Latter-day Saints Church Research Articles

The Reverend

The Reverend Michael Downs (bio) This spiritual journey began, as spiritual journeys do, with a question. "I know it's a lot to ask," Courtney wrote, "but we would be honored if you'd consider becoming a fake minister and marrying us." Her request came via e-mail. Courtney had been a student when I taught journalism at a university in Montana, and we later grew to be friends and colleagues. Now I call Baltimore home, but Courtney and Jacob still live in Montana, where, apparently, fake ministers can conduct weddings. This fact does not amaze me. Montana is wild and libertarian; in some towns the Stockman's bar opens Sunday mornings, but the whitewashed church closed a decade back. In such a vast landscape with so few people, the law provides that God's proxies may easily be found—or made. Somehow, a minister can even be formed out of a lapsed Catholic whose idea of Sunday church is a walk with his wife and dogs in the woods. Courtney wrote that she and Jacob believed I understood the values and the spirit of their lives, so "when we're up there ready to say our vows, you would be able to articulate in a way few other people could what the whole hullaballoo is all about." I felt honored, humbled, and just a little grand, vain in a kerchief-in-the-suit-pocket way. [End Page 1] "Think about it," Courtney wrote. "There will be lots of free beer." The Montana Code Annotated of 2007, 40-1-301: Solemnization and registration (with my italics). (1) A marriage may be solemnized by a judge of a court of record, by a public official whose powers include solemnization of marriages, by a mayor, city judge, or justice of the peace, by a tribal judge, or in accordance with any mode of solemnization recognized by any religious denomination, Indian nation or tribe, or native group. Also … (3) The solemnization of the marriage is not invalidated by the fact that the person solemnizing the marriage was not legally qualified to solemnize it if either party to the marriage believed that person to be qualified. So, were I a huckster, a purveyor of false gods, a Bible salesman with pornographic playing cards in my briefcase, I could still unite Courtney and Jacob so long as one of them was convinced of my credentials. In Montana, by law, marriage truly is an act of faith. I telephoned Courtney and said yes. Ordination, she explained, was necessary ("any mode of solemnization recognized by any religious denomination") and would be easy if I pointed my Web browser toward the Internet address of the Universal Life Church. I'd never heard of the ULC, but among certain folk the church is famous. Not famous as the Church of Latter Day Saints is famous, or the Society of Jesus, or even the Branch Davidians. The church's name travels underground, through pop culture and counterculture and trivia games. One example: Chris Stevens, the convict/radio deejay from the 1990s television comedy Northern Exposure, was his fictional hamlet's clergyman, ordained via the Universal Life Church through an advertisement in Rolling Stone magazine. The ULC, like The Rocky Horror Picture Show and In-N-Out [End Page 2] Burgers, has a cult following. Right away I visited the church via the Internet. A pixilated dove welcomed me as it winged through a cosmic sky of stars and nebulas. I clicked and read that the ULC was founded in 1959, that it maintains weekly services in an unassuming white building in Modesto, California, and that all seekers are welcome. I read prayer requests ("I'm controlled by some kind of voodoo and black magic. I need God to save me, protect me and cleanse me"), and noted that anyone could confess online ("Have you forgiven yourself for your sins?" Click "Yes" or "No"). I could purchase clergy kits. I could be ordained for free. All the ULC required was contact information. In fact, I was already ordained! God had ordained me, the ULC explained, as God ordains everyone. I wrote Courtney a note. "I'll get myself ordained fairly soon...

Inferential Genotyping of Y Chromosomes in Latter-Day Saints Founders and Comparison to Utah Samples in the HapMap Project

One concern in human genetics research is maintaining the privacy of study participants. The growth in genealogical registries may contribute to loss of privacy, given that genotypic information is accessible online to facilitate discovery of genetic relationships. Through iterative use of two such web archives, FamilySearch and Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation, I was able to discern the likely haplotypes for the Y chromosomes of two men, Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, who were instrumental in the founding of the Latter-Day Saints Church. I then determined whether any of the Utahns who contributed to the HapMap project (the "CEU" set) is related to either man, on the basis of haplotype analysis of the Y chromosome. Although none of the CEU contributors appear to be a male-line relative, I discovered that predictions could be made for the surnames of the CEU participants by a similar process. For 20 of the 30 unrelated CEU samples, at least one exact match was revealed, and for 17 of these, a potential ancestor from Utah or a neighboring state could be identified. For the remaining ten samples, a match was nearly perfect, typically deviating by only one marker repeat unit. The same query performed in two other large databases revealed fewer individual matches and helped to clarify which surname predictions are more likely to be correct. Because large data sets of genotypes from both consenting research subjects and individuals pursuing genetic genealogy will be accessible online, this type of triangulation between databases may compromise the privacy of research subjects.

Men's grooming in the Latter-day Saints Church: A qualitative study of norm violation

The role of personal grooming as an indicator of commitment to church hierarchy is examined in a study of one congregation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Latter-day Saints Church policy urges men to be clean-shaven. In the present study, we interview all men in one ward who have worn beards or mustaches, in order to investigate questions of authority, identity, and conflict that occurred as a result of violating the grooming norm. Interviewees describe an identity conflict, with self-expression conflicting with the desire to demonstrate faithfulness to their church. In some cases, they reconcile the conflict by conforming to the norm; in others, they violate the norm out of a sense of asserting their own identity, but this comes at a cost of distance from their church identity.

MATTHEW C. GODFREY. Religion, Politics, and Sugar: The Mormon Church, the Federal Government, and the Utah-Idaho Sugar Company, 1907-1921. Logan: Utah State University Press. 2007. Pp. 226. $34.95

Economic historian Leonard J. Arrington declined to discuss controversies surrounding the Utah-Idaho Sugar Company's past in Beet Sugar in the West: A History of the Utah-Idaho Sugar Beet Company, 1891–1966 (1966). Noting this omission, Matthew C. Godfrey opines that Arrington omitted the controversies “presumably because of the embarrassment they caused the company” that had given the economist access to its corporate records. However, Arrington knew of the public sources on which Godfrey relies, and insisted that “the choice of the episodes treated is entirely my own, and if the judgment has been bad, the fault is mine” (p. 129, n. 1). Godfrey argues that the leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS) “attempted to destroy competitors and to enact policies that would keep it afloat in the cutthroat world of sugar” (p. 14) so that “beet sugar would enrich the LDS church and its leaders” (p....

Church Attendance and New Episodes of Major Depression in a Community Study of Older Adults: The Cache County Study

We examined the relation between church attendance, membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS), and major depressive episode, in a population-based study of aging and dementia in Cache County, Utah. Participants included 2,989 nondemented individuals aged between 65 and 100 years who were interviewed initially in 1995 to 1996 and again in 1998 to 1999. LDS church members reported twice the rate of major depression that non-LDS members did (odds ratio = 2.56, 95% confidence interval = 1.07-6.08). Individuals attending church weekly or more often had a significantly lower risk for major depression. After controlling for demographic and health variables and the strongest predictor of future episodes of depression, a prior depression history, we found that church attendance more often than weekly remained a significant protectant (odds ratio = 0.51, 95% confidence interval = 0.28-0.92). Results suggest that there may be a threshold of church attendance that is necessary for a person to garner long-term protection from depression. We discuss sociological factors relevant to LDS culture.

The Mountain Meadows Massacre of 1857 and the Trials of John D. Lee: An Account

Called the darkest deed of the nineteenth century, the brutal 1857 murder of 120 men, women, and children at a place in southern Utah called Mountain Meadows remains one of the most controversial events in the history of the American West. Although only one man, John D. Lee, ever faced prosecution (for what probably stands as one of the four largest mass killings of civilians in United States history), many other Mormons ordered, planned, or participated in the massacre of wagon loads of Arkansas emigrants as they headed through southwestern Utah on their way to California. Special controversy surrounds the role in the 1857 events of one man, Brigham Young, the fiery prophet of the Church of Latter-day Saints who led his embattled people to the promised land in the valley of the Great Salt Lake. What exactly Brigham Young knew, and when he knew it, are questions that historians still debate.

Community of Christ (formerly Reorganized Church of Latter Day Saints) Independence, MO

Community of Christ (formerly Reorganized Church of Latter Day Saints) Independence, MO

Identity, beliefs and community: LDS (Mormon) pre‐service secondary teacher views about diversity

Research shows that pre‐service teachers must engage in a self‐examination of identity, attitudes and assumptions concerning such issues as privilege, group membership, religion, gender and language before entering a classroom. However, this is no easy task for students with little experience of living in or learning about diverse communities. Such a state is Utah in the US, a region whose historical roots are rural and—unlike any other American state—whose citizens, political leaders and educators are predominately Euro‐American and members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS), commonly known as Mormons. While some teacher educators encourage their predominantly LDS secondary pre‐service teachers to utilize critical pedagogy, it becomes clear that students' religious identity comes into conflict with issues associated with race, class, language and gender. The following qualitative case study examines how the theology of the LDS Church informs the identity and educational belief systems of six female, LDS pre‐service secondary educators as they prepare to teach in diverse communities across the US.

Suicide rates and religious commitment in young adult males in Utah.

Previous studies have used population data to demonstrate an inverse association between suicide rates and religious commitment. This report examines Utah suicide rates for young men aged 15-34 years, stratified by their membership in and commitment to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), the predominant religion in Utah. All state death records for males from 1991 to 1995 were obtained and linked to LDS church deceased membership records to obtain a measure of religious commitment that is not self-reported. Religious commitment for LDS church members was determined by age-appropriate priesthood office. Of the 27,738 male deaths reported, 15,555 (56%) linked to an LDS church record using a probabilistic linking program. Using active (high religious commitment) LDS as the reference group, the less-active (low religious commitment) LDS group had relative risks of suicide ranging from 3.28 (ages 15-19 years) to 7.64 (ages 25-29 years); nonmembers of the LDS church had relative risks ranging from 3.43 (ages 15-19 years) to 6.27 (ages 20-24 years). Although the mechanism of the association is unclear, higher levels of religiosity appear to be inversely associated with suicide.

Out of the Black Patch: The Autobiography of Effie Marquess Carmack, Folk Musician, Artist, and Writer

Out of the Black Patch: The Autobiography of Effie Marquess Carmack, Folk Musician, Artist, and Writer. Edited by Noel A. Carmack and Karen Lynn Davidson. Life Writings of Frontier Women, Vol. 4. (Logan: Utah State University Press, c. 1999. Pp. xviii, 398. $29.95, ISBN 0-87421-279-0.) Effie Marquess Carmack (1885-1974) patterned her memoirs on the pioneer story of settling a frontier, struggling against adversity, and surviving. She noted of the log dog-trot cabin she lived in during her childhood in the western Kentucky tobacco region called the Black Patch, for example, that was the same type of dwelling the pioneers built when they landed in America (p. 33). Carmack wrote in vivid detail about farm life at the turn of the century. She described the never-ending labor of the men, women, and children as they planted, topped, and wormed tobacco, tended chickens, killed hogs, sewed, cooked, and made soap. Noel A. Carmack and Karen Lynn Davidson skillfully edited this autobiography based on the mimeograph provided by Elder John Carmack, Effie's grandson and the managing director of the Historical Department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS). Carmack noted that we were used to financial calamities. Often, when [farmers] had worked all year, and made a good crop of tobacco, they got nothing for when selling time (p. 55). That was true during the early 1900s when James B. Duke's American Tobacco Company, a trust controlling the tobacco market, manipulated prices. Planters responded by organizing and night riding. Carmack does not mention the strife, although she lived in an area of intense unrest. When she was eleven the family converted to the LDS Church. They had always read the Bible and observed the Sabbath, she recalled, but not until two young Mormons came preaching did the family find a religion that fit their needs and allowed them to enjoy music and dancing, activities that brought them joy. The conversion year was one of the best in Carmack's life, but tragedy soon followed with the death of her mother and sister. Her father remarried and moved the family to Arizona. Carmack loved the West, a land of brown, red, and gold, and cut through by washes and canyons that appealed to her artistic side, but her father did not. They returned east where she married Edgar Carmack, reared their children, witnessed the death of a son who was burned in a grassfire, taught Sunday school, painted, sang, and worked. The ability to accept and find pleasure in work defined her life. She proudly claimed that have worked ever since I was old enough and I didn't mind it (p. 341). Carmack's was a life of labor, love, and endurance. Her book will appeal to a general audience, folklorists, and historians of women, the South, religion, and agriculture. Well Boys, May Jordan (1889-1914) wrote in her first diary entry in December 1912, am going to give you my experiences on buying furs through Alabama And my Adventures with animals And the history of the country . …

Are Mormons Christians? Presbyterians, Mormons, and the Question of Religious Definitions

What is a Christian? What are the theological or historical characteristics that define a person, a faith-system, or a religious perspective as Christian? Is there an accepted definition of what constitutes Christian beliefs and practices? Can one define oneself as Christian? Or must the designation be conferred by someone else? If so, by whom? Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Christian Scientists, and Seventh-day Adventists are frequently listed among those who while considering themselves Christians are really something else, based on specific beliefs or historical circumstances that others find to be outside their definition of Christianity. They, in turn, have their own reasons, and their own definitions, for including themselves. But who has the authority to create the definitions and make the judgments regarding who are Christians and who are not?1 Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (commonly called Mormons) are generally surprised when they hear the claim that they are not Christians. They think of themselves as Christians, and since they believe in Jesus Christ, they have always assumed that Christianity includes them. But there are many from other denominations who hold a different view. With over eleven million members and growing fast, the Latter-day Saint Church is a religious movement that by virtue of its rapid expansion and missionary zeal attracts a great deal of attention. Part of that attention comes in the form of negative reactions from others who consider themselves Christian but who see Mormonism as outside the perimeter of the Christian faith. When Latter-day Saints are confronted by the assertion that they are not Christian, they frequently quote the first of what they call their “Articles of Faith,” which reads as follows: “We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost.”2 Most Latterday Saints feel that this statement of their beliefs proves beyond question that they are Christians. But far from establishing in the mind of the orthodox Christian listener that Mormonism is a Christian religion, the

Ethnic vs. Evangelical Religions: Beyond Teaching the World Religion Approach

THIS PAPER EXAMINES the manner in which religiosity has been studied and proposes a new method for such investigation. The paper begins with a historical account of the formation of the academic field generally known as comparative or the science of religion. It will be argued that the formation of the discipline occurred in an atmosphere that was partial to living religions, favored textual religions, preferred most like Christianity and elevated those that were deemed to be big or global from a European perspective. In short, it was Europe that defined what a religion was and what was not. Western-style universities live with this legacy to this day (the religions approach). In teaching with this schema, huge portions of the globe are omitted from religious history for enormous amounts of time, oral cultures are ignored in favor of literate/textual ones, and religious borrowings and processes of syncretism are largely disregarded. The second section of the paper investigates Mithraism, Santeria, the Church of Latter-day Saints, and Baha'i to illustrate shortcomings of the world approach. These four are outside of the traditional world perspective that is restricted to Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism. Yet, a case will be made for their inclusion as equally valid religions. Moreover, Mithraism, Santeria, the

Mr. Spaceman (review)

commitments or treats them so lightly that they may as well not exist. No idea or institution is sacred. Billman's satire targets, among other things, public schools, the Church of Latter Day Saints, local law enforcement, the Forest Service, and especially marriage . Billman seems to depend on the flaws of these institutions to make the irresponsible and often immoral behavior of his characters appear less harmful, even redemptive. It works up to a point; but has he gone beyond that point? In part, ifs a matter of taste. If you like satire, you'll probably enjoy these stories. Full of high energy, quirky characters and plenty of local color, this is fiction that sticks with you from a promising new writer. (JL) Mr. Spaceman by Robert Olen Butler Atlantic Monthly Press, 2000, 224 pp., $24 Robert Olen Butler's newest novel, Mr. Spaceman, is a little book that tackles big mysteries—among them the nature of human language and the significance of dreams. This delightful mythical tale explores humanity from a perspective detached , literally, by light years. Based on a short story from Butler's previous coUection, Tabloid Dreams, the novel begins on December 30, 2000, when the extraterrestrial narrator, Desi, abducts a busload of Earth's "primary species." Throughout the novel Desi interviews a diverse cross-section of the American population before revealing himself to the world at the turn of the new millennium. Mr. Spaceman is the product of a skilled literary ventriloquist. Desi, who has learned about the human race through intercepted radio waves and a mere handful of interviews with humans, narrates the novel in an objective tone laced with the ad slogans and clichés he's picked up from the broadcast media. Commenting on the American attitude toward homosexuality, he says, "The mores are different on my home planet. Even there, however, I, Desi the Spaceman, am clearly a Manly Man, Fresh as an Irish Spring with a Lot to Like—Filter, Flavor, and a Flip-top Box. . . ." Desi also possesses the ability to assume the voice of his subject, so that person's words become his own. His interview sessions provide colorful and poignant breaks from a narrative voice that would otherwise become droning and annoying. Mr. Spaceman becomes almost unbearably suspenseful as Desi's mission deadline approaches. The risks inherent in revealing himself to all of humankind become increasingly clear to him, and his human subjects warn him of the "danger of crucifixion for an unarmed spaceman appearing in a flying saucer and scaring the hell out of a big, drunken crowd." The only disappointment in the story is the rather anticlimactic ending. Despite sometimes obscure religious symbolism in the latter half of the novel, Mr. Spaceman is a remarkable fable in the tradition of well known novelists Italo Calvino and Gabriel Garcia Marquez—one of those rare stories that is a reminder of all the magic inherent in us mere humans. (SF) The Missouri Review · 181 ...

Individual External Exposures from Nevada Test Site Fallout for Utah Leukemia Cases and Controls

External gamma-ray exposures from fallout originating at the Nevada Test Site (NTS) have been assigned to 6,507 individual subjects (1,177 leukemia cases and 5,330 control subjects) who died as Utah residents between 1952 and 1981. Leukemia cases were identified, confirmed, and classified by cell type from the Utah Cancer Registry, Utah State vital records, and medical records. Residential histories were obtained from the Deceased Membership File (DMF) of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), supplemented by information from the LDS Church Census Records that were taken in 1950, 1955, and 1960-62. Control subjects were selected randomly within age strata from the DMF and were frequency-matched to the cases by age at death and for sex. Individual radiation exposures were assigned as a function of residence location and time interval for each residence during the fallout period (1951-1958) using geographic exposure data taken from the literature. Temporal distribution of exposure for subjects who resided in more than one locality or who were born or died during the fallout period was determined from data of other investigators. Calculated gamma-ray exposures for each place of residence were summed for each subject to yield the exposure to fallout from the NTS.

Review: Zion in the Courts: A Legal History of the Church of Latter-Day Saints, 1830-1900, by Edwin Brown Firmage and Richard Collin Mangrum

Review: <i>Zion in the Courts: A Legal History of the Church of Latter-Day Saints, 1830-1900</i>, by Edwin Brown Firmage and Richard Collin Mangrum

Body and Soul: The Record of Mormon Religious Philanthropy

Some years ago, as part of his Rotary International commitments, Mormon General Authority Marion D. Hanks spent several holiday afternoons ringing the bell over a Salvation Army charity kettle on Main Street in Salt Lake City. Though he never was approached directly on the matter, rumors spread that other high church officials were not happy with his participating so publicly in the activities of another religious organization. The incident suggests that there are ambiguities in the principles and practice of philanthropy by the Latter-day Saint church which may not be fully understood. It is the purpose of this paper in an exploratory and suggestive way to unravel these ambiguities.

Map librarianship

One concern in human genetics research is maintaining the privacy of study participants. The growth in genealogical registries may contribute to loss of privacy, given that genotypic information is accessible online to facilitate discovery of genetic relationships. Through iterative use of two such web archives, FamilySearch and Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation, I was able to discern the likely haplotypes for the Y chromosomes of two men, Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, who were instrumental in the founding of the Latter-Day Saints Church. I then determined whether any of the Utahns who contributed to the HapMap project (the “CEU” set) is related to either man, on the basis of haplotype analysis of the Y chromosome. Although none of the CEU contributors appear to be a male-line relative, I discovered that predictions could be made for the surnames of the CEU participants by a similar process. For 20 of the 30 unrelated CEU samples, at least one exact match was revealed, and for 17 of these, a potential ancestor from Utah or a neighboring state could be identified. For the remaining ten samples, a match was nearly perfect, typically deviating by only one marker repeat unit. The same query performed in two other large databases revealed fewer individual matches and helped to clarify which surname predictions are more likely to be correct. Because large data sets of genotypes from both consenting research subjects and individuals pursuing genetic genealogy will be accessible online, this type of triangulation between databases may compromise the privacy of research subjects.

Sex-Role Attitudes of Mormons vs. Non-Mormons in Utah

Using 1980 survey of 242 male and 216 female Utah State University students this study examines attitudes toward sex roles by Mormons and non-Mormons. 65% of the students are members of the Church of Latter-Day Saints (LDS) or Mormon Church which has disapproved of womens pursuits that interfere with traditional female roles. 11 survey questions measure 1) conflict between family and economic roles 2) attitudes on economic equality and 3) perception of societal rewards versus economic rewards. Affiliation with the LDS Church is the main independent variable. Both male and female LDS students havemore traditional attitudes than non-LDS students: 62% of LDS as opposed to 12% of non-LDS students agree that a womans place is in the home 44% of LDS males and 51% of LDS females as opposed to 9% of non-LDS students agree that women should work only when the family has economic hardship. LDS and non-LDS students generally agree that women should receive equal wages for equal work although women are somewhat more likely to agree. LDS students perceive more rewards for women who stay at home than non-LDC students. Religious affliation is the most important variable concerning the role of women; other significant variables are 1) coming from large family 2) sex and 3) having more highly educated mother. Sex number of years in school religious affiliation and mothers work experience prove significant in considering equal pay for equal work. The authors conclude that for issues on which the Mormon Church takes strong stand religion strongly outweighs other variables; when the Churchs stand on issues is weaker other variables such as sex and years of schooling have greater influence.

Mormon demographic history I. Nuptiality and fertility of once-married couples

Abstract The Mormons of Utah have long intrigued demographic historians because of their pioneering experience in settling in Utah, their practice of polygamy 1 To be technically correct, the term should be polygyny. Throughout the history of the Mormon Church the practice was described as polygamy and we have adopted that term for purposes of historical consistency. in the last century, and the long-term pro-natalist policies of the Church which have resulted in notably high fertility. 2 For a summary of the theological basis of high fertility among the Mormons. see Lester Bush. ‘Fertility Control Among the Mormons: Introduction to an Insistent Question’. Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, b10,2(1976), pp. 12-44; and Donald W. Hastings, Charles H. Reynolds and Ray R. Canning, 'Mormonism and Birth Planning: The Discrepancy Between Church Authorities' Teachings and Lay Attitudes'. Population Studies 26, I (1972), pp. 19-28. While high levels of fertility among this population have been recognized for some time the evidence on the exact characteristics of Mormon fertility behaviour has been weak. 3 Most of the studies of Mormon fertility have been limited to rather small samples of college students or college graduates. For a summary of many of these studies see Hastings et al., lac. cit., in footnote 2. Subsequent studies have extended the analysis of Mormon fertility historically and to more representative samples of Mormons. See, for example, Brian Pitcher, Phillip R. Kunz and Evan T. Peterson, Residency Differentials in Mormon Fertility, Population Studies 28, I (1974), pp. 143~151; James E. Smith and Phillip R. Kunz, ‘Polygyny and Fertility in Nineteenth-century America’, Population Studies, 30, 3 (1976), pp. 465-480; and Judith C. Spicer and Susan O. Gustavus, ‘Mormon Fertility Through Half a Century: Another Test of the Americanization Hypothesis’, Social Biology 21, I (1974), pp. 70-76. In the United States neither the census nor the vital statistics contain information on fertility by religion, while in the Canadian census fertility data are provided which treat the Mormons as a separate religious group only for 1931, 1941, 1951 and 1961. 4 Jacques Henripin, Trends and Factors of Fertility in Canada (Ottawa: Statistics Canada (Dominion Bureau of Statistics), 1972). The LDS (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or Mormon) Church does collect and report mortality and fertility data relating to its membership, but the fertility reports are limited to the crude birth rate for the entire Church membership and cover for the most part only the last half century. 5 Spicer et al., lac. cit., in footnote 3. In recent years, however, LDS records have become available which provide the opportunity to examine the demographic behaviour of the Mormon population in detail and over a much longer period than was possible earlier. 6 The major source of records are maintained by the Genealogical Department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS). The records are not, of course, limited to Mormons, as indicated later in this article.

Population of Southern Utah

IN planning their western exodus leaders of Church of Latter Day Saints outlined State of Deseret-a vast area that comprised present and Nevada, most of Arizona, half of Colorado, and parts of Idaho, Wyoming, Oregon, California, and New Mexico. As this little known region was thought available for colonization-and dominance-by Church, it became imperative to ascertain its character and potential resources. The Latter Day Saints reached shores of Great'Salt Lake in summer of 1847 and within a few months began a geographic study of their chosen homeland. They gave first attention to narrow belt of flat country along west base of Wasatch Range and Pavant, Tushar, and Markagunt Plateaus, where practical routes of traverse had been marked out by trappers, traders, and exploring parties, and where Indians were few. Superficial observation had shown that adjacent parts of were either alkaline deserts or rough lands of and canyons, occupied by vigorous, generally hostile Utes. The decision to give priority to examination of the lands along mountains was fortunate. Preliminary scouting revealed areas of fertile, easily tilled land, which could be irrigated at small costoases in a region of bare rock and dry sand-and, as exploration progressed during decade 1850-1860, more than 50 oases in a belt two to 10 miles wide and extending nearly across were found to be suitable for settlement. In southwestern oases at mouths of canyoned streams that reach back into Markagunt Plateau attracted pioneers to Paragonah, Parowan, Summit, Cedar City, Fort Hamilton, Kanarra, Pintura, Toquerville, and La Verkin, and farther north many similar sites were occupied; in fact, this belt of oases has proved to be most prosperous part of Utah. Within it reside about 80 per cent of population of state, and more than 40 per cent of population in entire intermountain region. It is interesting to note that because Oasis of Utah was first settled colonization of progressed from west to east and thus differs from most pioneering activities in neighboring regions. In southern villages at base of Hurricane Cliff were founded in 1850-1860, then in turn those in Parunuweap, Kanab, Johnson, Sevier, Paria, and Escalante Valleys (1864-1878), and in San Juan country (1880-1890). Unlike most other parts of United States, where pioneers individually selected home sites widely scattered on prairies, in mountains, along streams, and in woodlands, was systematically colonized as self-sufficient villages and history of state is concerned chiefly with growth of original settlements. Practically entire population of counties considered in this survey-San Juan, Kane, Garfield, eastern Iron, and eastern Washington-has always been restricted to villages which are surrounded by large areas of uninhabited land. The farmer lives on a town lot, which constitutes his garden and orchard, and