Jump to content
Seriously No Politics ×

Purpose of Polygamy before Sealings?


Who Knows

Recommended Posts

I am curious......

Does anyone know how large the occupying army was in Utah? (Johnston's army invaded in 1857.) It must have been tough being part of the occupation as a non Mormon in Utah.

I only ask because Cowboy, in the stats he provided, referred to the Utah statistics as Mormon Church stats. While I freely admit Utah was mostly LDS, I wonder how many non LDS there were in the state. I admit I have never taken the time to research this.

Just as a side note, I am not trying to argue any position on this, I am just seeking a more complete picture.

Scott,

It would be interesting to see if the occupying force got counted in the 1860 census or not. 1860, btw is when polygamy percentages were at there peak, following the excessive rhetoric of the Mormon Reformation.

Here are some numbers reported in Camp in the Sagebrush: Camp Floyd, Utah, 1858-1861 by Thomas G. Alexander and Leonard J. Arrington in UHQ 34:1 (1966)

"On June 26, 1858, approximately 2,500 United States troops and another 1,000 civilian employees marched and rode down Emigration Canyon and into the peaceful Salt Lake Valley."

"At the time Camp Floyd formed the largest troop concentration of its kind in the United States. The troops operated 1,100 miles from their home base at Fort Leavenworth, and throughout 1858 and 1859 the number of soldiers on the post averaged more than 2,400, though the number rose at times to more than 3,000. In 1860 General Johnston was transferred back to the states, and Colonel Philip St. George Cooke assumed command of Camp Floyd. (Cooke had been leader of the "Mormon Battalion" as it marched from Santa Fe, New Mexico, to San Diego, California, in 1846-47. A monument cut from granite quarried in Big Cottonwood Canyon and originally intended for use in constructing the Mormon Temple in Salt Lake City, was erected at Camp Floyd in 1961.) Acting under orders from the War Department, Colonel Cooke cut the post complement down to 10 companies, or about 700 men."

"Number of Troops at Camp Floyd, Utah, 1858-1861

(Source: Strength reports for units of the Utah Expedition, 1857-1861, compiled from records of the War Department, National Archives, and given in Don Richard Mathis, "Camp Floyd in Retrospect" [Master's thesis, University of Utah, 1959], 170-75.)

Date Officers Enlisted Men Total

September 1858 85 2411 2496

October 1858 97 2694 2791

December 1858 91 2390 2481

September 1859 68 2123 2191

November 1859 81 2394 2475

February 1860 79 2361 2440

May 1860 19 416 435

August 1860 18 302 320

February 1861 26 482 508

June 1861 17 393 410"

Link to comment
Samuel Bowles, an eastern journalist who visited Salt Lake City during this period of change, commented upon the prospect of Gentile competition in a growing commercial community and the church's probable reaction to such danger. He guessed that before the coming of the rails there were not more than three or four thousand Gentiles in a territorial population of between 100,000 and 125,000, but this ratio appeared likely to change in the near future. Bowles therefore predicted a tightening of the practice, already in partial use, whereby Mormons bought only from Mormons in order to prevent any further breakdown of their rule "growing out of the revolutionary influences of the railroad."

Opening the Gates of Zion: Utah and the Coming of the Union Pacific Railroad

By Robert G. Athearn UHQ 36:4

We must not forget the thousands who came to Utah in the territorial period to build railroads, man military posts, found business houses, dig mines, operate the stage lines, explore the rivers, and fill the appointive offices of government. They were as American as the melting pot, the gold rush, the business cycle and the political machine. They were as American as ambition and greed, scientific curiosity and pragmatism, Hanukkah and Lent. These Gentile Utahns never numbered more than 20 percent of the territorial population, but they provided many of the closest connections between Utah and the Union.

The Americanism of Utah By Richard D. Poll UHQ 44:1

That 95 percent of the jurors were Mormon during 1855 and 1860 is not surprising, given the fact that the population was probably at least proportionately represented.23 Even as late as 1867, inroads made by Gentile soldiers, merchants, and miners boosted the non-Mormon population to only 7 percent. When compared to this figure, the proportion of Mormons sitting on juries in 1865 represented less than the corresponding Mormon share of the population. However, Mormons occupied 100 percent of juror positions in 1870, a figure well above even the 1874 Mormon population estimate of 83 percent.

Justice for All or for the "Elect"? The Utah County Probate Court, 1855-72

By Elizabeth D. Gee, UHQ 48:2

The population was estimated at 15,000 when I visited. Of them, except two or three companies of U.S. troops at Camp Douglas four miles east, Gentiles numbered 400 at most. Mormons and Gentiles were on bad terms then. Brigham "in the name of God" had forbidden believers to have anything to do with "damned Gentiles."

Salt Lake City through a German's Eyes: A Visit by Theodor Kirchhoff in 1867

Edited and Translated by Frederic Trautmann UHQ 51:1

That is about all I can do on short notice. A Dr. Wahlquist wrote a dissertation "Settlement Processes in the Mormon Core Area, 1847 - 1890." about the colonization of Utah, and I imagine he has a better grip on the numbers as might Richard D. Poll based on some footnotes in UHQ.

From what I see in 1860 around 3 to 7 % are non-Mormons (not counting Natives) and they should be almost all be counted as men (mining, army entourage, etc.)

Another thing to take into account is that Mormon males married females about 5 years younger than themselves. Consult any demographic pyramid that uses 4 to 5 children per women and you will see that there is a sizeable difference in age populations.

Kathryn Daynes reports in the early Utah period in Manti, only 1% of Mormon women remained single while 7 to 8 % of American women remained single at that time.

Link to comment

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...