Missionary letters are always welcome finds. Sometimes they may be little more than the record of an elder’s transfers from field to field, or they may be pious sermons directed to the folks back home. Sometimes, though, they contain stories and give us great glimpses into the Church in places distant from the central stakes. This 1887 letter from Jedediah Ballantyne is one of those more exciting letters – although readers would do well to recognize the young man’s bravado in telling his story for publication.

Jedediah Ballantyne (1867-1950), of Ogden, was still a very young man of 18 when he was called in 1886 to serve in the Southern States Mission. He was already married, a marriage that would not last. His “Mormon pedigree” was a strong one – he was the son of Richard Ballantyne, the Scottish convert who organized the first Sunday School in Utah in 1849. The following letter was written for publication in the Deseret News after Jed (that’s how his neighbors referred to him in newspaper references after he had returned to Ogden) had been in the field for about one year.

Jedediah Ballantyne to Editor, 5 September 1887

Wahoo, Lumpkin County, Ga.,
Sept. 5, 1887

Editor Deseret News:

I left my home in Ogden Sept. 19th, 1886, for the Southern States and was assigned to the Georgia conference. Most of the time, until about six months ago, when I was joined by Elder John M. Browning ((John Moses Browning, 1855-1926, the noted gun manufacturer of Ogden)) , of the Junction City ((Ogden was often called the “Junction City” because of its role as a major railroad hub)) , I labored in this county with Elder S.G. Spencer ((Samuel George Spencer, 1864-1951)) , of Pleasant Green.

Until lately our field has been very quiet, but the baptism of Brother Wm. R. Evans and wife ((William Romulus Evans, 1859-1938, and his wife Samantha Australia Caroline Wofford Evans, 1863-1889, were baptized 7 August 1887, and lived at Dahlonega, Lumpkin County.  They did emigrate to Colorado as predicted by Elder Ballantyne, and were living in Conejos, Colorado, in 1889 when Samantha died giving birth to their daughter, Hannah Jane, who died shortly afterward. William married Martha Ellen Sego, 1869-1949, in Conejos in 1890. William and Martha lived in Colorado at least until 1900, and moved at some point to Duchesne County, Utah, where they were living in 1920 and at the time of their deaths. In 1916 William and Martha were sealed in the Salt Lake Temple; Samantha was sealed to William at the same time.)) aroused the spirit of persecution. Saturday night, August 13th, a mob of from 25 to 50 men waited on us and gave us notice to leave the county before the next Monday night. We asked them if we had done anything worthy of such treatment; if so to let the law take its course. They could find nothing against our character, but they did not want our doctrine taught to their children. We tried to reason with them, but it was like talking to a lot of angry wolves, for they “did not come here to argue the subject.”

We finally got them to disperse, telling them we would think about leaving, and if we felt like it we would go, but if not we felt like trusting the consequences to a Superior Power. Monday night when the time for our departure had expired, they organized again and started out for their “two red foxes” as they termed us. Brother Payne’s ((Possibly Robert Charles Payne, 1852-1936, who was living with his wife Lucinda and children at Davis (four miles west of Dahlonega) in 1880. No baptism date is recorded in FamilySearch for this “Brother” Payne, however.)) was their first place to visit. On learning we were not there they went up to Mr. Barnett’s ((Possibly Richard Barnett, born 1813, a farmer living at Shoal Creek, a neighborhood of Dahlonega.)) a Methodist, where we had been accustomed to stop part of the time, and began beating the house and asking if we were there. The old gentleman, 73 years of age, told them that was for him to know and them to find out, and invited them to come in and see. They refused to do this and still kept beating the house.

When our friend thought they had hammered long enough, he ran out with the axe and told them to hold on and he would help them; as soon as they saw him coming they began to scatter. One of the crowd was so excited in making good his escape that he stumbled over some benches in the yard and got bruised as bad as he tried to bruise the house, and next day when asked how he got hurt, he said “his horse threw him.”

After emptying their guns, nothing more was heard of them until the next Thursday night when they visited the same place as before, but they were careful not to go inside Mr. Barnett’s fence for fear “their horses might throw them again.” They ‘walked the road” till 3 o’clock in the morning, and, being discouraged, in their pursuit, went home without catching their “little red foxes.” This has ended their chase thus far, and we think they will let us alone, as work is at hand, and “’tracted” meetings breaking up, so they can’t get on another “hundred pound strut of religion,” as a gentleman remarked to me the other day.

They never made their appearance around the residence of our “new Saints”; we supposed they knew too much about Brother Evans; his fierce looking eye and well known determination were more than they could bear.

There was a piece published in the Dahlonega Signal, stating that we had been rousted out of the county, but they missed it, for we are here yet and expect to remain till conference time, which is the 1st and 2d of October. The Elders are looking forward to this event with happy anticipations, and I think they will not be disappointed.

There are only two families of Saints in this locality, and if all is well, they will join the emigration in November, and settle down in Colorado, where they can enjoy the society of the Saints, and also worship God without being molested by mobs and other pests.

Ever praying for the welfare of Zion, I remain,

Your brother in the Gospel of peace,

Jedediah Ballantyne