Those Apostates Who Would Be Gentiles | A. J. Simmonds, The Gentile Comes to Cache Valley: A Study of the Logan Apostasies of 1874 and the Establishment of Non-Mormon Churches in Cache Valley, 1873–1913

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In an attractive volume with numerous illustrations, tables, and charts, A. J. Simmonds has told the story of those Cache Valley Latter-day Saints who for various economic, social or political reasons were excommunicated from or who voluntarily left the Mormon Church during the late nineteenth century. These ex-Mormons, or apostates, often cast their lot with various Protestant denominations active in the Valley at this time, thus becoming the gentiles to which Simmonds alludes in his title. More important, such apostates were sometimes appointed to federal offices in the valley which enabled them to enforce the various antipolygamy laws passed by Congress during the late nineteenth century. In this way, these apostates, according to Simmonds, played a role in the “Americanization” or Reconstruction of Utah which culminated in the Manifesto of 1890. 

In several respects Simmonds’ work makes a contribution to our understanding of the Mormon past. It is somewhat of a pioneering work in that it uses “oral tradition” extensively—but carefully. Secondly, this history is a “case study” in the operation of Frederick Jackson Turner’s “safety valve” thesis—that is, the settlement of unoccupied land by mobile, white settlers. In Cache Valley this “safety valve” operated in the exodus of apostates from the predominate Mormon areas of the valley to the unoccupied Big Range during the 1870’s. Simmonds also brings to light a number of interesting and often overlooked facets of the Mormon past. In discussing the origins of the Cache Valley apostasies, Simmonds notes that the grounds for Mormon disfellowship or excommunication were much broader before 1890—going far beyond the clear-cut moral or doctrinal criteria used since. Simmonds vividly describes the potent, often heavy-handed activities of the Block Teacher’s Quorum as a police force in those Cache County wards troubled with dissension and division. Finally, Simmonds shatters a popular Mormon myth by suggesting that nineteenth century Mormon-run schools were “second rate” when compared to the Mission Schools operated by the Protestants in not just Cache Valley, but throughout Utah Territory. This painful fact was dramatized by the frequent enrollment of children belonging to faithful Latter-day Saints in such Gentile-run schools.

Despite the book’s assets, Simmonds’ work suffers from a number of organizational and interpretive problems. First, Simmonds’ chronological framework of 1873 to 1913 does not square with his own historical evidence. As Simmonds’ narrative shows, 1869 rather than 1873 was the real beginning date of Cache Valley’s apostasies. In 1869 a fateful split developed within Cache County’s Latter-day Saint community with the apostasy of several Mormon merchants upset by the establishment in that year of the monopolistic Logan Cooperative Mercantile Institution. The year 1913 is also less than satisfactory as a terminal date, inasmuch as 1890 rather than 1913 marks the end—for all practical purposes—of Cache Valley’s apostate-gentile community. The Manifesto of 1890, terminating the official church sanction of plural marriages, led to a marked decline of gentile-Mormon conflict. By 1890, the Church had abandoned its efforts to create an independent economic order separate from the larger non-Mormon society. Finally, 1890 marked the implementation of the Free School Act providing all Utah school children with free public education. This dealt a fatal blow to the Protestant mission school system in Cache Valley and elsewhere. These three developments undermined the entire gentile-apostate raison de etre. 

Simmonds’ hazy chronological focus dramatizes fundamental problems evident in the book’s basic organization. For example, the author in his initial chapter states that at the beginning of 1873 “near unanimity” prevailed among Cache Valley’s residents with respect to basic “beliefs and practices.” However, the historical evidence presented by Simmonds throughout this chapter suggest that this was not the case. Similar problems are evident throughout the book. Often, Simmonds’ evidence does not square with his intended interpretive focus in a particular section or chapter. At the end of this work a lengthy series of appendicized biographical sketches of nineteen Mormon apostates further underscores the book’s organizational problems. While such biographical information has a human interest value, Simmonds does not indicate his reasons for including this material or for selecting the particular individuals included.

Simmonds does not really move his interpretation of Cache Valley apostates beyond this region, despite claims to the contrary on the book’s dust jacket. The author should have done more to relate his story to apostate-gentile activities in other Great Basin Mormon communities. While this work suggests a connection between the Cache Valley apostasies and the Salt Lake-centered Godbeite movement as reflected in the activities of W. H. Shearman, this issue is not pursued. And while suggesting that the apostasies in Cache County were not unique but were repeated in other Mormon communities, Simmonds does not develop this theme.

More could have been done to relate this work to Mormon history in general. After reading Simmonds’ study, one is left wondering if there were any significant socio-economic or ethnic differences between Cache Valley apostates and those Latter-day Saints who remained true to the faith. Simmonds’ work would have been more meaningful if he had attempted a comparative analysis. Such a socio-economic analysis, in place of the book’s biographical appendices, would have provided further insights into the reasons certain individuals left the Mormon movement while others remained faithful. It would have also been interesting if Simmonds had probed the inability of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints to attract significant numbers of Cache Valley apostates. Such individuals usually joined the various Protestant churches rather than the Reorganized Church despite vigorous RLDS missionary efforts in this region.

Finally, although the author makes an admirable effort to relate his story of the Cache Valley apostasies to the larger his- tory of Western America through his discussion of the Big Range as the archtype of Frederick Jackson Turner’s “safety valve/’ Simmonds never really pulls his story into mainstream American history. Although Simmonds briefly describes the Protestant Home Missionary Society and its tendency to draw parallels between Utah Mormons and non-Chris- tian heathens, he could have made more interesting apostate-gentile comparisons. Simmonds is less than convincing in his efforts to relate Cache Valley apostates to the national campaign to “Americanize” or “Reconstruct Utah.” He goes into elaborate detail describing the activities of C.C. and William Goodwin, important Cache Valley apostates who were appointed by the federal government as U.S. commissioner and probate judge respectively. These appointments, ac- cording to Simmonds, enabled these apostates to enforce federal anti-polygamy laws enacted by Congress during the 1880’s. Simmonds fails however, to demonstrate that the activities of the Goodwins or other apostate Federal officeholders “broke the resolve” of Cache Valley Latter-day Saints toward plural marriage. 

Despite its shortcomings, Simmonds’ study represents a significant beginning point in the study of Mormon apostates—a foundation upon which future studies can be based. 

The Gentile Comes to Cache Valley: A Study of the Logan Apostasies of 1874 and the Establishment of Non-Mormon Churches in Cache Valley, 1873-1913. By A. J. Simmonds. Logan, Utah: Utah State University Press, 1976 137 pp., $5.00.