1.
Utah
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Utah is a state in the western United States. It became the 45th state admitted to the U. S. on January 4,1896, Utah is the 13th-largest by area, 31st-most-populous, and 10th-least-densely populated of the 50 United States. Utah has a population of more than 3 million, approximately 80% of whom live along the Wasatch Front, Utah is bordered by Colorado to the east, Wyoming to the northeast, Idaho to the north, Arizona to the south, and Nevada to the west. It also touches a corner of New Mexico in the southeast, approximately 62% of Utahns are reported to be members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or LDS, which greatly influences Utahn culture and daily life. The LDS Churchs world headquarters is located in Salt Lake City, Utah is the only state with a majority population belonging to a single church. The state is a center of transportation, education, information technology and research, government services, mining, in 2013, the U. S. Census Bureau estimated that Utah had the second fastest-growing population of any state. St. George was the metropolitan area in the United States from 2000 to 2005. Utah also has the 14th highest median income and the least income inequality of any U. S. state. A2012 Gallup national survey found Utah overall to be the best state to live in based on 13 forward-looking measurements including various economic, lifestyle, the name Utah is derived from the name of the Ute tribe. It means people of the mountains in the Ute language, according to other sources Utah is derived from the Apache name Yudah which means Tall. These Native American tribes are subgroups of the Ute-Aztec Native American ethnicity and were sedentary, the Ancestral Pueblo people built their homes through excavations in mountains, and the Fremont people built houses of straw before disappearing from the region around the 15th century. Another group of Native Americans, the Navajo, settled in the region around the 18th century, in the mid-18th century, other Uto-Aztecan tribes, including the Goshute, the Paiute, the Shoshone, and the Ute people, also settled in the region. These five groups were present when the first European explorers arrived, the southern Utah region was explored by the Spanish in 1540, led by Francisco Vásquez de Coronado, while looking for the legendary Cíbola. A group led by two Catholic priests—sometimes called the Dominguez-Escalante Expedition—left Santa Fe in 1776, hoping to find a route to the coast of California, the expedition traveled as far north as Utah Lake and encountered the native residents. The Spanish made further explorations in the region, but were not interested in colonizing the area because of its desert nature, in 1821, the year Mexico achieved its independence from Spain, the region became known as part of its territory of Alta California. European trappers and fur traders explored some areas of Utah in the early 19th century from Canada, the city of Provo, Utah was named for one, Étienne Provost, who visited the area in 1825. The city of Ogden, Utah was named after Peter Skene Ogden, in late 1824, Jim Bridger became the first known English-speaking person to sight the Great Salt Lake. Due to the salinity of its waters, Bridger thought he had found the Pacific Ocean
2.
Mormonism
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Mormonism is the predominant religious tradition of the Latter Day Saint movement of Restorationist Christianity. Joseph Smith founded the movement in Western New York in the 1820s, during the 1830s and 1840s, it distinguished itself from traditional Protestantism. Mormonism represents the non-Protestant faith taught by Smith in the 1840s, other sects include Mormon fundamentalism, which seeks to maintain practices and doctrines such as polygamy, and various other small independent denominations. The word Mormon originally derived from the Book of Mormon, a text published by Smith. The book describes itself as a chronicle of early peoples of the Americas. Based on the name of book, early followers of Smith were more widely known as Mormons. The term was considered pejorative, but Mormons no longer consider it so. It also accepts the Pearl of Great Price as part of its canon, and has a history of teaching eternal marriage, eternal progression. Cultural Mormonism, a lifestyle promoted by Mormon institutions, includes cultural Mormons who identify with the culture, Mormonism originated in the 1820s in western New York during a period of religious excitement known as the Second Great Awakening. After praying about which denomination he should join, Joseph Smith, called the First Vision, Smith claimed God the Father instructed him to join none of the existing churches because they were all wrong. Smith, Oliver Cowdery, and other followers, began baptizing new converts in 1829. Formally organized in 1830 as the Church of Christ, Smith was seen by his followers as a modern-day prophet. Joseph Smith claimed The Book of Mormon was translated from writing on plates in a reformed Egyptian language, translated with the assistance of the Urim and Thummim. Both the special spectacles and the stone were at times referred to as the Urim and Thummim. He said an angel first showed him the location of the plates in 1823, buried in a nearby hill, Smith began dictating the text of The Book of Mormon around the fall of 1827 until the summer of 1828 when 116 pages were lost. Translation began again in April 1829 and finished in June 1829, saying that he translated it by the gift, after the translation was completed, Smith said the plates were returned to the angel. During Smiths supposed possession, very few people were allowed to witness the plates, the book described itself as a chronicle of an early Israelite diaspora, becoming the indigenous peoples of the Americas, written by a people called the Nephites. According to The Book of Mormon, Lehis family left Jerusalem at the urging of God c.600 BC, the Nephites are described as descendants of Nephi, the fourth son of the prophet Lehi
3.
John Whitmer Historical Association
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The John Whitmer Historical Association is an independent, nonprofit organization promoting study, research, and publishing about the history and culture of the Latter Day Saint movement. It is especially focused on the Community of Christ, other midwestern Restoration traditions, JWHA membership numbers around 400 and is open to all, fostering cooperation with LDS and non-Mormon scholars. Before the founding of the JWHA, scholarship in the field of Mormon history had been developing. In the 1950s, scholars like Fawn Brodie, Juanita Brooks, Thomas ODea, in this spirit, Robert Flanders, a professor at the RLDS-affiliated Graceland College, published Nauvoo, Kingdom on the Mississippi in 1965. The book presented controversies, like Joseph Smiths polygamy, that were in contrast to faith-promoting teachings of the RLDS Church, then Richard P. Howard, another proponent of the New Mormon History, was appointed Church Historian in 1966, further upsetting some traditional believers. Howard opened the archives and was optimistic about historical challenges. This progressive approach to Mormon studies inspired Courage, A Journal of History, Thought and Action, contrasting with conservative RLDS publishing, Courage ventured a fresh look at RLDS issues and historical problems, often diverging from traditional interpretations. The independent journal closed in 1973, by which several of its team had started the JWHA. Throughout this time, Mormon historical scholarship was developing within The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Utah, in 1965 the Mormon History Association was founded, which included RLDS historians amongst its officers. The periodicals BYU Studies and Dialogue, A Journal of Mormon Thought published articles from MHA members, MHA founder Leonard Arrington was appointed LDS Church Historian in 1972, forming a new Church Historical Department which was active in the historical community. Despite positive experiences, RLDS historians in the midwest found MHA participation difficult due to the distance to Utah, some had organizational expertise from their service as MHA officers. Most of these were members of the MHA, and the JWHA was founded with the intent to continue the collaboration. Richard Howard won an MHA award in 1970 and was interested in exchanging ideas between LDS and RLDS scholars, from its beginning the JWHA board of directors included LDS members, and Utah historians were invited to join. The first JWHA meeting was held in September 1973 in Nauvoo, founded as an independent group, not under the direction of any church, the JWHA would be free to explore historical controversies. Participants supported the New Mormon History, cultivating a tradition of exploring controversy in Mormonism. Some traditionalists and religious leaders warned that this approach could damage faith, while questioning and liberal Latter Day Saints found community, through the JWHA, RLDS members confronted Joseph Smiths historical link with Mormon polygamy, a defining issue for the RLDS Church. On direction from President Wallace B, smith, Howard undertook a five-year study which was then edited and softened by RLDS leaders and historians in 1982. The First Presidency recommended it be presented at the JWHA, but after some blowback the First Presidency denied involvement, saying the JWHA Journal did not speak for the church
4.
Joseph Smith
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Joseph Smith Jr. was an American religious leader and founder of Mormonism and the Latter Day Saint movement. When he was twenty-four, Smith published the Book of Mormon, by the time of his death fourteen years later, he had attracted tens of thousands of followers and founded a religious culture that continues to the present. In 1830, Smith published what he said was an English translation of these plates, the same year he organized the Church of Christ, calling it a restoration of the early Christian church. Members of the church were later called Latter Day Saints, or Mormons, in 1831, Smith and his followers moved west, planning to build a communalistic American Zion. They first gathered in Kirtland, Ohio, and established an outpost in Independence, Missouri, during the 1830s, Smith sent out missionaries, published revelations, and supervised construction of the expensive Kirtland Temple. In 1844, Smith and the Nauvoo city council angered non-Mormons by destroying a newspaper that had criticized Smiths power, after Smith was imprisoned in Carthage, Illinois, he was killed when a mob stormed the jailhouse. Smith published many revelations and other texts that his followers regard as scripture and his teachings include unique views about the nature of God, cosmology, family structures, political organization, and religious collectivism. Joseph Smith Jr. was born on December 23,1805, in Sharon, Vermont, to Lucy Mack Smith and her husband Joseph Sr. a merchant, after suffering a crippling bone infection when he was seven, the younger Smith used crutches for three years. During the Second Great Awakening, the region was a hotbed of religious enthusiasm, although Smiths parents disagreed about religion, the family was caught up in this excitement. Smith later said he became interested in religion at about the age of twelve, he participated in church classes, as a teenager, he may have been sympathetic to Methodism. With other family members, Smith also engaged in folk magic. Both his parents and his grandfather reportedly had visions or dreams that they believed communicated messages from God. Smith said that although he had become concerned about the welfare of his soul, years later Smith said that in 1820 he had received a vision that resolved his religious confusion. While praying in an area near his home, he said that God, in a vision, had told him his sins were forgiven. Smith said he told the experience to a preacher, who dismissed the story with contempt, but the experience was largely unknown, even to most Mormons, until the 1840s. Although Smith may have understood the event as a conversion, this First Vision later grew in importance among Mormons. Smith said he attempted to remove the plates the next morning but was unsuccessful because the angel prevented him, Smith reported that during the next four years, he made annual visits to the hill but each time returned without the plates. Meanwhile, the Smith family faced financial hardship due in part to the November 1823 death of Smiths oldest brother Alvin, Family members supplemented their meager farm income by hiring out for odd jobs and working as treasure seekers, a type of magical supernaturalism common during the period
5.
B. H. Roberts
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Brigham Henry Roberts was a Mormon leader, historian, and politician. Roberts was denied a seat as a member of United States Congress because of his practice of plural marriage, Roberts was born in Warrington, Lancashire, England, the son of Benjamin Roberts, an alcoholic blacksmith and ship plater, and Ann Everington, a seamstress. In the year of his birth both parents converted to the LDS Church, Benjamin Roberts then abandoned his family. Roberts later wrote, My childhood was a nightmare, my boyhood a tragedy, assisted by the Perpetual Emigrating Fund, B. H. Roberts and a sister left England in April 1866. In Nebraska they joined a train and proceeded to walk—for much of the way barefoot—to Salt Lake City, where they were met by their mother. In 1867, Roberts was baptized into the LDS Church by Seth Dustin, Dustin eventually deserted his family, and after several reappearances, he finally disappeared completely. Ann Dustin was granted a divorce in 1884, upon coming to Utah Territory, Roberts settled in Bountiful, which he always from then on considered his home. Roberts became a miner and participated in the gambling and drinking typical of that time, but Roberts eventually learned to read and, after a series of menial jobs, was apprenticed to a blacksmith while attending school. He then became a reader, devouring books of history, science, philosophy, especially the Book of Mormon. In 1878, Roberts married Sarah Louisa Smith, and in the year he graduated first in his class from University of Deseret. He and Sarah eventually had seven children, after graduation Roberts was ordained a seventy in his local church branch and taught school to support his family. The LDS Church sent him on a mission to Iowa and Nebraska, there he rose to prominence as the president of the Tennessee Conference of the Southern States Mission. On August 10,1884, a mob in the community of Cane Creek murdered two Mormon missionaries and two members of the Mormon congregation. At some personal risk, Roberts disguised himself as a tramp, during a brief return to Utah, Roberts took a second wife, Celia Dibble, by whom he had eight children. From 1889 to 1894, Celia was exiled in Manassa, Colorado, in December 1886, while serving as associate editor of the Salt Lake Herald, Roberts was arrested on the charge of unlawful cohabitation. He posted bond to appear in court the day and that night left on a mission to England. In England, Roberts served as assistant editor of the LDS Church publication the Millennial Star and completed his first book, tiring of evading federal authorities, Roberts surrendered in April 1889 and pleaded guilty to the charge of unlawful cohabitation. He was imprisoned in the Utah Territorial Prison for five months, Roberts was pardoned in 1894 by U. S. President Grover Cleveland
6.
Brigham Young
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Brigham Young was an American leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and a settler of the Western United States. He was the second President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1847 until his death in 1877 and he founded Salt Lake City and he served as the first governor of the Utah Territory. Young also led the foundings of the precursors to the University of Utah, Young was dubbed by his followers the Lion of the Lord for his bold personality and was also commonly called Brother Brigham by Latter-day Saints. Young was a polygamist and was involved in controversies regarding black people and the Priesthood, the Utah War, and the Mountain Meadows massacre. Young was born to John Young and Abigail Nabby Howe, a family in Whitingham, Vermont. Young was first married in 1824 to Miriam Angeline Works, though he had converted to the Methodist faith in 1823, Young was drawn to Mormonism after reading the Book of Mormon shortly after its publication in 1830. He officially joined the new church in 1832 and traveled to Upper Canada as a missionary, after his wife died in 1832, Young joined many Mormons in establishing a community in Kirtland, Ohio. In 1844, while in jail awaiting trial for treason charges, Joseph Smith, several claimants to the role of church president emerged during the succession crisis that ensued. Young opposed this reasoning and motion, the majority in attendance were persuaded that the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles was to lead the church with Young as the Quorums president. Many of Youngs followers would later reminisce that while Young spoke to the congregation, he looked or sounded exactly like Smith, Young was ordained President of the Church in December 1847, three and a half years after Smiths death. Rigdon became the president of a church organization based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Repeated conflict led Young to relocate his group of Latter-day Saints to the Salt Lake Valley, Young organized the journey that would take the Mormon pioneers to Winter Quarters, Nebraska, in 1846, then to the Salt Lake Valley. By the time Young arrived at the destination, it had come under American control as a result of war with Mexico. Young arrived in the Salt Lake Valley on July 24,1847, Youngs expedition was one of the largest and one of the best organized westward treks. On August 22,29 days after arriving in the Salt Lake Valley, after three years of leading the church as the President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Young reorganized a new First Presidency and was declared president of the church on December 27,1847. As colonizer and founder of Salt Lake City, Young was appointed the territorys first governor, during his time as prophet, Young directed the establishment of settlements throughout present-day Utah, Idaho, Arizona, Nevada, California and parts of southern Colorado and northern Mexico. Young was also one of the first to subscribe to Union Pacific stock, Young organized the first legislature and established Fillmore as the territorys first capital. Young organized a Board of Regents to establish a university in the Salt Lake Valley and it was established on February 28,1850, as the University of Deseret, its name was eventually changed to the University of Utah
