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The Story of the Mormons, from the date of their origin to the year 1901
No chapter in American history has remained so long unwritten as that which tells the story of the Mormons. There are many books on the subject, -- histories written under the auspices of the Mormon church, which are hopeless biased as well as incomplete; more trustworthy works which cover only certain periods; and books in the nature of "exposures" by former members of the church, which the Mormons attack as untruthful, and which rest, in the minds of the general reader, under suspicion of personal bias. Mormonism, therefore, to-day suggests to most persons only one doctrine -- polygamy -- and only one leader -- Brigham Young, who made his name familiar to the present generations. Joseph Smith, Jr., is known, where known at all, only in the most general way as the founder of the sect, while the real originator of the whole scheme for a new church and of its doctrines and government, Sidney Rigdon, is known to a few persons even by name.
The object of the present work is to present a consecutive history of the Mormons, from the day of their origin to the present writing, and as a secular, not a religious, narrative. The search has been for facts, not for moral deductions, except as these present themselves in the course of the story. Since the usual weapon which the heads of the Mormon church use to meet anything unfavorable regarding their organization or leaders is a general denial, this narrative has been made to rest largely on Mormon sources of information. It has been possible to follow this plan a long way because many of the original Mormons left sketches that have been preserved. Thus we have Mother Smith's picture of her family and of the early days of the church; the Prophet's own account of the revelation to him of the golden plates, of his followers' early experiences, and of his own doings day by day, to the date of his death, written with an ego the authenticity of which cannot be disputed by the Mormons. In the Journal of Discourses (issued primarily for circulation in Europe) are found official reports of the principal discourses (or sermons) delivered in Salt Lake City during Young's regime. Without this official sponsor for the correctness of these reports, many of them would doubtless be disputed by the Mormons of to-day.
[The above represent the first two paragraph's of this book's Preface.]
The object of the present work is to present a consecutive history of the Mormons, from the day of their origin to the present writing, and as a secular, not a religious, narrative. The search has been for facts, not for moral deductions, except as these present themselves in the course of the story. Since the usual weapon which the heads of the Mormon church use to meet anything unfavorable regarding their organization or leaders is a general denial, this narrative has been made to rest largely on Mormon sources of information. It has been possible to follow this plan a long way because many of the original Mormons left sketches that have been preserved. Thus we have Mother Smith's picture of her family and of the early days of the church; the Prophet's own account of the revelation to him of the golden plates, of his followers' early experiences, and of his own doings day by day, to the date of his death, written with an ego the authenticity of which cannot be disputed by the Mormons. In the Journal of Discourses (issued primarily for circulation in Europe) are found official reports of the principal discourses (or sermons) delivered in Salt Lake City during Young's regime. Without this official sponsor for the correctness of these reports, many of them would doubtless be disputed by the Mormons of to-day.
[The above represent the first two paragraph's of this book's Preface.]
- GenresHistory
637 pages, Hardcover
First published March 1, 2001
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January 27, 2011
intersting counter point to the 19th wife- writing style is not great but tries to tell true history of rise of Mormonism
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