The Mormons Again - Tales from the Tree

  There's a passel of Mormons hanging out in my Family Tree. I've mentioned them previously, and noted that given the fundamental leanings of most of my relatives, they sort of stand out. They are not in the direct line of ancestors, but sit far out on skinny little branches, for the most part distantly related to or married to those in the line of closer relatives.

Of course, with multiple wives and boundless progeny, it is not hard to find some connection. The gentleman that is the subject of this post was married to a woman who was my 9th cousin, 4 times removed. Whatever that means. But then again, he had 19 wives and 67 children! He could be related by marriage to you, as well. By the way, I'm not sure how you even come up with 67 names for your kids, and I'm pretty sure they probably had to wear name tags.

But what caught my eye about this near-relative was not his family, but the statement, "John D. Lee is perhaps the most controversial figure in Mormon history."  Say What?

 Sure enough, a quick Google search turned up a lengthy Wikipedia article, several PBS features from The West film project, an article from the Smithsonian, several treatments from a variety of sources, including official LDS postings, and even a link to a 456-page book written by Lee himself, entitled, "Mormonism Unveiled; Or The Life and Confessions of the Late Mormon Bishop, John D. Lee; (Written by Himself)."

According to these accounts, Lee was a shining star in the early and formative years of the Mormon movement. After he and his first wife converted to the young religion formed only 7 years prior, his religious zeal became the driving force in his life. He played an active role in the near-war conflicts that rose between the Mormon communities and the resentful "gentile" neighbors, joining the "Danite Band" - the organized Mormon militia. He was promoted to the First Quorum of the Seventy, which directed the church's extensive military activities, and was chosen to guard the home of founder and prophet Joseph Smith.

He must not have been much of a guard, however, because Smith was arrested and later killed by a mob. Undeterred, Lee turned his devotion and loyalty to Brigham Young and was a key figure in the mass migrations to Utah's Salt Lake valley. Along the way, he adopted Young's doctrine of plural marriages - rather zealously, it seems.

For the next decade, Lee played an important role in expanding the Mormon refuge in the West. He became a prosperous farmer and businessman in Southwestern Utah, helping to establish communal mining, milling and manufacturing complexes. He became the local bishop and the Indian agent to the nearby Paiute Indians. And he continued to be a frequent visitor and trusted confidant of the church leadership in Salt Lake City.

By 1857 the United States government had had enough of the "Godless Polygamists" and President James Buchanan sent an army to Utah to set things straight. Fearing annihilation, the Mormons responded in force, and that's the backdrop for the still-controversial Mountain Meadows Massacre, in which a wagon train of about 120 gentile immigrants, suspected of hostility toward the church, was slaughtered by Mormon and Paiute forces in southwestern Utah.

Lee's involvement in the massacre -- the extent of which is still vigorously disputed and will probably never be known -- was to haunt him for the next two decades, and would ultimately lead to his execution. He had written a letter to Brigham Young shortly after the massacre which laid the blame squarely on the Paiute Indians, but even among his own neighbors rumors of Lee's guilt abounded. In 1858 a federal judge came to southwestern Utah to investigate the massacre and Lee's part in it, but Lee went into hiding and local Mormons initially refused to cooperate with the investigation. 

 By the late 1860s, however, even  his Mormon neighbors were turning against him because of his connection with the massacre, and even some of his wives and children deserted him. In 1870 a Utah paper openly condemned Brigham Young for covering up the massacre. That same year Young exiled Lee to a remote part of northern Arizona and excommunicated him from the church, instructing his former confidant to "make yourself scarce and keep out of the way." 

He was not successful, however, and in 1874 Lee was captured and placed on trial. After an initial mistrial, Lee was found guilty in a second proceeding. The trials were the subject of enormous public attention and gave rise to many accounts of the massacre and of Lee's life, no doubt varying widely in their factual accuracy.  Most played up the fact that Lee had numerous wives and emphasized the plight of the women and children killed and captured at Mountain Meadows.
 
 On March 23, 1877, nearly 20 years after the massacre and proclaiming his innocence, Lee was executed at Mountain Meadow.