Orson Pratt Pioneer and Proselyter

Utah Historical Quarterly

Vol. 24, 1956, Nos. 1-4

ORSON PRATT PIONEER AND PROSELYTER

BY T. EDGAR LYON*

ON September 19, 1811, Orson Pratt was born at Hartford, Washington County, New York. He was converted to the Mormon faith by his brother, Parley P. Pratt, and was baptized into the Church on his nineteenth birthday. From then until his death at Salt Lake City, fifty years later (October 3, 1881), he was one of the most energetic missionaries, theologians, and writers that the Latter-day Saint Church has produced. The varied activities of this talented man can be grouped under eight headings:

1. Proselyting. 2. Developing Latter-day Saint doctrines. He was foremost in formulating: a. The "Gathering," b. Plural marriage, c. Pre-existence, d. Eternal progression. 3. Developing a basic "Mormon" philosophy. 4. Pioneering in the West. 5. Scientific speculations. 6. Educational endeavors among the L.D.S. people. 7. Legislative interests. 8. Historical activities.

This paper will be limited to portions of three of these areas, namely: his pioneering, the doctrine of "Gathering," and proselyting.

During the trek of the vanguard of the Mormon Pioneers to the Salt Lake Valley in the summer of 1847, Orson Pratt played an important role. He was commissioned to make the scientific observations of the expedition. He kept a journal of these activities, from which many writers among the pioneers drew the information which they incorporated in their journals and publications. He was often a day or more ahead of the pioneer vanguard, making his observations, recording his findings, locating camp sites and exploring interesting natural phenomena of the country through which they were passing.

While encamped on the Bear River on July 13, 1847, Orson Pratt was appointed by the other members of the Council of the Twelve Apostles to go ahead and find the route into Salt Lake Valley taken by the Reed-Donner party of the previous year. 1He left camp that day with a party consisting of twenty-three wagons and forty-two men, going through Echo Canyon, the Weber Valley, to Henefer; thence across to East Canyon, Mountain Dell and Emigration Canyon. He attempted to find a better road than the emigrants of 1846 had taken, but in nearly every case found their road the best. With Erastus Snow, he entered Salt Lake Valley on July 21, 1847, but returned in the evening to his company which was camped a few miles up Emigration Canyon. Again on July 22, he entered the valley, and on the 23rd, as the senior member of the Apostles then in the valley, he dedicated the land for the gathering of the saints. He described the event in these words:

. . . after dedicating ourselves and the land unto the Lord, and imploring his blessings upon our labors, we appointed various committees to attend to different branches of business, preparatory to putting in crops, and in about two hours after our arrival we began to plough, and the same afternoon built a dam to irrigate the soil . . . which was exceedingly dry.

When Brigham Young arrived in the valley on the afternoon of the twenty-fourth of July, he made no attempt to change the site selected by Pratt. Thus it was Pratt, not Young, who selected the location of future Zion and who also dedicated it as the gathering place of the saints.

During the succeeding weeks, Pratt directed the surveying of the proposed city, with its streets, blocks, and city lots. But more important than this physical accomplishment was his contribution in the form of a new religious interpretation. The literalism of Mormon biblical exegesis taught that in these "Last Days" a new Zion would be built upon this continent, prior to the apocalyptic return of Jesus. In 1831, the location of Zion had been designated as lying within Jackson County, Missouri. The saints were exiled from this location, and also driven from their chosen site at Far West, Missouri, after which they settled in Nauvoo, Illinois. Many assumed that this would become their Zion, but this location was also abandoned under public pressure. As early as 1842, Joseph Smith had directed his thoughts toward a settlement of his people in the Great Basin so that the westward movement of the Latter-day Saints in 1847 was a continuation of his plan.

The difference in outlook between Brigham Young and Orson Pratt is nowhere more clearly seen than in an analysis of the sermons they delivered during their short sojourn in the Salt Lake Valley in the summer of 1847. Young devoted his public utterances almost entirely to practical affairs—timber, land and water policies; fencing; housing; farming; adobe making, etc. Pratt had traveled the same route as Young, but he had been studying the scriptures as he traveled slowly westward and had reacted in a religious rather than economic manner to the new situation. His creative mind saw in the settlement within these mountain valleys the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies concerning Zion. The first Sunday in the valley, Brigham Young called on Pratt to address the assembled pioneers. He took for his text, "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings . . . for they shall see eye to eye, when the Lord shall bring again Zion" (Isaiah 52:7, 8). The following Sunday he elaborated this theme, weaving into it texts from Isaiah 2:2,3; 11:11,12; 42:12; 32:15,16; Genesis 49:22-26, and a number of others. He argued that the seed of Joseph (and he proceeded to validate the belief that the Mormons were the seed of Joseph) had been promised a greater land than that of any other Israelitish tribes who were to inherit the land of Canaan. Joseph's land should extend to ". . . the utmost bounds of the everlasting hills. . . ." By astute reasoning, it was explained that this Great Basin area must be that land and hence the place where ". . . the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the tops of the mountains." Here the new Zion would be built by the saints as the latter-day world capital, from which should go forth the law of the Lord to all the world, as would the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

Although Pratt further developed this thesis in the following years, it was in these early sermons that he gave it its fundamental explanation. The importance of this point of view must not be underestimated in any study of Mormon history, expansion and colonization. He did more to popularize it than any other Church leader. It soon became one of the Mormon doctrines, especially in the poverty-stricken cities of Europe, and made a powerful appeal in the conversion of thousands to Mormon beliefs. It furnished the motivation behind the desire of thousands of the saints throughout the world to emigrate to Zion. It gave them courage to endure the difficulties of the journey from distant lands and the hardships of the pioneer life that followed, as they felt they were actually building "God's Kingdom." This ideal became the crucible in which the religious, theological and economic life of Mormonism were united into a successful pioneering achievement.

The trip to the Great Basin had not only impressed Brigham Young with the vastness of the uninhabited West, but also with the possibility of settling hundreds of thousands of people there to create a great commonwealth. Regardless of whether his motives in this matter were altruistic or designed to make himself master of a great theocratic inland empire, it is certain that he carefully planned every movement. Since 1840, England had been the most fruitful field for gaining proselytes to Mormonism. Realizing that the success of this new enterprise called for a great number of people, among them craftsmen and mechanics of every sort, Young turned his attention toward England. He wanted an able, energetic man to take charge of the Church in the British Isles, to convert and send thousands to the mountain valleys. The choice fell upon Orson Pratt, and it proved to be a wise one. Pratt was not by nature especially suited to the rigors of pioneering, but he had great ability as a speaker and writer, and these were the qualities most needed in proselyting activities of the Church.

Leaving Winter Quarters in May 1848, he arrived in Liverpool on July 28 and a few days later assumed the presidency of the Church in the British Isles, which numbered approximately 17,000 members. For the next twenty-nine months he was dominated by two ideas—to convert people to Mormonism and to have them migrate to the new Zion. At a general conference of the Church, held at Manchester on Sunday, August 13, 1848, he presented to the saints an account of the westward movement of the Church, showing that it was done in fulfillment of prophecy. He used Isaiah 40:9 as his text: "O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into a high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up they voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God." He then discussed his text by asking three questions: (1) "Who were the people that the prophet here addresses as Zion?" By an array of texts, chiefly from the Psalms and the Doctrine and Covenants, he showed that the Latter-day Saints were intended. (2) "What is the nature of the good tidings which Zion shall bring?" This he showed to be the restored gospel, as preached by the Latter-day Saints. (3) "Why is Zion commanded to Get up into the high mountains'?" By use of Old Testament prophets he showed that it would be the duty of the saints to build a city in the mountains, where the God-fearing of all nations might assemble in safety and build a temple to their God, in preparation for the apocalyptic reappearance of their Lord.

This sermon set the saints on fire with a new zeal. It was printed in the Millennial Star, and later expanded and distributed widely throughout the British Isles, the Scandinavian countries, Germany, and the Netherlands.

On August 15, 1848, Pratt published a "General Epistle to the Saints," in which he emphasized the necessity for an immediate emigration of all those able to migrate to America. He wrote:

Let the presiding elders of all the conferences throughout this island and adjacent countries, see that the Saints are thoroughly, wisely, and judiciously instructed in all points in relation to the gathering. The gathering of the Saints is a very important item of our faith. It is founded upon divine revelation, both ancient and modern. ... It seems to be a theme upon which all the prophets of the Old Testament dwelt with peculiar interest.

The Gathering was thus made a test of religious devotion and loyalty to the Church. Even though their finances were not sufficient to take them beyond Council Bluffs, or some other point where they could secure work to provide for themselves and obtain an outfit to proceed to the Great Basin, they were urged to start the journey without delay. The epistle is exceedingly strong in its millenarianism and forecasts a terrible day of judgment on the nations of the earth and all those who remain in "Babylon." The following extracts are indicative of the warning it contained:

We have now sought out a resting place in the solitary valleys of the great interior of the western continent. There, in the deep and lonely recesses of the "everlasting mountains" we hope to hide ourselves for a small moment, while the indignation of the Almighty is poured upon the nations. There we hope to rear a house unto the God of Jacob. . . .

None of the Saints can be dilatory upon this subject, and still retain the spirit of God. To neglect or be indifferent about gathering, is just as displeasing in the sight of God as to neglect or be indifferent about baptism for the remission of sins. . . . Let all the Saints who have property in houses, or in lands, or in goods, or in tenements, or in banking institutions, or in any other incorporations or companies, or in merchandise, or in manufacturing establishments, or in any other circumstances or conditions, immediately set themselves at work, with all wisdom and prudence and with much prayer, to dispose of their property, to wind up, arrange, and bring to a close their business, to collect together all of their riches, and go forth to the mountains of the Lord,—to the valley of the Great Salt Lake—with their gold and silver, and wearing apparel and precious things. . . . Now is the day of deliverance! The sword is now unsheathed! It hangs glittering over the nations! It will soon fall and devour much flesh! . . . . O save us! O deliver us! O bring us to the mountains of thy holiness, and not suffer us to perish in the day of thy fierce wrath when thou arisest to take vengeance—to overturn governments—to destroy kingdoms—to lay waste the nations.

Awake, then, O ye Saints, awake! set your faces Zionward . . . for the day of evil is at hand ... it shall come from all quarters, like the rushing together of adverse elements—like the whirlwind in its fury . . . O, then, where will be safety? It shall be in mount Zion. There only shall the daughter of peace select her habitation. . . Make good your retreat before the avenues are closed up.

The epistle then laid down twelve rules to govern the saints in arranging their sailing reservations, payments for passage, embarkation precautions, and similar helpful directives. Arrangements were set in order whereby Pratt secured a license as a ship broker and the Church headquarters in Liverpool became an emigrant shipping office. By chartering a vessel to sail from Liverpool to New Orleans, Pratt was able to offer passage from about £3, 5s, upwards (about $15.40), with children from one to fourteen years for about ten shillings ($2.40) less, and infants under one year free.

It was announced that deck passage on river steamers from New Orleans to St. Louis could be had for about 10s, 4 d, but this was later raised to 16 or 17 shillings. Still later, the entire trip from Liverpool to Council Bluffs was listed as £6 for adults and £4 for children from one to fourteen, with 10Q pounds of luggage carried free for each fare.

To assist the emigrants Pratt operated a store at mission headquarters in Liverpool, where straw mattresses and the necessary tinware that each passenger must provide for the voyage could be procured at rates below the customary market price. It was announced that each transatlantic fare, regardless of the price, would include the following provisions for each passenger over twelve months of age, as specified by law:*

Pratt recommended that, in addition to these staple foods furnished by the chartered ship, the saints should take the following items for each person, to relieve the monotony of the voyage:*

These items were all for sale by Pratt at the store operated at Church headquarters. After some months of experimentation, Pratt decided to include these luxuries in the shipping fare so that each person received them at the time of embarkation.

The first shipment of saints for Zion, under Pratt's direction, sailed from Liverpool abroad the Erin's Queen on September 15, 1848, carrying 269 passengers. A second, the Sailor Prince, sailed on September 24, with 311 souls aboard. Regular sailings were scheduled and the response to his appeal was great. In one four-week period in January and February, 1849, he sent five ships to New Orleans, carrying 1,239 saints destined for Zion. During a twenty-seven-month period he sent more than 5,500 saints Zionward. It must be remembered that his notification of the organization of the Perpetual Emigrating Fund Company did not reach Liverpool until the spring of 1850. He had organized this vigorous work more than eighteen months before he learned that Brigham Young had instituted an organization to assist in the migrations.

The British saints responded to Pratt's appeal so enthusiastically that he was able to comment on their response as follows:

The spirit of emigration has seized upon the Saints, and we are glad to see it. How true are the words of the prophet Isaiah; he informs us that "in that day" not only the "deaf shall hear the words of the book," but that the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel." If the poor of England can by any means get sufficient means to emigrate to a land of plenty, they will greatly better their condition. We verily believe that the Lord will open a door in due time, that the poor, as well as all others, may emigrate. Will they not rejoice then in the Holy One of Israel? Their temporal condition will be incalculably better than in this country, to say nothing of their spiritual condition. We hope to see a nation of English Saints formed in the great interior of North America—all under the government of a celestial law. We hope to see the poor riding in their fine carriages in the high places of the earth. We hope to hear the mountains, and the hills, and the valleys reverberating with their songs of joy.

Although some wealthy people were converted to the Church in England, the majority appear to have been drawn from the class commonly referred to as "the poor." To save sufficient money to migrate would be a task of a lifetime for many of these "poor." As colonists were needed immediately in the Rocky Mountain valleys, President Pratt taught, in his First General Epistle, that concession should be made to them respecting the law of tithing, as follows:

The law of tithing was given by revelation several years ago. . . . By this law, one tenth part of your property is required; and ever after, one tenth part of your annual income must be given in. In this country there are doubtless many Saints who cannot comply with this law—who are dependent upon their daily labor to procure the scanty morsel of coarse food, which is barely sufficient to keep soul and body together. Of such, it is not to be expected that one tenth will be required; for in so doing they would distress themselves and their families perhaps beyond endurance. It would be better for. some one to give to them, than for them to give. There are others, who, though not suffering, can barely procure sufficient to sustain themselves, and perhaps lay by one, two or three shillings per week, so that in case of sickness, the want of employ, or some other unforeseen circumstances, they may not be entirely destitute. They hope by this slow process to eventually procure enough to emigrate to a land of plenty. We do not require tithing of such. There are others whose circumstances are some better, and who can, without distressing themselves or families, or without hedging up the way of their emigration, pay in their tenth; and of them it is required. . . .

Elder Orson Spencer, who had presided over the British Mission prior to the arrival of Orson Pratt in July 1848, remained in England until January of 1849. He was appointed to visit the various congregations of Mormons and collect their tithing, that he might take it with him to Utah when he emigrated, to assist the Church in its pioneering endeavors. 25 It appears, however, that even the wealthier Saints took advantage of Pratt's suggested exemption and Elder Spencer wrote to him from Woolwich in November that he was meeting with poor response in his collections. Pratt wrote in an editorial the following justification for this exemption he had allowed:

... in America the poor as well as the rich pay tithing—a tenth being required of all Saints. But here the situation of the poor is very different from what it is in a land of plenty. Wisdom would seem to dictate that the poor should use every laudable exertion to extricate themselves from starvation, and, if possible, emigrate to the Pottawattomie county [Winter Quarters and Council Bluffs area], where their temporal condition will be bettered at least a hundred fold; and where they can do more in two weeks in the form of tithing than they could in this country in a whole year.

This statement, however, apparently failed to produce the much needed and greatly desired tithing revenue. In an official announcement under date of December 15, 1848, Pratt fixed the tithing exemption with the following statement: "Every person who has £9 [$43.92] per head for himself and family, or over that sum, should pay one-tenth part thereof as tithing. He will then have enough left to emigrate with his family to Council Bluffs." 27 Throughout this period the eschatological elements of the "Last Days" were stressed on the pages of the Millennial Star. Under two captions, "Varieties" and "Signs of the Times," news items were culled from the press of the world, relating to earthquakes, floods, fires, wars, rebellions, disasters at sea, etc. The moral was always attached that these were signs of the coming destruction and the Saints must flee from Babylon if they were to be safe. For example, Pratt wrote the following:

War, that fatal curse of fallen beings, has not yet ended its ravages . . . The United States, now a flourishing and great nation, shall feel its direful ravages. The North and the South shall unsheath the glittering sword, and in the heat of their anger rush headlong into the opening vortex that has swallowed up nations and generations. While the nations of the Old World will catch the fatal spirit, and drench the soil of Europe with the blood of millions, Asia shall rise up and go forth to the valley of slaughter, where many nations and kings shall perish in one day. War, dreadful war, awaits all nations! Zion alone shall escape! There in her peaceful habitations shall the righteous dwell! War shall not disturb her quiet resting places.

In similar fashion, announcements that could be used to explain biblical predictions made their appearance. The Millennial Star of November 1, 1848, announcing the discovery of gold in California, made this statement:

The discovery of gold on the branches of the Sacramento river seems to be confirmed by many witnesses. It is found in pieces of different sizes, from that of small dust to quantities as heavy as an ounce. From 10 to 100 dollars per day is the amount frequently collected. It is reported that this discovery was made by the Mormons, probably by Brannan's company, who were, we believe, the only settlers in the gold country. . . . Let not the Saints be astonished, for the Lord, speaking by the mouth of Isaiah concerning the riches and glory of the Latter-day Zion says, "For brass I will bring gold." (Isaiah LX:17)

There was much unemployment in Britain at this period and wages were low. America held out a great economic incentive to immigrants, as wages were high and land was cheap. Europe was war-torn and politically upset by the revolutions of 1848. The establishment of the French Republic in 1848 led some radicals to agitate a similar change in Britain. To the religiously inclined these events were forebodings of God's coming judgments. It is, therefore, not surprising that Pratt was able to capitalize on this latent millenarianism. He rallied thousands of converts behind his drive, and fed a steady stream of artisans, farmers, business men, and laborers into the valleys of the Great Basin. His part in making the desert "blossom as the rose" was not inconsequential.

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