One at a time

It was not uncommon for saints to send their family members to the Salt Lake Valley one at a time. This was particularly true for the European Saints. It wasn’t cheap, and required sacrifice. The family of Swedish saint, John Broberg, found themselves in this situation. What did the family sell in Sweden to earn money to send one family member at a time to the Salt Lake Valley?

a.      Produce from their garden

b.      Flowers from their garden

c.       Paper airplanes

d.      Paper sacks

Yesterday’s answer:

C.   The forgiveness of all debt to those who owed the PEF.

As the Church prepared to celebrate its 50^th anniversary in April 1880, local bishops were asked to review a list of those Saints still owing money to the Perpetual Emigrating Fund Company. On preprinted forms they furnished such information as the financial and family status of each debt holder. On the first day of the fiftieth annual conference, held in the Assembly Hall on Temple Square, President John Taylor announced that  an important action was about to take place:

“While we are assembled together in the capacity of a Conference, it is proper that our hearts and feelings and affections should be turned to God, that we may reflect upon his kindness, his mercy and salvation extended to us as a people; that we may also reflect upon our weaknesses, our infirmities, our follies and our foibles, and be enabled to lay them aside, feeling that we are the Saints of God. . . . On the fiftieth year, in former times, among the ancients, they had what was termed a year of jubilee. Slaves were liberated. People who were in debt were forgiven their indebtedness—that is, the poor, the needy and the distressed. And we are reflecting upon some things pertaining to that matter, which will be presented in due form.”

A day later President Taylor said to the Saints: “Now, we propose to forgive those who are poor and that are struggling with difficulties in life, who have not been able to meet their engagements in this matter [Perpetual Emigrating Fund debt]; not half the amount that they are due, but the whole.”

The entire congregation voted unanimously to sustain the proposition. Consequently, thousands of individuals were released from their debt to the PEF, the combined total of which amounted to $802,000. Among those released was English convert Rachel Arbon. Since her parents had lacked the necessary funds to join the Saints in Zion, and because PEF resources were limited, they decided to send some of their older children to America to prepare the way for the rest.

Rachel came to the United States with help of the PEF in 1864. According to the PEF ledger, she borrowed $65.70 (recorded 31 December 1864) to help make the journey to the promised  land a reality. After arriving in the Valley, Rachel married and moved to Richmond, Cache County, and struggled in the new settlement there. In April 1880 the account book indicates that she had not repaid any of the principle nor any of the interest, which now stood at $105.12, with a total amount due of $170.82.

Within a few months of President Taylor’s historic announcement, Rachel gave birth to her seventh child, Frederick, on 20 September 1880, but died on 26 December 1880. The PEF ledger page that contains her account information indicates that on 31 December 1880, the end of the fiscal year, the account was cleared.

Holzapfel, Richard Neitzel, Their Faces Toward Zion (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1996), 186.