stan.” Here is one of several like announcements; “Hear Stan Smith.” And then this follows: “Baseball players in the Western Province Leagues, and sportsmen as a whole, will rally to hear Stan Smith, the outstanding baseball pitcher, speak. Stan left his home in Salt Lake City some time ago as a Mormon missionary. For diversion and to keep physically fit he began playing baseball and his pitching brought honors. Being young and possessing outstanding athletic ability, Stan has achieved a wonderful degree of popularity which is well deserved. He has consented to lecture for us on Religious Ideals at the Railway Institute on Saturday evening at 8 o’clock. If Stan is as convincing from the platform as he is from the pitcher’s box his success is assured.”This was exactly the “success” that Dalton and the Mormons were hoping to achieve by organizing and participating in baseball in Cape Town and South Africa as a whole. Without Smith’s “outstanding athletic ability” and Dalton’s leadership, a newspaper article whose reporter seems excited and even anxious to hear the testimony of a missionary could never have occurred.Unquestionably, the high point of Mormon positive acceptance occurred on March 24, 1934, when an all-star Western Province squad consisting of five Cumorah’s, all Mormons, and elven other players from the various Cape Town teams, once again hosted the unofficial national championship game against an improved Transvaal crew. The Mormon players were Don Mack Dalton, Elders Stanford G. Smith, John J. Bates, and Morris P. Woolley, and a local member, E. E. Seeman. Twenty-five hundred spectators gathered at the Rosebank diamond. As the players lined up along the base-paths, to Dalton’s joy and pride, George Herbert Hyde Villiers, the sixth Earl of Clarendon and South Africa’s governor general, strode onto the diamond. Dalton, as captain of the Western Province side, stepped out first and was introduced to the Kings representative. The two engaged in a brief exchange of compliments and with the governor general commenting on his excitement at the prospect of witnessing the championship game. Dalton then had the honor of introducing each of his players individually and was thrilled with the governor general greeted each of the missionaries as “Elder.” This was undoubtedly the capstone of Dalton’s reign as president of the South African mission. He later wrote that this even fulfilled his ultimate goal of reinventing the Church’s image in that nation:The best advertising medium in South Africa had freely given his [the governor general] prestige to develop faith and aid the growth of understanding in the hearts of mankind. He had assisted the missionaries in their task to accumulate existent truth in the minds and hearts of the humble but great people of a great and humble land. The missionaries had done their best to proclaim the Gospel by word of mouth and had prayed to the Lord to help them make their best better by helping others see the Gospel through the sense of sight .The missionaries had prayed that they would be able to let their light SO SHINE so that others could see it and that it might not be kept partly hidden by tradition and the ordinary way of doing missionary work.These missionaries had feverishly and constantly hoped and prayed and worked so that what others had said couldn’t be done, was done. The governor general had honored Mormon boys before a great throng of people as the missionary [Dalton] had seen in a vision would be done.Booker T. Alston, The Cumorah Baseball Club: Mormon Missionaries and Baseball in South Africa, Journal of Mormon History, Summer 2014, 110-115.

“The Word Mormon on more Lips”

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What was the circumstance that brought the word Mormon on more lips in South Africa in the early 1930s than anything else up to that point?a.                   The Church’s Rugby teamb.                   The Church’s basketball teamc.                   The Church’s baseball teamd.                   The Church’s cricket teamYesterday’s answer:D   UtahFrom the life of Charles Roscoe Savage:   In early Utah days Bro. Savage distinguished himself as a military man and served for a number of years as lieutenant and afterwards as captain in a company of the first battalion, third regiment of infantry of the Nauvoo Legion. In 1870 (Nov. 21st), together with seven others he was arrested and imprisoned at Camp Douglas for having turned out to a harmless muster of the Nauvoo Legion in violation of Governor Schaffer’s proclamation forbidding the assembling of troops in  Utah. He and his fellow-prisoners were released on bail two days later and subsequently discharged. This affair is known in history as the Wooden Gun Rebellion. Andrew Jensen, LDS Biographical Encyclopedia, (Salt Lake City: Western Epics, 1971), 3: 710.

The Wooden Gun Rebellion

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Charles Roscoe Savage and seven other members of the Nauvoo Legion were imprisoned for two days for disobeying the Governors order not to assemble. This became known as the Wooden Gun Rebellion. What state did this infraction occur in?a.                   Illinoisb.                   Iowac.                   Missourid.                   UtahYesterday’s answer:A   The Lutheran PriestFrom the life of Pehr A. Bjorklund:   On Aug. 20, 1893, while he and a companion were holding meetings in the country, Brother Bjorklund was taken seriously ill and was forced to remain where he was until the 23rd, when he felt sufficiently strong to return to his lodgings in Helsingborg. On his arrival there he again broke down, and decided to go to the hospital for treatment. It is supposed that while there the doctor advised him to undergo an operation, which was performed on Sunday, Aug. 28th, his companion again called and was told that Elder Bjorklund had died that morning from the effects of the operation. After some difficulty the Elders obtained the body and properly clothed it for burial, but had more trouble with the Lutheran priest who demanded to see the dead Elder’s baptismal certificate before they could inter the remains. But the burial finally took place on the morning of Sept. 2, 1893, in a pleasant plat which had been procured by the brethren.Andrew Jensen, LDS Biographical Encyclopedia, (Salt Lake City: Western Epics, 1971), 3: 602.

Red Tape

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When Elder Pehr Bjorklund passed away in Sweden while on a mission, who caused problems, making it difficult for his companions to bury him?a.                   The Lutheran Priestb.                   The mayorc.                   State officialsd.                   The Catholic PriestYesterday’s answer:B   Memorize a spelling bookFrom the life of Francis Martin Pomeroy:   One of the original Utah pioneers of 1847 and a distinguished Indian missionary, was born Feb. 20, 1820, at Somers, Connecticut, the son of Martin Pomeroy and Sybil Hunt. The following interesting sketch of his life is written by his son Francis T. Pomeroy: “Francis Martin Pomeroy was born at the old family homestead, where had lived his ancestors for several generations. He was third in a family of nine children. His parents were humble farmers, living near Somers, and owing to the farm being small and the family large, he was apprenticed to his uncle, Oziah Pomeroy, who required of him hard labor without much recreation. The following instance will illustrate: The day before a circus came to the village Francis asked his uncle’s permission to attend. The uncle, handing him a spelling book, said, ‘If you learn that book by heart, you may go.’ All night the boy studied the book, and just before the time for the circus, he came in triumphant and, to the surprise of his uncle, he repeated the entire contents of the book, word for word.Andrew Jensen, LDS Biographical Encyclopedia, (Salt Lake City: Western Epics, 1971), 3: 488.

His Ticket to the Circus

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Original 1847 Utah Pioneer, Francis Martin Pomeroy wanted to attend the circus in his earlier years. He asked his uncle, who he was apprenticed out to, if he could go. His uncle, who was a very hard man to work for, said he could go if Francis did what?a.            Memorize the constitutionb.            Memorize a spelling bookc.             Memorize the first chapter of the bibled.            Memorize the Pledge of Allegiance Yesterday’s answer:D   Haun’s MillFrom the life of Laura Lucinda Reed Steed:   While residing on Shoal creek in Caldwell county, Mo., where Bro. Reed was building a grist mill and blacksmith shop for Jacob Haun, he had a dream three nights before the Haun’s mill massacre took place, in which he saw the creek running red with blood. He took the dream as a warning and at once moved his family away, which saved them from that awful massacre.Andrew Jensen, LDS Biographical Encyclopedia, (Salt Lake City: Western Epics, 1971), 3: 248.

The Creek Flowing Red

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Laura Lucinda Reed’s husband, Brother Reed, had a dream in which he saw a creek flow red. This dream caused him to move his family out of the area. Where did Brother Reed have the dream?a.                   Palmyra, New Yorkb.                   Kirtland, Ohioc.                   Far West, Missourid.                   Haun’s Mill, MissouriYesterday’s answer:A   Her son would become an apostle in the ChurchFrom the life of Margaret Reid McNeil Ballard:   She grieved when she buried four of her own children when they were in their early years. Melvin Joseph was the last son born to Margaret. Before he was born Margaret heard a voice speak plainly to her. It said, “Be of good cheer for you will bear a son who will become an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ.” On June 1, 1919, Melvin was sustained a member of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles. His grandson, M. Russell Ballard, was sustained a member of the Twelve Apostles in October 5, 1985.International Society Daughters of Utah Pioneers, Pioneer Women of Faith and Fortitude, (Publishers Press, 1998), 1: 147.