Christmas in Wolf Valley

[The following was printed in the Latter Day Saint Southern Star in January of 1899.Wolf Valley Branch was located about halfway between present day Clinton and Oak Ridge Tennessee and about 25 mile west of Knoxville, Tennessee.]

Among the Elders

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Elder R. T. Mitchell of the East Tennessee conference who is superintendent of the Sunday schools, has written a nice account of his pleasant time at Christmas with the Woolf (sic)Valley branch of the schools, but the communication was lost, and has just been found. He and Elder A. H. Thorn, evidently had a very pleasant time in a “neatly kept church built by the Saints and dedicated just a year ago.” He says a good spirit prevails there, assuring one of the frequent visits of angels. The singing and general procedure is such as to make one feel as if he were home ,were it not for the vast area intervening between Tennessee and Utah. Of the work there he says: The classes having completed their lessons a programme (sic) was rendered by the primary and intermediate departments, the little ones from 4 to 10 years came forward in response to their calls and gladdened our ears by reciting in a manner that would have been a credit to children of twice their age.


After presenting the children with a package of candy, thus throwing a ray of brightness across many a little boy and girl's heart ,he closes by saying:

The Sunday school here is a credit to the Latter Day Saints and is accomplishing, in a great measure, the purpose for which God ordained so needful an organization .Would that every branch had such a one, surely then the rising generation of Israel would be a light to all the world and able to bear on the glorious Latter work.

May heaven's peaceful blessing he with all the sabbath schools of the southern mission in trying to follow the light that shines from Anderson county, Tennessee.

Christmas, 1898

[Today, Wolf Valley is part of the Clinch River Ward of the Knoxville, Tennessee Cumberland Stake.]

Pioneers who came too late to count

The Mormon Pioneer Overland Travel Database covers a period that ends with the arrival of the railroad to Utah in 1869. It is a reasonable cut off. I would never suggest that cut off be changed. But pioneers continued to come for many years (and still do today, but that is the subject for some other blog). I'll admit pioneer may not be the right word. Perhaps pilgrim is more appropriate.

After the organization of the Southern States Mission in 1875, some mission presidents organized companies of saints to go to Zion. For as long as the mission was based in Chattanooga, sometimes once or even twice a year, a company left for the west. John Morgan was probably the first to really bring order to these companies. He negotiated purchase agreements with the rail companies. He assigned missionaries to accompany the emigrants, sometimes even going himself.

Andrew Jenson noted a particularly large company of eighty left on November 13, 1884 bound for Colorado and Utah. But no where have I been able to find lists of any of the these pioneers. That surprises me considering how meticulous we are about keeping records. Perhaps someday ......

But from Cane Creek I know a few names and approximate dates. It isn't a complete list, but it is a start.

Spring 1881 - Colorado

Blanton, Burwell
Blanton (nee Tatum), Emily
Whitwell, Susan Palthena
Whitwell, John Marshall
Whitwell, Osce Jackson

Autumn 1883 - Colorado
Lancaster, Rachel
Depriest, James Houston
Depriest (nee Talley), Margaret Eisabel
Depriest, Thomas Walker
Depriest (nee Talley), Margaret Ellen
Depriest, Pleasant W.
Depriest (nee Fuller), Martha E.
Depriest, Mary Jane
Depriest, Sarah A. L.
Depriest, William Jason

May 1884 - Utah
Westbrook, John Douglas
Shaw, Lavina
Turner, Nancy "Josie"

November 13, 1884 - Colorado
Talley, Elisha Freeland
Talley (nee Hudson), Barbara Ellen
Talley, Leona Evelyn
Talley, Andrew Jackson
Talley, Ulysses Britt
Talley, Lewis Scott
Lancaster, John M.
Lancaster (nee Talley), Sarah Elizabeth
Lancaster, Margaret
Lancaster, Mary Maude
Lancaster, Martha M.
Lancaster, John William
Lancaster, Elizabeth
Lancaster, Jesse Witfield
Sealy, William
Sealy (nee Talley), Mary Ann

A Law against teaching polygamy in Tennessee

Sometimes my personal interests take me in random directions. For example today research ...

Several months ago in the New York Times dated February 28, 1885 I found the following article.

Nashville, Tenn., Feb 27. - The killing of Elder Gibbs and Berry, Mormon missionaries from Utah, and John R. Hudson and Martin Conder, Mormon converts, on Cane Creek, Lewis County, last August, caused Senator Kercheval to introduce a bill in the State Senate to define and punish the crime of teaching the doctrine of polygamy. The Senate to-day passed it by a vote of 25 to 2. The measure provides that a violation of the act shall be punished by a fine of $500 and imprisonment not to exceed three years, at the discretion of the court. Several Mormon Elders are at work in the State.

It was interesting but not much there. Nut just last week in Andrew Jenson's Church Chronology is the following entry.

1885 Apr 9: The Tennessee Legislature passed a law forbidding the teaching of polygamy in that State

OK, so the dates don't match. That isn't a big deal, is it? One of the should be right. So I figure I'll go lookup the actual record from the Tennessee Legislative history. A quick search online turned up .... nothing. Well, not nothing. I found indexes for Tennessee legislation from 1796 to 1850. And the State Archives have legislation online from 1955 to the present. But nowhere could I find 1885. Sounds like I need to make a trip to Archives in person. Fortunately for me it is a short lunch hour trip. Maybe next week when I'm back in Nashville.

So I thought what about this senator Kercheval? He might be a lead. Turns out Thomas A Kercheval was a State Senator from 1865 - 1869. He was Mayor of Nashville three times; from 1871-74, 1875-83, 1886-88 but from 1883 to 1886 he was not a state senator nor was he Mayor. So how could he have sposored a bill in 1885? This is getting strange

Congregations in Lewis County Tennessee

On my last trip through Lewis County I noticed that just about every church I passed was "Church of Christ". It surprised me, because I had always thought of Tennessee as firmly in the Southern Baptist Convention. So I started to pull some data.

Turns out that there are 17 Church of Christ congregations in Lewis County. But only 6 Southern Baptist congregations. The clincher is the size of the congregations. There are 2,032 total Baptists in Lewis County, but only 1,663 total members of the Church of Christ.

These numbers are a blend from 1990 and 2000, so they are a little old. The total population of Lewis County in 2000 was 11,367. The survey methods actually locate all adherents in the county the congrgation is located. So all LDS members for Lewis Count would be reported in Maury County or Perry County depending upon the Ward to which they belong.

John Nicholson's lecture on the Tennessee Massacre

On September 22, 1884, John Nicholson lectured in Salt Lake City on the causes of the Cane Creek Masaacre. John Nicholson worked as an associate editor for the Deseret News under Charles W. Penrose. He wrote hymns (see note), missionary tracts, and was a popular public speaker.

It was actually the second lecture he made about the causes of the Massacre. The first was delivered on the 14th or 15th of September in the Twelfth Ward Assembly Rooms. The response was so possitive that a number of people asked that Mr Nicholson repeat his message infront of a larger crowd.

The Salt Lake Theatre was secured for September 22nd. The manager of the theatre was Hiram Bradley Clawson who was also the Bishop the Twelfth Ward where John gave his first presentation. The organizers also obtained the services of a stenographer, John Irvine. It is the stenographers copy that we have today, though there are some notes from the lecture on the 15th included at the end. The theatre was packed with an additional three to four hundred people sitting on the stage itself. The Theatre Ochestra and the Sixteenth Ward Band were on hand to play music before Mr Nicholson began speaking.

The text of his lecture is now in the public domain, available from several sources on the web. Here are just a few.

Open Library
Internet Archive

By the way, I don't agree with Mr Nicholson about the cause of the Massacre. He says that the Red Hot Address was a principle cause. Although I have nothing to judge the specifics of his reasoning about politics in Utah, I doubt the magnitude of his assumed effect on the people of Lewis County. I think it was something else that pushed them over the edge and it had little to do with the Red Hot Address. But that is the subject of another post.

[John Nicholson wrote the text for Come Follow Me, The Lord is My Light, and While of these Emblems We Partake]

Andrew Jenson's Church Chronology

My mother gave me a copy of Andrew Jenson's Church Chronology during a visit this summer. It belonged to her father and was published in 1914. The first edition was published in 1898, and according to the preface, only 15,000 of the 25,000 books printed were ever sold. So the publisher issued a second edition in 1914 to which were added two supplements; one covering 1899-1905 and another covering 1906-1913. I'm not sure why there were two supplements instead of just one, since this book represents only the second printing.

Going through each index, (the third is supposed to be comprehensive) was an interesting view into what was considered valid Church History. Not only was I surprised to find many I had written about many of the stories in the chronology, but also a few I had not even heard of before now.

[This is not a direct quote of Andrew Jenson's work. I have summarized for space and clarity and corrected some errors]

1806 Jan 18: William E Mclellin was born in Smith County, Tennessee.
1875 Jun 8: George W. Emery of Tennessee was appointed governor of Utah.
1884 Aug 8: James Roskelley was shot and wounded in Lee Valley, Tennessee.
1884 Aug 9: Hensen family was fired upon and forced to flee their home in Decatur County, Tennessee.
1884 Aug 10: Five people died at the Cane Creek Massacre in Lewis County, Tennessee.
1884 Aug 22: The remains of Elders Gibbs and Berry arrive in Salt Lake City.
1884 Sep 22: John Nicholson lectured in Salt Lake City on the causes of the Cane Creek Masaacre.
1884 Nov 13: Eighty LDS emigrants left Chattanooga, Tennessee for Utah and Colorado.
1885 Apr 9: Tennessee passed a law against teaching polygamy.
1885 Apr 13: Elders Gardner and Christensen arrested in Carter County, Tennessee for teaching polygamy.
1885 Nov 9: The case against Elder Christensen was dismissed.
1888 Jul 9: John W. Judd from Tennessee nominated to the supreme court of Utah.
1888 Aug 23: John W. Judd arrived in Utah.
1888 Sep 2: Several Elders were beaten in Bells Station, Tennessee.
1889 Aug 16: Elder Spry was arrested at Chattanooga, Tennessee, after being mistaken for another man.
1894 Mar 30: Elder W. W. Bean held a debate at Sparta, White County, Tennessee.
1898 Dec 1: The LDS Southern Star was first published at Chattanooga, Tennessee.
1900 Feb 27: Elder Brian Ward Peck died in Puntnam County, Tennessee.
1902 Jun 30: Tennessee became part of the new Middle States Mission.
1902 Jul 28: Oliver Workman died. He was born in Tennessee, and was in the Mormon Battalion.
1902 Dec 24: Shadrach Holdaway died. He was born in Tennessee.
1904 Apr 3: James A Allred died. He was born in Tennessee
1905 May 1: Elders Sorenson and Jensen were attacked by a mob in Tennessee.
1905 Aug 10: Elders Miller and Walton were attacked by a mob in Tennessee.

As I write this I'm starting to think about what I would have included, if I were writing a chronology of the LDS Church in Tennessee.

Happy Birthday William E. McLellan

Today, 104 204 years ago, William E. McLellan was born in Smith County Tennessee. In honor of his birthday, I direct you to my earlier post on his life.

Michigan notes

I am a Healthcare Analyst by profession. Because of that I have spend much of the last four months in Michigan. It has got me thinking about the history of the LDS church in Michigan, though I've had very little time to do any research on the ground.

Some of my ancestors joined the church here. Pontiac, Michigan to be exact.  Joseph Smith's mother (Lucy) and brother (Hyrum) made the trip to Pontiac to visit her sister in 1831. Lucy had hoped her sister's family would embrace the gospel, though only a few did. Instead, a number of others joined including three brothers of the Curtis family, from one of whom I am descended. Other missionaries followed, including Joseph Smith himself in 1834.

A handfull of the coverts living in Michigan joined Zion's Camp including another ancestor of mine, Ornan Houghton. More branches were formed and by the time of Joseph Smith's death there were dozens throughout the state.

In 1848 James Strang led his followers to Beaver Island where they stayed until they were brutally removed in 1856 following Stang's murder.

Today the Michigan is associated with the Romney family because of George W. Romney who was governor of Michigan from 1963-1969. And then there is his son Mitt.

There are eight stakes and a temple in Michigan.

Henry Green Boyle

In 1876, Henry Green Boyle was chosen to head the missionary work in the US south. He had been there before the previous year with George Teasdale, D. P. Bainey, Joseph Standing, John Morgan, John D. H. McCallister, David H. Perry, and John Winder. Any of those name sound familiar? Now he was returning with an official title: President of the Southern States Mission. It included Tennessee, Arkansas, Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, and Virginia.

His first set of missionaries were Elders William Calder, J. W. Sharp, J. P. Wimmer, J. S. Page Jr., Samuel Worsencroft, Samuel Douglas, Charles Brewerton, William C Whightman, Joseph Argyle, J. W. Thomas, John C. Harper, and Franklin Haymore.

President was released to return home in January 1878. Elder John Morgan was appointed in his stead. His journals and other papers are archived at BYU.

What is it that interests you about Mormon History?

I ask myself that question from time to time. OK, I ask myself that a lot. And I have a lot of different answers. what I find is that the answers are pretty much the same regardless of what I am studying. Usually it has to do with the people who were involved. Lets take Cane Creek, for example.

I wanted to find out who was there, who left Tennessee when it was over, where did they go, who stayed, and did they stay with the Church? I wasn't optimistic that I would learn the reasons why, but there was always hope. Of course, I learned so much more about these peope in the process, so I have more than just their names.

So a few months ago I submitted a proposal for the Mormon History Association conference. The proposal was to be 300 words long.

In the area called Cane Creek in Lewis County, Tennessee, missionaries for the LDS Church were both well received and violently rejected. The treatment they received developed partially along family lines. The extended family of Elisha and Barbara Talley, for example, formed the core of a fast growing and successful branch of the LDS Church at Cane Creek for over five years. During that time over fifty people were baptized, most of whom were related to the Talley family. A few miles to the north, the family of George and Nancy Hinson, however, included some of those who opposed the missionary activities of the LDS Church in the area. On August 10th 1884, that opposition led to the violent death of two missionaries, one of George Hinson’s sons, two members of the extended Talley family, and the crippling of a third. The tragedy is sometimes known as the Cane Creek Massacre. Following the Massacre, a large number of members of the branch either emigrated to Manassa, Colorado or renounced their membership in the LDS Church. The branch at Cane Creek did not survive the tragedy. Although some descendants of the original branch members still live on or near Cane Creek today, the once large extended Talley family was temporarily disrupted by the bloodshed, the fear of persecution, and the conflicting church affiliations. Only a few members of the extended Talley family, mostly outside of Tennessee, remained affiliated with the LDS Church.

This short paragraph summarizes a much longer paper I have been working on for some time. Research notes and related texts have accumulated to over 200 pages. And this does not include the text of original documents, manuscripts, and previous related works by other authors.

Knowing there was no way I would be able to share 200 pages at the conference I began to weed through the disjointed writing and notes to come up with a coherant theme based article that might be interesting to a wider audience. So based on what enticed me to research Cane Creek in the first place I whittled it down to just 50 pages.

A couple of weeks ago I was told the proposal was accepted. I will still need to provide an abtract and a eventually the presentation itself. Of course, the presentation could be no longer than 20 minutes. By their estimate of 2 minutes a page, that comes to just 10 double spaced pages.

10 pages!!!? Really!!? I can certainly write 10 pages. But the trick is to make it the right 10 pages. So I have been mulling this over. Do I need to rethink my outline and make it shorter? I certainly can't cover every family member in the branch in just 10 pages. So what do I want to cover? Unfortunately, I may be a little too close to know what others would find interesting.

I do notice when some things interest the my friends online. Relatives of those involved comment here frequently, but the reason they are interested is pretty obvious. A few readers are fascinated with the lives of the vigilantes. Others love that some of the vigilantes' children and grandchildren married the children and grandchildren of the branch members who stayed. But I can't tell what those who don't comment find compelling.

So I ask you; what have you found the most interesting about the massacre?

Latter Day Saints Southern Star

Google books is a great place to find books that are out of copyright. One such book is the Latter Day Saint Souther Star. The original Southern Star was the newspaper for the Southern States Mission. It was primarily published under the direction of Ben E. Rich. Beginning December 3rd, 1898 it was published for just two years. At the end of the year, President Rich bound the 52 issues into a single volume. At the end of the second year he created a second volume. It is these two volumes that have been digitized and are available on Google books.

Volume 1
Volume 2

The volumes are a trove of information about the various conferences of the Southern States Mission.

Mission Conference at Glenobey, Tennessee

Glenobey, Fentress County, is just 6 miles southwest of Jamestown, Tennessee and was the site of the East Tennessee Mission Conference Dec 27th and 28th, 1903.

EAST TENNESSEE.—Elders of this conference met at Glenobey, Fentress County, December 27th and 28th, according to appointment. Elder H. B. Elder of the Mission office was in attendance. Three public meetings were held besides meetings at the homes of several of the nearby Saints Sunday evening. Two Priesthood meetings were held, at which time an exceptionally good spirit was manifested. Elder George A. Langston, who has been president of this Conference for some time was released to labor among his relatives in southern Georgia for the remainder of his missionary days, and Elder J. S. Bardsley was unanimously sustained to that position in his stead. A very instructive and happy time was had by all who were privileged to attend the gatherings. Elders as follows were present: J. S. Bardsley, A. Rasmussen, H. J. Vanfleet, William Harris, J. F. Thorne, Thomas Lawrence, Jr., Z. A. Bethers, D. J. Hamblin, W. W, Freeman, Leroy Armstrong, T. J. Russon, D. S. Warren, Ernest Harker, George B. Ward, L. H. McCullough, Ira Waite,. S. S. Stevens, and Joseph A. Brunt.

That wasn't the last time Glenobey showed up in church records. In October 1913, Elders Stephens and Hales spoke at a funeral to an audience of about two hundred. Branch Conferences were held in Glenobey at late as 1920. It is today part of the Jamestown Ward.

Centerplace for Zion

OK, here is one I hadn't seen before. The Centerplace for Zion is a site maintained by the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Restorationist movement. They separated from the RLDS Church in the 1980's over a number of doctrinal issues, including the ordination of women to the priesthood. 

As an online historical resource, they have provided some very useful early resources. The site includes...

Times and Seasons

Messenger and Advocate

Evening and Morning Star