Hugh Findlay (June 9, 1822 in
Newmilns
Newmilns is a village in the burgh of Newmilns and Greenholm, in East Ayrshire, Scotland. It has a population of 3,057 people (2001 census) and lies on the A71, around seven miles east of Kilmarnock and twenty-five miles southwest of Glasgow. I ...
,
Ayrshire,
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...
– March 2, 1900 in
Fish Haven, Idaho
Fish Haven, originally named Rush Creek, is an unincorporated community along the shores of Bear Lake in Bear Lake County, Idaho, United States. It is 4 km (2.5 miles) north of the Utah
Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West ...
) was one of the first two
Mormon missionaries
Missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church)—widely known as Mormon missionaries—are volunteer representatives of the church who engage variously in proselytizing, church service, humanitarian aid, and commu ...
to enter
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
and initiated Mormon missionary work in the
Shetland Islands.
Conversion
Findlay was baptized in
Dundee,
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...
,
[ on July 1, 1844, by missionaries from ]the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian Christian church that considers itself to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. The ch ...
. He married Isabella Ratray that same year.["The Mormons From Scotland and Wales: Others From Scotland". ''Our Pioneer Heritage''. Volume 13. Company E.] 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 is an infection caused by the bacterium '' Corynebacterium diphtheriae''. Most infections are asymptomatic or have a mild clinical course, but in some outbreaks more than 10% of those diagnosed with the disease may die. Signs and s ...
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
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
, Findlay engaged in public debates with anti-Mormon ministers from other faiths. He was serving as a district president
A district of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) is a geographical administrative unit composed of a number of congregations called branches.
A district is a subdivision of a mission of the church and in many ways is a ...
(head of the Hull Conference) in England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
when Lorenzo Snow
Lorenzo Snow (April 3, 1814 – October 10, 1901) was an American religious leader who served as the fifth president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) from 1898 until his death. Snow was the last president of the ...
called him and William Willes to serve a mission in South Asia
South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical
Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth descr ...
.
Mission
Findlay and Willes arrived in 1851, seeking to build on reports from early members of the Plymouth Brethren that India would be a fertile ground for proselytization
Proselytism () is the policy of attempting to convert people's religious or political beliefs. Proselytism is illegal in some countries.
Some draw distinctions between '' evangelism'' or '' Da‘wah'' and proselytism regarding proselytism as invo ...
. However, almost immediately they were met by opposition from the established Protestant denominations, the press, and military officers and chaplains.[Britsch, R. Lanier. "Latter-day Saint Mission to India". ''Brigham Young University Studies 12, No. 3 (1972)''. See .] Findlay labored first in Bombay
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second-m ...
(now Mumbai); Willes travelled up the Ganges to Simla
Shimla (; ; also known as Simla, the official name until 1972) is the capital and the largest city of the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. In 1864, Shimla was declared as the summer capital of British India. After independence, th ...
.
It took Findlay six months to baptize his first six converts. While in Bombay, he was restricted from all military areas ( cantonments) and was forbidden to preach to military personnel. In April 1852, he moved on to Poona (now Pune), 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, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to:
In general
* ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe
** Ethnic groups in Europe
** Demographics of Europe
** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe ...
, Eurasian
Eurasia (, ) is the largest continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. Primarily in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Eastern Hemispheres, it spans from the British Isles and the Iberian Peninsula in the west to the Ja ...
, and native
Native may refer to:
People
* Jus soli, citizenship by right of birth
* Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory
** Native Americans (disambiguation)
In arts and entert ...
." 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 (; ''Marāṭhī'', ) is an Indo-Aryan language predominantly spoken by Marathi people in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the official language of Maharashtra, and additional official language in the state of Goa. It is one of t ...
and spent considerable time discussing religion with a group of Brahmin
Brahmin (; sa, ब्राह्मण, brāhmaṇa) is a varna as well as a caste within Hindu society. The Brahmins are designated as the priestly class as they serve as priests (purohit, pandit, or pujari) and religious teachers (gur ...
intellectuals.[
Findlay's brother Allan joined him as a missionary in India. Allan McPherson Findlay, a baker by trade,][Ship Manifest. ''Ship Thornton''. 3 May 1856 Liverpool, England - 14 June 1856 New York, New York. Se]
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.[ R. Lanier Britsch, Britsch, R. Lanier. "The 1851-56 Mission to India". '']Journal of Mormon History
The Mormon History Association (MHA) is an independent, non-profit organization dedicated to the study and understanding of all aspects of Mormon history to promote understanding, scholarly research, and publication in the field. MHA was founded i ...
'', Volume 27, Issue 2, Fall 2001
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 Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...
(where they baptized one convert) to the United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
, arriving later that year.[ He married 23-year-old Catherine Ann Partington on March 25, 1856, in the ]Endowment House
The Endowment House was an early building used by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) to administer temple ordinances in Salt Lake City, Utah Territory. From the construction of the Council House in 1852, Salt Lake City's ...
. Brigham Young performed the ceremony.
The couple helped settle Riverdale, Utah
Riverdale is a city in southern Weber County, Utah, United States. The population was 8,426 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Ogden– Clearfield, Utah Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bur ...
, where Hugh made a living by manufacturing and selling match
A match is a tool for starting a fire. Typically, matches are made of small wooden sticks or stiff paper. One end is coated with a material that can be ignited by friction generated by striking the match against a suitable surface. Wooden matc ...
es.[ They eventually had nine children together.]["Hugh Findlay". ''Ancestors of Sarah Ellen HALES''. https://web.archive.org/web/20071001185011/http://www.geocities.com/halesnelsongen/aqwg05.htm. Accessed 13 April 2007.]
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
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, r ...
. 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
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...
, sailing on the Ship Thornton to New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
.[ 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'' is a term referring to an unmarried woman who is older than what is perceived as the prime age range during which women usually marry. It can also indicate that a woman is considered unlikely to ever marry. The term originally den ...
, 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
The Mormon handcart pioneers were participants in the migration of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) to Salt Lake City, Utah, who used handcarts to transport their belongings. The Mormon handcart movement b ...
, all three survived and made it to Salt Lake City
Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...
.
Later life
In the Fall of 1869, Brigham Young
Brigham Young (; June 1, 1801August 29, 1877) was an American religious leader and politician. He was the second president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), from 1847 until his death in 1877. During his time as ch ...
called Findlay and his families to help settle the Bear Lake country. They arrived on May 22, 1870, and along with Henry Howell
Henry Evans Howell, Jr. (September 5, 1920 – July 7, 1997), nicknamed "Howlin' Henry" Howell, was an American lawyer and politician from the Commonwealth of Virginia. A progressive populist and a member of the Democratic Party, he served in ...
helped settle Fish Haven, Idaho
Fish Haven, originally named Rush Creek, is an unincorporated community along the shores of Bear Lake in Bear Lake County, Idaho, United States. It is 4 km (2.5 miles) north of the Utah
Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West ...
, where he later served as Bishop
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is c ...
.[ 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
An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands, or sometimes a sea containing a small number of scattered islands.
Examples of archipelagos include: the Indonesian Arc ...
northeast of Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...
. 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 electroplate
Electroplating, also known as electrochemical deposition or electrodeposition, is a process for producing a metal coating on a solid substrate through the reduction of cations of that metal by means of a direct electric current. The part to be ...
s for a new edition of the Doctrine & Covenants. Findlay and three other men helped him divide the text into verses and supply references.[Davis, Marguirite R. ''History of John Ryder''. The Yancey Family Surname Resource Center. See .]
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
The highest-ranking bishops in Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Catholic Church (above major archbishop and primate), the Hussite Church, Church of the East, and some Independent Catholic Churches are termed patriarchs (and in certai ...
[ until his death on March 2, 1900.
]
Articles
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*
Publications
*
*
Notes
External links
History of Riverdale, Utah
Municipal History
BYU Devotional speech
Hugh Findlay
on Shetlopedia (the Shetland Encyclopedia)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Findlay, Hugh
1822 births
1900 deaths
19th-century Mormon missionaries
American city founders
Converts to Mormonism
Mission presidents (LDS Church)
Mormon missionaries in England
Mormon missionaries in India
Mormon missionaries in Scotland
Mormon pioneers
Patriarchs (LDS Church)
People from Bear Lake County, Idaho
People from East Ayrshire
Scottish emigrants to the United States
Scottish expatriates in India
Scottish Latter Day Saints
Scottish leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Scottish Mormon missionaries