Page 234 - Confronting Race Women and Indians on the Frontier, 1815 - 1915

CHAPTER S I X

,,
them absolutely ugly. 66 Others said that Mormons were "not always
inclined to be f r iendly," that they were "poor, ignorant and dirty," and
,,
that their ranks often included "the dregs of some fo reign country. 67
One of the most rancorous observations came f r om Mary Fish. When
crossing the plains in 1 8 60, Fish's reaction to seeing Mormon women
dragging handcarts behind them was: "They must be sadly in want of
husbands to level themselves to brutes & after all their trouble to obtain
,,
one 4th or perhaps one 20th part of a man. 68
Only a f e w f r ontierswomen extended understanding to Latter-day
Saints they met along the way. One young f e male migrant who disliked
,,
Mormons admitted that some were "good people, but very common. 69
Margaret Hecox, on her way to California in 1846, expressed pity fo r
them. She explained that her party traveled slowly to avoid overtaking
a train of Mormons, but were distressed by the badly rutted roads that
Mormons left in their wake. They were also upset with bad treatment
they received at the hands of people who took them to be Mormons.
In Hecox's view, however, the Latter-day Saints could not be "as black
as they were painted."When her group caught up with the Mormons,
she f o und their "abject poverty" to be "an extremely pitiful sight."Yet
after her train passed the Mormons, she fe lt "greatly relieved to be clear
of them," and anxious that her train move f a ster "lest they overtake US."7 0
From Mormon women's perspective, Gentile prejudice hurt and
isolated them. Increasingly, Mormon and Gentile trains simply passed
each other or Mormon trains stuck to the so-called Mormon T r ail.
W o men who had been propelled onto the trail by mob violence, burn­
ings of homes and barns, and killings of a mily members were already
f
vulnerable. One young woman had left Nauvoo, Illinois, with her
mother and siblings after a mob killed her f a ther. Also, these women
gave up f a rms and f a mily businesses, prosperous communities, and hard­
built temples. In the f a ce of Gentile prejudice, they turned f o r succor
to their religious beliefs, hope of a promised land ahead, and f a ith in the
second coming of Christ.71
At the same time, Gentile women's sentiments hardened as they
observed Mormons heading back from Salt Lake to the "States."Women
seemed to revel in what they took to be Mormon f a ilure, assuming that
these people had their fill of Mormonism and were fleeing Zion.72 In

226