Mormon Pioneers � PAGE �1� Mormon Pioneers � PAGE �2�
Mormon Pioneers
John W. Olier
HIS/110
October 6, 2014
Roger Daene
The Early Days of the Mormons
In the early days of the Mormon Church, founded by Joseph Smith between 1820 and 1830, periods of strife and tension would follow the early members of the church around the entire United States. Beginning in the East, Joseph Smith would find it difficult to find a safe haven for the organization and headquartering of the Church of Christ. Beginning in Fayette, New York in 1830, Smith's mission was to continue the original Church of Jesus Christ that was no longer on Earth. In 1823, Smith would claim that an angel directed him to a buried book written on golden plates containing the religious history of an ancient people. The Book of Mormon would be the religious texts published as the interpretation of those plates and would be the guiding principles of the Mormon faith.
His beliefs that God and Jesus were both once men on Earth before becoming enthroned in the heavens would later become the basis for much of the insults against the Mormons throughout the early years of the church (Abanes, 2002).
In the church's early days of 1830, the Church of Christ would begin to grow and expand through missionaries sent westward to preach the gospel to the settlers. In Ohio, the church would prosper through the work of the missionaries there. As the church expanded into Jackson County, Missouri, settlers in the area became alarmed at the rapid influx of Mormons into the area. This led up to vicious attacks on the Mormons, and the expulsion of the Mormons from Missouri. Following he attacks and the expulsion of the Mormons from Missouri, Joseph Smith would lead the church...