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Mormonism and church finances/Nineteenth century/Immigration
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Church Finances | Early Converts to the Church
Early Church Converts' Financial Circumstances
Summary: Critics sometimes claim that early Latter-day Saint missionaries in England took advantage of widespread poverty and poor living conditions to gain converts. The historical evidence paints a more complex picture. While some converts hoped for better opportunities in America, joining the Church often required years of financial sacrifice to save enough money to emigrate, and many British members remained in England for years after their baptism. Some converts were financially comfortable and gave up successful careers or valuable property to gather with the Saints. Economic conditions may have influenced some people's decisions, but the evidence does not support the claim that missionaries primarily relied on poverty or financial desperation to attract converts.
Significant financial hardships were required even to immigrate: Immigration was also not a matter of instant financial benefits
Did early Mormon missionaries to England take advantage of "intolerable social and economic conditions" to gain converts? Critic Fawn Brodie originally made this claim in her book No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith . Brodie's claim oversimplifies significantly. Charles Dickens described Latter-day Saint immigrants as "the pick and flower of England." Immigration was also not about instant financial benefits.
Some immigrants doubtless were attracted by opportunities in America. But significant financial hardships were required even to immigrate. Some Latter-day Saints (e.g., John Benbow) left considerable property and very comfortable circumstances in England. As is typical, Brodie oversimplifies a complex issue, and it is not surprising that the effect is to make church missionaries look exploitative. She apparently wishes to downplay the spiritual appeal of the message that Latter-day Saint missionaries preached.
For example, on the ship Amazon which sailed in 1863
"of prime importance in determining when a family would emigrate was the matter of finances. In spite of great faith, many would-be emigrants found it difficult to save enough money to pay for their passage and other expenses. Charles and Eliza West joined the Church in 1849 and began in 1853 to put money into the individual emigrating accounts kept by local Church leaders. But the expenses of a growing family made saving difficult....Half the married adults aboard the Amazon had been Latter-day Saints for thirteen years or more. Even those with a larger income found it difficult to save for emigration. But single adults, without the expense of a family, generally emigrated three to four years sooner after baptism than married adults. Though some of the Amazon passengers were recent converts, eighty-five percent of the adults had been members more than five years before they emigrated....Some husbands and fathers of Amazon passengers had emigrated earlier, hoping to establish a home in Utah and earn enough to pay for their families’ emigration. This was not an uncommon practice among emigrants. On the other hand, some wives—even expectant mothers—and children aboard the Amazon were leaving their husbands and fathers behind; these breadwinners hoped to join their families the next year after earning the rest of the emigration money and closing out their financial affairs." [1]
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