1.
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
2.
Spanish Fork, Utah
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Spanish Fork is a city in Utah County, Utah, United States. It is part of the Provo–Orem Metropolitan Statistical Area, the population was 36,956 as of the 2013 census. Spanish Fork was settled by Mormon pioneers in 1851 and they described the area inhabited by Native Americans as having spreading meadows, where there is sufficient irrigable land for two good settlements. In 1851 some settlers led by William Pace set up scattered farms in the Spanish Fork bottom lands, however, a larger group congregated at what became known as the Lower Settlement just over a mile northwest of the present center of Spanish Fork along the Spanish Fork River. In December 1851 Stephen Markham became the president of the LDS settlers at this location. In 1852 Latter-day Saints founded a settlement called Palmyra west of the center of Spanish Fork. George A. Smith supervised the laying out of a townsite, a fort was built at this site. A school was built at Palmyra in 1852, with the onset of the Walker War in 1853, most of the farmers in the region who were not yet in the fort moved in. Some of the people did not like this site and so moved to a site at the mouth of Spanish Fork Canyon where they built a structure they called Fort St. Luke. Also in 1854 there was a fort founded about 2 miles south of the center of Spanish Fork that later was known as the Old Fort, between 1855 and 1860, the arrival of pioneers from Iceland made Spanish Fork into the first permanent Icelandic settlement in the United States. The city also lent its name to the 1865 Treaty of Spanish Fork, Spanish Fork has a city manager type of government. Seth Perrins is the current city manager, and Tyler Jacobson is the assistant city manager, the current mayor, Steve Leifson, was elected in the November 5,2013 general election. The members of the city council are, Rod Dart, Richard Davis, Brandon Gordon, Mike Mendenhall, Spanish Fork City hosts five large-scale events each year, Fiesta Days, Icelandic Days, the Harvest Moon Hurrah, the Festival of Lights, and the Festival of Colors. The Icelandic Association of Utah was founded in 1897 and hosts Iceland Days every year, the association picked June because Icelandic Independence Day, or National Day, is June 17. Spanish Fork was the first Icelandic settlement in the United States, after Icelanders who joined the LDS Church were expelled from that country, according to association spokesman Glenn Grossman. Although other nationalities helped found the town, under colonizer Brigham Young, Icelanders kept their identity, the Harvest Moon Hurrah is sponsored by the Spanish Fork Arts Council and takes place on a Saturday in September closest to the date of the full moon. The 2009 Hurrah was headlined by Peter Breinholt, a local musician. The Festival of Lights is a Christmas celebration that runs from Thanksgiving to New Years and it runs nightly from 6,00 p. m. -10,00 p. m
3.
Utah Territory
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The creation of the territory was part of the Compromise of 1850 that sought to preserve the balance of power between slave and free states. The creation of the Utah Territory was partially the result of the petition sent by the Mormon pioneers who had settled in the valley of the Great Salt Lake starting in 1847. S. The Mormon settlers had drafted a constitution in 1849 and Deseret had become the de facto government in the Great Basin by the time of the creation of the Utah Territory. Following the organization of the territory, Young was inaugurated as its first governor on February 3,1851, in the first session of the territorial legislature in September, the legislature adopted all the laws and ordinances previously enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Deseret. In 1861, partly as a result of this, the Nevada Territory was created out of the part of the territory. Non-Mormons also entered the easternmost part of the territory during the Pikes Peak Gold Rush, in 1861 a large portion of the eastern area of the territory was reorganized as part of the newly created Colorado Territory. Territories that encompassed land that would become part of the Territory of Utah, Mexican Cession,1848 State of Deseret
4.
Mormon pioneers
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At the time of the ceasefire and planning of the exodus in 1846, the territory was owned by the Republic of Mexico, which soon after went to war with the United States over the annexation of Texas. Salt Lake Valley became American territory as a result of this war and these and other reasons caused the body of the Church to move from one place to another--to Ohio, Missouri, and then to Illinois, where church members built the city of Nauvoo. Sidney Rigdon was the First Counselor in the LDS First Presidency, and as its spokesman, Rigdon preached several sermons in Missouri, including the Salt Sermon. These speeches have sometimes seen as contributing to the conflict known as the 1838 Mormon War in Missouri. As a result of the conflict, the Mormons were expelled from the state by Governor Boggs, Rigdon was released on a writ of habeas corpus and made his way to Illinois, where he joined the main body of Mormon refugees in 1839. In 1844 Joseph Smith, and his brother Hyrum Smith were killed by a mob while in custody in the city of Carthage, in 1846, religious tensions reached their peak, and in 1848 mobs burned the Latter-day Saint temple in Nauvoo. During the winter of 1846-47, Latter-day Saint leaders in Winter Quarters and Iowa laid plans for the migration of the number of Saints, their equipment. It was here that Brigham Young first met Thomas L. Kane, Kane obtained permission for the Mormons to winter on Indian territory, and the site was originally called Kanesville. Brigham Young continued to trust Kane throughout his own lifetime, particularly as an intermediary with the often hostile Federal government and this major undertaking was a significant test of leadership capability and the existing administrative network of the recently restructured Church. For his role in the migration, Brigham Young is sometimes referred to as the American Moses. The wary Young insisted the Mormons should settle in a no one else wanted. The initial company would select and break the trail with the expectation that later pioneers would maintain. It was hoped that the group could, wherever possible, establish fords and ferries, in late February, plans were made to gather portable boats, maps, scientific instruments, farm implements and seeds. Techniques for irrigating crops were investigated, a new route on the north side of the Platte River was chosen to avoid major interaction with travelers using the established Oregon Trail on the river’s south side. Given the needs of the volume of Saints who would travel west, Church leaders decided to avoid potential conflicts over grazing rights, water access. In April 1847, Young consulted with members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles who had returned from the British mission. John Taylor, Parley P. Pratt and Orson Hyde brought money contributed by the English Saints, fremont’s recent western expedition, and instruments for calculating latitude, elevation, temperature and barometric pressure. Chosen members of the group were gathered together, final supplies were packed
5.
Church of Christ (Latter Day Saints)
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The Church of Christ was the original name of the Latter Day Saint church founded by Joseph Smith. Each of the churches that resulted from this schism considers itself to be the continuation of Smiths original Church of Christ. This church is unrelated to other bodies bearing the name, including the United Church of Christ, a Reformed church body, and the Churches of Christ. Today, there are several Latter Day Saint churches called Church of Christ, the first Latter Day Saint references to the church of Christ are found in passages of the Book of Mormon that Smith dictated from April to June 1829. During the course of this dictation, the outlines for a community of believers or church structure became apparent. Such a structure would have authority from God, ordinances such as baptism, the book described the clergy in Almas church as consisting of priests, who were unpaid and were to preach nothing save it were repentance and faith in the Lord. Alma later established churches, which were considered one church because there was nothing preached in all the churches except it were repentance. In addition to priests, the book mentions that the clergy of these also included teachers. Smiths further dictation of the Book of Mormon also stated there were two churches only, the one is the church of the Lamb of God, and the other is the church of the devil. As a result of the references to baptism and the organization of churches. Smith and Cowdery then baptized each other by immersion and they also baptized dozens of people, as early as June 1829. These converts, however, did not belong to a church organization. Nevertheless, this community of believers referred to themselves as the Church of Christ, in June 1829, Smith dictated a revelation stating that in are all things written, concerning my church, my gospel, and my rock. Wherefore if you build up my church, and my gospel, and my rock. Some time between June and December 1829, Cowdery said he received a revelation about how he should build up his church & the manner thereof. This revelation was called the Articles of the Church of Christ, the church was to meet regularly to partake of bread and wine. Cowdery was described as an Apostle of Jesus Christ, according to David Whitmer, by April 1830, this informal Church of Christ had about six elders and 70 members. On April 6,1830, Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, and a group of approximately 30 believers met with the intention of formally organizing the Church of Christ into a legal institution
6.
Strongsville, Ohio
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Strongsville is a city in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States, and a suburb of Cleveland. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 44,750, the citys nickname Crossroads of the Nation, originated from the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad intersecting with the Southwestern Electric Line that connected Cleveland and Wooster, Ohio. As the railroad ceased operation in 1931, the motto and city seal have been adapted to reflect the modern day intersection of Interstate 71. Strongsville officially became a township on February 25,1818, a village in 1923, founded by settlers arriving in the newly purchased Connecticut Western Reserve, the city was named after John Stoughton Strong, the groups leader. Many of the streets in the city are named after other principal figures and landowners from the citys history, e. g. Howe, Drake, Shurmer. In the mid-19th century, the Pomeroy House, then called The Homestead, was a stop on the underground railroad, alanson Pomeroy, the home owner and a prominent Strongsville resident, concealed runaway slaves on his property. From this residence in Strongsville, the slaves were taken to boats on Rocky River for passage to Canada. In 1853, John D. Rockefellers family moved to Strongsville, at the time, Rockfeller was only a child. On April 11,1965, an F4 tornado hit Strongsville, Strongsville is located at 41°18′46″N 81°49′55″W. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has an area of 24.64 square miles. The east branch of the Rocky River enters Strongsville from North Royalton, valley Parkway parallels the rivers northwesterly course. This portion of the Cleveland Metroparks, named Mill Stream Run, includes Bonnie Park, abutting the Rocky River, the recreation area offers visitors a pavilion, picnicking facilities, two small ponds, and several sport fields. Bonnie Park serves as a hub for hiking, bridle, the median income for a household in the city was $68,660, and the median income for a family was $76,964. Males had an income of $54,988 versus $33,129 for females. The per capita income for the city was $29,722, about 1. 3% of families and 2. 2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 1. 7% of those under age 18 and 3. 7% of those age 65 or over. Of the citys population over the age of 25,41. 6% held a degree or higher. As of the census of 2010, there were 44,750 people,17,659 households, the population density was 1,816.9 inhabitants per square mile. There were 18,476 housing units at a density of 750.1 per square mile
