Tiffany,
The Mormon church had a very tough time in the early years. Every where they moved they were persecuted. I don't believe it was for their beliefs. I believe it was because they were a sizeable political force. They set up in New York, Ohio, and Missouri. They were driven out of each state. In Missouri, the governer of the state issued an extermination order making it legal to shoot and kill Mormons. The first Mormon leader was executed by a mob. They were forced from their homes in the dead of winter to cross the Missouri river and try to survive from freezing that winter in tents and whatever else they could scrounge together. The great Missouri river froze that year it was so cold.
They walked across America and set up their new cities next to a great salt lake where the famous trapper and scout Jim Bridger said that he'd give a thousand dollars for the first bushel of corn grown there. The land was considered so barren and inhospitible that it seemed to be the perfect place where they would be left alone. While they were trecking accross our great land, the president of the United States sent a message asking for them to send men to help in the American/Mexican war. Brigham Young selected 500 men to send to fight for the country that had ordered them murdered. They left their families en route, to walk across the great plains and rocky mountains alone without them. Their fathers and husbands would not meet up with them for years as the small Mormon army wound its way down to Mexico, out to California, and back to Utah.
Once they had established their new home next to the lake of salt, the USA sent out a military force to coerce the new settlement to obey the law (this was over the plural marraige thing). The troops came in and set up a military base.
The Church is very social in Utah. If you are a member, all of your closest friends are in the Church. All of your spare time is available to do church work. And Mormon groups still remember the history of their forefathers. I had a great great grandmother that walked with her father and mother pulling a handcart with their meager belongings. She walked those thousands of miles barefoot to protect her shoes so she could wear them to church when she arrived in Zion. She lost her shoes just a few days before entering the Salt Lake Valley. Many in their party died along the way.
The song my great great grandmother sang as she walked was Come, Come, ye Saints. I learned to sing as a child and it still brings tears to my eyes even now as I know the hardships they endured walking to Utah.
Come, come, ye Saints, no toil nor labor fear;
But with joy wend your way.
Though hard to you this journey may appear,
Grace shall be as your day.
'Tis better far for us to strive
Our useless cares from us to drive;
Do this, and joy your hearts will swell--
All is well! All is well!
Why should we mourn or think our lot is hard?
'Tis not so; all is right.
Why should we think to earn a great reward
If we now shun the fight?
Gird up your loins; fresh courage take.
Our God will never us forsake;
And soon we'll have this tale to tell-
All is well! All is well!
We'll find the place which God for us prepared,
Far away in the West,
Where none shall come to hurt or make afraid;
There the Saints will be blessed.
We'll make the air with music ring,
Shout praises to our God and King;
Above the rest these words we'll tell--
All is well! All is well!
And should we die before our journey's through,
Happy day! All is well!
We then are free from toil and sorrow, too,
With the just we shall dwell!
But if our lives are spared again
To see the Saints their rest obtain,
Oh, how we'll make this chorus swell--
All is well! All is well!
It is little wonder that they seem to keep together. My grandmother told me these stories of her grandmother. Those families, like mine, still live in tact, with their history, in Utah. Although I am no longer a member, I still hold great pride for my heritage.
Cindi
