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100 Years Ago: War On Mormons Is Waged In Britain

May 1, 2011 by rickety Leave a Comment

The following was adapted from the Improvement Era magazine of April 1911

Investigation of Mormon activity

Investigation of “Mormon” activity in England will be made by the House of Commons. On the 6th of March, Secretary Churchill stated that the attention of the government had been attracted to recent allegations that young girls were being induced to emigrate to Utah, and that the matter was causing deep concern. He therefore proposed to investigate the subject exhaustively, with a view to bringing out the exact facts.

Hans P. Freece

Hans P. Freece

President Rudger Clawson, of the European Mission of the Latter-day Saints, welcomes the investigation, as do his co-laborers in that country, for they are confident there can be no other outcome before a fair judicial tribunal than a complete vindication of the actions of the Church. It has nothing to fear from an impartial and honest investigation, for its emigration affairs, as well as its missionary work in Great Britain, have been conducted in a manner that will bear the closest scrutiny. The Church has nothing to lose and everything to gain by the action which the home secretary has recommended.

On the 6th of March a demented man broke the windows and door of the mission house in Liverpool, “for God’s sake,” he said.

War On Mormons

Meanwhile the New York Times was reporting the story thus:

War on Mormons Is Waged In Britain

The crusade against Mormons initiated by the International Reform Bureau at Washington is being actively pursued in Great Britain.

Hans P. Freece, the bureau’s special delegate, has arrived in London after a 10 weeks’ tour in Scotland and the north of England, during which he succeeded in locating about 100 Mormon meeting places and 325 American Mormons engaged in inducing young women to emigrate to Utah. He also collected the signed statements of parents whose daughters had been enticed to America, and is in possession of irrefutable evidence that the Mormon church is in the habit of paying for the transportation of converts from England to Utah in violation of the United States immigration law.

Mr. Freece entertains great hope of succeeding in getting a bill into Parliament prohibiting American Mormon elders from proselytizing in this country—in fact, the same law as that adopted by Prussia and Hungary not long ago.

Although Mr. Freece declared his mission to be unofficial, he said he believed that should such a law, cutting off British-Mormon immigration to America, be passed, the Mormons would lose the control of Utah and a Democratic Representative might be expected to be sent to Congress at the next election.

[Hans P. Freece, an apostate, lectured the people against the dangers of “Mormonism,” and sought to prohibit them from preaching in the United Kingdom. A number of those who attended the lectures expressed themselves as being very much disappointed in them. They expected to hear something new from this man, who claims to have been born in the Church, of polygamous parents, but instead he had only the same false stories that have been retold so many times by others.

The International Reform Bureau was founded in 1895 and was known from 1924 as the International Reform Federation. Today it supports those moral and social reforms on which the churches generally agree, focusing especially on drugs and the spread of legalized gambling.]

Sources

  • “Passing Events”, Improvement Era, Vol. XIV. April, 1911. No. 6
  • “War On Mormons Is Waged In Britain“, New York Times, February 5, 1911

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Filed Under: 100 Years Ago, LDS, Rickety Picks Tagged With: England, Mormons

Ordination

June 29, 2008 by rickety 3 Comments

Today Daniel was ordained an elder. This was done by those with priesthood authority to lay their hands on his head and receive this ordinance. Present and pictured in the photograph are (left to right, top to bottom) Derek, Paul, Steven, Brian, Sarah, Jill, Rick (Rickety), and Daniel. Brian is a Stake High Counselor and a dear friend who was present as the Stake representative. I was voice for the ordinance. To have the authority to perform this act of laying on of hands, male members of the Church must receive this authority by the laying on of hands from a priesthood holder who has the proper authority. This has been passed down in the Church from the Apostles Peter, James and John, who received their authority from Christ. These Apostles then visited Joseph Smith as angelic messengers and gave him the proper priesthood authority. From Joseph Smith the priesthood has been passed down in an unbroken line from Christ. Having the authority of the priesthood is different from having the power to use that priesthood:

All of us who hold the priesthood have the authority to act for the Lord, but the effectiveness of our authority—or if you please, the power that comes through that authority—depends on the pattern of our lives; it depends on our righteousness (H. Burke Peterson, “Priesthood—Authority and Power,” Ensign, May 1976, 32).

Daniel has now transitioned from the Aaronic priesthood to the Melchizedek priesthood as he continues his preparation for his mission to Mongolia. The only sad thing in all of this is that there are now no Aaronic priesthood in the house to boss around.

Filed Under: Daniel, LDS Tagged With: Brian, Joseph Smith, Mormons, Ordination, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Missionary Paul – Part 9 of 10

June 23, 2008 by rickety Leave a Comment

This is part nine of a ten part series chronicling Paul’s Mission. It is told mostly in his own words using excerpts from his letters and photographs sent home.

The Prophet Joseph Smith
Photo credit Travis S.

January 2006

I spoke in church yesterday about agency. [Dad], you looked thin in the wedding pictures. The CD pictures were nice. Elder Checketts from Texas is my new companion, we stayed in the office but moved to the Oakland 6th Spanish ward. They must have messed up the paper work for the doctor visit. Sister Bauman sent me to the doctor to have them look at the ring worm on my arm. Don’t pay the bill yet, I’ll talk to her today and get it figured out and maybe have her give you a call.

They paid the doctor bill. The powerball is working well. Four other missionaries have them now but no one has beat my record yet. The pictures came through fine and download really fast at the office. We are on a cable modem. We go to a Spanish ward now. There is probably about 200 members that come. I’ll write you an essay on office work but maybe not until I get transfered out of the office. We stay really busy. This week we are going to see the new Joseph Smith movie during zone conference. It should be fun.

I sent a big shipment back to the salt lake distribution center of surplus supplies that we had. We got a pallet from Safeway and stacked 25 boxes on it and wrapped it up. We have a baptism set up for Ivan Quintanilla for the 29th. It should be good. Beranice Martinez got baptized last Saturday so we drove out to Concord to see it.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Missionary, Paul's Mission Tagged With: Books of Mormon, Joseph Smith, Mormons, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

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Who is this Rickety?

Rick at homeI'm Rick Willoughby. I live in Utah, a retired Software Engineer. I'm a Mormon, married with 5 children and 12 grandchildren.

I emigrated from England in my late twenties, bringing with me one small suitcase and a few dollars. I appreciate the opportunities America has given me and the friendliness of the people to new citizens.

I blog about my family as well as politics, religion, finance, technology, and other topics.

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