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Green Bay
and the Mormons of Beaver Island
by Charles O. Burgess
A fresh look at a bizarre episode in the nation's history—as seen through the eyes of a tolerant pioneer newspaper editor.
"He hath chosen his .servant James to be King; . . . he hath established him a prophet, above the kings of the earth; and appointed him king in Zion; by his own voice did he call him, and he sent his angels unto him to ordain Iiim."—Book of the Law of the Lord^
ON JULY 8, 1850, the "faithful" gathered solemnly on Beaver Island—largest of a group of islands in northern Lake Michigan— to witness the manifestation of one of the most unusual aberrations in our nation's history. From their midst a small, wiry young man with a bright red beard strode slowly to the front of the packed assembly hall. Mounting the platform, as a hushed silence fell upon the throng, he knelt before his frontier "prime minister" to have a crown placed grandiosely on his head. Thus was James Jesse Strang (1813-1856) crowned king—the one and only king ever to reign within the territorial limits of the United States.
The new monarch's subjects were apostate Mormons from Nauvoo who had rejected Brig- ham Young as the successor to Joseph Smith, plus new converts to the faith who had only recently settled on the island to dwell under the divine autocracy of potentate Strang. For six years the Kingdom of St. James was to grow. The city of "St. James" was established on "Paradise Harbor," while the nomenclature of the rest of the island was given a Biblical refurbishment: a niibby hill became "Mount Pisgali," with the "River Jordan" connecting
3 § '^ * *
1
.?TAf?'.CIP9.+
35.
' Book of the Law of the I^ord (Kansas City, 1930),
Plates inscribed with hieroglyphics, found on a hillside near Voree. Wisconsin. Allegedly cast in metal and buried by James Jesse Strang, they were later "discovered" and translated by him.
it to the "Sea of Galilee." Under their ruler, recognized as the prophet of God and the true successor to the slain Smith, these schismatic Mormons began to prosper.
King Strang ruled his island subjects with a thoroughness that pervaded every aspect of their lives. The totalitarian's harsh doctrines, replete with the Mormon chastisement of "forty lashes save one," and other dubiously divine edicts were to boomerang to his own discom¬ fort and misfortune in 1856. But in the mean¬ time he ordained, among other things, that the women of the island should not bind themselves with the laces of popular feminine undergarments. They should—and did—wear comfortably loose bloomers.
All of Strang's edicts were advertised as di¬ vine, coming either from opportune revelations or from the Book of the Law of the Lord, a monosyllabic textbook of Mormondom which Strang, acting as the Almighty's amanuensis, transcribed and dutifully published on a print¬ ing press brought from Chicago. The book was accepted by the islanders as the word of God to His Latter-day Saints, and of it one his¬ torian has said that it is "the most interesting I religious I book ever published in America, if not indeed, in the world. Other religions have their sacred writings .... but these are mere chronicles. Rut the Book of the Law of the Lord is God's own framtnvork of govern- inent for his people on earth in the present and for all future time." This book was the "capstone of Strang's prophetic career"; it
39
Object Description
| Title | Wisconsin magazine of history: Volume 42, number 1, autumn, 1958 |
| Article Title | Wisconsin magazine of history: Volume 42, number 1, autumn, 1958 |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | State Historical Society of Wisconsin |
| Series | Wisconsin Magazine of History ; v. 42, no. 1 |
| Format-Digital | xml |
| Publisher-Electronic | Wisconsin Historical Society |
| Rights | © Copyright 2006 by the Wisconsin Historical Society (Madison, Wisconsin). Illustration on p. 54 is republished courtesy of the Kansas State Historical Society; copy and reuse restrictions apply. See www.kshs.org/research/collections/documents/photos/webuse.htm |
| Publication Date-Electronic | 2006 |
| ISSN | 1943-7366 |
| Identifier-Digital | vol42no010000 |
| Description | This issue includes articles on the Wisconsin Anti-Tuberculosis Association and a firsthand look at the creation of Social Security and its Progressive antecedents from Arthur J. Altmeyer. |
| Volume | 042 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Year | 1958-1959 |
Description
| Title | 39 |
| Page Number | 39 |
| Article Title | Green Bay and the Mormons of Beaver Island |
| Author | Burgess, Charles O. |
| Page type | Article home; Image |
| Format-Digital | jpeg |
| Publisher-Electronic | Wisconsin Historical Society |
| Rights | © Copyright 2006 by the Wisconsin Historical Society (Madison, Wisconsin) |
| Publication Date-Electronic | 2006 |
| ISSN | 1943-7366 |
| Identifier-Digital | vol42no010041 |
| Description | Green Bay and the Mormons of Beaver Island: After James J. Strang (1813-1856) claimed to be the legitimate head of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, he founded a colony with 2,500 followers on Beaver Island, at the head of Lake Michigan. This article describes the generally positive coverage given to the Strangite Mormon experiment by the Green Bay Advocate. It provides lengthy quotations from and analysis of many articles published by editor Charles D. Robinson (1821-1886) between 1849 and 1856. In doing so, it necessarily also describes in substantial detail many events in the colony's short life, including its founding and its eventual destruction by angry non-believers in the summer of 1856. (11 pages) |
| Volume | 042 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Year | 1958-1959 |
| State/Province | Wisconsin; Michigan; |
| County | Brown County; Charlevoix County; |
| Community | Green Bay; Beaver Island; |
| Decade | 1840-1849; 1850-1859; |
| Personal Name | Strang, James Jesse, 1813-1856; Robinson, Charles D., 1822-1886; |
| Organization Name | Church of Jesus Christ (Strangites); |
| Subject | Mormons; Newspapers; |
| Full Text | Green Bay and the Mormons of Beaver Island by Charles O. Burgess A fresh look at a bizarre episode in the nation's history—as seen through the eyes of a tolerant pioneer newspaper editor. "He hath chosen his .servant James to be King; . . . he hath established him a prophet, above the kings of the earth; and appointed him king in Zion; by his own voice did he call him, and he sent his angels unto him to ordain Iiim."—Book of the Law of the Lord^ ON JULY 8, 1850, the "faithful" gathered solemnly on Beaver Island—largest of a group of islands in northern Lake Michigan— to witness the manifestation of one of the most unusual aberrations in our nation's history. From their midst a small, wiry young man with a bright red beard strode slowly to the front of the packed assembly hall. Mounting the platform, as a hushed silence fell upon the throng, he knelt before his frontier "prime minister" to have a crown placed grandiosely on his head. Thus was James Jesse Strang (1813-1856) crowned king—the one and only king ever to reign within the territorial limits of the United States. The new monarch's subjects were apostate Mormons from Nauvoo who had rejected Brig- ham Young as the successor to Joseph Smith, plus new converts to the faith who had only recently settled on the island to dwell under the divine autocracy of potentate Strang. For six years the Kingdom of St. James was to grow. The city of "St. James" was established on "Paradise Harbor" while the nomenclature of the rest of the island was given a Biblical refurbishment: a niibby hill became "Mount Pisgali" with the "River Jordan" connecting 3 § '^ * * 1 .?TAf?'.CIP9.+ 35. ' Book of the Law of the I^ord (Kansas City, 1930), Plates inscribed with hieroglyphics, found on a hillside near Voree. Wisconsin. Allegedly cast in metal and buried by James Jesse Strang, they were later "discovered" and translated by him. it to the "Sea of Galilee." Under their ruler, recognized as the prophet of God and the true successor to the slain Smith, these schismatic Mormons began to prosper. King Strang ruled his island subjects with a thoroughness that pervaded every aspect of their lives. The totalitarian's harsh doctrines, replete with the Mormon chastisement of "forty lashes save one" and other dubiously divine edicts were to boomerang to his own discom¬ fort and misfortune in 1856. But in the mean¬ time he ordained, among other things, that the women of the island should not bind themselves with the laces of popular feminine undergarments. They should—and did—wear comfortably loose bloomers. All of Strang's edicts were advertised as di¬ vine, coming either from opportune revelations or from the Book of the Law of the Lord, a monosyllabic textbook of Mormondom which Strang, acting as the Almighty's amanuensis, transcribed and dutifully published on a print¬ ing press brought from Chicago. The book was accepted by the islanders as the word of God to His Latter-day Saints, and of it one his¬ torian has said that it is "the most interesting I religious I book ever published in America, if not indeed, in the world. Other religions have their sacred writings .... but these are mere chronicles. Rut the Book of the Law of the Lord is God's own framtnvork of govern- inent for his people on earth in the present and for all future time." This book was the "capstone of Strang's prophetic career"; it 39 |