Unpacking Church History from a 1935 Sunday School Manual

 

   CHURCH History was the Latter-day Saint Sunday School topic in 1935 and here are my highlights from that small manual ...

   - The manual itself was written in first-person.

  -On handcart travel west, to Great Salt Lake City, the lesson stressed that for those from England, the trek was some 6,000 miles long and required nearly a full year, counting sea travel.

  -The Church's newly established Perpetual Emigration Fund paid for British converts to sail to Boston; take the train to Iowa City; and take handcarts from there. Latter-day Saints were only charged about 25 dollars for the entire 6,000 miles trek.

  -Some  of the Iowa farmers were angry that the travelers crossed by their homes. Some, however were kind, like Charles Good of Des Moines, who donated 15 pairs of children's boots to the Willie Handcart Company.

  -The Martin Handcart Company lost 77 members to cold and hunger, but there were also three births and three marriages on the trip west.

   -When the travelers entered the Salt Lake Valley, the ideal situation was that the entire First Presidency of the Church met them and it was also accompanied by a band!

  -In addition to sending Johnston's Army to Utah, the U.S. Government also halted all mail delivery to Utah territory.

  -Church members burned many of their homes and crops as Johnston's Army approached Utah, so the soldiers would have none of it for their use. They also buried the foundation of the Salt Lake Temple and made the area appear as a farm field. It is simply a miracle that after this two-year "Utah War," that the pioneers were still able to sustain themselves.

 -When the railroad came to Utah Territory, in the late 1860s, Church members were usually not paid in cash, but rather with railroad stock and materials. After the last rail was laid in the transcontinental railroad on May 10, 1869, Brigham Young used the stock and materials to build a railroad line between Salt Lake and Ogden -- The Utah Central  - and this was the nation's only rail line that was built with no government funds.

  -The Constitution of the State of Utah was the first of any state to include a woman's right to vote. Other states had to add such a right to their existing Constitution.

 NOTE: This article and all of the NighUntoKolob blog are NOT an official website of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They are the author's conclusions and views only.