THE STORY OF THE MORMONS: FROM THE DATE OF THEIR ORIGIN TO THE
YEAR 1901

by WILLIAM ALEXANDER LINN




PREFACE

No chapter of American history has remained so long unwritten as
that which tells the story of the Mormons. There are many books
on the subject, histories written under the auspices of the
Mormon church, which are hopelessly biased as well as incomplete;
more trustworthy works which cover only certain periods; and
books in the nature of "exposures by former members of the
church, which the Mormons attack as untruthful, and which rest,
in the minds of the general reader, under a suspicion of personal
bias. Mormonism, therefore, to-day suggests to most persons only
one doctrine--polygamy--and only one leader--Brigham Young, who
made his name familiar to the present generations. Joseph Smith,
Jr., is known, where known at all, only in the most general way
as the founder of the sect, while the real originator of the
whole scheme for a new church and of its doctrines and
government, Sidney Rigdon, is known to few persons even by name.

The object of the present work is to present a consecutive
history of the Mormons, from the day of their origin to the
present writing, and as a secular, not as a religious, narrative.
The search has been for facts, not for moral deductions, except