Tag Archives: New York City

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Hazel Dawn: The Pink Lady

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She used to joke that most dawns came from the east, but she came from the west. Hazel Dawn – born Henrietta Hazel Tout – came from Ogden, Utah, and she never let the world forget that.

Hazel came from a musical Mormon family. Her sister Nannie was an infant phenomenon in the 1890s, singing before enthusiastic Utah crowds. When their father, Edwin, was called as a missionary to Wales, the entire family went along and provided the singing for street meetings. Continue reading Hazel Dawn: The Pink Lady →

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Gohar Yeghiayan Davidian: A Latter-day Saint in Syria

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For half a millennium, ending with World War I, the Ottoman Empire dominated eastern Europe, Asia Minor, and the Middle East. Turks controlled Palestine when Orson Hyde dedicated that land in 1841 for the return of the Jews, and when George A. Smith, Eliza R. Snow, and other prominent Latter-day Saints held the first LDS worship service on Mt. Olivet in 1873.

Aside from these brief pilgrimages, LDS presence there began in 1884 when Jacob Spori was called to open the Turkish Mission. He was followed by a handful of other missionaries. The Church grew slowly, mostly among the already-Christian German and Armenian populations. By the early twentieth century, there were half a dozen small LDS branches scattered through modern-day Turkey and Syria. Continue reading Gohar Yeghiayan Davidian: A Latter-day Saint in Syria →

Mormon history

Catherine Garber Laine: The Role of Her Lifetime (Redux)

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Catherine Garber was born in Ohio in 1851, the middle of eleven siblings who remained close friends all their lives. As a young woman Catherine became a stage actress, joining troupes that traveled from town to town, playing for a day or two before traveling on to the next town for another short stay.

Catherine soon became such an accomplished actress that she progressed from the rural Midwestern circuits to the larger cities of the east coast. She adopted the stage name Kate Andrews and was managed by Rhea, Janansbek, Peel and Duff – names that are now forgotten but who were among the brightest stars in the theatrical world of their day. Continue reading Catherine Garber Laine: The Role of Her Lifetime (Redux) →