Abstract
This thesis is divided into three chapters, taking up three distinct phases of Mormon history, all closely connected and chronologically following one another, The first chapter is merely an Introduction, little source material being used. | Chapter Two, dealing with the trek across Iowa, has been written chronologically telling a few interesting little details in their camp life. This chapter is an attempt to trace accurately their old trail across the State of Iowa and the establishment and background of many of our present villages. The source material used here, comes chiefly from the diaries of Orson Pratt and William Clayton, the Millennial Star, their official publications and the Historical Record. | The years from 1846 to 1852 at Kanesville are related in Chapter Three. Council Bluffs, as Kanesville is now named, is rich in historical background. The Mormons, their lives, and their effects on the community are thus set forth. Material for this chapter was gathered chiefly from the Historical Record, several pamphlets, the Annals of Iowa and the Frontier Guardian, and the History of the Church. | There has been no attempt made to go into the doctrinal aspects of this group of Latter-Day Saints, no attempt to discuss whether they were always the righteous men they professed to be or the sinners many writers feel that they were. The historical value of the Mormons across and in Iowa has been the aim of this thesis.