BYU Studies
Alphabetical by Title

This compilation of groundbreaking articles about the handcart migration is selected from over fifty years of LDS scholarship published by BYU Studies. This volume features articles on the Martin company at the Sweetwater; Francis Webster’s testimony regarding the Martin company; weather, disaster and responsibility; and reviews of books about the handcart migration. Contents “Francis Webster: The Unique Story of One Handcart Pioneer’s Faith and Sacrifice” Chad M. Orton “Weather, Disaster, and Responsibility: An Essay on the Willie and Martin Handcart Story” Howard A. Christy “The Martin Handcart Company at the Sweetwater: Another Look” Chad M. Orton Review of LeRoy R. Hafen and Ann W. Hafen, Handcarts to Zion Reviewed by S. Lyman Tyler Review of Gary Duane Long, The Journey of the James G. Willie Handcart Company Reviewed by Howard A. Christy Review of Allen C. Christenson, Before Zion: An Account of the Seventh Handcart Company Reviewed by Paul D. Lyman

The suggestion of horses and chariots in pre–Columbian America has long been an easy target for critics of the Book of Mormon. In spite of difficulties in defending this claim, and although the evidence is incomplete, the geological and archaeological record does provide support for horses and even wheeled vehicles in ancient America. Several theories that attempt to address the issue of pre–Columbian horses are examined in this article, some of which are mutually exclusive. Therefore, not all can be correct. Evidence presented in this article includes (1) archaeological evidence for large animals used for draft and transportation; (2) wheeled artifacts showing a person or animal riding on an obviously artificial wheeled platform; (3) the possibility that Book of Mormon peoples referred to native animals such as the Baird’s tapir with names such as horse that they were familiar with; (4) early accounts suggesting that Native Americans had horses too early for them to come from strays that escaped the Spanish conquistadors, especially since the Spanish kept very careful records of their horses; (5) the prevalence of the pinto or piebald horse among Native Americans and its relative absence among Spanish expeditions; (6)images in Mesoamerican art that might depict horses; (7) evidence that horses survived far longer after the last ice age than previously thought; and (8) the question of the Bashkir Curly.

This book tells an amazing story about millions of people. Since 1894 the Genealogical Society of Utah (now known as the Family History Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) has sought to collect genealogical information about people from every nation. Latter-day Saints see this work as a fulfillment of Malachi’s prophecy that the hearts of the children would be turned to their fathers to unify all members of the human family and to prepare the world to meet God. In November 1994, the Church celebrated the Genealogical Society’s centennial. At one level, the Society’s story is the history of an organization. At another level, it is the intersection of numerous individual stories, such as the dedication of Susa Young Gates, the tireless determination of Joseph Fielding Smith, the enthusiasm of Archibald F. Bennett, and the daring of Paul Langheinrich. LDS genealogical research is known all over the world. Parts of its story are familiar to many people, but only a fraction of the whole history is widely known. This book tells that story. It is a history of astounding and sustained efforts that have changed the hearts of millions.

Though the Book of Mormon expressly states that it is written in the “language of the Egyptians,” (1 Nephi 1:2), nevertheless, it quite clearly reflects a number of Hebrew idioms and contains numerous Hebrew words. This is no doubt due to the fact that the Nephites retained the Hebrew language, albeit in an altered form (See Mormon 9:35). Moreover, it is not impossible that the plates themselves contained Hebrew words, idioms,and syntax written in Egyptian cursive script (Moroni’s “reformed Egyptian”—see Mormon 9:32). In this present treatise, we will not be concerned so much with the methodology involved in the writing of the Book of Mormon as with the evidence for the use of Hebrew expressions, or of expressions akin thereto. Only the more important examples will be cited.

Poetry. No abstract available.

This massive dissertation, originally over 500 pages in length, is filled with impressive details about the settlement, troubles, and expulsion of the Latter-day Saints from northern Missouri, 1836–1839. Since its approval at BYU in 1965, this doctoral dissertation has remained a standard reference work for serious historians. Carefully written and copiously footnoted, this study draws heavily on timeless primary sources as it probes the leading causes for the Mormon War in Missouri. Rapid colonization and the unique religious teachings and practices of the Latter-day Saints are among the main factors emphasized by Dr. Leland H. Gentry. Shortly after the founding of Kirtland, speculation increased among Church members as to the future location of “Zion,” the “New Jerusalem” spoken of in the Book of Mormon. A little over a year later, in the course of a visit to the extreme western edge of the American frontier, Joseph Smith was informed by the Lord that he was standing upon the very land “appointed and consecrated for the gathering of his saints, . . . the land of promise, and the place for the city of Zion.” The urge to get to Zion was strong among the Saints. So intense was the desire of some to settle upon the Land of Promise that they consummated the move in haste and without adequate preparation. Migrating families often found themselves entirely dependent upon the charity of their neighbors. The rapid migrations of so many poor and ill-equipped persons threw the Saints into direct conflict with the older and more established settlers of Missouri. The latter tended to view the rapid influx of Saints as an act designed to secure control of the lands surrounding their homes without legal purchase, a thing far from the heart of any true Saint. Thus while Mormonism had many distinct and unusual features, it had certain elements of affinity with its age. For one thing, it shared the common hope of a perfect society and even inculcated a practical plan for the attainment of the same. It shared the dream of a “Manifest Destiny” for America and turned its attention to the great unsettled West early in its history. Finally it recognized the importance of land in frontier economics and set about to secure as much as was practicable.

“We live in a world awash with ancient religious texts. Among the most famous discoveries made since the publication of the Book of Mormon are (in order of discovery) the Royal Library of Ashurbanipal, the Cairo Genizah, the Oxyrhyncus Papyri, the Ras Shamra tablets, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the Nag Hammadi library. What is our responsibility as Latter-day Saints toward these other texts? How are we to read them? To answer these questions, we go back to the beginning, to the first and grandest ancient text of the Restoration, to the Book of Mormon. We look to the Book of Mormon to help determine four fundamental strategies that can guide our future engagement with ancient texts as a community of Saints. The Book of Mormon explains and enacts an ethic of reading that promises not only to enlighten but to redeem us from a misguided sense of sufficiency and to direct us to attend to the outpouring of light that followed in its wake. As we recognize this prompting, we begin to understand that God has spoken, does speak, and will continue to speak to his children through ancient religious texts.” [Authors]

Reprinted in The Ancient State: The Rulers and the Ruled, Collected Works of Hugh Nibley vol. 10.
Nibley traces some interesting parallels in educational matters and especially in campus unrest in the decade after 1960 with the medieval world. — Midgley