Mormons in New York City

When news of the martyrdom of Joseph Smith reached New York City and was published in the major New York newspapers on July 8th, Church members in the city were initially cautious about the news. Reports of Joseph Smith’s death or some other tragedy had appeared before and turned out to be incorrect.

The Latter Day Saint newspaper in New York, The Prophet, had already cautioned members on June 29th (probably because of the scandalous news reports similar to what was published in the Nauvoo Expositor, which were then reaching New York City) “not to credit the many tales afloat respecting our people, we have had no intelligence of trouble, and doubt very much the truth of these statements.”

But church members received confirmation of the martyrdom by July 20th, which  left them wondering how to mourn for the fallen prophet.

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This past sunday evening New York Stake member and friend of our history committee, Mark Holden, showed many of the interesting items from his personal collection at a fireside held in the 87th street building. The collection was really quite fascinating, as were Mark’s stories about the items and how he found them. The fireside drew more than 50 people and even included a few items of interest to those studying the Mormon presence in New York.

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