The Pilgrim Fathers and the “Mormon” Pioneers

The Pilgrim Fathers and the "Mormon" Pioneers BY PRESTON NIBLEY The story of the Pilgrim Fathers, their struggle for religious independence, their sacrifices as pioneers and founders of a great republic, and their obedience to the Divine Providence that led their steps and shaped their destiny, has a peculiar charm and fascination to the people of Utah, because it was repeated in the wonderful history of the foundation of this State.— Deseret News, Dec. 22, 1911. There is truly a striking similarity in the coming of the Pilgrim Fathers to the Atlantic coast, in December, 1620, and the march of the first body of "Mormon" Pioneers to the shores of Great Salt Lake, in 1847. Both groups of people were in quest of a place where they could be free and independent, and worship God as their consciences dictated. For this inestimable privilege they were willing to forsake all that in a worldly way was near and dear to them, face the hardships and perils of a long journey, and endure the suffering which was sure to be theirs in the settlement of a new and strange country. The little group of Pilgrims that set sail from England in September, 1620, numbered exactly one hundred, as against one hundred forty-three "Mormon" Pioneers. In no way were they as well prepared for their journey as Brigham Young and his pioneer band. The ship Mayflower was a small craft of one hundred eighty tons, and her strength was slight. "In a fierce storm in mid-ocean a main beam amid-ships was wrenched and cracked, and but for a huge iron screw which one of the passengers had brought from Delft, they might all have gone to the bottom." Huddled together as they were, sickness broke out among them ; one of their number died and was buried in the sea. On the other hand, the "Mormon" pioneer band rejoiced and gave thanks to God, their first Sabbath in Salt Lake Valley, "that not one human life had been lost during their long journey from the Missouri." The Pilgrim Fathers landed on the shores of New England in

PILGRIM FATHERS AND "MORMON" PIONEERS. 775 the most inclement season of the year, "bleak December." Everywhere snow covered the hills. The weather was bitter cold. As they voyaged the inner shore of Cape Cod, seeking a suitable landing place, "the spray froze to their coats," and to double their hardships "at every suitable spot they were forced to beat off the natives." Five deaths occurred in all before they anchored in Plymouth harbor. Before the first rude hut was erected, death came upon them almost daily. At one time only Brewster, Standish and five other hardy ones were able to take care of the sick and dying. When spring came, in 1621, there were only fortynine survivors of the original group of one hundred. Fate had dealt most harshly with the Pilgrims. But the right metal was in the few survivors. They had come to America to win. "It is not with us," said the valiant Brewster, "as with men whom small things can discourage or small discontentments cause to wish themselves at home again." Brigham Young and his pioneers were made of the same mettle as the Pilgrim Fathers. There was no such thing as defeat for them. In the Rocky Mountains they were determined to find protection and safety for the Saints of God. The Salt Lake Valley, all things considered, seemed to be the most likely place. It is an old and well known story that in this intention they were discouraged by the trapper, Jim Bridger, who met them on the Big Sandy river, and offered a thousand dollars for the first ear of corn raised in Salt Lake Valley. Jim Bridger had known the country for nearly twenty-five years, but it is reported that Brigham Young replied to him, "Wait a little and we will show you." Again, note the following: "Bridger considered it imprudent to bring a large population into the Great Basin until it was ascertained that grain could be raised." But looking over the Valley as he came through the mouth of Emigration Canyon, Brigham Young remarked to those near him. "This is the right place." It was a dreary sight. There were no trees. The sun beat down on a bare sagebrush plain. Here was a little group of people a thousand miles from the border-land of civilization. But they knew, as the Pilgrims knew, that by the help of God they could succeed. Money played no part with the coming of the Pilgrims : neither did it with the western march of the Pioneers. The Pilgrims scarcely knew how, on the shores of America, they would

776 IMPROVEMENT ERA repay the obligations of their voyage. Stories were rife in the Old Country how America was dotted with gold ; stories of great, rich cities in the interior. But the poor Pilgrims found it far otherwise. An occasional bundle of furs which they had laboriously gotten themselves, or traded away from the Indians, together with different kinds of "choice wood for wainscoting," cut in adjacent forests, was about all they could turn into English money. The '"Mormon" Pioneers, in the Great Basin, which was known from the first to be a region rich in minerals, devoted themselves to agriculture as the one sure means of establishing a permanent community. And for many years those who went gold-hunting were discouraged by the leaders of the Church. It is curious to note that social experiments of much the same nature were carried on by both the Pilgrims and the Pioneers. The first seven years of the life of the Pilgrims in America had something akin to the United Order. When they left England it was stipulated that for the above length of time there should be no private ownership of land among them, the proceeds of their labors to go into a common fund to repay the debt they had incurred by their voyage. The first summer all seemed to go well with them. Twenty-six acres were cleared and planted, and in the fall the harvest was so bounteous that Governor Bradford ordered a Thanksgiving day. But in succeeding years the pious, and now hallowed, Pilgrims found themselves unable to live in brotherly accord. The younger men grew restive when they saw the fruits of their strength and activity being used for the support of other men's families, while the able men thought it an injustice that they should have no more food and clothing than those who could not produce one quarter as much as they did. The aged and graver men considered it an indignity to be ranked with the younger and meaner sort; "and for men's wives," said Bradford, "to be commanded to do service for other men, as dressing their meat, washing their clothes, etc., they deemed it a kind of slavery, neither could many husbands well brook it." Later on, the trouble was rectified, and the land divided among the various families. "Now the women went willingly into the fields, and took their little ones with them to help set the corn, whom to have compelled would have been thought great tyranny." Of the success of the religions advocated by these two groups

PILGRIM FATHERS AND "MORMON" PIONEERS. 777 of people very little may be said at the present time. "Mormonism" is still in its infancy, while Puritanism has long since lived out its life, and entirely passed away. But, unlike the "Mormon" Pioneers, who came to the valleys of the mountains "to build up the Church and Kingdom of God which had been committed into their hands, with a firmly established organization and perfect plan, the Pilgrim Fathers fled to America to escape the tyranny of the mother country and establish, if they could, a Bible Commonwealth. With the Latter-day Saints it was but the transplanting of their organization from Nauvoo to the Valley of the Great Salt Lake. The Pilgrims crossed the Atlantic Ocean to raise up in the American wilderness "a particular church," the exact object of which has had many interpretations and meanings. The noble Winthorp expressed it thus, "It will be a service to the Church of great consequence to carry the gospell into those parts of the world, to helpe on the comminge of the fullnesse of the Gentiles, & raise a Bulworke against the kingdom of AnteChrist which the Jesuites labor to reare up in those parts." Here are two reasons given by one of the prime movers of the enterprise. Again he says, "What can be better worke, & more honorable & worthy a Christian than to helpe raise and support a particular Church while it is in the infancy, and to joyne his forces with such a company of faithfull people, as by timely assistance may growe strong & prosper, and for want of it may be put to great hazard if not wholly ruined." He thus acknowledges that an attempt was being made to establish a "particular church" in America, which, if not nurtured and recruited, might wholly fail. History now shows that the Pilgrim church never assumed any great proportions. The ministers were stern and rigorous, and attempted to bend their congregations to their will. The result was numerous dissensions, and many persons were exiled from the colonies. Of particular interest to the Latter-day Saints is the case of Roger Williams, whom the Pilgrims cast out on account of his peculiar religious views. Williams was a young pastor from England when he allied himself with the "Bible Commonwealth," and was considered by Winthorp to be an asset of considerable importance, until he began to disturb the mind of the Governor by strange views and opinions, which it \Vas thought were harm-

778 I IMPROVEMENT ERA ful to the welfare of the colony. Williams wanted an absolute separation of church and state. He wanted it to be optional with a man whether he attended church or stayed at home. The General Court at Boston ordered Williams to board a ship for England. Instead, he left Salem and went south into the Narragansett country where he founded the town of Providence. Here for a time he set up a branch of the Baptist church, but later abandoned it and gave this as his reason : "There is no regularly constituted church on earth, nor any person authorized to administer any church ordinance ; nor can there be until new Apostles are sent by the great Head of the church for whose coming I am seeking." The exodus of the Pilgrims from England, and their efforts to found a colony in America, as historian John Fiske says, "Is interesting not so much for what it achieved as for what is suggested. Of itself the Plymouth colony could hardly have become a wealthy and powerful state. Its growth was extremely slow. After ten years its numbers were about three hundred. In 1643, when the exodus had come to an end, and the New England Confederacy was formed, the population of Plymouth was but three thousand. It is when we view the founding of Plymouth in relation to what came afterward, that it assumes the importance which belongs to the beginning of a new era." Part of what came afterward was in fulfilment of the dream of Roger Williams : the establishment of a "regularly constituted church," over which prophets and apostles were appointed to preside, with full authority to administer all the church ordinances. And in the history of this Church, the Pioneers of Salt Lake Valley hold a place of first importance.