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Scots Among the Mormons
Scots Among The Mormons
BY FREDERICK S. BUCHANAN
On October 21, 1839, two Scotsmen, Alexander Wright and Samuel Mulliner, met at the home of a Mormon family in New York. Under the direction of Wilford Woodruff at this meeting and Parley P. Pratt at a subsequent meeting, plans were made to take the message of the "restored gospel" to the land of John Knox and the Covenanters. To Wright and Mulliner, both recent converts, fell the task of opening up their homeland as a field of Mormon missionary activities.
The crossing to Liverpool was punctuated by what they interpreted as divine approval of their mission. Fogs were dispersed, seas were calmed, and breezes were made to blow as a result of raising "the desires of our hearts to the lord" as Alexander Wright recorded.
By December 21 they were in the home of Samuel Mulliner's parents in Edinburgh, and from there they commenced missionary work among their fellow Scots — Wright went north to Banffshire and Mulliner west to Renfrewshire. Among Wright's earliest contacts was a minister who, while acknowledging that Wright's teachings disagreed with his present beliefs, admitted that "he could not say it was not so, but told me I had ought to be sure of thos things as ther were many getting up skemes that were only a delusion." Some Scots, however, were willing to accept the new teachings; on January 14, 1840, Samuel Mulliner baptized Alexander Hay and his wife Jessie in the wintry waters of the River Clyde, the first Mormon converts in Scotland. By May of 1840 when Orson Pratt organized the first branch at Paisley, a substantial beginning had been made in bringing some ten thousand Scottish converts into the fold of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints between 1840 and 1900.
As the new converts were soon to realize, their baptisms were but a step toward their fulfilling another basic Mormon doctrine — the gathering to Zion. No sooner had the church been established in Glasgow and Edinburgh than the urge to emigrate to the gathering place in America — the land of Zion — was implanted in the newly won converts. Mormon membership in Scotland totalled 317 souls in 1840, and in September of that year Walter Crane and his wife of Glasgow and Isabel Begg of Paisley, sailed from the Clyde — the first of some 5,000 Scots who obeyed the call of gathering to Zion.
In the years that followed the introductory labors of Wright and Mulliner, Scotland's Mormons became an important part of the church's missionary effort in Great Britain and on the continent. Joseph Smith commissioned Parley P. Pratt to build a temple in Scotland; and the Times and Seasons proclaimed, "In Scotland the truth flourishes." William Dunbar presided in the Channel Islands; John Lyon and Matthew Rowan directed the work in Worcestershire. The names of such Scots as James Ure, James McNaughton, and Hugh Findlay loom large in the missionary work of the 1840's and 1850's. Scotsman Thomas B. H. Stenhouse helped open the Italian mission in 1849, and William Budge of Lanark assisted in establishing the Swiss and German missions.
In Scotland itself the missionary labors resulted in an increased membership during the first 11 years — from 317 in 1840 to 3,291 in 1851. In all some 70 branches of the Mormon church were established — 28 of them in the counties of Lanark, Renfrew, and Ayr, with most of the others in the Lanark, Fife, Clackmannan, and Edinburgh region, and one or two in such widely spaced places as Aberdeen in the northeast and Newton Stewart in the southwest. In 1847 William MacKay offered to preach Mormonism "in the Gaelic language to our Scottish Highlanders." Commenting on this mission to the Highlands, William Gibson in a letter to Orson Spencer said: "May the God of Israel lead him on and bless his labours, till the heather hills of old Scotland reverberate with the songs of Zion." However, in spite of such high hopes, the songs of Zion did not resound as loudly among the heather hills as they did among the smoke stacks, mine shafts, and factories of central Scotland; for it was there that the Mormon missionaries were most successful.
They were successful also in arousing opposition to their teachings. Dismay, shock, and revulsion seemed to characterize the Reverend John Mackintosh's reaction when his nephew, Daniel Mackintosh, aligned himself with the Mormons. Writing to Daniel, who was in New York helping to edit the church newspaper The Mormon, he bitterly lamented his nephew's fatal delusion and was "grievously pained" at the infatuation which Daniel had for the church. Reminding him that he had brought his parents near to death by associating with the Mormons, this Baptist pastor asked: "What was it so bewildered you my dearest nephew? or what spell that so effectually binds you still? that you do not exercise your natural judgments. ..." To John Mackintosh the claim that the Book of Mormon was scripture was sheer blasphemy, and the speeches of Brigham Young and other leaders savored more of "gross Infidelity than Bible piety," According to William Gibson, Joseph Smith was burned in effigy at the town cross of Clackmannan in 1842 by an enraged mob which threatened to deal with the missionaries in a similar manner.
In 1852 the United Presbyterian Magazine warned Scottish Presbyterians about the Mormon menace. Admitting that it was with reluctance that it even mentioned Mormonism with all its immoralities, the magazine justified itself by asserting that giving space to the subject "might perhaps do good in warning some thoughtless persons meditating emigration to the great theocratic settlement in America." Comments were also made about the "mysterious orgies of the Nauvoo Temple" and the "plural wife system." The same magazine observed in its October 1853 issue that:
A Scottish traveler who visited Salt Lake City in 1869 seems to indicate some surprise that fellow Scots could be seduced to join the Mormons and emigrate to Utah's "sterile, salt-parched, rainless valleys." Commenting on the barren look of the promised land he concluded :
It is the intrusion of religious convictions which makes an explanation of the migration to Utah such a difficult task. In explaining it, non- Mormons often have considered the material motive as paramount. Mormons, on the other hand, are too often apt to see the migration as a purely spiritual experience with little or no thought given to self-interest in terms of material goods. Certainly the economic conditions in Scotland in the 1840's and 1850's may have contributed to the need for emigration. In speaking to a group of striking miners in Oakley, Fifeshire, William Gibson said that he was not leaving Scotland because he was disloyal; rather, said he, it was because of the grinding poverty which was all too prevalent in Scotland. Continuing, he asked them "can you blame us for wishing to leave such a state of things & go to a land where we can have a part of the soil we can call our own & work it for ourselves & own no master but our God." The miners, who had originally gathered with the intention of mobbing Gibson for disloyalty, lifted him upon their shoulders and carried him through the town. Seemingly his message was one they understood all too well. Andrew Sprowl of Paisley complained in 1847 that poverty had come in upon them "like a fiend" and that he had suffered
In addition to being pushed from Britain because of economic conditions, Scottish Mormons may have been influenced by the needs of Utah's economy. Between 1849 and 1854 especially, the church had a policy of attracting the kind of workers most needed in the establishment of Utah's infant economy. To this end the church leaders issued frequent directives concerning Utah's needs. The Millennial Star continually asked for ironworkers, potters, cutlers, woolen workers, millers, coal miners, tanners, etc., to "come home and attend to their calling here [in Utah]."
That same relationship, which existed between the desire to emigrate and the conditions in Scotland and Utah, is further hinted at by an examination of the 588 Scottish Mormon emigrants who sailed fro Zion between 1850 to 1870. The vast majority of these converts were industrial workers. A general breakdown of employment reveals that 40.6 per cent were miners; 11.5 per cent were from textile and related trades. The next largest category was "labourers" comprising 7.8 per cent of the total. Metal workers made up 7.1 per cent, and those involved in the leather industry, 5.4 per cent. These industries accounted for almost 75 per cent of the total emigrants in the sample group with the remaining 25 per cent distributed among skilled and semi-skilled trades. In addition to carpenters and stonemasons, school teachers and prosperous businessmen accepted the call to gather home to Zion.
While economic conditions apparently played a role in motivating converts to emigrate, it is not easy to claim that as the overriding reason. The presence of substantial numbers of undepressed skilled tradesmen would seem to indicate that emigration to Utah was not always used merely as a palliative for economic and social ills among the laboring masses. Motivation to leave one's native land and settle in a new country is so inextricably tied to personal feelings as well as social, economic, and, in the case of the Mormons, religious affairs, that it is almost impossible to determine exact reasons for leaving. It would seem that, for the Mormons at least, the answer is not simply depressed working conditions. The feeling that in answering the call of the elders they were obeying a command of God was strong among these converts — depressed or not. As John Lyon, the Scottish Mormon poet from Kilmarnock, expressed it:
To the newly converted the gathering to Zion was as important as any other doctrine. America was considered the rightful dwelling place of God's elect. Young John Johnston of Auchinearn was blessed by the elders "that he may be an ornament in the Kingdom of God, to be a Blessing to his Parents and go horn to Zion," and William Morrison exclaimed: "I am led to acknowledge the goodness of God who has called us from darkness unto light, from our native lands to the heights of Zion."
Somewhere between the extremes of absolute material and absolute spiritual motivation may lie the answer to the riddle of why Mormons emigrated. Both factors seem to play a part in the calling of John Murdoch, an Ayrshire shepherd, to herd sheep for Brigham Young in 1851. A materialist call one may say, but when John left Scotland he could still sing:
Between 1850 and 1900, bowing to the words of their prophet and seeking to improve their earthly lot, over 5,000 Scottish Mormons bade farewell to their native land and set their faces Zionward.
The first Scottish Mormon to complete the journey to Zion was David Grant, a member of the first pioneer company of July 1847. In the following September, 24 Scots arrived in the valley, many of them coming from Canada, and in particular the settlement of Lanark in upper Canada. In February 1848, Franklin D. Richards left Liverpool on the Carnatic, commanded by Captain McKenzie, with a company of between 120 and 130 emigrating Saints, half of them from Scotland. This company arrived in Salt Lake City on October 19, 1848, and was the first large group of Scottish Mormons to complete the journey from Scotland to Utah. It also represented the reestablishment of large-scale emigration in the Mormon church, the practice having been temporarily discontinued during the years of the exodus from Nauvoo.
According to the 1850 census, there were 232 Scottish-born residents in Utah. By 1890 the Scots in Utah numbered 3,474 and had become a well-recognized part of Utah's foreign-born population, ranking as the third largest immigrant group between 1850 and 1870 and fourth largest between 1880 and 1900. These Scottish-Mormon immigrants in Utah did not establish any separate settlements as did the Scandinavians in Ephraim, the Swiss in Santa Clara, or the Icelanders in Spanish Fork. Instead they tended to settle in areas already populated by Americans or English emigrants. The census of 1850 indicates that of 232 Scots in Utah over 100 were situated in and around Salt Lake City. This tendency is seen further in later census returns. In 1870, for example, of the 2,391 Scots in Utah, 730 resided in Salt Lake County, 350 in Cache, 276 in Utah, and 245 in Weber. Another 315 lived in Tooele, Wasatch, Box Elder, and Summit counties. In these eight counties, all in the northcentral section of Utah, 81 per cent of the Scottish-born Utahns resided, with the remaining 19 per cent divided between the other 13 counties. In the general population these same counties contained almost 70 per cent of the total population of Utah. Similar distributions can be seen in the following three census returns. In 1880, 79 per cent of the Scottish- born residents lived in the aforementioned areas, with 78 per cent in 1890, and 79 per cent in 1900.
In 1870 Cache County ranked second to Salt Lake County in number of Scottish-born residents; but by 1900, Cache was in fourth place and Weber had reached second place with 351 Scots. That Salt Lake and Weber counties also contain the two largest metropolitan areas (Salt Lake City and Ogden) may be indicative of a strong tendency of the Scots to gravitate toward such areas. In this they followed the English settlers; the four counties with the largest number of English also had the largest Scottish grouping. Of all the areas settled, Salt Lake County was by far the most densely populated and contained the largest number of Scots. In 1870, 34 per cent of the total Scottish-born population resided in that county with 31 per cent in 1880, 35 per cent in 1890, and 37 per cent in 1900.
The areas least inhabited by Scots, the counties of Washington, Kane, San Juan, Iron, Piute, Beaver, Sevier, and Millard, also show a consistency throughout the years.
In favoring the cities and urban counties, the Scots in Utah seemed to follow the general pattern of Scottish settlement in the United States. In the nation as a whole in 1870 and 1880, 30 per cent of the Scots lived in the 50 principal cities; and in 1890, 41 per cent of the Scots lived in 124 principal cities. By 1900 this had risen to 46 per cent in 160 cities. According to the 1890 census, Salt Lake City ranked nineteenth in the nation in number of Scottish residents with a total of 1,036, approximately 30 per cent of the total Scottish-born population in Utah. In the years between 1870 and 1900, the urban population of Utah increased from 18.4 per cent of the total population in 1870 to 38.1 per cent in 1900, while in the nation as a whole the urban population increased from 25.7 per cent in 1870 to 39.7 per cent in 1900, indicating that Scots were part of the general movement to urban areas experienced in Utah and in the nation at large.
According to the census returns, the number of Scottish-born residents in Utah declined from 11.6 per cent of the total foreign-born population in 1850 to 5.8 per cent in 1900. In 1860 the Scots accounted for only 3 per cent of Utah's population; and by 1900 this had been further reduced to 1.1 per cent. A similar decline is also seen in the total British-born residents during this period. Both the British and Scottish residents of Utah reached a maximum number in 1890 with 31,192 and 3,474, respectively. 30 The year 1890 was also the peak year of the nineteenth century for British-born residents in the nation as a whole. In terms of rank the Scots in Utah were the third largest emigrant group between 1860 and 1870, following the English, Welsh, and Danes. In the next three census returns they are placed as the fourth largest foreign-born group, the third place being held by Swedes. In 1870 there were 1,790 Swedishborn residents and 2,391 Scottish. By 1900 the Swedish-born residents had increased to 7,025 and the Scottish to only 3,143.
Although the Scots in Utah concentrated largely in the northern section, they also participated in the settling of communities throughout the whole territory. As early as 1849 Robert L. Campbell, former pastor of Scotland's Mormons, was called to join the Southern Exploring Expedition sent out by Brigham Young to reconnoiter prospects for further colonization. The Elk Mountain Mission, called to settle the area near Moab in 1855, had among its founders Archibald Buchanan, John Crawford, and John McEwan. McEwan's account of the mission describes their efforts to settle the area in the face of Indian depredations and the rigors of the terrain. They baptized some Indians on September 8, 1855, but on the twenty-fourth the Indians attacked the group and killed some of the settlers, eventually forcing the temporary abandonment of the mission. With the thought in mind of colonizing Zion as rapidly as possible, Brigham Young called members of the church to settle the southern part of Utah in 1861. Known as the Dixie Mission, this pioneering project had among its original members such Scots as John O. Angus, Robert Gardner, Hector McQuarrie, and Alexander Frazer. Robert Bullock of Glasgow was a member of the first exploring party to San Juan in 1879, and William Gibson was among those chosen to lead a mission to raise cotton in St. Joseph, Arizona, while Alexander F. MacDonald explored northern Mexico in search of a suitable location for a Mormon colony during the anti-polygamy campaign of the 1880's.
In 1871 James Leithead settled in Berryville, Kane County. Soon after the name was changed to Glendale in memory of Bishop Leithead's Scottish origin. Glenwood in Sevier County was previously named for its founder Robert W. Glenn and was known as Glenn's Cove (later as Glencoe). After being abandoned because of Indian raids in 1866, it was reestablished in 1870 with Archibald Buchanan as branch president. Ebenezer Bryce, a convert emigrant from Glasgow, was one of the first settlers in the vicinity of the canyon which now bears his name. He later moved to Arizona and left his name upon a settlement there. Farther north in Weber County, William Geddes and his wife Elizabeth Stewart were among the original settlers of Plain City in 1859. One of the first families in north Ogden was that of Robert Montgomery and his wife Mary Wilson. Converted in Canada, they had first emigrated to Nauvoo and then finally to Utah. A fit of homesickness for her native Scotland caused Mary to give the mountain towering above them a name which at least would be familiar — Ben Lomond, one of Scotland's famed beauty spots. At the suggestion of William Morrison, the settlers in the area of Sevier County between the Richfield Canal and the Sevier River, named their community Inverury, the name of Morrison's home town in Scotland and Gaelic for "between two waters."
Another Scot who left a number of Scottish names wherever he settled was William Budge. In 1864 Brigham Young called him to be bishop of Providence in Cache County. There he laid out the town and became its first postmaster in 1865. As presiding bishop of Rich County he organized a cooperative store for the Bear Lake residents in 1874 and helped establish a cheese factory, tannery, shingle factory, and other community enterprises. When a group of Scots settled the area between Paris and Liberty in southern Idaho, they gave it the name of Lanark in honor of Budge's birthplace; and he himself named the Glencoe Ward in 1890, and later Afton, Wyoming, after the Scottish river of that name. John Kennedy of Argyleshire, Scotland, settled first at Almy, Wyoming; but in 1874 he moved to Utah with his sons Andrew and John. Near Randolph he established a small community and named it Kennedyville. In 1895 the Kennedyville Branch was organized as a ward and given the name of Argyle. When this was announced at the reorganization meeting, the record states that "most of the settlers being of Scottish origin, this name seemed to please them."
One town, which, though it did not have a Scottish name, became known as the "Scotch town" of the north country, was Wellsville, Cache County. When James Nibley and his family arrived in Salt Lake City in 1860, they asked about some Scottish families that had preceded them. They were informed that a group of Scots had located in Cache Valley and thither Nibley and his family went. Shortly afterwards, they were followed by other Scots — Stoddards, Leishmans, Williamsons, Murrays, Kerrs, Jardines, and Moffats. In a few years there were twenty families from Scotland living in Wellsville. As Henry Hamilton made his way to Spanish Fork, he recorded that he visited with Adamsons, McDonalds, McKells, and Boyacks, all of Scotland. Like other minority groups, the Scots found it advantageous for a new arrival to associate with sympathetic Scots who had already established themselves in the community. When William Gibson and his wife celebrated their twenty-fourth wedding anniversary, they invited Hugh Findlay, Robert Menzies, the McMaster family, and Isobel Muir to a dinner party where they could talk of "auld lang syne." During his missionary travels in Utah, Gibson continually made mention of visiting with families such as the Murdochs, Lairds, Rosses, Bairds, Cowans, and Frews — names common in southwestern Scotland, where he spent so many years as a missionary.
Wherever Scots gathered it seemed almost inevitable that their national background should impress itself upon the new surroundings. As early as 1848 at the first twenty-fourth of July celebration held in honor of the pioneers' entry into the valley, Richard Ballantyne presented Brigham Young with copies of the U.S. Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, after which an "Ode to Liberty" was sung to the tune of "Bruce's Address to His Army," the unofficial national anthem of Scotland. Early reports of social activities in Utah include mention of Scotch reels, and at a New Year's party in 1852 William C. Dunbar donned his kilt and sang "Alister McAllister," a Scottish comedy song. Other celebrations included Robert Burns' birthday on January 25, at which time the Scots would meet to extol the Bard's prowess in speech, song, and dance. The kilt was often in evidence at such social occasions; and Robert Young, a native of Kirkintilloch and for many years president of the Salt Lake Temple, dressed in this garb and danced the sword dance at Scottish gatherings. Second generation Scots also perpetuated the traditions of Scotland even to the extent of having Scottish accents.
Apart from purely Scottish social affairs, the Scots in Utah took part in wider community activities. Only two days after his arrival in Salt Lake, young David McKenzie associated himself with the Deseret Dramatic Association, and within the week he was on the stage of Social Hall. In time he was acclaimed by the American critic, John McCullough, as the best Polonius he had ever seen, and was regarded as the most accomplished of the local actors. When the Salt Lake Theatre was dedicated in 1862, William C. Dunbar sang "The Star Spangled Banner" and throughout the theatre's early years, Scots played their part in contributing to its success. W. C. Dunbar was popular with his comic songs and his portrayal of Bailie Nicol Jarvie in Scott's Rob Roy, as were David O. Calder with his "native Scotch wit" and D. H. Sutherland with his Scottish dances. Other Scottish players included James Hardie, Duncan McAllister, David Dunbar, and Mrs. William Gibson. At the performance of Macbeth on April 29, 1865, Macbeth was played by David McKenzie, Lady Macbeth by Mrs. Gibson, and a chamberlain by a Mr. Mcintosh. W. C. Dunbar got into the act as one of the witches.
When Brigham Young met with federal army officers at the time of the Utah War in 1858, he called upon a Scottish immigrant to entertain the assembled group. David Dunbar did so by singing "Zion," the words of which say in part
No doubt the intention was to remind the "guests" of the resentment the Mormons felt toward the army's presence!
Not only did Scots sing the songs of Zion, but John M. MacFarlane added to the Mormon hymnology the Christmas carol "Far, Far Away on Judea's Plains" and wrote the music for "Dearest Children, God is Near You." MacFarlane was active in every phase of musicology and organized a number of choirs in southern Utah. Another Scottish immigrant, Robert B. Baird, contributed three hymns currently used in church services, among them the rousing "Welcome, Welcome Sabbath Morning." Thomas Mclntyre, former director of the Edinburgh Branch choir, wrote the music for Eliza R. Snow's "How Great the Wisdom and the Love," still one of Mormonism's best loved hymns. Mclntyre was also a member, along with David O. Calder, of the original Salt Lake Theatre Orchestra. In 1852 and 1853 an orchestra from Salt Lake City visited Springville and gave a number of concerts. Included among the orchestral instruments was the Scottish bagpipe played by W. C. Dunbar. In the interests of musical harmony Dunbar no doubt played solo!
In a letter to his wife Janet at Tooele, John Lyon reminisced about his old acquaintances from Scotland and asked her to convey his respects to them, saying that "nothing could give me greater pleasure than if I did come, to see all my old acquaintances and to have at least a drink of water with them from John Smith's well." He listed Brother Meiklejohn, John Shields, and John McLaws as those for whom he had a special regard. The Scots then, like any other small national group, were fond of meeting with fellow Scots and enjoyed the sociability of such occasions as evidenced by the frequent referral to Scots in their journals and their infusion of things Scottish into Utah's public and private social life. In 1876 a Scottish reunion was held at Fuller's Hill amusement park in Salt Lake City, and the Deseret Evening News reported that a large number of Scots and some who "dinna come frae the Land O' Cakes" were entertained by bagpiping, dancing, singing, and especially by reminiscences about auld lang syne. The Scots on this occasion were honored by the presence of Mormon Apostle Orson Pratt, who gave the oration and recounted his experiences in establishing Mormonism in Scotland, a fitting climax to thirty-one years of Scottish conversions and emigrations to Zion.
While bagpipes, reels, and auld lang syne had their place in social recreation, the greatest task the early settlers of Utah faced was that of building up the kingdom in a spiritual and material sense, and the Scottish immigrants found their skills and abilities put to good use in doing just this. Mention has already been made of the church's policy of inviting and aiding certain trade groups to emigrate so that Utah's economic and industrial needs could be supplied. One of the earliest industrial ventures was the attempt to manufacture sugar from sugar beets. To this end the Deseret Manufacturing Company was organized in Liverpool in 1851, and plans were made to ship the necessary machinery to Utah. In a letter to Brigham Young, Ezra Taft Benson reported from Kanesville that Captain Joseph Russell "has just arrived here from Scotland with iron to build 50 wagons to transport machinery for a woolen factory and sugar making, under the direction of John Taylor." A few months later Franklin D. Richards reported from Britain that he had been
This venture failed, but years later David Eccles, who had risen from selling rolling pins in the streets of Glasgow to a commanding position in the economic life of western America, gave impetus to Utah's sugar industry by organizing the Ogden Sugar Company in 1898 and in helping Heber J. Grant get the Lehi Sugar Factory and the Utah-Idaho Sugar Company underway as profitable concerns. Other Scots who pioneered in Utah's industrial development included Samuel Mulliner, one of the first Mormon missionaries to Scotland. Before leaving on a second mission to his native land, Mulliner established a tannery in Salt Lake City, and at a general conference of the church in 1850 the first leather tanned in Utah was exhibited. Samuel Crawford advertised that having been engaged as a wool manufacturer for many years in Scotland he "has constructed a machine in Great Salt Lake City, and attends to the superintendence himself. He is able and will manufacture as good and as cheap as any other establishment." His machine was set up at another Scotsman's home — Robert Cowan's in the Fifth Ward.
When Brigham Young imported some Scottish shepherds in 1852, he was in fact laying the foundation of Utah's woolen industry. One of the men concerned, John M. Murdoch, settled in Heber Valley; and in 1861 he organized a cooperative sheep herd, the first such large scale sheep business in Utah. A factory for the manufacture of woolen goods was built in Provo in 1871 and employed between 125 to 150 operatives, most of whom received their training in the large woolen centers of England and Scotland. Within a few years the factory was exporting its wares to Montana, Idaho, and Colorado. When the machinery for manufacturing cotton goods was sent to Washington County in 1866, it was accompanied by James Davidson and his family, recent converts from Scotland who were also acquainted with the cotton industry there. Davidson supervised the installation of the machinery and along with his daughter Maggie taught the settlers the many techniques associated with the production of cotton textiles. James Hoggan, a weaver from Dunfermline, imported a loom and the newest patterns from his home town so that he could supply the demand for his goods. During the construction of the Salt Lake Temple, Scots were much in evidence as stone workers. John Sharp put his experience as a miner in Clackmannan to work as he supervised the granite quarry in Cottonwood Canyon from which the blocks for the temple were cut. In this he was assisted by William Geddes and another Scottish workman, Alexander Gillespie. John Burt of Dunfermline took charge of the stone-cutting while Joseph Moffat engaged himself in fine stone work. At St. George, too, a Scotsman, Archibald McNeil, supervised the quarry for that city's temple, while the interior plastering and plaster work was executed by "a master Scotch artist," William Burt, assisted by his two sons and another Scot, John D. Hunter. Other Scots who assisted with the St. George Temple included Alexander F. MacDonald and Hector McQuarrie, the latter a skilled blacksmith and tool sharpener. Fittingly enough, Scotsman John O. Angus kept time for the project.
Apart from specific skills and trades, the Scottish immigrants in Utah also contributed to the field of general business development. John Sharp was known as the "Mormon railroad bishop" for his part in developing the Utah railroad system and also was known among both Gentiles and Mormons as the "smartest man in the church." From his coal miner status in Scotland he arose to be superintendent of Utah's Central Railway in 1871 and a director of the Union Pacific. Charles W. Nibley, David Eccles, and John Stoddard, all three of them emigrants from Scotland, went into partnership in developing and utilizing the lumber industry in Oregon. The most affluent of the trio, David Eccles, left at his death in 1912 an estate of $7 million built through "courage, hard work, self-denial, thrift" and by the development of "lumber operations, sugar factories, coal mines, heavy construction, banking and utilities," Commenting on David Eccles' achievement his son has said: "As a Scot my father did not believe in praising people for doing good. He seemed to feel it was sinful if they did less than their best."
David O. Calder, former manager of the Union Canal Company's stations between Edinburgh and Glasgow, was appointed by Brigham Young as business manager of the Deseret News and later served as secretary of the church-operated store, ZCMI. Another Scot, Hamilton Gray Park, was the Mormon leader's business manager between 1852 and 1869. Thomas B. H. Stenhouse was assistant editor of the Deseret News in 1863 and went on to found the Salt Lake Telegraph in 1864 while in 1874 the Daily Herald had as its business manager W. C. Dunbar.
With Scottish immigrants making up less than two per cent of Utah's total population between 1850 and 1900, it would seem that from their activities they are well represented in the progress of the material side of Zion's kingdom. Perhaps their success lay in a happy combination of Utah's needs, as her economy expanded, and their abilities as businessmen. It was said of Charles Nibley that although he came to Utah at an early age, he possessed "many of those characteristics which have made the Scot a leader among pioneers in every land." David O. Calder was praised for his organizing ability and business foresight "so characteristic of Scotland's business class of men wherever met." Practical, independent, methodical, and thrifty are terms which have been applied to a number of Utah's Scottish Mormon businessmen. It goes without saying that other national groups participated in building Utah's economy — the Scots had no monopoly, but in proportion to their numbers they were able to contribute substantially to its growth. One Scot, however, decided to quit his mercantile business because Brigham Young had warned that unless the elders in the church stopped their merchandising, "they will all go to hell." Consequently, Richard Ballantyne took up farming because "I did not want to go to hell, and I had previously noticed that nearly every 'Mormon' merchant had apostatized." Later he returned to business and lost all his financial undertakings in the panic of 1893!
In civic affairs, Scottish-born immigrants are also in evidence. Hugh Gowans was elected mayor of Tooele three times; and in Sevier County, William Morrison was the first probate judge to be elected there. Robert McQuarrie was elected treasurer of Weber County in 1875 and served as a councilman in Ogden City, where David Eccles served a term as mayor. Robert Patrick, David O. Calder, Andrew N. MacFarlane, and Alexander C. Pyper participated in the government of Salt Lake City, while Andrew Burt served as city marshal. In Spanish Fork, John McNeil served as alderman and then as mayor; and in Idaho, William Budge took a keen interest in civic affairs and was elected to the Idaho legislature three times.
The Scots were active, too, in the spiritual economy of their new home. They could point with pride to fellow Scots who had given devoted service to their church as missionaries, bishops, stake presidents, and patriarchs. In a statement to his children, William Gibson proudly made them aware that of the thirty-four years he had been a Mormon, thirty-three were spent in missionary work — having crossed the plains twice by mule team, three times by ox team, and twice by train — all in the service of his religion. When Walter Gore Marshall visited Utah in 1879, he reported that of twenty-nine bishops in the Salt Lake Stake of the church, thirteen were British and of this number nine were from Scotland. In Andrew Jenson's biographical sketches of prominent churchmen there are listed some sixty-five Scots of whom twenty were bishops and twelve were patriarchs. Included also are stake presidents and councilors. Approximately twenty-six fulfilled missions for the church, the largest percentage returning, naturally enough, to the land of their birth where some presided over the affairs of the church. There were defections, of course, some of which claimed one-time stalwarts such as T. B. H. Stenhouse, who was excommunicated and later wrote his Rocky Mountain Saints, an expose of Mormonism. Alexander Dow, an expert tinsmith, followed Joseph Morris when he rebelled against Brigham Young's leadership and tried to set up his own kingdom in Weber County. Dow is reported to have made the crown Morris wore as his followers waited the Second Coming, to be interrupted by a sheriff's posse which killed the leader of the dissenters and imprisoned many of his followers.
William Kelly mentions that he met a Scotsman just arrived with his sister as new converts to the church. The Scotsman had become disgruntled over some financial dealings with the church and said he "dinna ken whar this wad lead to, or how it would end." In spite of such disaffection, the Scottish Mormons in Utah saw one of their number, Richard Ballantyne, organize the first Sunday school for children in the Mormon church in 1849. He then left on a mission to India in 1852 where he published a periodical The Millennial Star and Daily Messenger and laid the groundwork for a number of conversions among British military personnel in India, who later emigrated to Utah. John Sharp was as active in the spiritual aspects of the kingdom as he was in the material and in 1854 was ordained bishop of Salt Lake City's Twentieth Ward. Under his guidance it became, according to the ward record, one of the city's most "intellectual and liberal wards." Associated with Bishop Sharp in the leadership of the ward were other Scots, including W. C. Dunbar, John Lyon, Adam Sharp, and John Sharp. John Nicholson, another Scottish member of the ward, helped organize a forerunner to the Mutual Improvement Association and later became editor of the church newspaper, the Deseret News. William Budge, already mentioned in connection with the settlement of Bear Lake, authored a number of missionary pamphlets and from 1878 to 1880 presided over the European Mission, after which he served as president of the Logan Temple. Besides following a successful business career in the lumber industry of Oregon, Charles W. Nibley, an emigrant of 1860, rose in the councils of his church to become presiding bishop from 1907 to 1925. During this time he spearheaded the drive to construct a church office building and influenced the church to pay its workers cash rather than script for services performed. In 1925 he was chosen as second councilor to Heber J. Grant of the First Presidency and held that office until his death in 1931.
The family names of Scotland's Mormon pioneers are still evident in Utah. Among them appear leaders in business, education, art, and religion. David O. McKay, the son of an emigrant of 1850, has been president of the Mormon church since 1951 and according to one Scottish newspaper "can lapse into a Scottish accent with ease." Mahonri Mackintosh Young, a grandson of Brigham Young and of Daniel Mackintosh, was one of Utah's outstanding sculptors. Marriner S. Eccles, a former missionary in Scotland and a son of Utah industrialist, David Eccles, is prominent in business circles and served as chairman of the Federal Reserve Board under Franklin D. Roosevelt. In the administration of President John F. Kennedy, Sterling M. McMurrin, a grandson of Joseph McMurrin, served as United States Commissioner of Education and is now dean of the Graduate School of the University of Utah.
Loyalty to the church and loyalty to the United States were almost synonymous in the minds of many Mormons, but non-Mormons often asserted that the Mormons were disloyal and were working against the United States government. When Brigham Young's ex-secretary, Daniel Mackintosh, defended his leader and his church against these charges in New York, he stated that he himself was a Scotsman who was now a U.S. citizen and went on to say that the Mormon who happens to be a foreigner only wishes to leam the laws of his new country and become a citizen as soon as possible. That the Scots in Utah endeavored to do this can be seen from the fact that in 1900 only 2.8 per cent of the Scottish-born population of 3,143 were aliens while in the nation as a whole the percentage of Scottish-born aliens was 6.3 and in 11 Western States 6.4 per cent. In the nation the English and Scots had the largest group of alien men over 21 years of age; 13 per cent of each nation had not applied for citizenship by 1900.
One factor which may account for this quick assimilation may have been the Mormon concept of America as a specially favored land whose Constitution had even been divinely inspired. Becoming a citizen may have been regarded as a religious duty. Another factor aiding assimilation may have been the very nature of the Mormon emigration. Basically it was a family migration and was undertaken with the idea of permanent settlement. In contrast large numbers of non-Mormon emigrants came only seasonally to the United States in order to work in American industry and had no intention of settling permanently. That the Mormon leaders looked with some disfavor on nationalism among their followers is seen in Erastus Snow's remark that when he found a Scotch party, a Welsh party, an English party, and an American party among the settlers in Iron County, he "undertook to put all these parties through the furnace and run out a party of Saints for the Kingdom of God." Even when engaged in such Scottish institutions as bagpipe bands the Scottish-born Utahns wanted to be Americans. At the organization of the first pipeband in Utah as late as 1939 the prospectus felt compelled to explain that the purpose was not to create a Scottish national spirit "because first, last, and all the time we are AMERICANS."
As a national group within the overall British Mormon migration to Utah, the Scots can be said to be distinct only insofar as they are Scots. Both the Scottish Mormons and the British as a whole reached a high point in total church membership in the early 1850's. Likewise the middle fifties saw a peak in both Scottish and British Mormon emigration, with great fluctuations in numbers of emigrants in the following thirty years. By 1890 the number of Scottish-born residents in Utah reached its maximum in common with the overall British-born residents, and thereafter they have continued to decline both in absolute numbers and in relation to the other foreign-born residents.
The call of Zion struck a responsive chord in the hearts of thousands of Scots, many of whom were poor and some of whom were comfortably situated. The laborer, tradesman, and professional businessman responded with devotion and sacrifice. To each individual the message may have meant something different according to his needs. Those who had enough of the world's goods found in it a promise of life everlasting, while to those in less fortunate circumstances there was always the hope of better days here on earth. The Mormons from Scotland, and throughout Europe, saw themselves playing a role as fulfillers of Biblical prophecy. To them Isaiah meant Utah when he talked about the mountain of the Lord's house being established in the tops of the mountains. And to their literalness he was speaking of nineteenth century Mormon emigrants when he said "all nations shall flow unto it."
One may object to the literal interpretation, but no one can deny that it was part of the thinking of the Mormon converts and that they used it to motivate their actions in deciding to emigrate and in helping to build up what they believed to be Zion.
The Scottish Mormons were ever anxious to retain some parts of their Scottish character, yet were willing to become part of a greater whole for the sake of the cause they had espoused. At a time when they had reached their largest number in Utah, Charles W. Stayner said of them and their native Scotland:
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