THE WELSH MORMON EXODUS, by Ronald D. Dennis

WTHE elsh Mormon Exodus by Ronald D. Dennis e

In 1843 a Cornishman by the name of William Henshaw was sent by Church leaders to Merthyr Tydfil. Although Elder Henshaw did not know the Welsh language, many Welsh monoglots were brought into the fold, probably through the efforts of Henshaw’s bilingual converts.

Within three years about 500 . . . Welsh had converted to the new faith and had gone down into the waters of baptism. Opposition increased along with the membership; verbal opposition from the pulpits of ministers who objected to losing some of their faithful to these “Latter-day Satanists” (the term belongs to the Reverend W. R. Davies of Dowlais) eventually became written attacks through the periodicals. The refusal of the editors to print LDS rebuttals provided the catalyst for the Mormons to establish their own vehicle through which to clarify their position and defend themselves against their adversaries. In July, 1846, the first number of Prophwyd y Jubili was published and distributed. Two-and-a-half-years . . . later its name was changed to Udgorn Seion, a periodical which . . . continued until 1862. In addition to doctrine and defence, in nearly every issue Prophwyd y Jubili and Udgorn Seion contained continual exhortations for the faithful to set their affairs in order so they could emigrate and become part of the Mormon “Camelot” in the Rockies. . . . [All] were encouraged to assist relatives and friends back in Wales to “flee from Babylon” and join with them in their Zion.

During 1846–48 over 3,000 Welshmen became Latter-day Saints. Captain Dan Jones, the editor of Prophwyd y Jubili and the spiritual leader of all Welsh Mormons, announced in mid-1848 that he had been appointed to organize the first group of Welsh emigrants to Salt Lake City. (See “Keeping the Legacy Alive,” Pioneer magazine 55, #1 [2008]: 2–4.)

A dire prophecy concerning those foolish enough to turn their backs on their homeland for the uncertainty of a Mormon Zion in the Rockies appeared in the Baptist periodical Seren Gomer for October, 1848: “After receiving enough money to get a ship or ships to voyage to California, their Chief-President (Dan Jones) will sail them to Cuba, or some place like it, and will sell them as slaves, every

Ruins of Caerphilly Castle, Wales