In the Whirlpool : The Pre-Manifesto Letters of President Wilford Woodruff to the William Atkin Family, 1885-1890

by Neilson, Reid L.; Alexander, Thomas G. (CON); Shipps, Jan (CON)

• ISBN13: 9780870623905
• ISBN10: 0870623907
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-05-05
• Publisher: Univ of Oklahoma Pr

Summary

Political and religious turmoil in the late 1800s plagued the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its leaders. As Utah statehood loomed, Congress aggressively moved against Mormons who engaged in polygamy. More than a thousand men were jailed and others were forced into hiding. One of those who went into hiding in 1879 was Wilford Woodruff, who became church president in 1887. Woodruff sought sanctuary with the family of William and Rachel Atkin and others throughout the 1880s. This never-before-published collection of Woodruffs letters to the Atkins, edited by Reid L. Neilson, reveals the church leaders political and spiritual conflicts in the five years leading up to his 1890 Manifesto, which officially disallowed polygamy.

Table of Contents

Illustrations	p. 9
Preface	p. 11
Acknowledgements	p. 19
Editorial Method	p. 21
Introduction
A Friendship Forged in Exile: Wilford Woodruff and the William and Rachel Atkin Family	p. 27
The Odyssey of a Latter-day Prophet: Wilford Woodruff and the Manifesto of 1890	p. 57
The Principle Revoked: Mormon Reactions to Wilford Woodruff's 1890 Manifesto	p. 113
The Pre-Manifesto Correspondence, 1885-1890
December 1885	p. 127
July-December 1887	p. 132
January-December 1888	p. 149
January-December 1889	p. 171
January-December 1890	p. 184
Appendices
Wilford Woodruff Chronology	p. 199
The Families of Wilford Woodruff and William Atkin	p. 204
1890 Manifesto Announcement (Doctrine and Covenants, Official Declaration 1)	p. 207
Further Reading	p. 213
List of Contributors	p. 217
Index	p. 219
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