The Missouri PersecutionsRoberts, B. H. (Brigham Henry)
History
The Missouri Persecutions
Roberts, B. H. (Brigham Henry)
Latter Day Saints -- Missouri -- History -- 19th century
Affrighted, terror-stricken, many of the "Mormons" took refuge in Clay
County. Every vacant cabin in the south of the county was occupied by
the fugitives. Many of them among the men obtained employment with the
farmers, some of the women engaged as domestics, others taught school.
A few heads of families were able to and did purchase land and homes,
but the majority rented. The Clay County citizens treated them kindly
and administered to their wants and rendered so many favors that to
this day away out in Salt Lake the old "Mormons" hold in grateful
remembrance the residents of the county of 1834-6.
An old citizen of Independence has recently published in the Kansas
City _Journal_ an interesting article on the "Mormon" troubles in
Jackson County. One paragraph of this article reads as follows:
True history, however, must record the fact that the deluded followers
of the so-called prophet Joseph Smith, in their first effort to
organize and establish a religious, socialistic community in Jackson
County, Missouri, were unjustly and outrageously treated by the
original settlers. That is seen in the tragical and pitiful scene which
occurred during the last part of their sojourn in this their promised
inheritance, their Zion and New Jerusalem. With scarcely one exception
the old settlers were the aggressors so far as overt acts of hostility
were concerned. During the last year of their stay, the continued
persecutions to which they were subjected excited the sympathy of many
outside the county, especially of the people of Clay County, who gave
them an asylum and assistance for a year or two after their expulsion.
Indeed, material aid and arms were furnished them by citizens of Clay
County before their expulsion. A wagon with a quantity of guns was
stopped near the south part of Kansas City and seized by parties on the
watch.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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