Hugh Findlay
Encyclopedia
Hugh Findlay was one of the first two Mormon missionaries
to enter India
and initiated Mormon missionary work in the Shetland Islands
.
, Scotland
, on July 1, 1844, by missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He married Isabella Ratray that same year. Between 1847 and 1848, Isabella and the two little boys she and Findlay had together, James and Ephraim, died in what was probably a diphtheria
epidemic. Both boys were under two years old.
Orson Pratt
recorded the following about a case of "miraculous healing" involving Findlay in Scotland:
While in England
, Findlay engaged in public debates with anti-Mormon
ministers from other faiths. He was serving as a district president (head of the Hull
Conference) in England
when Lorenzo Snow
called him and William Willes
to serve a mission in South Asia
.
that India would be a fertile ground for proselytization
. However, almost immediately they were met by opposition from the established Protestant denominations, the press, and military officers and chaplains. Findlay labored first in Bombay
(now Mumbai); Willes travelled up the Ganges to Simla
.
It took Findlay six months to baptize his first six converts. While in Bombay, he was restricted from all military areas (cantonment
s) and was forbidden to preach to military personnel. In April 1852, he moved on to Poona, 90 miles distant, where he was eventually granted permission to proselyte. The local cantonment commander reasoned that "the less these people are opposed the less harm they would do." Findlay was eventually able to organize a branch of twelve members in Poona by mid-September 1852, a mixture of "European
, Eurasian
, and native
." However, in October Findlay was asked to leave the cantonment. He found new quarters in a small shelter in Poona, where he continued to hold meetings with the branch. Several months later, he completed a chapel directly across the street.
After being banished from the cantonment, Findlay focused his efforts almost exclusively on the native population. He studied the Marathi language
and spent considerable time discussing religion with a group of Brahmin
intellectuals.
Findlay's brother Allan joined him as a missionary in India. Allan McPherson Findlay, a baker by trade, was born in New Milns, Scotland, in 1830, and was baptized in November 1846. He accepted Findlay's urgent request to join him in Bombay and Poona, without any official call from the church. He arrived on September 7, 1853, about two years after Findlay.
Hugh Findlay and his fellow missionaries ultimately found little success in India. He served in Poona and Bombay for several years, most of it alone. Brigham Young ordered the mission closed in 1855. Historians have concluded the mission's significance lies is in its failure to secure more than a handful of converts, in contrast with other missions at the time (in Scandinavia and the British Isles) that were extremely successful.
(where they baptized one convert) to the United States
, arriving later that year. He married 23-year-old Catherine Ann Partington on March 25, 1856, in the Endowment House
. Brigham Young performed the ceremony.
The couple helped settle Riverdale, Utah
, where Hugh made a living by manufacturing and selling match
es. They eventually had nine children together.
In 1857 Findlay began practicing plural marriage when he married 16-year-old Mary Ellen Smith, with whom he eventually had seven children. In 1858, he became Riverdale's first school teacher, and in 1860 he joined a bishopric in Riverdale as a counselor. He was also at one time the president of the "17th Ward Silk Producing Society".
In June 1862, Hugh Findlay's 19-year-old brother-in-law, Jared Smith, was killed in the Morrisite War
. Smith had been engaged to Ane Marie Dorthea Nelson, a 19-year-old Danish immigrant. The next month, Findlay married Ane Marie. They had three children together and raised them as if they were Jared's.
By 1864, Findlay was in Salt Lake City manufacturing and selling matches at a store on Main Street. An 1865 Deseret News advertisement noted he sold other products as well, including stereoscopic boxes
.
Allan emigrated to the U.S. via Liverpool, England, sailing on the Ship Thornton to New York City
. On the second day at sea, 26-year-old Allan married Jessie Ireland, a 28-year-old whom the ship's manifest identified as a spinster
, although they had been dating for about ten years. They rendezvoused in New York with Allan and Hugh's mother (Mary McPherson Findlay), then headed west. Although they crossed the plains with the ill-fated Willie Handcart Company, all three survived and made it to Salt Lake City.
called Findlay and his families to help settle the Bear Lake
country. They arrived on May 22, 1870, and along with Henry Howell helped settle Fish Haven, Idaho
, where he later served as Bishop
. Ane Marie died in Fish Haven in 1872 at age 29.
In 1878 the church called him to open a mission in the Shetland Islands
, an archipelago
northeast of Scotland
. He arrived on January 4, 1879, and on March 31 baptized the islands' first two converts.
On May 5, 1879, Orson Pratt
(who was also in the British Isles at the time) received a letter from John Taylor, instructing him to obtain electroplates for a new edition of the Doctrine & Covenants. Findlay and three other men helped him divide the text into verses and supply references.
While in Shetland he was asked to preside over the Scotland Mission. One history records:
He was released as president of the Scotland Mission in 1880. He returned to his families in Fish Haven, where he served as a Patriarch until his death on March 2, 1900.
Mormon missionary
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is one of the most active modern practitioners of missionary work, with over 52,000 full-time missionaries worldwide, as of the end of 2010...
to enter India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
and initiated Mormon missionary work in the Shetland Islands
Shetland Islands
Shetland is a subarctic archipelago of Scotland that lies north and east of mainland Great Britain. The islands lie some to the northeast of Orkney and southeast of the Faroe Islands and form part of the division between the Atlantic Ocean to the west and the North Sea to the east. The total...
.
Conversion
Findlay was baptized in DundeeDundee
Dundee is the fourth-largest city in Scotland and the 39th most populous settlement in the United Kingdom. It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firth of Tay, which feeds into the North Sea...
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, on July 1, 1844, by missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He married Isabella Ratray that same year. Between 1847 and 1848, Isabella and the two little boys she and Findlay had together, James and Ephraim, died in what was probably a diphtheria
Diphtheria
Diphtheria is an upper respiratory tract illness caused by Corynebacterium diphtheriae, a facultative anaerobic, Gram-positive bacterium. It is characterized by sore throat, low fever, and an adherent membrane on the tonsils, pharynx, and/or nasal cavity...
epidemic. Both boys were under two years old.
Orson Pratt
Orson Pratt
Orson Pratt, Sr. was a leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and an original member of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles...
recorded the following about a case of "miraculous healing" involving Findlay in Scotland:
While in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, Findlay engaged in public debates with anti-Mormon
Anti-Mormon
Anti-Mormonism is discrimination, persecution, hostility or prejudice directed at members of the Latter Day Saint movement, particularly The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints...
ministers from other faiths. He was serving as a district president (head of the Hull
Kingston upon Hull
Kingston upon Hull , usually referred to as Hull, is a city and unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It stands on the River Hull at its junction with the Humber estuary, 25 miles inland from the North Sea. Hull has a resident population of...
Conference) in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
when Lorenzo Snow
Lorenzo Snow
Lorenzo Snow was the fifth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1898 to his death. Snow was the last president of the LDS Church in the nineteenth century.-Family:...
called him and William Willes
William Willes
William Willes was an early Latter-day Saint songwriter and, along with Hugh Findlay, was one of the first Mormon missionaries to enter India....
to serve a mission in South Asia
South Asia
South Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries to the west and the east...
.
Mission
Findlay and Willes arrived in 1851, seeking to build on reports from early members of the Plymouth BrethrenPlymouth Brethren
The Plymouth Brethren is a conservative, Evangelical Christian movement, whose history can be traced to Dublin, Ireland, in the late 1820s. Although the group is notable for not taking any official "church name" to itself, and not having an official clergy or liturgy, the title "The Brethren," is...
that India would be a fertile ground for proselytization
Proselytism
Proselytizing is the act of attempting to convert people to another opinion and, particularly, another religion. The word proselytize is derived ultimately from the Greek language prefix προσ- and the verb ἔρχομαι in the form of προσήλυτος...
. However, almost immediately they were met by opposition from the established Protestant denominations, the press, and military officers and chaplains. Findlay labored first in Bombay
Mumbai
Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...
(now Mumbai); Willes travelled up the Ganges to Simla
Shimla
Shimla , formerly known as Simla, is the capital city of Himachal Pradesh. In 1864, Shimla was declared the summer capital of the British Raj in India. A popular tourist destination, Shimla is often referred to as the "Queen of Hills," a term coined by the British...
.
Cantonment
A cantonment is a temporary or semi-permanent military or police quarters. The word cantonment is derived from the French word canton meaning corner or district, as is the name of the Cantons of Switzerland. In South Asia, the term cantonment also describes permanent military stations...
s) and was forbidden to preach to military personnel. In April 1852, he moved on to Poona, 90 miles distant, where he was eventually granted permission to proselyte. The local cantonment commander reasoned that "the less these people are opposed the less harm they would do." Findlay was eventually able to organize a branch of twelve members in Poona by mid-September 1852, a mixture of "European
European ethnic groups
The ethnic groups in Europe are the various ethnic groups that reside in the nations of Europe. European ethnology is the field of anthropology focusing on Europe....
, Eurasian
Eurasian (mixed ancestry)
The word Eurasian refers to people of mixed Asian and European ancestry. It was originally coined in 19th-century British India to refer to Anglo-Indians of mixed British and Indian descent....
, and native
Demographics of India
The demographics of India are inclusive of the second most populous country in the world, with over 1.21 billion people , more than a sixth of the world's population. Already containing 17.5% of the world's population, India is projected to be the world's most populous country by 2025, surpassing...
." However, in October Findlay was asked to leave the cantonment. He found new quarters in a small shelter in Poona, where he continued to hold meetings with the branch. Several months later, he completed a chapel directly across the street.
After being banished from the cantonment, Findlay focused his efforts almost exclusively on the native population. He studied the Marathi language
Marathi language
Marathi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people of western and central India. It is the official language of the state of Maharashtra. There are over 68 million fluent speakers worldwide. Marathi has the fourth largest number of native speakers in India and is the fifteenth most...
and spent considerable time discussing religion with a group of Brahmin
Brahmin
Brahmin Brahman, Brahma and Brahmin.Brahman, Brahmin and Brahma have different meanings. Brahman refers to the Supreme Self...
intellectuals.
Findlay's brother Allan joined him as a missionary in India. Allan McPherson Findlay, a baker by trade, was born in New Milns, Scotland, in 1830, and was baptized in November 1846. He accepted Findlay's urgent request to join him in Bombay and Poona, without any official call from the church. He arrived on September 7, 1853, about two years after Findlay.
Hugh Findlay and his fellow missionaries ultimately found little success in India. He served in Poona and Bombay for several years, most of it alone. Brigham Young ordered the mission closed in 1855. Historians have concluded the mission's significance lies is in its failure to secure more than a handful of converts, in contrast with other missions at the time (in Scandinavia and the British Isles) that were extremely successful.
Emigration and settling Utah
Findlay completed his mission and departed Bombay on March 15, 1855. He and a few fellow Mormons emigrated by way of Hong KongHong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
(where they baptized one convert) to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, arriving later that year. He married 23-year-old Catherine Ann Partington on March 25, 1856, in the Endowment House
Endowment House
The Endowment House was an early building used by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to administer temple ordinances in Salt Lake City, Utah Territory. From the construction of the Council House in 1852, Salt Lake City's first public building, until the construction of the Endowment...
. Brigham Young performed the ceremony.
Riverdale, Utah
Riverdale is a city in Weber County, Utah, United States. The population was 7,656 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Ogden–Clearfield, Utah Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:Riverdale is located at ....
, where Hugh made a living by manufacturing and selling match
Match
A match is a tool for starting a fire under controlled conditions. A typical modern match is made of a small wooden stick or stiff paper. One end is coated with a material that can be ignited by frictional heat generated by striking the match against a suitable surface...
es. They eventually had nine children together.
In 1857 Findlay began practicing plural marriage when he married 16-year-old Mary Ellen Smith, with whom he eventually had seven children. In 1858, he became Riverdale's first school teacher, and in 1860 he joined a bishopric in Riverdale as a counselor. He was also at one time the president of the "17th Ward Silk Producing Society".
In June 1862, Hugh Findlay's 19-year-old brother-in-law, Jared Smith, was killed in the Morrisite War
Morrisite War
The Morrisite War was a skirmish between a Latter Day Saint sect known as the "Morrisites" and the Utah territorial government.-Morrisites:In 1857 Joseph Morris, an English convert to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Utah, reported receiving revelations naming him the Seventh...
. Smith had been engaged to Ane Marie Dorthea Nelson, a 19-year-old Danish immigrant. The next month, Findlay married Ane Marie. They had three children together and raised them as if they were Jared's.
By 1864, Findlay was in Salt Lake City manufacturing and selling matches at a store on Main Street. An 1865 Deseret News advertisement noted he sold other products as well, including stereoscopic boxes
Stereoscopy
Stereoscopy refers to a technique for creating or enhancing the illusion of depth in an image by presenting two offset images separately to the left and right eye of the viewer. Both of these 2-D offset images are then combined in the brain to give the perception of 3-D depth...
.
Allan emigrated to the U.S. via Liverpool, England, sailing on the Ship Thornton to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. On the second day at sea, 26-year-old Allan married Jessie Ireland, a 28-year-old whom the ship's manifest identified as a spinster
Spinster
A spinster, or old maid, is an older, childless woman who has never been married.For a woman to be identified as a spinster, age is critical...
, although they had been dating for about ten years. They rendezvoused in New York with Allan and Hugh's mother (Mary McPherson Findlay), then headed west. Although they crossed the plains with the ill-fated Willie Handcart Company, all three survived and made it to Salt Lake City.
Later life
In the Fall of 1869, Brigham YoungBrigham Young
Brigham Young was an American leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and a settler of the Western United States. He was the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1847 until his death in 1877, he founded Salt Lake City, and he served as the first governor of the Utah...
called Findlay and his families to help settle the Bear Lake
Bear Lake (Idaho-Utah)
Bear Lake is a natural freshwater lake on the Utah-Idaho border in the Western United States. It is the second largest natural freshwater lake in Utah and has been called the "Caribbean of the Rockies" for its unique turquoise-blue color, the result of suspended limestone deposits in the water...
country. They arrived on May 22, 1870, and along with Henry Howell helped settle Fish Haven, Idaho
Fish Haven, Idaho
Fish Haven is an unincorporated community along the shores of Bear Lake in Bear Lake County, Idaho, United States. The town was founded by Mormon pioneers in 1864. Among the earliest settlers were Hugh Findlay and Henry Howell. It is right on the border of Idaho and Utah....
, where he later served as Bishop
Bishop (Mormonism)
Bishop is the highest priesthood office of the Aaronic priesthood in the Latter Day Saint movement. A bishop is usually the leader of a local congregation of church members. The Latter Day Saint concept of the office differs significantly from the role of bishops in other Christian denominations,...
. Ane Marie died in Fish Haven in 1872 at age 29.
Shetland Islands
Shetland is a subarctic archipelago of Scotland that lies north and east of mainland Great Britain. The islands lie some to the northeast of Orkney and southeast of the Faroe Islands and form part of the division between the Atlantic Ocean to the west and the North Sea to the east. The total...
, an archipelago
Archipelago
An archipelago , sometimes called an island group, is a chain or cluster of islands. The word archipelago is derived from the Greek ἄρχι- – arkhi- and πέλαγος – pélagos through the Italian arcipelago...
northeast of Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
. He arrived on January 4, 1879, and on March 31 baptized the islands' first two converts.
On May 5, 1879, Orson Pratt
Orson Pratt
Orson Pratt, Sr. was a leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and an original member of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles...
(who was also in the British Isles at the time) received a letter from John Taylor, instructing him to obtain electroplates for a new edition of the Doctrine & Covenants. Findlay and three other men helped him divide the text into verses and supply references.
While in Shetland he was asked to preside over the Scotland Mission. One history records:
He was released as president of the Scotland Mission in 1880. He returned to his families in Fish Haven, where he served as a Patriarch until his death on March 2, 1900.
External links
- History of Riverdale, Utah Municipal History
- BYU Devotional speech