This book illuminates the Mormon effort to open up the Georgia mission field beginning in the 1840s. The book concludes with the murder of Mormon missionary James Standing on July 21, 1879, in Whitfield County and the ensuing acquittal of the twelve men who shot him. Some Mormon missionaries continued to work in North Georgia despite the fact that the words, “There is no law in Georgia for Mormons,” adorn Standing’s grave in Salt Lake City where he was taken to be buried. This book examines both the Mormon efforts and the response of the locals, concluding that, at worst, local people felt that the Mormons were essentially stealing their daughters to take to Utah as co-wives. The author, Mary Ella Engel, teaches history at Western Carolina University.
Athens: The University of Georgia Press, 2019. 228 pages with an Index, Notes, two appendices, and photos. Trade paperback