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T.B.H. Stenhouse

 

'''Thomas Brown Holmes Stenhouse Sr. '''(Dalkeith, Scotland February 21, 1825 – San Francisco March 7, 1882) was an early Mormon pioneer and missionary whose writings and publications in Switzerland and the United States took a turnabout when he became critical of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church).

Contents

1  Early life

1.1   Scotland

1.2   England

2  Conversion to Mormonism

2.1.  Baptism

2.2   President of the LDS Southampton Conference

2.3   Missionary in Italy

3  LDS Mission President in Switzerland

3.1  “Tract war“

3.2  ''Les Mormons et leurs ennemis''

4  The Mormon in New York City

5  Life in Utah

5.1  Editor of the Salt Lake Telegraph

5.2  Interview with Abraham Lincoln

5.3  the Godbeites

5.4  Excommunication from the LDS Church

5.5  ''The Rocky Mountain Saints''

6.  Death

Early Life

1.1     Scotland

Stenhouse was the youngest of twelve children and the last of the nine sons of George Stenhouse Sr. (1779-1831) and Elizabeth Brown nee Armstrong. His father, noted as a buggy driver at the time of his marriage in 1802[1], but later as an innkeeper, died when Thomas was 7 years old. In the 1841 census of Dalkeith, 17-year old Thomas, a cabinetmaker, was living with his widowed mother.

2.2   President of the LDS Southampton Conference

At a general conference of the church in October 1849 in Salt Lake City, Lorenzo Snow was one of four members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles who were appointed to serve missions in Europe.[2] He was assigned to go to Italy,[3] and Joseph Toronto, the first Italian-born Roman Catholic to convert to Mormonism,[4] was called as his companion.

Snow and Toronto first traveled to England; in London they became acquainted with Thomas Brown Holmes Stenhouse, the president of the LDS Southampton Conference. In reporting that occasion in a letter to Brigham Young, Snow noted: “[...] I felt that it was the mind of the Spirit that he [Stenhouse] should accompany me on this mission.“[5]

Snow accompanied Stenhouse to Southampton, where the latter made preparations to fulfill his mission call.[6] The apostle was moved as Stenhouse took leave of his family.[7] The missionaries departed Southampton on June 15, 1850, aboard the steamboat Wonder enroute to Le Havre in the Normandy region of northwestern France.[8]

On arriving in France, they proceeded to Paris, where they had their passports countersigned. Four days later, after traveling via Lyons, they arrived in Marseilles, from where they sailed to Antibes, “the last French port.“ Snow observed that “by disembarking there, we escaped being detained six days in quarantine, under the burning sun of Genoa.“[9]

2.3  Missionary in Italy

Their first stop in Italy was in the city of Nice,[10] where the Momron missionaries immediately noticed the profuse images of Catholicism.[11] They departed Nice by diligence, the French-styled stagecoach, usually pulled by four or more horses, traveling at some six miles per hour, “and travelled by the shores of the Mediterranean.[12]

On 25 June 1850, they arrived in the city of Genoa on the Ligurian Sea, Snow observing that “from the time we left England, we had only spent three nights in bed.“[13] Apostle Snow assigned Stenhouse and Toronto to go to the Protestant valleys of Piedmont at the foot of the Italian Alps; they departed on 1 July. On 23 July, Snow left Genoa and after passing through Turin proceeded to the little town of Torre Pellice in the Cottian Alps, the sanctuary of the pre-Reformation evangelical movement now known as the Waldensian Church. At the beginning of Augsut 1850, Joseph Toronto left to visit friends and relatives in Sicily.[14]

In order to better accomplish the missionaries‘ proselyting efforts, Snow “[...] considered it necessary to issue a publication in French“ and therefore wrote a new tract, The Voice of Joseph. However, because he was unsuccessful in being able to find “a proper person“ to translate it, he sent it to Orson Pratt in England, who arranged for it to be translated by a professor from the University of Paris.[15]

Stenhouse and Snow “endeavoured to lay a foundation for future usefulness, in silently preparing the minds of the people for the reception of the Gospel, by cultivating friendly feelings in the bosoms of those by whom we were surrounded.“ Snow, however, “felt it rather singular, and no small tax upon patience, to be weeks, and months, in the midst of an interesting people, without being actively and publicly engaged in communicating the great principles which I had come to promulgate. But, as I felt it ws the mind of the Spirit that we should proceed at first, by slow and cuatious steps, I submitted to the will of heaven.“[16]

The missionaries in Torre Pellice had found lodgings with the family of Joseph Guy. Early in September their infant son took seriously ill and, according to Snow upon seeing the boy on 6 September “[...] it was only by close observation we could discern he was alive.“ On the next morning Snow noted: “I proposed to Elder Stenhouse we should fast and retire to the mountains and pray. As we departed we called and saw the child [...] the principe of life was nearly exhausted [from his body].“

“After a little rest upon the mountains, aside from any likelihood of interruption, we there called upon the Lord in solemn prayer to spare the life of the child.“ Later in the afternoon, they consecrated some oil and Lorenzo Snow layed his hands upon the infant’s head and gave him a blessing. Only a few hours later the father said the boy was doing much, much better.

Shortly thereafter, Apostle Snow sent for Jabez Woodard, a Mormon convert with whom he had also become acquainted while in London. Woodard joined Snow and Stenouse on 18 September in Italy.[17] The next day the three missionaries “[...] ascended a very high mountin a little distance from [Torre Pellice], and having taken our position on a bold projecting rock, we sung praises to the God of heaven, and offered up [...] prayer.“ Thereafter, Snow was sustained as president and T.B.H. Stenhouse as secretary of the church in Italy. The missionaries repeatedly sung hymns, prayed and prophesied by the “Spirit of God.“ Stenhouse prophesied that “from this time the work will commence, and nothing will hinder its progress; and before we are called to return, many will rejoice, and bear testimony to the principles of Truth.“[18]

In a letter begun in late January 1851 in the city of Turin and addressed to Orson Hyde, Snow reported that he felt

it wisdom to send Elder Stenhouse to Switzerland, and to leave Elder Woodard

in Italy; and [...] I resolved to bestow upon them such blessings as they required

in the discharge of their important duties. [...] On Sunday, the 24th of November,

we ascended [Mount Casteluzzo] which, on a former occasion, we had named

Mount Brigham. During our tedious ascent, the sun shone forth in its brightness;

but in such parts as were shaded, we found snow upon the ground, and many a

craggy peak and rocky summit on every side was white with fleeces of winter.

Having reached the spot we sought, [...] it was in that place, two months before,

that we organized the Church of Jesus Christ in Italy. [...] I [...] ordained Elder

Woodard as a High Priest, and asked my Heavenly Father to give him wisdom

and strength to watch over the Church in Italy [...]. I also ordained Elder Sten-

house as a High Priest, and prayed that his way might be opened in Switzerland

for carrying forth the work of the Lord in that interesting country. In a few days             afterwards, Elder Stenhouse proceeded on his mission.

3. LDS Mission President in Switzerland

T.B.H. Stenhouse arrived in Geneva in early December 1850. Despite not knowing the French language, he tried to preach the Gospel.

He could not yet talk to the French-speaking Genevese; and the English-speaking

residents would not listen to him; they had only heard of Mormonism as a clumsy

fraud, and looked upon the prophet Joseph Smith as an imposter. So, for a whole

winter, he sat shut up in his own room poring over a French grammar [...].[19]

With the exception of a single copy of a monthly periodical Étoile du Deseret [Star of Deseret], which Apostle John Taylor had published in Boulogne-sur-Mer while on his mission in France, Stenhouse had no Mormon tracts or books when he arrived in Geneva. He loaned the publication to an interested person, and it was never returned.[20] He therefore made an effort to gain people’s interest with the two tracts which Snow had written for the generally French-speaking members in Piedmont: La voix de Joseph, the French translation of “The Voice of Joseph,“ which had been published in England, and ''Premiers principes de la doctrine de l’Église de Jésus-Christ des saints des derniers jours, a translation of The Ancient Gospel Restored'', which had been published in Turin.[21]

The first convert to Mormonism in Switzerland was Jean-Claude Mazuire, a 40-year old, married shoemaker from France. Stenhouse met him in his workshop on rue Neuve-du-Molard in Geneva upon bringing his shoes to be repaired.

While the shoemaker worked, Elder Stenhouse talked. [...] Elder Stenhouse

would sit down on the bench beside the man as he worked, and taking from

his pocket a French Testament, which he always carried about with him, would

try to read it aloud – the good-natured shoemaker undertaking to correct his

pronunciation.[22]

Stenhouse taught Mazuire the principles of the Gospel in that manner, and baptized him on 5 March 1851 in the Rhône River.[23]

The second convert to the Church in Switzerland – 34-year old Francis Frederick Roulet, a tailor – joined under similar circumstances. Stenhouse had found lodgings with the young family on rue des Corps-Saints in Geneva. Landlord Roulet was “somewhat talkative. The same arrangement was made about reading and correction.“[24]

Early in the spring of 1851, the Reverend Emile Guers, pastor of the ''Église libre [independent protestant church] du Bourg-de-Four'' in Geneva,[25] held a public lecture about Mormonism. As the numerous people in attendance left the auditorium, Stenhouse passed out copies of the tract ''Premiers principes de la doctrine [...''] and realized that the pastor’s lecture “[...] that single evening had made us better known than we would ever have been able to achieve for several months on our own efforts.“[26] Shortly after having been greatly moved by the controversy of Guer‘s lecture, Roulet was baptized by Stenhouse on 4 May 1851 in the Rhône River.[27]

Not long afterwards, Stenhouse went to England to attend a general conference in London, where he met with Snow and other apostles and missionaries. Snow approved Stenhouse’s request to immediately publish French translations of two tracts: Divine Authority and a ]second edition of La voix de Joseph. Snow further expressed his intention to soon publish a periodical for the members in Switzerland and Italy.[28]

Fanny Stenhouse wrote: “At that Conference [...] it was arranged that Elder Stenhouse should return to Switzerland, and that I should accompany him. My knowledge of French was expected to be very serviceable.“[29] T.B.H. Stenhouse returned to Geneva in the early summer of 1851, bringing his wife and infant daughter – Clara Federata Stenhouse[30]  – with him.

“When we arrived in Geneva, Monsieur le tailleur was all that constituted the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Switzerland.“ Shoemaker Mazuire had already apostatized, evidently because of the tract – Lettre sur les Mormons de la Californie [Letter on the Mormons of California] – by Louis Favez (Lausanne: E. Buvelot, 1851). With the appearance of Favez’s pamphlet in June, a kind of “tract war“ between Stenhouse and his many critics in French-speaking western Switzerland broke out, the mission president observing that the Genevese “clergy are fighting by means of tracts.“[31]

Fanny Stenhouse reported how she and her husband met with friends and acquaintances to discuss selected Bible scriptures. Mission president Stenhouse still had difficulty to understandably communicate with their guests; as a result, Fanny’s missionary work followed such meetings and those discussions often lasted longer than the original gatherings:

I was then convinced that Mormonism could awaken the Christian soul more

to a realisation of what it already possessed, than impart to it any new moral

or religious qualities. Mormonism of itself never made Christians, but Christianity

built up Mormonism. It was an awakening to the teachings of Christ and his

Apostles that begat confidence in the mission of the Mormon Prophet.[32]

[1] Certificaate of Marriage, Old Parish Records: Marriages, Dunbar, East Lothian, Schottland  706/00 0050 0156

[2] James R. Clark, ed., ''Messages of the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints'', 6 vols. Salt Lake City, Bookcraft, 1963-70. 2:35, as cited by Bruce A. Van Orden, Building Zion: The Latter-day Saints in Europe. Salt Lake City, Deseret Book, 1996. 51. The other apostles were Franklin D. Richards, John Taylor and Erastus Snow. Besides Richards, seven elders were assigned to go to England and serve in the thriving British Mission. Curtis E. Bolton and John Pack were called to accompany John Taylor to France. Along with Erastus Snow, Peter Hansen accepted a call to serve in Denmark; and John Forsgren went “...out at the same time on a mission to Sweden,“ as quoted from a general epistle of the First Presidency addressed “to the Saints Scattered Throughout the Earth.“

[3] Andrew Jenson, Church Chronology. Salt Lake City, Deseret News, 1914, 38.

[4] Kate B. Carter, Heart throbs of the West, 12 vols. Salt Lake City, Daughters of Utah Pioneers, 1943, 4:283. Joseph Toronto was baptized in 1843 by George Benjamin Wallace, and upon being ordained a Seventy in 1849 became a member of the Quroum of Seventies.

[5] Lorenzo Snow, ''The Italian Mission. ''London, W. Aubrey, 1851, 5-7 (photo-offset reproduction of the original edition, Milano, Dan C.Jorgensen, 1974).

[6] Snow, 11. While in southern England, they went to Portsmouth harbor and visited the HMS Victory, the 104-gun flagship of Admiral Lord Nelson in the Battle of Trafalgar on October 21, 1805, off the southwest coast of Spain. Snow reported: “We were very politely shown the varied departments of this mammoth of the deep, the spot where Nelson fell, and the cabin where he expired.“

[7] Snow, 11. He wrote: “In the parting of Elder Stenhouse with his wife and friends, I was forcibly reminded of what I had experienced in leaving my own. As we withdrew from this scene of sorrow, I observed, ‘Did the people of Italy but know the heart-rending sacrifices we have made for their sakes, they could have no heart to persecute.‘“

[8] Snow, 11. Upon arriving in France, they “[...] proceeded immediately to Paris. After having our passports counter-signed, we continued our journey through the beautiful country of southern France. We passed through Lyons, and arrived at Marseilles in about four days from leaving Paris. We then embarked on the clear blue waters of the Mediterrranean, for Antibes, the last French port. By disembarking there, we escaped being detained six days in quarantine, under the burning sun of Genoa. We then travelled to Nice, the first town in Italy. [...] We left Nice by ‘Diligence,‘ [the French-styled stagecoach, usually pulled by four or more horses, traveling at some six miles per hour] and travelled by the shores of the Mediterranean. On the 25th of June, we arrived at Genoa. [...] From the time we left England, we had only spent three nights in bed.“

[9] Snow, 11.

[10] When the first Treaty of Paris was signed on 30 May 1814, thus ending the wars between France and the coalition armies of the United Kingdom, Russia, Austria and Prussia, the County of Nizza was returned to Piedmont in the Kingdom of Sardinia. [wiki online]  With the Treaty of Turin, concluded on 24 March 1860, the County of Nice, as well as the Duchy of Savoy, were annexed to France. [wiki online]

[11] Snow, 11.

[12] Snow, 12. He noted: “It was the feast-day of John the Baptist. Labour was entirel suspended, and all seemed to enjoy themselves in honour of this great man. We certainly saw some hundreds of priests – rather a gloomy introduction.“

[13] Snow, 12. In Genoa, the missionaries “called upon the Lord, and offered the gratitude and praise of our souls for his providence. We had accomplished this journey of nearly 1200 miles, much quicker than we had anticipated.“

[14] Snow, 13. For a remarkable history of the 20th-century Reformed church, see: Giorgio Tourn. The Waldensians: The First 800 Years (1174-1974), translated by Camillo P. Merlino and edited by Charles W. Arbuthnot. Turin, Claudiana Editrice, 1980.

[15] Snow, 13-14.

[16] Snow, 14.

[17] Snow, 15-16. From Snow’s letter to Brigham Young, dated 1 November 1850, it is explicitly clear that Woodard did not accompany the three missionaries to Italy; Van Orden, 67.

[18] Snow, 16-17. Snow observed that the missionaries felt reluctant to leave the spot where they had “[...] rejoiced so much in the goodness of the Lord.“ He therefore proposed that the mountain on which they had met “[...] be known among the people of God, henceforth and for ever, as MOUNT BRIGHAM, and the rock upon which we stood, the ROCK OF PROPHECY.“

[19] Mrs. T. B. H. Stenhouse [née Fanny Warn], ''“Tell It All“. The Story of a Life’s Experience in Mormonism. An Autobiography by Mrs. T. B. H. Stenhouse, of Salt Lake City, for more than twenty years the wife of a Mormon Missionary and Elder: with Introductory Preface by Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe''. Cincinnati, Queen City Publishing, 1874, 109, hereafter cited as Fanny Senhouse.

[20] Fanny Stenhouse, 112, 115. Her account does not agree with the contemporary claim: “Armed with French language pamphlets, Elder Stenhouse braved fierce winter conditions to cross the Alps“ in: Van Orden, 68.

[21] Andrew Jenson, ''Encyclopedic History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints ''[sic]. Salt Lake City, Deseret News, 1898, 369.

[22] Fanny Stenhouse, 115.

[23]“''Tauf-Buch der schweizerischen, deutschen und italienischen Mission''“ [Book of Baptisms (membership records) of the Swiss, German and Italian Mission], 1851-76, 1, no. 1, hereafter cited as “Tauf-Buch,“  Archives, Historical Department, The Church of Jesus-Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, hereafter cited as LDS Archives, Ms 3236; Family History Library, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, hereafter cited as FHL film no. 128.137.

[24] Fanny Stenhouse, 115.

[25] Guers – a native of Prévissin, a village now in the municipality of Prévissin-Moëns in the Ain department in eastern France, and the son of the former Prévissin Roman Catholic priest who converted to the Reformed Church in 1793 and later returned to Catholicism – studied theology at the Geneva Academy. He was denied ordination for refusing to accept the state pastoral regulations of 1817. That same year he and other pastoral colleagues founded the first Independent Evangelical Church and served that congregation as pastor until his death. As a corresponding agent of the Continental Society for the Diffusion of Religious Knowledge over the Continent of Europe, founded in London in 1819, he undoubtedly learned early on about Mormon proselyting in Great Britain.

[26] Letter from T.B.H. Stenhouse, dated in Southampton, England, May 17, 1851, to Samuel W. Richards in Liverpool, published in: The Millennial Star, vol. 13, June 15, 1851, 187.

[27] “Tauf-Buch“, 1, no. 2.

[28] Undated letter from Lorenzo Snow to Samuel W. Richards in London, published in: ''The Millennial Star'', vol. 13, August 15, 1851, 252.

[29] Fanny Stenhouse, 111. As a young woman, Fanny Warn lived for some three years in the town of Saint-Brieuc in the Côtes-d’Armor department in Brittany in northwestern France.

[30] On the birth certificate of Clara Federata Stenhouse, her father’s occupation was given as “Baptist minister.“ In her first marriage, Clara was the wife of LDS Church Apostle Joseph Angell Young, the son of widower Brigham Young and his second wife, Mary Ann Angell  Young. After the death of her first husband, Clara Stenhouse Young married Clarence Horace Montgomerie y Agramonte.

[31] T.B.H. Stenhouse, “A Chapter on Switzerland,“ The Millennial Star, vol. 14, January 1, 1852, 5. A French translation of a critical letter originally published in the Christian Times in London appeared on 18 February 1852 in L’Avenir [The Future], a periodical of the Methodists in Geneva. A series of six lengthy articles concerning Mormon teachings and activities were published in 1852/53 in the Paris-based Archives du Christianisme (1818-1868) by Count Agénor Étienne de Gasparin, the French statesman and author who after having served in the Chamber of Deputies (1842-1846) was voted out of office because his sympathy for the rights of Protestants in France; after refusing to declare himself in favor of the new constitution following the revolution of 1848, he permanently settled the following year in Geneva. L’Irvingisme et le Mormonisme jugés par la parole de Dieu [Irvingism and Mormonism judged by the Word of God] by Emile Guers was published in 1853 in Geneva and Paris (although the foreward was dated on December 1, 1852 in Geneva). The following year, part 1 of Favez‘s ''Fragments sur les Mormons: Joseph Smith et les Mormons, ou examen de leurs prétentions relativement à leur bible, à leur prophète et à leur Église'' [Pieces on the Mormons: Joseph Smith and the Mormons or an Examination of their Pretentions concerning their Bible, their prophet and their Church] (Lausanne, Delafontaine & Co., 1854) appeared. That same year, Les Mormons by Amédée Pichot, a French novelist, historian and translator and editor of the Revue britannique, was published (Paris: L Hachette et cie, 1854). Stenhouse published his response to all of them with ''Les Mormons (Saints des Derniers-jours) et leurs ennemis. Réponse diverse ouvrages publiés contre le Mormonisme par MM Guers, Favez, A. Pichot, Comte de Gasparin etc. par T.-B.-H. Stenhouse, President des missions suisse et italienne de l’Église de Jésus-Christ des Saints des Derniers-jours'' (Lausanne, 1854) [The Mormons (Latter-day Saints) and their Enemies. A Response to Diverse Works published against Mormonism by Monsieurs Guers, Favez, A. Pichot, Count de Gasparin etc. by T.B.H. Stenhouse, President of the Swiss and Italian Mission of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]. A lengthy article entitled “Mormonism“ appeared in the April 1854 issue of the Edinburgh Review; a French translation was published in 1855 under the title “Le Mormonisme, histoire et doctrines de Mormons.“ Emile Guers countered the Stenhouse pamphlet with his ''Le Mormonisme Polygame, réponse a la brochure de M. Stenhouse intitulée Les Mormons et leurs ennemis par E. Guers, ministre de l‘évangile (Geneva: Journal l’Avenir, 1855) [Mormonism’s Polygamy, A Response to M(onsieur) Stenhouse‘s Brochure entitled Les Mormons et leurs ennemis, by E. Guers, Minister of the Gospel'']. Finally, in 1856, Louis Favez also responded to Stenhouse with part 2 of his “''Pieces on the Mormons“: Le Mormonisme jugé d’aprés ses doctrines, exposé succint des notions mormonnes et de leur valeur relativement a la Saint Écriture, Précédé d’observations sur l’écrit de l’elder M. Stenhouse, intitulé: Les Mormons et leurs ennemis, etc. ''[Mormonism Judged by Its Doctrines, a Succint Exposé of the Mormon’s Notions and their Value Concerning the Holy Scriptures, Preceded by Observations on the Work by Elder M(onsieur) Stenhouse, entitled Les Mormons et leurs ennemis, etc.]

[32] Fanny Stenhouse, 115-116.