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Previous: The Church of Jesus Christ and Black People 1843-1844
The Church of Jesus Christ and Black People 1845-1848
On April 1, 1845, the Times and Seasons carried an anonymous editorial called "A Short Chapter on a Long Subject", which reverted to the views of pro-slavery mainstream Christians as expressed by Joseph Smith in his 1836 letter. It read: "After the flood and after Ham had dishonored the holy priesthood, Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his younger son (Ham,) had done unto him. And, as the priesthood descended from father to son, he delivered the following curse and blessing, as translated by King James' wise men and recorded in Genesis:
'And he said, cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.'
'And he said, blessed be the Lord God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.'
'God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.'
"History and common observation show that these predictions have been fulfilled to the letter. The descendants of Ham, besides a black skin which has ever been a curse that has followed an apostate of the holy priesthood, as well as a black heart, have been servants to both Shem and Japeth, and the abolitionists are trying to make void the curse of God, but it will require more power than man possesses to counteract the decrees of eternal wisdom.
"Again Shem or his descendants were blessed with receiving the revelations, prophets, and Savior: - A blessing truly which even the most sagacious infidel has not been able to explain away.
"Again, Japheth has dwelt in Shem's tent, both in the land of Canaan and in America; for 'tents' is a figurative expression which in Hebrew, would signify the residence or abode.
"Now our short chapter will soon end, for the Savior said Jerusalem should be trodden down till the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled, and the very movement of every nation shows the eternal truth of the above quoted passage of scripture. It frustrates the designs of sectarians; - it chokes the deists; astonishes the world, and delights the saints - Amen."
On June 1, the minutes of a Cincinnati Branch meeting held at the home of James Pugh record, "The conference met agreeable to previous appointments and was called to order by Elder Crippin. John W. Crippin was appointed President, and George Hales[,] Clerk. The conference was opened by singing and prayer by Abraham Wright. Present - three seventies, two elders, one priest, and two teachers.
"The President then laid before them the object of the conference. Elder Elijah Able then preferred a charge against Mrs. Carter, Mrs. Evans, and Miss Jane Roberts, for absenting themselves from the meetings of this branch, and speaking disrespectfully of the heads of the church.
"It was then moved and seconded that they be expelled from the church, which was done by a unanimous vote.... It is with pleasure we inform our brethren and friends that there is more union existing in this branch than there has been for the last three years, for which we give God the glory.
"John W. Crippin, Pres.
George Hales, Clerk"
'And he said, cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.'
'And he said, blessed be the Lord God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.'
'God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.'
"History and common observation show that these predictions have been fulfilled to the letter. The descendants of Ham, besides a black skin which has ever been a curse that has followed an apostate of the holy priesthood, as well as a black heart, have been servants to both Shem and Japeth, and the abolitionists are trying to make void the curse of God, but it will require more power than man possesses to counteract the decrees of eternal wisdom.
"Again Shem or his descendants were blessed with receiving the revelations, prophets, and Savior: - A blessing truly which even the most sagacious infidel has not been able to explain away.
"Again, Japheth has dwelt in Shem's tent, both in the land of Canaan and in America; for 'tents' is a figurative expression which in Hebrew, would signify the residence or abode.
"Now our short chapter will soon end, for the Savior said Jerusalem should be trodden down till the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled, and the very movement of every nation shows the eternal truth of the above quoted passage of scripture. It frustrates the designs of sectarians; - it chokes the deists; astonishes the world, and delights the saints - Amen."
On June 1, the minutes of a Cincinnati Branch meeting held at the home of James Pugh record, "The conference met agreeable to previous appointments and was called to order by Elder Crippin. John W. Crippin was appointed President, and George Hales[,] Clerk. The conference was opened by singing and prayer by Abraham Wright. Present - three seventies, two elders, one priest, and two teachers.
"The President then laid before them the object of the conference. Elder Elijah Able then preferred a charge against Mrs. Carter, Mrs. Evans, and Miss Jane Roberts, for absenting themselves from the meetings of this branch, and speaking disrespectfully of the heads of the church.
"It was then moved and seconded that they be expelled from the church, which was done by a unanimous vote.... It is with pleasure we inform our brethren and friends that there is more union existing in this branch than there has been for the last three years, for which we give God the glory.
"John W. Crippin, Pres.
George Hales, Clerk"
Mammy Chloe
The reminiscences of a Latter-day Saint to her granddaughter read: "I Mary Lee Bland Ewell, was left to bear the responsibility of providing for and rearing my family. Too proud to ask assistance from my wealthy father by whom I had been disinherited because I had married a Mormon and had affiliated myself with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and disobeyed his mandate that I marry the man of his choice, a son of his friend and neighbor whose plantation and estate adjoined ours.
"Our fathers had planned to give a large parcel of adjoining land to Dale and me as a wedding present. The engagement was to be announced when Dale came home from law school and I from boarding school. Dale and I broke up almost immediately after his arrival home because of ungentlemanly conduct. I tried to keep it from father as I felt he would not understand.
"Faithful old Mammy Chloe [a slave] helped me to avoid Dale, when he tried to see me again. Whenever he was seen coming I would slip out quickly and go for a ride on 'Old Betsy'. One day no one was around to saddle her, so I did it myself. The cinch was not tight enough and while riding in the woods some distance from home, the saddle turned, throwing me to the ground, injuring my back and my ankle.
"As I lay there, feeling unable to rise, a young man came along, bound my ankle and took me home. This young man introduced himself as William Fletcher Ewell, a medical student on vacation for the summer. During this vacation he was doing missionary work for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, known as 'Mormons'.
"He was heartily welcomed and invited to make our home his own as long as he desired. This new religion was listened to and agreed with, at first. Then one day Father went to town and came back a changed man, demanding an audience with the doctor. Father had found in the community that the teachings of Joseph Smith and the Mormons were very unpopular. They had let Father know that if he continued to entertain and encourage the young missionary, that he would be an outcast. This was more than Father could bear, as his standing in the community meant much to him.
"At first Father tried co get William to give up teaching or believing this religion and when that was to no avail, Father commanded him in no uncertain terms to leave, and when I pleaded both for the new religion and for William, I was ordered to my room and forbidden to see William or leave the room until I changed my mind; Father locked the door.
"I felt my heart would break for I loved William and he had a firm faith in the teachings which he had given us. I threatened to run away, but Mammy Chloe said that I would break my poor ill mother's heart. A week went by. Then a message came from William by faithful Mammy Chloe. He wanted to know if I would be willing to go with him as his wife and be with the Saints.
"My mind was made up - I knew the Gospel was true and was worth any sacrifice. Money and social position meant nothing to me in comparison to a life of usefulness with the one I loved. Mother was in sympathy with me and offered a trip to Paris, hoping that a trip would help me to see things Father's way, but I was not interested. Mother helped see that we could be together, for she loved William as a son and wanted to see me marry for love rather than social position and to please parents, as she had done.
"It was decided that we would meet the next night before moonrise, where William had found me that first day in the woods. Father, in the meantime, had offered me a trip to Paris hoping that would make me see things his way. I was not interested. Mama sent a purse full of money and a box of jewelry to me by Mammy Chloe, as she was not permitted to come to me. Mammy Chloe also informed me that she had been given to me and that she would not think of letting me go without her to help me.
"I made my escape through the second story window down the rose trellis. Sammy, Mammy Chloe's son, had two horses ready and waiting, one for Mammy Chloe and one for me. I left a goodby letter to Mama with Zachary, my brother, who was also in sympathy with me.
"We met William at the appointed place and rode all night in order to get far enough away that Father would not follow. The next day we found a minister in a small town in Kentucky [the marriage record shows Missouri] and were married with Mammy Chloe as my witness. I was not yet eighteen and William was just twenty-two.
"William entered medical school, and that fall my brother wrote that mother was still ill, her pleadings to father to accept us on a visit were in vain, as were her pleadings for the new religion which she believed was true.
"The following year our first son [Francis Marion] was born while we were in Missouri with the Doctor's family during vacation. Mammy Chloe cared for the baby just as she had cared for me. In due time, another son [John Pleasant] came to us, and two years later a daughter was born whom we called Sarah Elizabeth for dear Mama who still had not been permitted to see us.
"The family doctor finally told Papa that if he desired to keep his wife he had better let her see her daughter and grandchildren she had pined for so long in her weak condition. Papa consented and we were sent for. We went promptly, even Papa seemed happy to see us and loved the children. Our visit seemed to give new life to Mama.
"Our happiness was complete until the day Papa said: 'Dr. Ewell, I want to have a talk with you. You seem to have made Mary Lee very happy and while I cannot forgive you for taking her away as you did, I'll give you the strip of land we had planned to give to Mary Lee and I'll build you a house as becomes our rank and you can practice medicine right here. You have made Mary Lee's mother happy and the doctor says my wife hasn't long to live. But of course you will have to give up that abominable religion of yours for any social prestige among our kind.'
"William thanked him for his kind offer but said, "We cannot repudiate the truth of the Gospel." We were asked to leave and I was disinherited. William had finished school that year.
"Mother soon passed away and my brother wrote that my portrait was thrown into the attic and my name taken from the family record in the Bible.
"My jewels went one at a time in the hard times that followed. Another little girl was born while we were living at Winter Quarters who we named Barbara Ann.
"Then came the call for volunteers to serve our country in the Mexican[-American] War. Dr. Ewell was among those who marched away on the longest military march in history, about two thousand miles. Three months after his good-bye, our son William was born.
"Although there was never a shot fired by the Mormon Battalion in the conquest, they fought with the wild bulls which gathered first in curiosity and finally attacked and gored to death several mules, some hitched to wagons and some pack mules." During the march home, Brother Ewell fell very ill.
"Our fathers had planned to give a large parcel of adjoining land to Dale and me as a wedding present. The engagement was to be announced when Dale came home from law school and I from boarding school. Dale and I broke up almost immediately after his arrival home because of ungentlemanly conduct. I tried to keep it from father as I felt he would not understand.
"Faithful old Mammy Chloe [a slave] helped me to avoid Dale, when he tried to see me again. Whenever he was seen coming I would slip out quickly and go for a ride on 'Old Betsy'. One day no one was around to saddle her, so I did it myself. The cinch was not tight enough and while riding in the woods some distance from home, the saddle turned, throwing me to the ground, injuring my back and my ankle.
"As I lay there, feeling unable to rise, a young man came along, bound my ankle and took me home. This young man introduced himself as William Fletcher Ewell, a medical student on vacation for the summer. During this vacation he was doing missionary work for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, known as 'Mormons'.
"He was heartily welcomed and invited to make our home his own as long as he desired. This new religion was listened to and agreed with, at first. Then one day Father went to town and came back a changed man, demanding an audience with the doctor. Father had found in the community that the teachings of Joseph Smith and the Mormons were very unpopular. They had let Father know that if he continued to entertain and encourage the young missionary, that he would be an outcast. This was more than Father could bear, as his standing in the community meant much to him.
"At first Father tried co get William to give up teaching or believing this religion and when that was to no avail, Father commanded him in no uncertain terms to leave, and when I pleaded both for the new religion and for William, I was ordered to my room and forbidden to see William or leave the room until I changed my mind; Father locked the door.
"I felt my heart would break for I loved William and he had a firm faith in the teachings which he had given us. I threatened to run away, but Mammy Chloe said that I would break my poor ill mother's heart. A week went by. Then a message came from William by faithful Mammy Chloe. He wanted to know if I would be willing to go with him as his wife and be with the Saints.
"My mind was made up - I knew the Gospel was true and was worth any sacrifice. Money and social position meant nothing to me in comparison to a life of usefulness with the one I loved. Mother was in sympathy with me and offered a trip to Paris, hoping that a trip would help me to see things Father's way, but I was not interested. Mother helped see that we could be together, for she loved William as a son and wanted to see me marry for love rather than social position and to please parents, as she had done.
"It was decided that we would meet the next night before moonrise, where William had found me that first day in the woods. Father, in the meantime, had offered me a trip to Paris hoping that would make me see things his way. I was not interested. Mama sent a purse full of money and a box of jewelry to me by Mammy Chloe, as she was not permitted to come to me. Mammy Chloe also informed me that she had been given to me and that she would not think of letting me go without her to help me.
"I made my escape through the second story window down the rose trellis. Sammy, Mammy Chloe's son, had two horses ready and waiting, one for Mammy Chloe and one for me. I left a goodby letter to Mama with Zachary, my brother, who was also in sympathy with me.
"We met William at the appointed place and rode all night in order to get far enough away that Father would not follow. The next day we found a minister in a small town in Kentucky [the marriage record shows Missouri] and were married with Mammy Chloe as my witness. I was not yet eighteen and William was just twenty-two.
"William entered medical school, and that fall my brother wrote that mother was still ill, her pleadings to father to accept us on a visit were in vain, as were her pleadings for the new religion which she believed was true.
"The following year our first son [Francis Marion] was born while we were in Missouri with the Doctor's family during vacation. Mammy Chloe cared for the baby just as she had cared for me. In due time, another son [John Pleasant] came to us, and two years later a daughter was born whom we called Sarah Elizabeth for dear Mama who still had not been permitted to see us.
"The family doctor finally told Papa that if he desired to keep his wife he had better let her see her daughter and grandchildren she had pined for so long in her weak condition. Papa consented and we were sent for. We went promptly, even Papa seemed happy to see us and loved the children. Our visit seemed to give new life to Mama.
"Our happiness was complete until the day Papa said: 'Dr. Ewell, I want to have a talk with you. You seem to have made Mary Lee very happy and while I cannot forgive you for taking her away as you did, I'll give you the strip of land we had planned to give to Mary Lee and I'll build you a house as becomes our rank and you can practice medicine right here. You have made Mary Lee's mother happy and the doctor says my wife hasn't long to live. But of course you will have to give up that abominable religion of yours for any social prestige among our kind.'
"William thanked him for his kind offer but said, "We cannot repudiate the truth of the Gospel." We were asked to leave and I was disinherited. William had finished school that year.
"Mother soon passed away and my brother wrote that my portrait was thrown into the attic and my name taken from the family record in the Bible.
"My jewels went one at a time in the hard times that followed. Another little girl was born while we were living at Winter Quarters who we named Barbara Ann.
"Then came the call for volunteers to serve our country in the Mexican[-American] War. Dr. Ewell was among those who marched away on the longest military march in history, about two thousand miles. Three months after his good-bye, our son William was born.
"Although there was never a shot fired by the Mormon Battalion in the conquest, they fought with the wild bulls which gathered first in curiosity and finally attacked and gored to death several mules, some hitched to wagons and some pack mules." During the march home, Brother Ewell fell very ill.
William McCary
A half-black, half-Native American named William McCary arrived in Winter Quarters, Nebraska in February 1847, having joined the Church about a year prior and possibly received the priesthood. Here he married a white woman named Lucy Stanton and, for this, experienced some ostracization from the community. On March 26 he met with Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball and several other leaders. The minutes record:
"William McCary[:] I address myself to you as my bro. & my leader. I am satisfied by you - & in some places I am hypocritically abused - the bishops have counciled the ppl not to suffer such a Sp[irit] as me in their wigwams. Some say there go the old nigger & his White wife - today some of the Sis say, that is the man that bro Brigham tells his family to treat with disrespect - if there is any dissatisfator & I am not right I will walk right. And to the chalk line - I came in as a red man & want to go out as a red man what am I to depend - if I am wrong I want to walk right. I want you to tell me & then I will tell you what God sent me <here> for - we were all white once, why av. I the stain now. God has told me to walk at the lady. I come to lay myself at the foot & God & you for the bal[ance]. I seek the footstool at your feet - dont these backsliders think that I av a feeling I was a nigger. I got baptism I am thankful for it, I'd as like to be a nigger as an Indian as many think they are as are I don't any one to transgress. I am come here for my Salv sake & providing I get this feeling from you I will walk the ri[ght] road. Some say I am as Adam, some as the Indian Prophet - I want the person to come & tell me to my face, providing I behave myself, & you told me to teach all my ppl to obey the K[ingdom] of God. Must I obey you, or must I obey them don't obey you.
"B.Y. Obey me.
"McCary: If I am Adam, & we was to say here comes a head jumping along with a head as white as wool, they wd. say where is your body? - oh I've left that home (laugh). I am speaking of 4 leg sheep now - to see the head come along & say I am ancient of days & leave body at home is two things - provided ancient of days, comes he must bring his body along - provided I was Adam what wd the ppl do - why theyd be as the dog was with the hot dumplings - if old Fav. was to come - I want to know how many Fa[ther]s and Mo[ther]s to save ppl - we must av. Fa and mo to save ppl. in some wa[y] - now when Adam comes he will bring the lost rib with him - provided the body comes, the Indian av. no oath in their tongue - I ask Jack Redding why he swear - oh says he the white people tell me - Borecale is the same man - they [are] both placed in one body. I av. got as strait hair as any other - look at it, there is no sight in left eye - no hearing in left ear - I want to understand among the 12 whe[ther] I am protected if I do right. If there is so much fuss about it - that I have a lost rib you give it up there can be no stuffing, one man confesses to be Adam - and the Ancient of Days, Every man is trying to get up a mob to drive me out of the city - there is no man but they speak evil of - they even speak evil of God - you can see & examine - if you ex[amine] my body, see about it & examine for yourself. So long as a white woman is so much in the way, good God why don't they give me a red woman - there is so much modesty, you may have seen a redskin jump into his costume - as my Wife is not ashamed I don't think you will be ashamed.
"He put on his Indian costume - Dr. R. felt his ribs.
"B.Y. What are we to understand by your asking us to ex[amine] you
"McCarry: I want to prove whether I av. been here before to be ex[amined]. I av. come to let you know what I am accused for. I say my body is no more - Ive come here to lay myself bef. you as your servant.
"Dr. R. I don't discover any thing novel.
"McCarry[:] the ppl are going it all the time some call me adam, some old nigger - I want to know what is the diff.
"B.Y. have you one rib more on your right than on your left -
"W. Mc. That's what I am come to find out - here's the old rib - (wife)
"H.C.K. then you have more on one side than the other
"McC - Ah there's it - every one of you have a rib short - not here - but mine is here
"B.Y. your body is not what is your mission
"McC. All I ask is, will you protect me - I've come here & given myself out to be your servant
"B.Y. its nothing to do with the blood for of one blood God has made all flesh, we have to repent & regain [what] we av lost - we have one of the best Elders an African in Lowell - a barber
"John Eldridge - brother Lyman you know they pointed me out as a dreamer & 6 weeks ago, I dreamed of this very man coming & stripping himself like this
"McC I hope now they'l let me <live> in peace now (McCary dressed himself again) I av now satisfied them & they av satisfied me & if any one molests me I will come to bro. Brigham Thot it well to come & report myself to the heads of the Ch[urch]. If I am a donkey, I want to serve God - (Amen BY)
"McC. I am very much obliged at meeting you in love & gratitude those that are not my friends I want them to tel me - if you av any thing in your hearts you may as well tell me as I shall know all in 48 hours
"Mrs. McC. I reall want to know whet. you beli[eve] the Bible or not?
"BY Sister Lucy in what respect do you mean - in part or parts?
"Mrs. McC. Some is fulfilled - some is not translated right - if you certainly bel. the Bible by Joseph's translation.
"McC. If we dont bel. the bible, we r in a poor place for starters
"B.Y. We bel. the bible, & we bel. all truth - tho we have B[ible] B[ook] of Mormon, D&C & without the living oracles - this puts us position of the living oracles - if a man says he bel. Bible, B of Mormon, & D&C, and is not baptized for the remission of sins - he'll be damnd.
"McCary suppose I want to make a visit to the Arkansas & take my wife to meet my need - when are Sleep Creaks not all the rest & chiefly inclined to follow - among the Choctaws - why Jesus Christ was born in a stable - does that follow that he had a horses head - I am afraid of ans[wering] questions bec. ppl will take this thing wrong - persons come to me & tell me that the 12 dont teach the Bible & again they ask are you going to the mountains this year - I tell them I never calculate beyond my nose - they ask questions & then answer them themselves & turn away & say I tell them - if any man comes forward & says more than that he tells what is not here - some ask what do you think abt. the D&C - I ask what they think - they tell me then - I say thats enough you av answered the questions yourselves - I am satisfied - I want you to intercede for me I am not a Pr[i]est, or a leader of the ppl. but a common bro - because I am a little shade darker
"B.Y. We dont care about the color
"McC. Do I hear that from all - (All Aye)
"H.C.K don't you feel a good spirit here bro William
"McC Yes - Thank God There r 2 or 3 men at the end of the camp who want to kill me - I am satisfied in all - with you all - I am coming to lay myself at your feet & if God picks me up - its God & you for it - I mean to travel to the mountain if I only go a mile a day - that is if you dont pick up the load & put it in your pocket (laugh) - I am a Frenchman by trade, but never practice it - (laugh) One man next door to me says I wd. like to be an Indian but I can not speak Choctaw - now I say I dare him to talk American
"John Eldridge spoke some Dutch - McCarry talked in reply in Dutch -"
"He then played on his little thirty six cents flute - he picks no key but Ill put a key to it
"McC I have no means nor nothing - you cannot pick up the road & put it in your pocket
"B.Y. Suppose we get out to have the council house on monday evening next & give it out for 121/2 each we want every person to be fitted out - & not have to stay to hunt
"McC. I would like them to be come and satisfied
"BY Dont care what the ppl say, shew by your actions that you don't care for what they say. All we do is serve the Lord with all our hearts -
"McCarry I help to pick up the cross of Christ - I bel. in the Bible so far as I feel its right - I will take my Bible to my folks & tell them & you may preach 2500 years & they wont believe it (he then ridiculed the American peculiarities of speech) shewed mum, guess so, may be, think so, to be five foolish virgins - & yea, yea, nay, nay & Amen to the 5 Wise Virgins - told us of the frog. 'knee deep,' 'knee deep,' <'and deeper'> 'wants more bacon,' 'more bacon,' <'fried bacon'>, & then when they r going to apostatize they sing out 'more rum' 'more rum,' & then asked to part with good feelings & A. Lyman to pray
"Lyman made prayer
"McCarry I wish you would mention to the Bishops on the South & teach them not to come with one face to me, & not go & tell the brethren not to let me come into their Wigwams. I ask this in the name of God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son, Mary the mother, & the Holy Ghost Amen. We shall get amongst the Royal Family soon, & drink a toast heres to the trouser coon gang & the petticoat coon gang, may the trouser coon gang never be overcome by the petticoat coon gang."
Shortly afterward, McCary generated further controversy for claiming to be able to transfigure into figures from the Bible and Book of Mormon, and prophesy. He was excommunicated and expelled from the community, starting his own brand of "Mormonism" a short distance away and taking several white women as plural wives. On April 25, Elder Parley P. Pratt said in a sermon, "If people want to follow Strang, go it, want to follow this Black Man who has got the blood of Ham in him which linage [sic] was cursed as regards the Priesthood, want to follow a new thing, want to follow a new thing hatch it up for we have only the old thing."
Nelson Whipple recalled, "When I arrived in this branch [Springville, Iowa] it was in a rather curious fix. A man had been by the name of McCarry. He was said to be a mulatto or quatterun who professed to be some great one, and had converted a good many to his kind of religion. It appeared that he understood the sleight-of-hand, the black art or that he was a magician or something of the kind, and had fooled the ignorant in that way.
"He was in favor of holding his meetings of the men and women separately, saying that his teaching to the men and to the women was entirely different. His talk and pretensions were of the most absurd character, and it would appear that no rational being would adhere to it for a moment, but many did.
"He had a number of women sealed to him in his way which was as follows; He had a house in which the ordinance was performed. His wife Lucy Stanton was in the room at the time of the performance, no others were admitted. The form of sealing was for the women to bed with him, in the daytime as I am informed three different times by which they were sealed to the fullest extent.
"This order of things continued for a considerable length of time when the secret was revealed by one Mrs. Howard who revolted and ran when she found what the sealing ordinance really was, notwithstanding Mrs. McCarry tried her best to prevent her escape from the house. She went home and told her husband, Mr. Howard of the affair and who they were that had been sealed in that way to the old darkey.
"Howard went forthwith and told [Sisson] Chase, who was a believer in McCarry, and his wife had been through the sealing ordinance. Chase did not of course believe it until his wife acknowledged it and then of course he did. He was very much astonished at the idea and it is said that he did not speak a loud word for about three weeks that anyone knew of. But after a while he became himself, lived with his wife, and does at present.
"Others were drawn into strange delusions in some unaccountable way that was a mystery to everybody. The name of the unfortunate persons I will mention. Not to bring disgrace upon them or their posterity but as an item of history.
"It was said that Daniel Stanton was a full believer in the nigger prophet as he was called. He denied it but allowed his meetings to be held at his house and his family to attend them and his daughter to marry him, etc. I shall put down his name as one to venture.
"Men - Daniel Stanton Sr., Sylvanus Calkins, John Atchinson, Sisson A. Chase, - Eldredge, Jonathon Haywood
"Women - Widow Pulsipher and daughter, Meri[a]h Atchison, Harriet Stanton, Caroline Stanton, Constanza Stanton, Mrs. Sisson A. Chase, mother, a woman of upwards of 60 years of age.
"As soon as the said McCarry saw that he was found out in his devilment he made his way to Missouri on a fast trot. Bro. Ha[r]mon Cutler determined to shoot him if he could find him for having tried to kiss his girls, but he was gone.
"After a while he sent for his wife and Br. Joseph Lish took her to him in Missouri. Charges were preferred against those persons and most of them were cut off from the Church but were again restored to baptism."
"William McCary[:] I address myself to you as my bro. & my leader. I am satisfied by you - & in some places I am hypocritically abused - the bishops have counciled the ppl not to suffer such a Sp[irit] as me in their wigwams. Some say there go the old nigger & his White wife - today some of the Sis say, that is the man that bro Brigham tells his family to treat with disrespect - if there is any dissatisfator & I am not right I will walk right. And to the chalk line - I came in as a red man & want to go out as a red man what am I to depend - if I am wrong I want to walk right. I want you to tell me & then I will tell you what God sent me <here> for - we were all white once, why av. I the stain now. God has told me to walk at the lady. I come to lay myself at the foot & God & you for the bal[ance]. I seek the footstool at your feet - dont these backsliders think that I av a feeling I was a nigger. I got baptism I am thankful for it, I'd as like to be a nigger as an Indian as many think they are as are I don't any one to transgress. I am come here for my Salv sake & providing I get this feeling from you I will walk the ri[ght] road. Some say I am as Adam, some as the Indian Prophet - I want the person to come & tell me to my face, providing I behave myself, & you told me to teach all my ppl to obey the K[ingdom] of God. Must I obey you, or must I obey them don't obey you.
"B.Y. Obey me.
"McCary: If I am Adam, & we was to say here comes a head jumping along with a head as white as wool, they wd. say where is your body? - oh I've left that home (laugh). I am speaking of 4 leg sheep now - to see the head come along & say I am ancient of days & leave body at home is two things - provided ancient of days, comes he must bring his body along - provided I was Adam what wd the ppl do - why theyd be as the dog was with the hot dumplings - if old Fav. was to come - I want to know how many Fa[ther]s and Mo[ther]s to save ppl - we must av. Fa and mo to save ppl. in some wa[y] - now when Adam comes he will bring the lost rib with him - provided the body comes, the Indian av. no oath in their tongue - I ask Jack Redding why he swear - oh says he the white people tell me - Borecale is the same man - they [are] both placed in one body. I av. got as strait hair as any other - look at it, there is no sight in left eye - no hearing in left ear - I want to understand among the 12 whe[ther] I am protected if I do right. If there is so much fuss about it - that I have a lost rib you give it up there can be no stuffing, one man confesses to be Adam - and the Ancient of Days, Every man is trying to get up a mob to drive me out of the city - there is no man but they speak evil of - they even speak evil of God - you can see & examine - if you ex[amine] my body, see about it & examine for yourself. So long as a white woman is so much in the way, good God why don't they give me a red woman - there is so much modesty, you may have seen a redskin jump into his costume - as my Wife is not ashamed I don't think you will be ashamed.
"He put on his Indian costume - Dr. R. felt his ribs.
"B.Y. What are we to understand by your asking us to ex[amine] you
"McCarry: I want to prove whether I av. been here before to be ex[amined]. I av. come to let you know what I am accused for. I say my body is no more - Ive come here to lay myself bef. you as your servant.
"Dr. R. I don't discover any thing novel.
"McCarry[:] the ppl are going it all the time some call me adam, some old nigger - I want to know what is the diff.
"B.Y. have you one rib more on your right than on your left -
"W. Mc. That's what I am come to find out - here's the old rib - (wife)
"H.C.K. then you have more on one side than the other
"McC - Ah there's it - every one of you have a rib short - not here - but mine is here
"B.Y. your body is not what is your mission
"McC. All I ask is, will you protect me - I've come here & given myself out to be your servant
"B.Y. its nothing to do with the blood for of one blood God has made all flesh, we have to repent & regain [what] we av lost - we have one of the best Elders an African in Lowell - a barber
"John Eldridge - brother Lyman you know they pointed me out as a dreamer & 6 weeks ago, I dreamed of this very man coming & stripping himself like this
"McC I hope now they'l let me <live> in peace now (McCary dressed himself again) I av now satisfied them & they av satisfied me & if any one molests me I will come to bro. Brigham Thot it well to come & report myself to the heads of the Ch[urch]. If I am a donkey, I want to serve God - (Amen BY)
"McC. I am very much obliged at meeting you in love & gratitude those that are not my friends I want them to tel me - if you av any thing in your hearts you may as well tell me as I shall know all in 48 hours
"Mrs. McC. I reall want to know whet. you beli[eve] the Bible or not?
"BY Sister Lucy in what respect do you mean - in part or parts?
"Mrs. McC. Some is fulfilled - some is not translated right - if you certainly bel. the Bible by Joseph's translation.
"McC. If we dont bel. the bible, we r in a poor place for starters
"B.Y. We bel. the bible, & we bel. all truth - tho we have B[ible] B[ook] of Mormon, D&C & without the living oracles - this puts us position of the living oracles - if a man says he bel. Bible, B of Mormon, & D&C, and is not baptized for the remission of sins - he'll be damnd.
"McCary suppose I want to make a visit to the Arkansas & take my wife to meet my need - when are Sleep Creaks not all the rest & chiefly inclined to follow - among the Choctaws - why Jesus Christ was born in a stable - does that follow that he had a horses head - I am afraid of ans[wering] questions bec. ppl will take this thing wrong - persons come to me & tell me that the 12 dont teach the Bible & again they ask are you going to the mountains this year - I tell them I never calculate beyond my nose - they ask questions & then answer them themselves & turn away & say I tell them - if any man comes forward & says more than that he tells what is not here - some ask what do you think abt. the D&C - I ask what they think - they tell me then - I say thats enough you av answered the questions yourselves - I am satisfied - I want you to intercede for me I am not a Pr[i]est, or a leader of the ppl. but a common bro - because I am a little shade darker
"B.Y. We dont care about the color
"McC. Do I hear that from all - (All Aye)
"H.C.K don't you feel a good spirit here bro William
"McC Yes - Thank God There r 2 or 3 men at the end of the camp who want to kill me - I am satisfied in all - with you all - I am coming to lay myself at your feet & if God picks me up - its God & you for it - I mean to travel to the mountain if I only go a mile a day - that is if you dont pick up the load & put it in your pocket (laugh) - I am a Frenchman by trade, but never practice it - (laugh) One man next door to me says I wd. like to be an Indian but I can not speak Choctaw - now I say I dare him to talk American
"John Eldridge spoke some Dutch - McCarry talked in reply in Dutch -"
"He then played on his little thirty six cents flute - he picks no key but Ill put a key to it
"McC I have no means nor nothing - you cannot pick up the road & put it in your pocket
"B.Y. Suppose we get out to have the council house on monday evening next & give it out for 121/2 each we want every person to be fitted out - & not have to stay to hunt
"McC. I would like them to be come and satisfied
"BY Dont care what the ppl say, shew by your actions that you don't care for what they say. All we do is serve the Lord with all our hearts -
"McCarry I help to pick up the cross of Christ - I bel. in the Bible so far as I feel its right - I will take my Bible to my folks & tell them & you may preach 2500 years & they wont believe it (he then ridiculed the American peculiarities of speech) shewed mum, guess so, may be, think so, to be five foolish virgins - & yea, yea, nay, nay & Amen to the 5 Wise Virgins - told us of the frog. 'knee deep,' 'knee deep,' <'and deeper'> 'wants more bacon,' 'more bacon,' <'fried bacon'>, & then when they r going to apostatize they sing out 'more rum' 'more rum,' & then asked to part with good feelings & A. Lyman to pray
"Lyman made prayer
"McCarry I wish you would mention to the Bishops on the South & teach them not to come with one face to me, & not go & tell the brethren not to let me come into their Wigwams. I ask this in the name of God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son, Mary the mother, & the Holy Ghost Amen. We shall get amongst the Royal Family soon, & drink a toast heres to the trouser coon gang & the petticoat coon gang, may the trouser coon gang never be overcome by the petticoat coon gang."
Shortly afterward, McCary generated further controversy for claiming to be able to transfigure into figures from the Bible and Book of Mormon, and prophesy. He was excommunicated and expelled from the community, starting his own brand of "Mormonism" a short distance away and taking several white women as plural wives. On April 25, Elder Parley P. Pratt said in a sermon, "If people want to follow Strang, go it, want to follow this Black Man who has got the blood of Ham in him which linage [sic] was cursed as regards the Priesthood, want to follow a new thing, want to follow a new thing hatch it up for we have only the old thing."
Nelson Whipple recalled, "When I arrived in this branch [Springville, Iowa] it was in a rather curious fix. A man had been by the name of McCarry. He was said to be a mulatto or quatterun who professed to be some great one, and had converted a good many to his kind of religion. It appeared that he understood the sleight-of-hand, the black art or that he was a magician or something of the kind, and had fooled the ignorant in that way.
"He was in favor of holding his meetings of the men and women separately, saying that his teaching to the men and to the women was entirely different. His talk and pretensions were of the most absurd character, and it would appear that no rational being would adhere to it for a moment, but many did.
"He had a number of women sealed to him in his way which was as follows; He had a house in which the ordinance was performed. His wife Lucy Stanton was in the room at the time of the performance, no others were admitted. The form of sealing was for the women to bed with him, in the daytime as I am informed three different times by which they were sealed to the fullest extent.
"This order of things continued for a considerable length of time when the secret was revealed by one Mrs. Howard who revolted and ran when she found what the sealing ordinance really was, notwithstanding Mrs. McCarry tried her best to prevent her escape from the house. She went home and told her husband, Mr. Howard of the affair and who they were that had been sealed in that way to the old darkey.
"Howard went forthwith and told [Sisson] Chase, who was a believer in McCarry, and his wife had been through the sealing ordinance. Chase did not of course believe it until his wife acknowledged it and then of course he did. He was very much astonished at the idea and it is said that he did not speak a loud word for about three weeks that anyone knew of. But after a while he became himself, lived with his wife, and does at present.
"Others were drawn into strange delusions in some unaccountable way that was a mystery to everybody. The name of the unfortunate persons I will mention. Not to bring disgrace upon them or their posterity but as an item of history.
"It was said that Daniel Stanton was a full believer in the nigger prophet as he was called. He denied it but allowed his meetings to be held at his house and his family to attend them and his daughter to marry him, etc. I shall put down his name as one to venture.
"Men - Daniel Stanton Sr., Sylvanus Calkins, John Atchinson, Sisson A. Chase, - Eldredge, Jonathon Haywood
"Women - Widow Pulsipher and daughter, Meri[a]h Atchison, Harriet Stanton, Caroline Stanton, Constanza Stanton, Mrs. Sisson A. Chase, mother, a woman of upwards of 60 years of age.
"As soon as the said McCarry saw that he was found out in his devilment he made his way to Missouri on a fast trot. Bro. Ha[r]mon Cutler determined to shoot him if he could find him for having tried to kiss his girls, but he was gone.
"After a while he sent for his wife and Br. Joseph Lish took her to him in Missouri. Charges were preferred against those persons and most of them were cut off from the Church but were again restored to baptism."
Quock Walker Lewis
The journal entry of mission president William Ivers Appleby for May 19 - which, according to historian Newell Bringhurst, was probably not written until several years later - records, "Left this afternoon, for Lowell, where I arrived in about one hour and a half, distance 25. [sic] miles. Here I found a branch of the Church of about 20 members in tolerable good standing. Elder [Darius] Longee presiding. In this Branch there is a Coloured Brother (an Elder ordained by Elder Wm. Smith while he was a member of the Church, contrary though to the order of the Church or the Law of the Priesthood, as the Descendants of Ham are not entitled to that privilege) by the name of Walker Lewis. He appears to be a meek humble man, and an example for his more whiter [sic] brethren to follow." The relevant proof-text from the Book of Abraham was also copied into this entry after its publication in book form years later.
On May 30 Elder Orson Hyde said, "When will this ppl learn better than to follow after delusive spirits, never. I will recall this. [T]his church is going on & will bring in the bad as well as good & it is necessary that <evil and enthusiastic> kindred spirits raise up to draw those evil & enthusiastic spirits from us, so in this way the Lord leads off the corrupt & the wicked for as they stay with us we are the weaker, mix drops with pure metal & it makes the metal weaker causes the adhesion to be less some imposters have said like John E. Page if they were damn'd the Devil would have it to say they were damn'd like gentlemen well it was necessary that an honorable imposter like Strang should raise to take these gentlemen from among us but there are another class who here are not caught with his trap but would go it in a meaner scale. Yes [they] would follow a nigger prophet. Thought I was wrong in baptizing this nigger, but on consideration see it was necessary in order that he should have the opportunity of fulfilling this mission & taking away the tares who were his kindred spirits."
On June 2 William Appleby wrote to President Young from Batavia, New York relating, "At Lowell... I found a coloured brother by name of 'Lewis', a barber, an Elder in the Church, ordained some years ago by Wm. Smith. This Lewis I was informed also has a son [Enoch Lovejoy Lewis] who is married to a white girl [Mary Matilda Webster Lewis] and both members of the Church there. Now dear Br. I wish to know if this is the order of God or tolerated in the Church to ordain Negroes to the priesthood and allow amalgamation. If it is, I desire to know it as I have yet to learn it." President Young had left Winter Quarters long before the letter was written and apparently never responded in writing.
On June 16, Appleby further recorded in his journal, "Naushua, Massachusetts In looking for a Br. in the Church, I called at a House, a coloured man resided there, I set myself down for a few moments presently in came quite a good looking White Woman, about 22 years old I should think, with blushing cheeks, and was introduced to me as the negro's wife, an infant in a cradle near bore evidence of the fact. Oh! Woman, thought I, where is thy shame, (for indeed I felt ashamed and not only ashamed, but disgusted, when I was informed they were both members of a Church!) Respect for the family, thyself, for thy offspring and above all the law of God."
On May 30 Elder Orson Hyde said, "When will this ppl learn better than to follow after delusive spirits, never. I will recall this. [T]his church is going on & will bring in the bad as well as good & it is necessary that <evil and enthusiastic> kindred spirits raise up to draw those evil & enthusiastic spirits from us, so in this way the Lord leads off the corrupt & the wicked for as they stay with us we are the weaker, mix drops with pure metal & it makes the metal weaker causes the adhesion to be less some imposters have said like John E. Page if they were damn'd the Devil would have it to say they were damn'd like gentlemen well it was necessary that an honorable imposter like Strang should raise to take these gentlemen from among us but there are another class who here are not caught with his trap but would go it in a meaner scale. Yes [they] would follow a nigger prophet. Thought I was wrong in baptizing this nigger, but on consideration see it was necessary in order that he should have the opportunity of fulfilling this mission & taking away the tares who were his kindred spirits."
On June 2 William Appleby wrote to President Young from Batavia, New York relating, "At Lowell... I found a coloured brother by name of 'Lewis', a barber, an Elder in the Church, ordained some years ago by Wm. Smith. This Lewis I was informed also has a son [Enoch Lovejoy Lewis] who is married to a white girl [Mary Matilda Webster Lewis] and both members of the Church there. Now dear Br. I wish to know if this is the order of God or tolerated in the Church to ordain Negroes to the priesthood and allow amalgamation. If it is, I desire to know it as I have yet to learn it." President Young had left Winter Quarters long before the letter was written and apparently never responded in writing.
On June 16, Appleby further recorded in his journal, "Naushua, Massachusetts In looking for a Br. in the Church, I called at a House, a coloured man resided there, I set myself down for a few moments presently in came quite a good looking White Woman, about 22 years old I should think, with blushing cheeks, and was introduced to me as the negro's wife, an infant in a cradle near bore evidence of the fact. Oh! Woman, thought I, where is thy shame, (for indeed I felt ashamed and not only ashamed, but disgusted, when I was informed they were both members of a Church!) Respect for the family, thyself, for thy offspring and above all the law of God."
Green Flake Arrives in the Salt Lake Valley
James M. Flake loaned his slave, Green Flake, along with a wagon and two mules, to the Church for its trek west. Green Flake and two other slaves, Hark Lay and Oscar Crosby, served as part of the advance team that constructed a trail for the wagons entering the Salt Lake Valley in 1847. Fifty years later, Green Flake wrote for the Utah Semi-Centennial Commission, "The first we met was the Poniendines [Pawnee] met us all in war like and demaned Pay for Crossing the Country after Presedent Young Councld with them[,] then by Paying them Something they give us Permisson to Cross there Country[.] Then we cross the luck [Loup] fork of the Plat[te] then we traveled up the P[l]at[te] and I was in my waagon
"Traviling I look to the left and Saw a Calf laying[,] it never Came to my mind being a bufflow[.] there was a man walking to my right with his gun on his Shoulder his name was Ira[.] I haulted my team and Spoke to Ira an told him there was a Calf[.] Ira asking Where[?] looking astonished he ses a buffow[.] he stept to the front of my team and shot at it an Just grasped his withers[.] The Calf[,] It raise to his feet [illegible text]"
The Day by Day Journal for July 13 records: "President Brigham Young was very ill with a high fever and it was decided that he would stay in camp on the east side of Bear River for another day. His brother Lorenzo, Heber C. Kimball and a few other remained with him. The balance of the company had crossed Bear River the previous day and pushed on a few miles toward Echo Canyon. During the day, Heber C. Kimball and Howard Egan rode into the main camp of the others and held a consultation in Willard Richard's [sic] wagon with some of the brethren. It was then decided that Orson Pratt should take part of the men and wagons and travel ahead, and endeavor to follow the Donner or Hastings trail into Salt Lake Valley. Among those selected to go with Elder Pratt were Green Flake and Oscar Crosby."
Green Flake is also believed to be the one who drove the carriage and team that brought Brigham Young into the valley on July 24 when the latter famously declared, "It is enough. This is the right place. Drive on." The Saints had found their new home where they would finally be safe from persecution for many years. On August 8, following a practice of the early Saints that was later discontinued, Brother Flake was re-baptized by Tarleton Lewis and confirmed by Elder Wilford Woodruff.
"Traviling I look to the left and Saw a Calf laying[,] it never Came to my mind being a bufflow[.] there was a man walking to my right with his gun on his Shoulder his name was Ira[.] I haulted my team and Spoke to Ira an told him there was a Calf[.] Ira asking Where[?] looking astonished he ses a buffow[.] he stept to the front of my team and shot at it an Just grasped his withers[.] The Calf[,] It raise to his feet [illegible text]"
The Day by Day Journal for July 13 records: "President Brigham Young was very ill with a high fever and it was decided that he would stay in camp on the east side of Bear River for another day. His brother Lorenzo, Heber C. Kimball and a few other remained with him. The balance of the company had crossed Bear River the previous day and pushed on a few miles toward Echo Canyon. During the day, Heber C. Kimball and Howard Egan rode into the main camp of the others and held a consultation in Willard Richard's [sic] wagon with some of the brethren. It was then decided that Orson Pratt should take part of the men and wagons and travel ahead, and endeavor to follow the Donner or Hastings trail into Salt Lake Valley. Among those selected to go with Elder Pratt were Green Flake and Oscar Crosby."
Green Flake is also believed to be the one who drove the carriage and team that brought Brigham Young into the valley on July 24 when the latter famously declared, "It is enough. This is the right place. Drive on." The Saints had found their new home where they would finally be safe from persecution for many years. On August 8, following a practice of the early Saints that was later discontinued, Brother Flake was re-baptized by Tarleton Lewis and confirmed by Elder Wilford Woodruff.
Mammy Chloe
Mary Lee Bland Ewell's story continues: "A messenger arrived from Salt Lake Valley with letters telling of the arrival of Brigham Young and others who, on July 25 had hoisted the flag of the U.S. on Ensign Peak, what was then Mexican Territory. President Young had advised members of the Battalion to remain in California for employment for the winter to earn sufficient means to bring their families west in the Spring.
"Dr. Ewell's health had not improved, so he desired to get to his family whom he thought was in Utah. On arriving in Salt Lake with many others, he found that his family was not there. He at once left for Winter Quarters with his brother, joined the returning men at Pueblo and arrived home at last. How happy we were to be reunited and he, to see his year-old son for the first time.
"His health seemed to improve some. He was home and we were happy. Then privations in that terrible winter of '47 and '48 caused a relapse and after a promise exacted from me that I would take the family and go with the Saints to Zion, he passed away from this life in my arms, leaving me grief-stricken and facing maternity again with Mammy Chloe my only attendant. Little Mary Jane was born four months after her father's death. We then set about to keep our pledge that we would go to Salt Lake, the Zion of the mountains, and oh, how I missed him, always so faithful to the Church, so kind and true."
"Dr. Ewell's health had not improved, so he desired to get to his family whom he thought was in Utah. On arriving in Salt Lake with many others, he found that his family was not there. He at once left for Winter Quarters with his brother, joined the returning men at Pueblo and arrived home at last. How happy we were to be reunited and he, to see his year-old son for the first time.
"His health seemed to improve some. He was home and we were happy. Then privations in that terrible winter of '47 and '48 caused a relapse and after a promise exacted from me that I would take the family and go with the Saints to Zion, he passed away from this life in my arms, leaving me grief-stricken and facing maternity again with Mammy Chloe my only attendant. Little Mary Jane was born four months after her father's death. We then set about to keep our pledge that we would go to Salt Lake, the Zion of the mountains, and oh, how I missed him, always so faithful to the Church, so kind and true."
Alexander Bankhead
Julius Taylor, owner and publisher of the black newspaper the Broad Ax, wrote, "While visiting their home, the latter part of last December [1898], Mr. [Alexander] and Mrs. [Marinda] Bankhead, at our request, related their early experience in Utah. Mr. Bankhead belonged to the famous family of Bankheads of Alabama; and several male members of that family became converts to Mormonism. And when they came to the Territory, they brought their slaves with them. Two or three members of the family located at Wellsville; and some of their ex-slaves, who still reside in that place and Corinne, assumed the names of their masters.
"In time, Alex. Bankhead became the property of Bishop Smoot, who located at Provo. Mr. Bankhead is now well on to 70 years of age, and he well remembers Brigham Young and the other early leaders of the Mormon Church. He informed us, that when this city was in its infancy, the slaves always congregated in a large room or hall on State street, almost opposite the city and county building. There they would discuss their condition, and gaze in wonderment at the lofty mountains, which reared their snowy peaks heavenward, and completely forbade them from ascertaining how they could make their escape back to the South, or to more congenial climes. For we were assured that their lives in the then new wilderness, was far from being happy, and many of them were subjected to the same treatment that was accorded the plantation negroes of the South."
"In time, Alex. Bankhead became the property of Bishop Smoot, who located at Provo. Mr. Bankhead is now well on to 70 years of age, and he well remembers Brigham Young and the other early leaders of the Mormon Church. He informed us, that when this city was in its infancy, the slaves always congregated in a large room or hall on State street, almost opposite the city and county building. There they would discuss their condition, and gaze in wonderment at the lofty mountains, which reared their snowy peaks heavenward, and completely forbade them from ascertaining how they could make their escape back to the South, or to more congenial climes. For we were assured that their lives in the then new wilderness, was far from being happy, and many of them were subjected to the same treatment that was accorded the plantation negroes of the South."
Brigham Young Becomes the Prophet
After leading the Church for three years as President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Brigham Young was officially sustained as President of the Church at Winter Quarters on December 27, 1847. According to historian Rodman W. Paul, "[Joseph Smith] was succeeded by one of the outstanding organizers of the 19th century, Brigham Young. If the circumstances of his life had worked out differently [he] might have become a captain of industry - an Andrew Carnegie or John D. Rockefeller or a railroad builder. Instead, this able, energetic, earthy man became the absolute ruler and the revered, genuinely loved father figure of all Mormons everywhere."
Young provided the necessary leadership for the Saints to cross the plains and establish viable colonies in the untamed desert, but did not expound new doctrine as frequently as his predecessor. It was widely assumed that everything he taught had been told him by Joseph Smith. Owing to his own personality as well as the time and place, Young preached with "fire and brimstone" rhetoric and sometimes downright violent hyperbole, especially with his infamous "blood atonement" remarks. Blood atonement was not practiced. Most of his listeners knew him well and understood that he was not to be taken literally on this, however much it may seem so to modern readers. On March 7, 1848, he said, "I [h]av[e] feelings - I frequently sa[y] 'cut his infernal throat'[;] I dont mean any such thing."
Young also recognized that outsiders would misunderstand his rhetoric, sometimes deliberately. On one occasion he remarked, "There are some things that Brigham has said he would do; but has never happened to do them; and that is not all, he prays fervently, to his Father and God that he may never be brought into circumstances to be obliged to shed human blood. He never has yet been brought into such a position... I do not care about the outsiders hearing this, as their opinion is neither here nor there to me; the Saints, however, are welcome to my views upon this matter. If the outsiders think that I am guilty of the crime, let them trace it to me and prove it on me. If any man, woman or child that ever lived has said that Brigham Young ever counseled them to commit crime of any description, they are liars in the face of heaven. If I am guilty of any such thing, let it be proved on me, and not go sneaking around insinuating that Brigham knows all about it."
His teachings on black people, and the policy of denying them the priesthood, similarly remain shrouded in some mystery despite the historical documentation. What is clear is that he did not share Joseph Smith's enlightened views on race and slavery, but rather reflected the prevailing views of his time, when not even the most vocal abolitionists questioned the African race's Hamitic lineage and assumed inferiority. Additionally, he had in his personal library a book called Negro-Mania; Being an Examination of the Falsely Assumed Equality of the Various Races of Men, which cited experts from various fields including Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, Baron Cuvier, Jean-François Champollion, Samuel G. Morton, Ippolito Rosellini, George Gliddon, Samuel Stanhope Smith, and Thomas Jefferson. The book shows little sign of having been read, but the title and expert opinions alone could have served to exacerbate his bias.
In late 1847 William Appleby returned to Winter Quarters and met with Brigham Young in person. Meeting minutes by Willard Richards record, "Wm. Smith ordained a black man Elder at Lowell & he has married a white girl and they have a child
"Prest. Young If they were far away from the Gentiles they wd. all av. to be killed - when they mingle it is death to all. If a black man & a white woman come to you & demand baptism, can you deny them? The law is their seed shall not be amalgamated. Mulattoes r like mules they cant have children, but if they will be eunuchs for the Kingdom of God's Heaven's sake they may have a place in the Temple.
"B.Y. The Lamanites r purely of the house of Israel & it is a curse that is to be removed when the fullness of the Gospel comes
"O.H[yde]. Has taught that if girls marry the half breeds they r throwing themselves away & becoming as one of them
"B.Y. It is wrong for them to do so
"BY The Pottawatomis will not own a man who has the negro blood in him - that is the reason why the Indians disown the negro prophet"
Historian John G. Turner notes, "Young's ideas about mixed-race sterility, including the mule analogy, were standard fare among white Americans into the early twentieth century. Still, despite its condemnation of miscegenation, Young's response to Appleby suggested that persons of African descent might receive some of the church's ritual blessings." Historian Russell Stevenson notes, "Interracial marriage whipsawed Young, provoking him to violence in one moment and prodding his conscience toward racial equality the next. This conversation represents the deep contradictions that had formed at the core of Brigham Young's racial worldview."
Next: The Church of Jesus Christ and Black People 1849-1852
Main Page: Latter-day Saint Racial History
Young provided the necessary leadership for the Saints to cross the plains and establish viable colonies in the untamed desert, but did not expound new doctrine as frequently as his predecessor. It was widely assumed that everything he taught had been told him by Joseph Smith. Owing to his own personality as well as the time and place, Young preached with "fire and brimstone" rhetoric and sometimes downright violent hyperbole, especially with his infamous "blood atonement" remarks. Blood atonement was not practiced. Most of his listeners knew him well and understood that he was not to be taken literally on this, however much it may seem so to modern readers. On March 7, 1848, he said, "I [h]av[e] feelings - I frequently sa[y] 'cut his infernal throat'[;] I dont mean any such thing."
Young also recognized that outsiders would misunderstand his rhetoric, sometimes deliberately. On one occasion he remarked, "There are some things that Brigham has said he would do; but has never happened to do them; and that is not all, he prays fervently, to his Father and God that he may never be brought into circumstances to be obliged to shed human blood. He never has yet been brought into such a position... I do not care about the outsiders hearing this, as their opinion is neither here nor there to me; the Saints, however, are welcome to my views upon this matter. If the outsiders think that I am guilty of the crime, let them trace it to me and prove it on me. If any man, woman or child that ever lived has said that Brigham Young ever counseled them to commit crime of any description, they are liars in the face of heaven. If I am guilty of any such thing, let it be proved on me, and not go sneaking around insinuating that Brigham knows all about it."
His teachings on black people, and the policy of denying them the priesthood, similarly remain shrouded in some mystery despite the historical documentation. What is clear is that he did not share Joseph Smith's enlightened views on race and slavery, but rather reflected the prevailing views of his time, when not even the most vocal abolitionists questioned the African race's Hamitic lineage and assumed inferiority. Additionally, he had in his personal library a book called Negro-Mania; Being an Examination of the Falsely Assumed Equality of the Various Races of Men, which cited experts from various fields including Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, Baron Cuvier, Jean-François Champollion, Samuel G. Morton, Ippolito Rosellini, George Gliddon, Samuel Stanhope Smith, and Thomas Jefferson. The book shows little sign of having been read, but the title and expert opinions alone could have served to exacerbate his bias.
In late 1847 William Appleby returned to Winter Quarters and met with Brigham Young in person. Meeting minutes by Willard Richards record, "Wm. Smith ordained a black man Elder at Lowell & he has married a white girl and they have a child
"Prest. Young If they were far away from the Gentiles they wd. all av. to be killed - when they mingle it is death to all. If a black man & a white woman come to you & demand baptism, can you deny them? The law is their seed shall not be amalgamated. Mulattoes r like mules they cant have children, but if they will be eunuchs for the Kingdom of God's Heaven's sake they may have a place in the Temple.
"B.Y. The Lamanites r purely of the house of Israel & it is a curse that is to be removed when the fullness of the Gospel comes
"O.H[yde]. Has taught that if girls marry the half breeds they r throwing themselves away & becoming as one of them
"B.Y. It is wrong for them to do so
"BY The Pottawatomis will not own a man who has the negro blood in him - that is the reason why the Indians disown the negro prophet"
Historian John G. Turner notes, "Young's ideas about mixed-race sterility, including the mule analogy, were standard fare among white Americans into the early twentieth century. Still, despite its condemnation of miscegenation, Young's response to Appleby suggested that persons of African descent might receive some of the church's ritual blessings." Historian Russell Stevenson notes, "Interracial marriage whipsawed Young, provoking him to violence in one moment and prodding his conscience toward racial equality the next. This conversation represents the deep contradictions that had formed at the core of Brigham Young's racial worldview."
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Main Page: Latter-day Saint Racial History
