New Release! Useful to the Church and Kingdom: The Journals of James H. Martineau, Pioneer and Patriarch, 1850–1918, edited by Noel A. Carmack and Charles M. Hatch

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View this email in your browser Useful to the Church and Kingdom: The Journals of James Henry Martineau, Pioneer and Patriarch, 1850–1918 Edited by Noel A. Carmack and Charles M. Hatch After receiving a liberal arts education at the Munro Academy in Elbridge, New York, and a stint in the US-Mexican War, James Henry Martineau spent his life as a surveyor, civil engineer, clerk, mapmaker, and pathfinder in Utah. After becoming a Latter-day Saint in 1850, Martineau went with Apostle George A. Smith to settle Parowan in southern Utah, with a commitment to building God's kingdom in the West. As a leader in the Utah territorial militia he conducted military drills, witnessed events surrounding the Mountain Meadows Massacre and the legal trials of its perpetrators, explored wilderness areas, submitted reports, and drew maps to record his travels throughout the entire Mormon corridor.  These journals document his exploration of lands in southern Utah, his laying out of townsites and farmland in northern Utah, his participation in canal building and water projects in Arizona, and his near-death experiences while surveying rough, mountainous areas. His work for the Union Pacific Railroad through Weber Canyon and across the Salt Lake Promontory and Humboldt Desert in 1868 is one of the very few complete records of its kind. Excerpt: The 7th [of April 1893] was the time Set for people from Mexico to attend the [Salt Lake Temple] dedication services, which were very impressive. But there was not such manifestations of holy influences as when the Manti Temple was dedicated, owing, I believe, to the fact that now all are permitted to enter who have any standing at all in the church, good or poor standing; so that many attended who were utterly unworthy to do any temple work. About 1000 gentiles and apostates were permitted to go through the building before it was dedicated, who were filled with amazement at its beauty, grandeur and magnificence. The [Salt Lake] “Tribune” our deadliest foe, described it as a “dream of Supernatural beauty.”    When my son Nephi, a member of the famed Logan Choir went through a few days after, he heard heavenly music that entirely overcame him. He is one of the pure in heart, if there be any such living.   In the evening we attended a grand concert of over 600 children, dressed in the costumes of many countries, and who sang songs in various languages.   About the editors Noel A. Carmack is associate professor of art at Utah State University Eastern. He has published in BYU Studies, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, and elsewhere, and is co-editor with Karen Lynn Davidson of Out of the Black Patch: The Autobiography of Effie Marguess Carmack, Folk Musician, Artist, and Writer. Charles M. “Chick” Hatch was a freelance editor, demographer and historian. He received both his BS and MS degrees from Utah State University. He co-edited, with Todd Compton, A Widow's Tale: The 1884–1896 Diary of Helen Mar Kimball Whitney, which received the Best Documentary Award from the Mormon History Association in 2004. He died in 2022. two-volume hardback | $39.95 per volume ebook | $9.99 per volume Available at select bookstores and at Amazon. More info at signaturebooks.com. Copyright © *|CURRENT_YEAR|* *|LIST:COMPANY|*, All rights reserved. *|IFNOT:ARCHIVE_PAGE|* *|LIST:DESCRIPTION|* Our mailing address is: *|HTML:LIST_ADDRESS_HTML|* *|END:IF|* update  |  unsubscribe *|IF:REWARDS|* *|HTML:REWARDS|* *|END:IF|*