The Foreign Immigration To Utah

When the Mormons began their departure westward from Nauvoo, the
immigration of converts from Europe was suspended because of the
uncertainty about the location of the next settlement, and the
difficulty of transporting the existing population. But the
necessity of constant additions to the community of new-comers,
and especially those bringing some capital, was never lost sight
of by the heads of the church. An evidence of this was given even
before the first company reached the Missouri River.

While the Saints were marching through Iowa they received
intelligence of a big scandal in connection with the emigration
business in England, and P. P. Pratt, Orson Hyde, and John Taylor
were hurriedly sent to that country to straighten the matter out.
The Millennial Star in the early part of 1846 had frequent
articles about the British and American Commercial Joint Stock
Company, an organization incorporated to assist poor Saints in
emigrating. The principal emigration agent in Great Britain at
that time was R. Hedlock. He was the originator of the Joint
Stock Company, and Thomas Ward was its president. The Mormon
investigators found that more than 1644 pounds of the
contributions of the stockholders had been squandered, and that
Ward had been lending Hedlock money with which to pay his
personal debts. Ward and Hedlock were at once disfellowshipped,
and contributions to the treasury of the company were stopped.
Pratt says that Hedlock fled when the investigators arrived,
leaving many debts, "and finally lived incog. in London with a
vile woman." Thus it seems that Mormon business enterprises in
England were no freer from scandals than those in America.

The efforts of the leaders of the church were now exerted to make
the prospects of the Saints in Utah attractive to the converts in
England whom they wished to add to the population of their
valley. Young and his associates seem to have entertained the
idea, without reckoning on the rapid settlement of California,
the migration of the "Forty-niners," and the connection of the
two coasts by rail, that they could constitute a little empire
all by itself in Utah, which would be self-supporting as well as
independent, the farmer raising food for the mechanic, and the
mechanic doing the needed work for the farmer. Accordingly, the
church did not stop short of every kind of misrepresentation and
deception in belittling to the foreigners the misfortunes of the
past, and picturing to them the fruitfulness of their new
country, and the ease with which they could become landowners
there.

Naturally, after the expulsion from Illinois, in which so many
foreign converts shared, an explanation and palliation of the
emigration thence were necessary. In the United States, then and
ever since, the Mormons pictured themselves as the victims of an
almost unprecedented persecution. But as soon as John Taylor
reached England, in 1846, he issued an address to the Saints in
Great Britain* in which he presented a very different picture.
Granting that, on an average, they had not obtained more than
one-third the value of their real and personal property when they
left Illinois, he explained that, when they settled there, land
in Nauvoo was worth only from $3 to $20 per acre, while, when
they left, it was worth from $50 to $1500 per acre; in the same
period the adjoining farm lands had risen in value from $1.25 and
$5 to from $5 to $50 per acre. He assured his hearers, therefore,
that the one-third value which they had obtained had paid them
well for their labor. Nor was this all. When they left, they had
exchanged their property for horses, cattle, provisions,
clothing, etc., which was exactly what was needed by settlers in
a new country. As a further bait he went on to explain: "When we
arrive in California, according to the provisions of the Mexican
government, each family will be entitled to a large tract of
land, amounting to several hundred acres," and, if that country
passed into American control, he looked for the passage of a law
giving 640 acres to each male settler. "Thus," he summed up, "it
will be easy to see that we are in a better condition than when
we were in Nauvoo!"

* Millennial Star, Vol. VIII, p. 115.


The misrepresentation did not cease here, however. After
announcing the departure of Brigham Young's pioneer company,
Taylor* wound up with this tissue of false statements: "The way
is now prepared; the roads, bridges, and ferry-boats made; there
are stopping places also on the way where they can rest, obtain
vegetables and corn, and, when they arrive at the far end,
instead of finding a wild waste, they will meet with friends,
provisions and a home, so that all that will be requisite for
them to do will be to find sufficient teams to draw their
families, and to take along with them a few woollen or cotton
goods, or other articles of merchandise which will be light, and
which the brethren will require until they can manufacture for
themselves." How many a poor Englishman, toiling over the plains
in the next succeeding years, and, arriving in arid Utah to find
himself in the clutches of an organization from which he could
not escape, had reason to curse the man who drew this picture!

* John Taylor was born in England in 1808, and emigrated to
Canada in 1829, where, after joining the Methodists, he, like
Joseph Smith, found existing churches unsatisfactory, and was
easily secured as a convert by P. P. Pratt. He was elected to the
Quorum, and was sent to Great Britain as a missionary in 1840,
writing several pamphlets while there. He arrived in Nauvoo with
Brigham Young in 1841, and there edited the Times and Seasons,
was a member of the City Council, a regent of the university, and
judge advocate of the Legion, and was in the room with the
prophet when the latter was shot. He was the Mormon
representative in France in 1849, publishing a monthly paper
there, translating the Mormon Bible into the French language, and
preaching later at Hamburg, Germany. He was superintendent of the
Mormon church in the Eastern states in 1857, when Young declared
war against the United States, and he succeeded Young as head of
the church.

In 1847, at the suggestion of Taylor, Hyde, and Pratt, who were
still in England, a petition bearing nearly 13,000 names was
addressed to Queen Victoria, setting forth the misery existing
among the working classes in Great Britain, suggesting, as the
best means of relief, royal aid to those who wished to emigrate

to "the island of Vancouver or to the great territory of Oregon,"
and asking her "to give them employment in improving the harbors
of those countries, or in erecting forts of defence; or, if this
be inexpedient, to furnish them provisions and means of
subsistence until they can produce them from the soil." These
American citizens did not hesitate to point out that the United
States government was favoring the settlement of its territory on
the Pacific coast, and to add: "While the United States do
manifest such a strong inclination, not only to extend and
enlarge their possessions in the West, but also to people them,
will not your Majesty look well to British interests in those
regions, and adopt timely precautionary measures to maintain a
balance of power in that quarter which, in the opinion of your
memorialists, is destined at no very distant period to
participate largely in the China trade?" *

* See Linforth's "Route," pp. 2-5.


The Oregon boundary treaty was less than a year old when this
petition was presented. It was characteristic of Mormon duplicity
to find their representatives in Great Britain appealing to Queen
Victoria on the ground of self-interest, while their chiefs in
the United States were pointing to the organization of the
Battalion as a proof of their fidelity to the home government.
Practically no notice was taken of this petition. Vancouver
Island, was, however, held out to the converts in Great Britain
as the one "gathering point of the Saints from the islands and
distant portions of the earth," until the selection of Salt Lake
Valley as the Saints' abiding place.

On December 23, 1847, Young, in behalf of the Twelve, issued from
Winter Quarters a General Epistle to the church a which gave an
account of his trip to the Salt Lake Valley, directed all to
gather themselves speedily near Winter Quarters in readiness for
the march to Salt Lake Valley, and said to the Saints in
Europe:--

"Emigrate as speedily as possible to this vicinity. Those who
have but little means, and little or no labor, will soon exhaust
that means if they remain where they are. Therefore, it is wisdom
that they remove without delay; for here is land on which, by
their labor, they can speedily better their condition for their
further journey." The list of things which Young advised the
emigrants to bring with them embraced a wide assortment: grains,
trees, and vines; live stock and fowls; agricultural implements
and mills; firearms and ammunition; gold and silver and zinc and
tin and brass and ivory and precious stones; curiosities, "sweet
instruments of music, sweet odors, and beautiful colors." The
care of the head of the church, that the immigrants should not
neglect to provide themselves with cologne and rouge for use in
crossing the prairies, was most thoughtful.

* Millennial Star, Vol. X, p. 81.


The Millennial Star of February 1, 1848, made this announcement
to the faithful in the British Isles:--

"The channel of Saints' emigration to the land of Zion is now
opened. The resting place of Israel for the last days has been
discovered. In the elevated valley of the Salt and Utah Lakes,
with the beautiful river Jordan running through it, is the newly
established Stake of Zion. There vegetation flourishes with magic
rapidity. And the food of man, or staff of life, leaps into
maturity from the bowels of Mother Earth with astonishing
celerity. Within one month from planting, potatoes grew from six
to eight inches, and corn from two to four feet. There the
frequent clouds introduce their fertilizing contents at a modest
distance from the fat valley, and send their humid influences
from the mountain tops. There the saline atmosphere of Salt Lake
mingles in wedlock with the fresh humidity of the same vegetable
element which comes over the mountain top, as if the nuptial
bonds of rare elements were introduced to exhibit a novel
specimen of a perfect vegetable progeny in the shortest possible
time," etc.

Contrast this with Brigham Young's letter to Colonel Alexander in
October, 1857,--"We had hoped that in this barren, desolate
country we could have remained unmolested."

On the 20th of February, 1848, the shipment of Mormon emigrants
began again with the sailing of the Cornatic, with 120
passengers, for New Orleans.

In the following April, Orson Pratt was sent to England to take
charge of the affairs of the church there. On his arrival, in
August, he issued an "Epistle" which was influential in
augmenting the movement. He said that "in the solitary valleys of
the great interior" they hoped to hide "while the indignation of
the Almighty is poured upon the nations"; and urged the rich to
dispose of their property in order to help the poor, commanding
all who could do so to pay their tithing. "O ye saints of the
Most High," he said, "linger not! Make good your retreat before
the avenues are closed up!"

Many other letters were published in the Millennial Star in
1848-1849, giving glowing accounts of the fertility of Salt Lake
Valley. One from the clerk of the camp observed: "Many cases of
twins. In a row of seven houses joining each other eight births
in one week."

In order to assist the poor converts in Europe, the General
Conference held in Salt Lake City in October, 1849, voted to
raise a fund, to be called "The Perpetual Emigrating Fund," and
soon $5000 had been secured for this purpose. In September, 1850,
the General Assembly of the Provisional State of Deseret
incorporated the Perpetual Emigration Fund Company, and Brigham
Young was elected its first president. Collections for this fund
in Great Britain amounted to 1410 pounds by January, 1852, and
the emigrants sent out in that year were assisted from this fund.
These expenditures required an additional $5000, which was
supplied from Salt Lake City. A letter issued by the First
Presidency in October, 1849, urged the utmost economy in the
expenditure of this money, and explained that, when the assisted
emigrants arrived in Salt Lake City, they would give their
obligations to the church to refund as soon as possible what had
been expended on them.* In this way, any who were dissatisfied on
their arrival in Utah found themselves in the church clutches,
from which they could not escape.

* Millennial Star, Vol. XII, p. 124.


There were outbreaks of cholera among the emigrant parties
crossing the plains in 1849, and many deaths.

In October, 1849, an important company left Salt Lake City to
augment the list of missionaries in Europe. It included John
Taylor and two others, assigned to France; Lorenzo Snow and one
other, to Italy; Erastus Snow and one other, to Denmark;* F. D.
Richards and eight others, to England; and J. Fosgreene, to
Sweden.

* Elder Dykes reported in October, 1851, that, on his arrival in
Aalborg, Denmark, he found that a mob had broken in the windows
of the Saints' meeting-house and destroyed the furniture, and had
also broken the windows of the Saints' houses, and, by the
mayor's advice, he left the city by the first steamer. Millennial
Star, Vol. XIII, p. 346.


The system of Mormon emigration from Great Britain at that time
seems to have been in the main a good one. The rule of the agent
in Liverpool was not to charter a vessel until enough passengers
had made their deposits to warrant him in doing so. The rate of
fare depended on the price paid for the charter.* As soon as the
passengers arrived in Liverpool they could go on board ship, and,
when enough came from one district, all sailed on one vessel.
Once on board, they were organized with a president and two
counsellors,--men who had crossed the ocean, if possible,--who
allotted the staterooms, appointed watchmen to serve in turn, and
looked after the sanitary arrangements. When the first through
passengers for Salt Lake City left Liverpool, in 1852, an
experienced elder was sent in advance to have teams and supplies
in readiness at the point where the land journey would begin, and
other men of experience accompanied them to engage river
portation when they reached New Orleans. The statistics of the
emigration thus called out were as follows:--

* See Linforth's "Route," pp. to, 17-22; Mackay's "History of the
Mormons," pp. 298-302; Pratt's letter to the Millennial Star,
Vol. XI, p. 277.


YEAR VESSELS EMIGRANTS
1848 5 754
1849 9 2078
1850 6 1612
1851 4 1869

The Frontier Guardian at Kanesville estimated the Mormon movement
across the plains in 1850 at about 700 wagons, taking 5000 horses
and cattle and 4000 sheep.

Of the class of emigrants then going out, the manager of the
leading shipping agents at Liverpool who furnished the ships
said, "They are principally farmers and mechanics, with some few
clerks, surgeons, and so forth." He found on the company's books,
for the period between October, 1849, and March, 1850, the names
of 16 miners, 20 engineers, 19 farmers, 108 laborers, 10 joiners,
25 weavers, 15 shoemakers, 12 smiths, 19 tailors, 8 watchmakers,
25 stone masons, 5 butchers, 4 bakers, 4 potters, 10 painters, 7
shipwrights, and 5 dyers.

The statistics of the Mormon emigration given by the British
agency for the years named were as follows:--

YEAR VESSELS EMIGRANTS
1852 3 732
1853 7 2312
1854 9 2456
1852 1854, Scandinavian
and German via Liverpool 1053
1855 13 4425

In 1853 the experiment was made of engaging to send adults from
Liverpool to Utah for 10 pounds each and children for half price;
but this did not succeed, and those who embraced the offer had to
borrow money or teams to complete the journey.

In 1853, owing to extortions practised on the emigrants by the
merchants and traders at Kanesville, as well as the
unhealthfulness of the Missouri bottoms, the principal point of
departure from the river was changed to Keokuk, Iowa. The
authorities and people there showed the new-comers every
kindness, and set apart a plot of ground for their camp. In this
camp each company on its arrival was organized and provided with
the necessary teams, etc. In 1854 the point of departure was
again changed to Kansas, in western Missouri, fourteen miles west
of Independence, the route then running to the Big Blue River,
and through what are now the states of Kansas and Nebraska.


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