--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Smith, Joseph F., Jr. collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 12 number: 7 published: 1909-05 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Jr. Joseph F. Smith, "Growth of the Church," *Improvement Era* 12, no. 7 (May 1909): 554–560.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1207unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera1207unse start_page: 554 end_page: 560 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1909-05) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1207unse publication_year: 1909 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1909, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Growth of the Church — GROWTH OF THE CHURCH. VALUABLE AND INTERESTING HISTORICAL AND STATIS- TICAL INFORMATION. BY JOSEPH F. SMITH, JR., ASSISTANT CHURCH HISTORIAN. [Readers of the Era, the world over, will be gratified in perusing this intensely interesting paper on the growth and development of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, during the past seventy-nine years of its exist- ence. The historical information contained therein is not always of easy access to some students of Church history, and therefore will be welcomed by them in these pages which are so readily consulted. Editors.] The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was organ- ized Tuesday, April 6, 1830, at the home of Father Peter Whit- mer, at Fayette, Seneca county, N. Y., with six members. These six members who had been baptized previous to the organization of the Church were all again baptized on the day of the organization. They are: Joseph Smith, Jr., Oliver Cowdery, Hyrum Smith, Peter Whitmer, Jr,, Samuel H. Smith, and David Whitmer. All of these died in the Church, excepting David Whitmer. At this time Joseph Smith, Jr., and Oliver Cowdery were sus- tained as the first and second elders of the Church. A revela- tion was given to the prophet on this day, in which the Church just organized was commanded to keep a record in which Joseph Smith, Jr., was to be called a seer, translator, prophet and apostle of Jesus Christ and elder of the Church. On the 9th day of June, 1830, the first conference of the Church was held at Fayette, N. Y , and the following officers were present: Joseph Smith, Jr., Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer, Peter Whitmer and Ziba Peterson, each of whom held the office of elder in the Church. At this conference Samuel H. Smith was ordained an elder, — Joseph Smith, senior, and Hyrum Smith were ordained priests. Martin Harris was also ordained a priest, and Hyrum — GROWTH OF THE CHURCH. 555 Page and Christian Whitmer, teachers. At the close of this con- ference there were in the Church seven ordained elders — including Joseph Smi f h and Oliver Cowdery three priests and two teachers. The total membership of the Church was twenty-seven. Oliver Cowdery was appointed to keep the Church record and conference minutes until the next conference to be held in Sep- tember. The second conference of the Church was held September 26, 1830. On that date the Church had the following officers: eight elders (Thomas B. Marsh having been ordained an elder); four priests (Newel Knight having been ordained a priest); and two teachers. Eight holding the Melchizedek Priesthood and six the Aaronic, — fourteen in all, so far as we know, who had been or- dained to the priesthood. David Whitmer was appointed to keep the Church record and conference minutes, until the next conference. The membership at the close of the conference was sixty-two. The third conference was held at Seneca, January 2, 1831, but no minutes were kept. At the fourth conference, held at Kirtland, June, 1831, the first high priests in this dispensation were ordained. There were among them being the Prophet Joseph Smith, twenty-three in all, who was ordained a high priest under the hands of Lyman Wight, he (Lyman Wight) having first been ordained to that office by the prophet. Owing to his absence, Oliver Cowdery was not ordained a high priest at this conference, but was ordained by Sidney Rig- don, August 28, following. At this conference Edward Partridge was also ordained a high priest, he had previously been called to the bishopric, and — on this date chose as counselors or assistants as they were then called— John Corrill and Isaac Morley. This was the first bish- opric in the Church. From this time forth the Church grew rapidly in power and strength, notwithstanding the many trials, apostacies and hard- ships through which it was forced to pass. March 18, 1833, the first presidency of the Church was or- ganized, with Joseph Smith, president; Sidney Rigdon and Freder- ick G. Williams, counselors. Prior to this, the prophet was sus- . 556 IMPR VEMENT ERA tained and ordained president of the high priesthood, at a confer- ence held at Amherst, Ohio, January 25, 1832. Joseph Smith, Sen., was called and ordained by his son Joseph as presiding patriarch, December 18, 1833. In this oruination he was also called a president of the high priesthood. Oliver Cow- dery was also associated with the first presidency. The first apostles and seventies in this dispensation were ordained at Kirtland, Ohio, in February, 1835, after the return of Zion's Camp, from the members of that camp. The apostles were by revelation chosen and ordained by the witnesses to the Book of Mormon, February 14, 1835, and the first of the seventies were ordained fourteen days later. Two quorums of seventies were or- dained at this time. There are now in the Church one hundred and fifty-two quorums of seventy. The priesthood of the Church on the 6th day of April, 1830, was composed of two humble elders. Today, April 6, 1909, there are forty- one thousand seven hundred and fifty-five holding the Melchizedek Priesthood, and thirty-four thousand nine hundred and thirty-seven who hold the Aaronic priesthood in the Church. From a humble beginning the Church has grown in member- ship from six, in 1830, to four hundred and fifty thousand at the close of the year 1908, during which year fourteen thousand eight hundred persons were baptized into the Church, over five thousand of whom were in the missions. There were nineteen hundred missionaries in the field at the close of the year 1908; of this number seventy-six were women. There are fifty-seven thousand three hundred and ninety- six families in the Church, and there were four thousand seven hun- dred and two marriages of Church members last year. There were eleven thousand nine hundred and eighty-two births, and twelve thousand eight hundred and ninety children blessed in the stakes of Zion. The deaths were three thousand three hundred and fifty. There are now sixty stakes in Zion, with six hundred and seventy-one wards; and twenty-one missions in the various coun- tries of the world. The first foreign mission was the British, which was opened in Lancashire, England, by Elders Heber C. Kimball, Orson Hyde, GROWTH OF THE CHURCH. 557 Willard, Richards, Joseph Fielding, John Goodson, Isaac Russel and John Snider, in 1837. From here the work spread to Ireland, Scotland, Wales and the various counties of England; al30 to Australia, South America, and East India. Joseph Ball was set apart in 1842 to South America; ten years later, Parley P. Pratt and Rufus Allen visited Chili, but met with little success. The gospel was taken to Jamaica, in 1842, by Henry Sagers. That same year Orson Hyde went to Jerusalem and dedicated the land of Palestine to the return of the Jews. While on this mis- sion he did some work in Germany. In 1843, Addison Pratt, Noah Rogers, Benjamin F. Grouard and Knowlton F. Hanks were set apart to visit the Islands of the Pacific. Elder Hanks died November 3, following, and was buried at sea. The others labored in the Society Islands and were quite successful. Elder William Howell was the first missionary to France. He went from England in 1848, and organized a branch. In 1850 Elder John Taylor and others went to France and labored there. That same year (1850) Erastus Snow and Peter 0. Hansen arrived in Denmark, John E. Forsgren, in Sweden, Lorenzo Snow and Joseph Toronto, in Italy, and later that same year Thomas H. B. Stenhouse opened the door in Switzerland, and Elder George Q. Cannon and others, in the Hawaiian Islands. Elder Joseph Richards was the first to successfully carry the gospel to 'India, where he organized a branch, June 22, 1851. William Donaldson, of the British Army, was the first elder to visit that land, but his labors were without apparent success. In 1852 missionaries were called to India, China, Siam, Cape of Good Hope, (Africa), Prussia, Gibraltar, the West Indies and Norway. Elders went to New Zealand in 1854, and to Mexico in 1877. Since that time the gospel has been preached in most of Europe, parts of Asia, South America, the Islands of the Sea, where many of the descendants of the Nephite race reside; and in Japan, which land was dedicated by Heber J. Grant, September 1, 1901. In 1903, President Francis M. Lyman also dedicated Finnland and Russia for the preaching of the gospel and the gathering of the blood of Israel. From the time when the first company of Saints sailed from Liverpool, June 6, 1840, until the close of the year 1908, over one hundred thousand Saints took passage for Zion. Of the many ships that carried this mighty host not one was lost, and while some of the Saints died on the way, and others met with accidents, the result is most a marvel. During the year 1908, there were 3,074,979 families in the missions visited by the elders for the first time, and 387,229 families re-visited. There were 1,783,939 gospel conversations reported, and 9,862,728 tracts and pamphlets, 37,112 copies of standard Church works, and of other books, 456,645 copies distributed. There were also 86,950 meetings of all kinds held in the missions of the Church. Of the auxiliary organizations of the Church, we have the fol- lowing"! In the Relief Society at the close of 1908, there were 31,669 members, of which 72 were non-members of the Church. In the Sunday schools, 163,000 students enrolled, of which 1,692 were non-members of the Church. In the Y. M. M, I. A., 28,086, and of the Y. L. M. I. A., 29,297 were enrolled. The Primary association has a membership of 58,856 and the Religion classes, 34,257. The first edition of the Book of Mormon was published at Palmyra, N. Y., a few months before the Church was organized. It was published by Egbert B. Grandin, for three thousand dollars, and consisted of five thousand copies. This edition was disposed of by 1837, when the second edition was published, in Kirtland, for the prophet by Parley P. Pratt and John Goodson, and was an edi- tion of five thousand copies. The third edition was published in Nauvoo, in 1840, by Don Carlos Smith, andEbenezer Robinson; the fourth edition was published in England by Brigham Young and others of the Twelve, in 1841. All Church publications for many years after the Saints came to Utah were published in England. The first Utah edition of the Book of Mormon was published in , GROWTH OF THE CHURCH. 559 1871. In 1879 it was published in England by Orson Pratt, divided into chapters, and with foot-note references as we have it today. This edition was electrotyped, as nearly every edition since that time has been. The first electrotyped edition ever published was the Nauvoo edition, published by Don Carlos Smith and E. Robin- son, in 1840. It is impossible to tell how many editions of the Book of Mormon have been published since that time, for the reason that the electrotype plates have been used repeatedly both in Utah and Great Britain without any reference to the number of the editions. The first edition in the English language to be published by any mission, in the United States, was the Kansas City edition published by James G. Duffin in 1902. Since that time many edi- tions have been published by the missions and have been sold by the thousands. Last year in the missions of the United States over twenty thousand copies of the Book of Mormon were distrib- uted. In 1869 an edition was published in the Deseret Alphabet, under the direction of Elder Orson Pratt, by Russel Brothers, in New York. The first edition to be published in any foreign tongue, was that published by Elder Erastus Snow, in Danish, in 1851. It was published in Welsh, French, German and Italian in 1852; Hawaiian, in 1855; Swedish,in 1878; Spanish, in 1886 Maori, in 1889; Dutch, ; in 1890; Samoan, in 1903, and since 1903, in Tahitian and Arme- nian, thirteen foreign languages. It has also been translated into Hebrew, Hindoostanee, Greek and Japanese, making seventeen in all. In the latter two it will soon De issued from the press. In many of these languages it has passed through several edi- tions,andall told, it has been published by the hundreds of thousands. CHURCH PROPERTY. When the Church was organized, the Saints had to meet in a private dwelling. This was the case for some time. In the early days they did not build many houses of worship, their meetings were held in the open air or in private dwellings. In 1836, the Kirtland Temple was dedicated, and in it all public gatherings of the Saints, in Kirtland, were held until the removal of the Church . to Missouri. In Missouri they did not build houses of worship, at least to any extent. It is true, some of the foundation stones of a temple were laid, but because of persecutions nothing more was accomplished. It was not until the exodus to Utah that the Saints commenced to build ward meetinghouses. While in Nau- voo — although the city was divided into numerous wards, — public meetings were held mostly in the open air, until the temple was prepared for worship. Today the Church owns over six hundred and seventy houses of worship, including the four temples. This property is valued at ten million five hundred thousand dollars. This amount embraces nothing but houses of worship. In educational facilities the development of the Church has been equally remarkable. Schools have been taught since the organization of the Church. As early as 1832, the Lord com- manded that a school be taught, and one was organized, in har- mony with the revelation, at Kirtland, in 1833, known as the School of the Prophets. William E. McLlellin and Parley P. Pratt were among the first school teachers in the Church. At Nauvoo, the University Nauvoo was chartered in 1840, and public of schools were taught. In Utah, the first school was taught in the Old Fort, in 1847-8, by Julian Moses and Miss Mary Jane Dilworth (Hammond) The University of the State of Deseret was established by the Saints in 1851. That school is now the University of Utah. There are today twenty-five Church schools established in var- ious stakes of Zion. In these schools, June 30, 1908, there were enrolled four thousand four hundred and eighty male, and three thousand nine hundred and thirty-four female students; and there were two hundred and twenty- four male and one hundred and seventeen female teachers. The total valuation of school property, owned by the Church, is one million two hundred and twenty-five thousand two hundred and eighty-five dollars, and the cost of maintaining these schools reaches the great sum of more than four hundred and fifty thousand dollars— quite a bur- den for the Church, but a necessary one. There are twenty- eight thousand eight hundred and forty-five volumes in the school libraries. Salt Lake City, Utah.