an interesting take on a boring subject….

an interesting take on a fun topic….

Michael is a very bright man and his book is very well researched. We served in the Texas San Antonio Mission in the mid 1980′s. He also did a sunstone presentation on the subject. I think you can download the mp3 for free.

I brought this subject up in Sunday school during a discussion. My comments were not well received. The Church, in official history, has portrayed the events in Nauvoo related to potential settlements west of the Mississippi differently then they actually occurred. I know Joseph also considered the Willamette Valley for potential settlement.

I wish more members understood early Church history. Excellent post!

Best,

RRW

“A Mormon Maverick in the Texas Hill Country–Elder Lyman Wight”
http://latterdayspence.blogspot.com/2008/07/mormon-maverick-in-texas-hill-country.html

Ditto on Joe’s recommendation of the Johnson book.

Nice post, Russell. Steve Taysom has done some good work on the formation of Utah Mormon memory around the exodus and Joseph’s foreknowledge of the Saints settling in the West. This collective memory has worked to marginalize not only other plans, such as the Texas colony, but also the other Saints that did not go West. If JS “saw” the Saints in the Rocky Mountains, then obviously those that didn’t end up there were following the wrong guy. Trying to explain to ordinary Saints the constructed nature of this memory doesn’t go over very well, in my experience.

But is Utah still “the place” today? It depends on what you mean, I suppose. The SL temple and the COB won’t be leaving the state anytime soon, so in a sense the SL valley remains the center of Utah Mormonism. But in terms of the gathering, church leaders now resort to explicitly telling new converts in other countries to stay away, so I don’t think we can still call Utah “the place” in terms of being the primary place of refuge (or Zion) in the last days. If Saints can be “safe” anywhere in the world, it starts to break down the binary between center and periphery that dominated Utah Mormon self-perceptions from the early period through the mid-20th century.

Do you have any more info on this documentary? I’d love to see it.

Excellent write-up.

Another book that may be of interest is Melvin Johnson’s “Polygamy on the Pedernales: Lyman Wight’s Mormon Villages in Antebellum Texas 1845-1858″. Mel’s book is one of the best written books I have read and completely covers the subject.

I have never heard of the “Menominees” tribe before; I’ll have to look them up. That reminds me of the Muppets song.

One of my HT sisters lives on Menominee Street. Let’s see – yes, I’ve visited her this month – whew! – had me panicked there for a minute.

I have never heard of the “Menominees” tribe before; I’ll have to look them up. That reminds me of the Muppets song.

Here’s an excerpt of an entry from March 10, 1844:

“Letter was read from Lyman Wight and others Dated Feb 15 1844 to B Young W Richards &c. &c. . . . Joseph asked, can this council keep what I say, not make it public, all held up their hands. [Joseph then proceeded to organize the Council of Fifty to oversee the settlement of Texas and eventually to rule over the political Kingdom of God on earth.]”

Here’s one from March 14, 1844:

“Lucien Woodworth sent out on a mission [to Texas to negotiate a treaty in behalf of the Council of Fifty].”

Here’s one from May 3, 1844:

“Lucien Woodworth gave a report of his [diplomatic] Mission [to the Council of Fifty]. Lyman Wight present.”

And the last journal entry regarding Texas from May 6, 1844:

“Voted Almon BAbbit go on a [diplomatic] mission to France. L Woodworth on a [diplomatic] mission to Texas and Sidney Rigdon be candidate for the Vice Presidency of the U States.

“Had a warrant served on me from Circuit Court on complaint of F. M. Higbee.”