Taking a Chance on an Investment

If one desires to enter a business proposition, there is a certain cost incurred to “get started.” Depending on the business, this can be quite expensive and if not certain, or at least have a good indication of returns, one could easily lose their shirt. The pioneers were no different. Many had an entrepreneurial spirit and dove in hoping to improve their situation. Others, like Mary Jane Tanner, knew they had the talent, but lacked fortitude to make the dive into the business world. Mary was told that she needed $350 up front to get started. What was she selling?

a.                   Dresses

b.                  Books

c.                   Medicine

d.                  Bonnets

Yesterday’s answer:

a.       To keep him from joining the Mormon Church

Joseph Smith Sr. was thrown into prison because he failed to go back on his testimony over a $14 debt. This much we know. What might be less heard of is what happened to W.W. Phelps.

It is interesting to note that two years later, W.W. Phelps was imprisoned in the same building. While the complaint lodged against him was for “indebtedness,” his debtors let him know the actual reason for his imprisonment was to keep him “from joining the Mormons.”

Bruce A. Orden, “By That Book I Learned The Right Way to God”: The Conversion of William W. Phelps,” in Regional Studies in Latter-day Saint Church History/New York. Eds.

Larry C. Porter, Milton V. Backman Jr. and Susan Easton Black (Provo, Utah: Dept. of Church History and Doctrine, Brigham Young University, 1992), 211.