All posts by Kevin Folkman

Guest Posts, Mormon Studies

Review/Guest Post: Witness to the Martyrdom: John Taylor’s Personal Account of the Last Days of the Prophet Joseph Smith

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Witness to the Martyrdom: John Taylor’s Personal Account of the Last Days of the Prophet Joseph Smith / John Taylor; with Mark Taylor, editor. 2nd ed. Deseret Book, 2017. 164 p. Hardbound, ISBN: 9781629723136. $17.99

Reviewed by Kevin Folkman and cross-posted by permission of Association for Mormon Letters

As a part time historian, I have learned the value of primary source documents. It is hard to describe the feeling when one discovers something written by first hand observers that has not yet seen the light of day, adding critical information to our understanding of history. It is equally disheartening to realize that some narratives of past events have been lost to memory, or never recorded in the first place.

John Taylor’s first person account of the last days of the life of Mormon founder and prophet Joseph Smith, Jr., is a document that almost missed being created in the first place, and then languished in obscurity for decades. Its original publication came about as an appendix in Sir Richard Burton’s 1862 City of the Saints. However, mainstream Mormon Church members were only aware of excerpts published here and there, and in the separate but related account given by Taylor as recorded in the Doctrine & Covenants Section 135.

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Mormon Studies

Guest Post: Review: As Iron Sharpens Iron, Julie Smith, ed.

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Julie Smith, ed., As Iron Sharpens Iron: Listening to the Various Voices in Scripture. Salt Lake City: Greg Kofford Books, 2016. Paperback. 182 pages. $17.68 at Amazon.

Editor Julie Smith makes an observation that notwithstanding our assumptions about the unity and harmony of our sacred writings, the scriptures are not always consistent across the many books and authors that make up our standard works. Some historical accounts do not agree; in other cases, the treatment of important doctrines are not always in harmony.

Sometimes the scriptural authors themselves make comparisons that, on closer examination, aren’t always valid. For example, Smith’s introduction cites Nephi, the son of Helaman, speaking longingly of the state of Lehi’s family on arriving in the Promised Land: “Oh, that I could have had my days in the days when my father Nephi first came out of the land of Jerusalem…then were his people easy to be entreated, firm to keep the commandments of God, and slow to do iniquity, and they were quick to hearken unto the words of the Lord…” (Helaman 7:7)

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family history

Guest Post: Annie Smeath Hunter and Women’s Work

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Ardis’s recent post about women’s work and the Kingston United Order cooperative prompted me to look up a poem that my grandmother, Annie Mae Smeath Hunter wrote in 1970.

Grandma Mae, as she was known, was born in 1898 in Montpelier, Idaho, at the north end of Bear Lake. She married Clifford Hunter, who grew up in neighboring Bennington, Idaho, in the Logan LDS temple in 1917. Cliff was a farmer, and owned his own small plot of land in Bennington. Their first home was little more than a log cabin with a dirt floor, but they were happy, and close to family and friends. As they began to have the first of their seven children, Cliff could see that the small farm could provide some food and a little income, but not enough to provide all the necessities of a growing family. So Cliff got a job with the railroad, first in Salt Lake City, and then in a couple of years, as a stationary fireman in Montpelier. A “stationary fireman” meant that he maintained and operated the boiler at the Oregon Short Line (( The Oregon Short Line was a subsidiary of the Union Pacific Railroad, and reached Montpelier in 1892. Eventually, the yards there included a 20 locomotive roundhouse, repair shops, refueling, and watering station. The Union Pacific still maintains freight service to Montpelier. When my grandfather retired, he not only got a small monthly retirement check, but also a lifetime pass to ride the UPRR as a passenger. I once rode the train as a young child with my grandparents from Ogden to Gooding, my only real experience with railroad travel, other than urban light rail. )) yards in Montpelier, providing a minimal cash income to supplement the meager gains from the small farm.

My mother, Doris Hunter, was the fourth of their seven children, three boys and four girls. My mother vividly remembered the dirt floors of her childhood, and when they finally were able to upgrade the cabin with wooden floors and a small addition for added sleeping space. Farm work was, as it always is, hard work. While some of the family took to the chores readily, my mother never seemed to be able to handle some of the work, especially with farm animals. As a young girl, my mother was asked to help with slaughtering a chicken for dinner. Cliff dispatched the chicken, and gave it to my mother to clean and pluck before my grandmother cooked it. Mom put one hand in the body cavity of the chicken, and fainted outright. Needless to say, Mom was not cut out for farming as a long term prospect.

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Guest Posts, Mormon Studies

Guest Post: History and Heritage, and Why People Leave the Church

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A recent article on the Southern Foodways Alliance blog changed my perspective on an intriguing concept, that of history vs. heritage. While actually discussing a series of short films they had produced about desegregation of lunch counters in the South, author Jenna Mason turned it into a lesson in how we do history, as opposed to how the general public views their heritage. It might seem like a minor difference to outsiders, but to those involved in history research, this resonates with the ring of truth. ((BCCer Mark Brown pointed to this article on Facebook. It is probably important to note that the Southern Foodways Alliance is an academic organization, and thus takes Southern food very seriously. As, apparently, do most Southerners. Don’t disparage grits within hearing of a real Southerner, as I have found to my shame. I still can’t tolerate them.))

In her posting of September 14, 2015, Mason quoted Miami University Professor Steven Conn, about the difference between history and heritage:

The two terms are often deployed synonymously, but they are, in fact, the opposite of each another. History, as properly understood, is our attempt to reconstruct and understand the events, lives, and experiences of those who came before us — the good, the bad, and the ugly. History follows rules of evidence and interpretation. Most important, it is debated and revised constantly as new evidence and new ways of interpreting the evidence come to light….

Heritage, by contrast, is a mythologized version of the past, stripped of all the unpleasant parts. Heritage remains largely impervious to historical evidence and relies instead on a past-as-we-wish-it-were version of events. It trades in emotions and personal connections, putting itself beyond debate or reproach. History is often not lovable, but everyone loves his or her heritage.

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Guest Posts, Mormon history

Guest Post: Thaddeus Stevens, Part IV (Conclusion)

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(Part I) (Part II) (Part III)

A significant part of Thaddeus Stevens’ legacy stems from the role he played in drafting the measures of Reconstruction after the Civil War. He took a very punitive posture towards the secessionist states and the former leaders of the Confederacy. President Lincoln favored a more merciful approach, but his assassination removed his moderate influence from the debate. Stevens and the other Radical Republicans continued their radical ways in dealings with the South. Stevens in particular preferred legislation that completely dismantled the aristocratic social and economic structure of the antebellum South, along with the political power that Southern Democrats had wielded with such skill in the years before the outbreak of war. It is this vindictive attitude and biting wit that has most shaped his legacy.

While never a regular churchgoer, Stevens knew his Bible and used scriptural passages and quotations on multiple occasions. A typical speech occurred on April 10, 1865, to a mixed audience of local residents and new freedmen at the Lancaster County Courthouse in Pennsylvania. Stevens spoke briefly but powerfully on his view of how the defeated South should be treated.

“I trust that a just God will be content with the scourge which has been already inflicted as a just punishment for ages of national injustice and oppression imposed by this nation on a harmless race,” he said. “We are now emerging from the guilt of slavery. We have been compelled to pass through the Red Sea – through a night of darkness and an ocean of blood.

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Guest Posts, Mormon history

Guest Post: Thaddeus Stevens, Mormon Defender (Part III)

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In Part II, we tried to pinpoint the source of Stevens’ introduction to the LDS church and the Mormon persecution, but without much success. We found possible influences in Thomas L. Kane and more strongly in John M. Bernhisel, but nothing conclusive. Regardless of where the introduction came, it had a lasting effect on Stevens, who made mentions of the Mormons and their plight over the years. I also have come to a possible motivation for his reputation as a “Mormon Defender,” but first, let’s look at those references.

The first, in Part I of this series, related to the 1848 appeal to the conviction of a Seventh Day Baptist, Jacob Specht, over a Sunday closing law that was being violated. The reference Stevens made to the Mormons recalled the exodus from Nauvoo forced by mobs, and was used as an argument regarding a weak executive being unwilling to take a stand in an unpopular cause, thus forcing the disenfranchised to look to the courts for redress, an argument that ultimately failed.

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Guest Posts, Mormon history

Guest Post: Thaddeus Stevens, Mormon Defender (Part II)

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In part I, I gave a brief introduction to the colorful congressman from Pennsylvania, and highlighted one of his first favorable and sympathetic mentions of the Mormons. There are others that I will mention in Part III, but I am still left with the question of how and why Thaddeus Stevens became acquainted with the Mormons and their plight, and has been remembered as a “Mormon Defender.”

I first questioned if he had crossed paths with some early Mormon missionaries in Pennsylvania, and had learned about the church like many others did. I started looking for journals of missionaries who might have traveled through Pennsylvania, and actually scanned a few with no success.

But then, John M. Bernhisel’s name popped up, and suddenly Google came alive with links between Bernhisel and Stevens. John M. Bernhisel grew up in Pennsylvania. In 1825, he enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania, studied medicine, and became a doctor. It was while practicing medicine in New York State that Bernhisel became acquainted with the Mormons, and joined the church.

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Guest Posts, Mormon history

Guest Post: Thaddeus Stevens, Mormon Defender?

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I will have to admit that I knew next to nothing about Thaddeus Stevens, the Republican congressman from Pennsylvania played by Tommy Lee Jones in Steven Spielberg’s 2012 movie, Lincoln, prior to seeing the movie. I had read Doris Kearns Goodwin’s book, Team of Rivals, about Lincoln’s presidency, but Stevens was not given much mention there. A quick resort to Google turned up many hits about Thaddeus Stevens, and his remarkable career. Several entries noted, however, that Stevens was a defender of “Indians, Jews, and Mormons” in addition to his abolitionist views.

Mormon defender? I had to know more. Over several months, I did occasional searches, and read two biographies of Stevens, including a quick skim of Fawn Brodie’s Thaddeus Stevens: Scourge of the South. Brodie and other biographers have nothing to say about Stevens’ defense of the Mormons, which surprised me. Surely, if Stevens really was a defender of the LDS church, there must be some link somewhere.

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biographical, Guest Posts

Guest Post: Finding a Name on a Wall

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Recently, my wife and I traveled to the Philippines to visit my son and his family. He is working there for a few years managing an outsource operation for his company, based in Western Washington. It was our first trip to the Philippines, and we had the chance to visit a number of interesting sites with our son and his wife as tour guides.

Near the Manila LDS temple, on top the high hill, is the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial, the largest such memorial on the Pacific Rim. There, surrounding a circular central park, are the gravesites of some 17,000 American and Filipino soldiers, sailors, marines, and airmen. Around the grassy central park there are two semicircular

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Guest Posts, Mormon history

Guest Post: LDS Soldiers in Siberia, 1918-1919: Thomas Earl Hunsaker

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Thomas Earl Hunsaker, a returned missionary from Malad, Idaho, and recent World War I draftee, saw an odd notice on a bulletin board at Camp Fremont, near Palo Alto, in August of 1918. Hunsaker was in basic training, assuming he would be sent to France along with the rest of his regiment in the coming weeks. He had recently married, along with several other LDS soldiers in his regiment, and had taken an off-base apartment with his new wife, Laura.

The notice was a piece of paper asking for volunteers who would be willing to go to Siberia. We can’t really know what Hunsaker was thinking, but it is fair to speculate that he probably knew little about Siberia, other than it wasn’t France, where million-man armies faced each other across a deadly no-man’s land on a front of a few dozen miles. He perhaps knew of friends or relatives who were already serving in Europe, and there was certainly no shortage of newspaper reports about the brutal grind of trench warfare. Perhaps Siberia sounded exotic, but for certain, anything he did know about Siberia and Russia may well have been that it was on the opposite side of the world from the war in Europe. Whatever his thinking, he agreed to volunteer for Siberian service. He had a reputation for volunteering. Upon his return from the Southern States Mission in 1918, he had volunteered to be among the first drafted that spring.

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