Tuesday, October 2, 2018

Part 1 (1899-1910)



References & Accompanying Content for 1899

1899-1: “The Articles of Faith,” by James E. Talmage. Written by Appointment;
and Published by the Church

[On March 10, 1899, the Deseret Evening News posted the following notification
at the top of its editorial column:

Official Announcement

During the early part of April there will be issued by the Deseret News a Church
work entitled “The Articles of Faith,” the same being a series of lectures on the
principal doctrines of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, by Dr.
James E. Talmage.  The lectures were prepared by appointment of the First
Presidency, and the book will be published by the Church. It is intended for
use as a textbook in the Church schools, Sunday schools, [Mutual]
Improvement Associations, quorums of the Priesthood, and other Church
organizations in which the study of Theology is pursued, and also for
individual use among the members of the Church.  The work has been
approved by the First Presidency and I heartily commend it to the members
of the Church.
                                                                             (President) Lorenzo Snow]

 Lecture XIV. THE BOOK OF MORMON.

7. The Nephite Nation was the later, and in point of fulness of the records, the
more important….The progenitors of this nation were led from Jerusalem 600
B.C., by Lehi, a  Jewish prophet of the tribe of Manasseh….Besides his own
family, the colony of Lehi included Zorman, and Ishmael, the latter an Israelite
of the tribe of Ephraim. Ishmael, with his family….his descendants were
numbered with the nation of whom we are speaking.   pp. 264-265

8. The Lamanites, while increasing in numbers, fell under the curse of
darkness; they became dark in skin and benighted in spirit, forgot the God of
their fathers, lived a wild nomadic life, and degenerated into the fallen state in
which the American Indians — their lineal descendants — were found by
those who rediscovered the western continent in later times.  p. 265-266   
my emphasis

13.  Mulek, we are told, was the son of Zedekiah king of Judah....Eleven years
after Lehi’s departure from Jerusalem, another colony was led from the city,
amongst whom was Mulek….that colony was brought across the waters, to a
landing on the northern part of the continent….They joined the Nephites, and
their history is merged into that of the greater nation.[e]  p. 268
[e] Omni i, 12-19.
Lecture XV. THE BOOK OF MORMON.--Continued.

22.  From the outline already given of the historical part of the Book of Mormon,
it is seen that each of these discoveries is fully attested by that record.  Thus it
is stated therein:--

II. Lehi and his company came to this continent, where they developed into
segregated nations Nephites and Lamanites, the former becoming extinct near
385 A.D., about a thousand years after Lehi’s arrival on these shores; the latter
[Lamanites] continuing in a degenerate condition until the present, being
represented by the Indian tribes of today.

III. That Lehi, Ishmael, and Zoram, the progenitors of both Nephites and
Lamanites, were undoubtedly Israelites. Lehi being of the tribe of Manasseh
while Ishmael was an Ephraimite, and that the colony came direct from
Jerusalem, in Asia.

IV. That the existing Indian tribes are all direct descendants of Lehi and his
company, and that therefore they have sprung from men all of whom were of
the house of Israel.     p. 292-293   my emphasis

Lecture XVII. The Dispersion of Israel

14. From these references it is plain that the followers of Lehi, including his own
family, and Zoram,(u) together with Ishmael and his family,(v) from whom sprang
the mighty peoples of the Nephites, who suffered extermination because of their
unfaithfulness, and the Lamanites, who, now known as the American Indians,
have continued in troubled existence until the present day,...
p. 334-my emphasis

(u) I Nephi iv, 20-26, 30-37.
(v) I Nephi vii, 2-6, 19, 22; xvi, 7.

1899-2:  “First Mission To The Lamanites” by John Jaques (Assistant Church
Historian) Published by the General Board in the November 1899
Improvement ERA, Vol. III. No. 1, Organ of the Young Mens Mutual
Improvement Associations  

    The American Indians are of the House of Israel.  The Book of Mormon is
a history of their forefathers, whom it terms Lamanites and who came
originally from Palestine to America...That book also states that a great work will
be done among the Lamanites in regard to the Gospel in the latter days.*
*Read II Nephi 30: 3-6.   
    Since the organization of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in
1830, numerous missions have been engaged in, to and amongst the Indians,
in different parts of North America, with varying success…   p. 10
  
In the summer and fall of 1830, after the publication of the Book of Mormon,
several of the Elders manifested a great desire concerning the Lamanites in
the west, hoping the time had come when the promises of the Lord respecting
them were about to be fulfilled.  It was agreed that Joseph Smith would enquire
of the Lord respecting the propriety of sending the Elders among them, which
was done accordingly, and in September, a revelation was received, of which
the following is a portion, relating to Oliver Cowdery:

    “And now, behold, I say unto you, that you shall go unto the Lamanites and
preach the Gospel unto them;....”
    In the same month a revelation was given through Joseph to Peter Whitmer,
on the same subject, the following being an extract:
    “Behold, I say unto you, Peter, that you shall take your journey with your brother
Oliver, for the time has come that it is expedient in me that you shall open your
mouth to declare my Gospel;...     
“...for I have given unto him [Oliver Cowdery] power to build up my Church
among the Lamanites.”
    Another revelation in this connection, was given in October of the same
year, through Joseph, to Parley P. Pratt and Ziba Peterson, of which the
following is a part:
    “And now, concerning my servant Parley P. Pratt, behold, I say unto him, as
I live I will that he shall declare my Gospel and learn of me, and be meek and
lowly of heart;
    “ And that which I have appointed unto is, that he shall go with my servants
Oliver Cowdery and Peter Whitmer, Jun., into the wilderness among the
Lamanites;
    “And Ziba Peterson, also, shall go with them,...”    p. 10-11
    
The four brethren named immediately began to make preparations for their
journey, from Fayette, western New York, to the border of the Lamanites,
which were then on the western boundaries of the state of Missouri,
and of the United States, some fifteen hundred miles distant….This was
their first mission through the western states and to the Lamanites
since the organization of the Church.
     When near Buffalo, these missionaries called on an Indian nation
and spent part of a day with them instructing them in regard to their
forefathers…     p. 11-12
     After several days travel, the missionaries [eventually] arrived at Sandusky,
in western Ohio, where the Wyandot tribe or nation of Indians resided.
The missionaries called on them...laying before them the record of their
forefathers. The Indians [Wyandot tribe or nation of Indians]...desired them
to write regarding their success among the tribes further west, who had
removed to the Indian Territory, where the Wyandots expected soon to follow.
    
Elder Pratt continues:
    “After much fatigue and some suffering we all arrived in Independence,
...on the extreme western frontiers of Missouri,...
    “This was about fifteen hundred miles from where we had started...during
which [the journey] we had preached the Gospel to tens of thousands of
Gentiles and two Nations of Indians;...
    Two of the missionary Elders began to work as tailors, while the others
crossed the frontier and commenced their mission among the Indians or
Lamanites, passing one night among the Shawnees [Indians/Lamanites],
and the next day crossing the Kansas river and going among the
Delawares [Indians/Lamanites].  
p. 15  my emphasis
  
Elder Cowdery addressed the council [the principal chief of the Delaware
Indians, Mr. Anderson, and forty Indians from the ten nations or tribes
of Delaware Indians] as follows:
    …”Once the red men were many; they occupied the country from sea to
sea--from the rising to the setting sun; the whole land was theirs;...
    “Thousands of moons ago, when the red men’s forefathers dwelt in
peace and possessed this whole land, the Great Spirit talked with
them,...This they wrote in a book, together with their history,...
    “This book was written on plates of gold, and handed down from father to
son for many ages and generations…
    “But they became wicked...The Great Spirit became angry, and would
speak to them no more,...and the Lord commanded Mormon and Moroni, their
last wise men and prophets, to hide the book in the earth that it might be
preserved in safety and be found and made known in the latter day to the pale
faces who should possess the land, that they might again make it known to
the red man,...   p. 16-17
    
    “This book which contained these things was hid in the earth by Moroni
in a hill called by him Cumorah, which hill is now in the state of New
York, near the village of Palmyra, in Ontario County.
    Elder Pratt says:
    “Thus ended our first Indian [Lamanite] mission [as a result of a
revelation from God received to , in which we had preached the Gospel in
its fullness and distributed the record of their forefathers among three
tribes, viz., the Catteraugus Indians near Buffalo, N.Y., the Wyandots of
Ohio, and the Delawares west of Missouri…   p. 18-19

   The following is part of a letter from Oliver Cowdery, dated, Kaw Township,
Mo., May 7, 1831, and shows how little was then generally known of the
Lamanites or Indians in the great west:
    “I am informed of another tribe of Lamanites lately,...The tribe is very
numerous; they live 300 miles west of Santa Fe, and are called Navashoes
[Navajos?].  Why I mention this tribe is because I feel under obligation to
communicate to my brethren every information concerning the Lamanites,
that I meet with in my labors and travels.”   p. 22

Conclusion: It is patently clear, from the foregoing, that the Church’s first
mission to the Lamanites [Indians] was not a speculative venture as to who
the Lamanites were.  Why? Because, we know it was undertook as a direct
result of a revelation from God to Joseph Smith, “that you shall go unto the
Lamanites and preach the Gospel unto them..” which revelation is still part
of the Doctrine and Covenants (Mormon cannon/scripture).
 
This leaves no doubt that, at the very least, we know that the Catteraugus
Indians near Buffalo, N.Y., the Wyandots [Indians] of Ohio, and the Delawares
[Indians] west of Missouri were lineal descendants of the Book of Mormon
Lamanites and thus also Lamanites per God’s revelation to Joseph Smith.

1899-3:  “The Book of Mormon, An Account of its Origin, with Evidences of its
Genuineness and Authenticity,” Two Lectures by Dr. James E. Talmage,
Prepared by Appointment; And Published by TCOJCOLDS, Copyrighted,
as Lectures XIV and XV, in “The Articles of Faith;” Published by
TCOJCOLDS, 1899.

 [See "Official Announcement," Part 1-A, 1899-1: “The Articles of Faith,”
by James E. Talmage.]

“The Book of Mormon.”

Lecture I
Description and Origin

7.   ...The progen­itors of this nation were led from Jerusalem 600 B.  C.,
by Lehi, a Jewish prophet of the tribe of Manasseh.  His im­mediate
family, at the time of their  departure from Jerusa­lem, comprised his wife
Sariah, and their sons Laman, Lemuel, Sam, and Hephi; at  a later stage of
the history, daughters are mentioned, but whether
\bn\bany of these were born
before the family exodus we are not told.  Beside his own family, the colony
of Lehi included Zoram, and Ishmael, the latter an Israelite of the tribe of
Ephraim. Ishmael, with his family, joined Lehi in the wilderness; and his
descendants were numbered with the nation of whom we are speaking....
[They] built and provisioned a vessel in which...[t]Their voyage carried them
eastward...over the south Pacific Ocean to the western coast of South
America, whereon they landed  (590 B. C.)... p. 8-9 my emphasis

8. The people established themselves on what to them was the land of
promise; many  children were bom, and in the course of a few generations
a numerous posterity held possession of the land. After the death of Lehi,
a division occurred, some of the people   accepting as their leader, Nephi,
who had been duly appointed to the prophetic office; while the  rest
proclaimed Laman, the eldest of Lehi’s sons, as their chief.  Henceforth the
divided people were known as Nephites and Lamanites respectively.  At
times they  observed toward each other fairly friendly relations; but
generally they were opposed,  the Lamanites manifesting implacable hatred
and hostility toward their Nephite kin­dred.  The Nephites...spread
northward,...they extended their domain over the southern, central, and
eastern portions of what is now the United States of America. The
Lamanites,...became dark in skin and...lived a wild nomadic life, and
degenerated into the fallen state in which the American Indians,—
their lineal descendants,— were  found by those who re-discovered the
western continent in later times.
pp. 9-10    my emphasis
Lecture II

Authenticity of the Book of Mormon.

II.  Lehi and his company came to this continent where they developed into the  
segregated nations Nephites and Lamanites; the former becoming extinct near
385  A. D .,...the latter continuing in a degenerate condition until the present,
being represented  by the Indian tribes of today.  p. 36 my emphasis

III.  That Lehi, Ishmael, and Zoram, the progenitors of both Nephites and
Lamanites,  were undoubtedly Israel­ites, Lehi being of the tribe of Manasseh
while Ishmael was an  Ephraimite; and that the colony came direct from
Jeru­salem, in Asia.  p. 36 my emphasis

IV.  That the existing Indian tribes are all direct descendants of Lehi and his
company,  and that therefore they have sprung from men all of whom were of
the house of Israel.   p. 36-37    my emphasis

1899-4:  “The Book of Mormon,” by Elder M.L. Morris, Latter-day Saints
Southern Star Vol. 1 No. 19, Published by the Southern States Mission,
Chattanooga, Tenn., Sat., April 8, 1899 [continued from March 25, 1899,
“The Book of Mormon,” p. 131]
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.32044100173418;view=1up;seq=155;size

 It [the Book of Mormon] also gives the history of a colony of Israelites that left
Jerusalem about 600 B.C., and who dwelt on this continent as a populace race
for nearly a thousand years.  p. 150

    Of the Jewish tribe the American Indian is a degenerate descendant,...
p. 150

1899-5:  “Why I Am A Latter-day Saint,” by Mrs. Julia Jordan, Latter-day Saints
Southern Star Vol. 1 No. 49, Published by the Southern States Mission, Nov. 4,
1899, p. 386
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.32044100173418;view=1up;seq=

 When I peruse the sacred pages of the Book of Mormon I am convinced beyond a
doubt that it is of divine origin.  I read that a prophet was to be raised up who
should have the power to translate this book and shed it forth to every nation of the
earth. Joseph of old prophesied that one would come from his lions, called by his
name, and through him the Gospel would be carried to the remnant of his seed
(who are now called the American Indians).   p. 386  my emphasis

1899-6:  “A Series of Pamphlets on the Doctrines of the Gospel” by the late Elder
Orson Pratt, Printed for The Southern State Mission, Chattanooga, Tenn. 1899
“Divine Authenticity of the Book of Mormon” by Orson Pratt

 “Divine Authenticity of the Book of Mormon” by Orson Pratt

Chapter VI:  Prophetic Evidence in Favor of the Book of Mormon

30--...The American Indians are partly of the children of Manasseh: though
many of them are out of Ephraim:  through the two sons of Ishmael, who
came out of Jerusalem six hundred years before Christ, and some through
Judah, through the lions of David and the kings that reigned over
Jerusalem.  When Zedekiah, king of Judah, was carried away captive into
Babylon, the Lord, took one of his sons whose name was Mulek, with a
company of those [Jews] who would hearken to his words, and brought
them over the ocean, and planted them in America…..  pp. 209-10   my emphasis

DIVINE AUTHORITY,
OR THE QUESTION,
WAS JOSEPH SMITH SENT OF GOD?
Seventh.--...It would be, at first, thought far more natural to suppose the American
Indians to be the ten lost tribes of Israel: indeed, that is the opinion of many of the
learned at the present day.  Why did not this modern prophet [Joseph Smith], if a
deceiver, form his deceptive scheme more in accordance with the opinions of the
learned?  Or why should he choose a remnant of the tribe of Joseph to people
ancient America?   Out of the twelve tribes of Israel, why did he select only one
branch of one tribe to people this vast continent?    pp. 277-78  my emphasis

1899-7:  “Early Scenes and Incidents in the Church, Letter # VII” by Oliver
Cowdery, Published by the General Board in the July 1899 Improvement ERA,
Vol. II. No. 9 (Organ of the Young Mens Mutual Improvement Associations).
https://archive.org/stream/improvementera29unse#page/652/mode/2up

[Oliver Cowdery:] I must now give you some description of the place where and the
manner in which these records were deposited.
    You are acquainted with the mail road from Palmyra, Wayne County, to
Canandaigua, Ontario County, New York, and also, as you pass from the former to
the latter place, before arriving at the little village of Manchester, say from three
to four, or about four miles from Palmyra, you pass a large hill on the east side
of the road....I think I am justified in saying that this is the highest hill for some
distance round, and I am certain that its appearance, as it rises so suddenly from
a plain on the north, must attract the notice of the traveler as he passes by.
    At about one mile west rises another ridge of less height, running parallel with
the former, leaving a beautiful vale between...here, between these hills, the
entire power and national strength, of both the Jaredites and Nephites were
destroyed.
    By turning to the five hundredth and twenty ninth and five hundred and thirtieth
pages of the Book of Mormon you will read Mormon’s account of the last great
struggle of his people, as they were emcampted round this hill Cumorah.  (It
is printed Camorah, which is an error.) In this valley fell the remaining strength
and pride of a once powerful people, the Nephites--once so highly favored of the
Lord, but at that time in  darkness, doomed to suffer extermination by the hand of
their barbarous and uncivilized brethren [Lamanites].   pp. 655-656
---    
...The Nephites,...were suffered to be overcome, and the land was left to the
possession of the red men, who...wandered from river to river, from hill to hill,
from mountain to mountain, from sea to sea, till the land was again peopled, in a
measure, by a rude, wild, revengeful, warlike, and barbarous race. Such are our
Indians.   pp. 657   my emphasis
*********************************************
References & Accompanying Content for 1900

1900-1: “Apostle’s Lyman’s Mission to the Indians,” by Edward H. Anderson,
May 1900 Improvement ERA (Organ of the Young Men’s Mutual
Improvement Associations.)
    The Latter-day Saints have always taken great interest in the promulgation of
the gospel to the Indians.  Apostle Francis Marion Lyman’s mission to the
Lamanites in the central part of Utah is one of particular interest.  He was called
by President Taylor on November 17, 1882, at a time when there was a general
revival in missionary work among the Indians, to labor among the
Shoshones [Indians] of Toole county and the Utes [Indians] of Uintah...  
p. 510-11    my emphasis

Arriving among the Indians, the missionaries were received with marked
kindness by both the Lamanites and by Agents J.J. Critchlow of Uintah,
and J.F. Minness of Ouray.  p. 513 my emphasis

1900-2: “America; Or, The Land of Joseph,” by A. Arrowsmith, Latter-day Saints
Southern Star Vol. Two No. 41, Published by the Southern States Mission,
Chattanooga, Tenn., Saturday, Sept. 8, 1900
Like the Jaredites, who fell, the Nephites became proud haughty, filled with
bigotry and intolerance, and were also exterminated about the year 400 A.D.  
The remnants left in the land were the descendants of the
Lamanites--the Indians--who continued their tribal wars until recent years.  
p. 323

He [the patriarch Jacob] would also look with sorrow upon the wicked actions of
the Lamanites in their savagery and red skins, descending through the tribes of
Manasseh, the eldest son of Joseph.  p. 335

 1900-3:  THE LATTER-DAY PROPHET, History of Joseph Smith,” by George
Q. Cannon, Published at Juvenile Instructor Office 1900
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.hx4upe;view=1up;seq=11

 Chapter XII. 1830

    About a month after the conference [of September 1830] the Lord
revealed through Joseph that Parley P. Pratt and Ziba Peterson would
go on a mission with Oliver Cowdery and Peter Whitmer, Jr., to preach
the gospel to the Lamanites…

   They set out preaching where they had a chance...They visited the
Cattaraugus Indians, near Buffalo, New York…  
-----
   After spending two or three weeks at Kirtland they journeyed on...They
preached to the Wyandots, a tribe of Indians living in Ohio...and at
length reached Independence, Jackson County, a small town of the
western border of Missouri.  They passed on to what is now the state of
Kansas and preached to the Delaware Indians until expelled by
government agents.    p. 59-60 my emphasis

*********************************************
References & Accompanying Content for 1901

1901-1:  “The Story of Mormonism I,” by James E. Talmage, June 1901
Improvement ERA (Organ of the Young Men’s Mutual
Improvement Associations)


 This record, said the messenger [Moroni], was engraved on plates of gold, and
had been deposited by the ancestors of the natives of this land
(America),...The record proved to be an account of certain colonies of
immigrants to this hemisphere from the east, several centuries before the
Christian era…[The colony divided] into factions, which became later two
great nations with deadly enmity between them.  One part...designated
themselves Nephites; the other faction...were known as Lamanites.  
pp. 612-613

...they [the Nephites] were continually moving to escape the depredations of
their hereditary foes, the Lamanites;...p. 613

Before their more powerful foes [the Lamanites], the Nephites dwindled and fled;
until about the year 400 A.D., they were entirely annihilated after a series of
decisive battles, the last of which was fought near the very hill, called
Cumorah, in the State of         New York, where the hidden record was
subsequently revealed to Joseph Smith. The Lamanites led a roving, aggressive
life,...until they became typical progenitors of the dark skinned race,
afterward discovered by Columbus and named Indians.   
p .613  my emphasis

1901-2:  “The Story of Mormonism II,” by James E. Talmage, July 1901
Improvement ERA, Organ of the Young Men’s Mutual
Improvement Associations
(continued from page 614 of the June 1901 Improvement Era)
https://archive.org/stream/improvementera0409unse#page/692/mode/2up


 The Book of Mormon had taught the people the true origin of, and had shown
them indeed part of the destiny of, the Indians, and to this dark skinned remnant
of a once mighty people, the missionaries of “Mormonism” early turned their
eyes, and with their eyes went their hopes and their hearts.

    Within three months from the beginning, the Church had missionaries
among the Lamanites.  It is notable that the Indian tribes have always
regarded the religion of the Latter-day Saints with favor, seeing in the Book
of Mormon striking agreement with their own traditions.  p. 695-96 my emphasis

1901-3: “The American Indian As A Farmer,” The Juvenile Instructor (Organ of
The Deseret Sunday School Union.) Vol. XXXVI-No. 17 September 1, 1901,
Published by the Deseret Sunday School Union. 1901

When we realize how the unfortunate aborigines of this country have
greatly declined from the early settlement of America, so that now their number
is but a few more than a quarter of a million in the United States, the friends of
the red man have naturally felt apprehensive about his, early extinction, and
especially those friends, the Latter-day Saints, who have looked forward to the
time when these people, the Lamanites of the Book of Mormon, would
receive the gospel very generally and be the recipients of those strong
manifestations of the Spirit of God which their ancestors sometimes witnessed.     
pp. 536-537    my emphasis

1901-4: “Answers To Questions,” The Juvenile Instructor Vol. XXXVI-No. 24
December 15, 1901, Published by the Deseret Sunday School Union. 1901
(Organ of the Deseret Sunday School Union.)

Answers To Questions

Question:  Can the Indians rightfully be called Jews?
Answer: The races known to the world as American Indians, but to the
Latter-day Saints as Lamanites are remnants of the house of Israel. They
are the descendants of two colonies that the lord brought from Jerusalem to
this continent in the reign of Zedekiah, the last king of Judah…..The first was
led by a prophet of God named Lehi. Though Lehi had lived in Jerusalem all
the days of his life (I Nephi I:4), yet he was of the house of Joseph, being a
descendant of Manasseh, that patriarch’s eldest son. (Alma 10:3). Lehi’s
family intermarried with the family of another descendant of Joseph,
named Ishmael, who also was a resident of Jerusalem; but Ishmael came
through the lions of Ephraim, Joseph’s younger son. The descendants of
this colony became the governing, ruling races on this western continent.   
    The second colony also left the city of Jerusalem. With that company was a
son of King Zedekiah.  He, of course, would be of the tribe of Judah,....This
child is known to us as Mulek, which means, the prince; and the people of that
colony were called the people of Mulek. About four hundred years or so after
their departure from Palestine they were discovered by one of the branches
of the descendants of Lehi and the two people became one…..Hence, when
the two races became one the Nephite element prevailed and the united people
became known as Nephites.  Nephi being of the tribe of Joseph, the races
descended from these two colonies when spoken of as one people are
considered as being the offspring of Jacob’s favorite son.  
pp. 772-73   my emphasis
*********************************************
References & Accompanying Content for 1902

1902-1: “My Reasons For Leaving the Church of England and Joining
TCOJCOLDS,” by R.M. Bryce Thomas, Published by the Missions of
TCOJCOLDS, Millennial Star

...the Book of Mormon, a book which contains the history of a colony of Israelites
of the tribe of Joseph (Ephraim) who left Jerusalem 600 years B.C., and came
to America, and who afterwards multiplied very rapidly and grew into two great
nations called the Nephites and the Lamanites.  The latter after many years of
warfare eventually exterminated the former, owing to the fact that the Nephites
had departed from the commandments of God, but the Lamanites had
themselves become, even before they had destroyed the Nephites, a dark and
benighted people, under a curse from God on account of their gross iniquities
and infidelity.*    p. 28    my emphasis
*These Lamanites are American Indians, and belong to the tribe of Ephraim
and are therefore Israelites.

The voice of the ancient prophets and seers of the tribe of Ephraim (the
Lamanites or American Indians) has now at last spoken out of the dust*
in the discovery of their writings on the plates of gold, which had been buried in
the hill Cumorah, and they testify to Christ…    pp. 29-30
*Isaiah 29: 4

The Book of Mormon
Is a sacred historical record of the ancient inhabitants of America, who
were a branch of the House of Israel. p. 36

1902-2: “A Brief History of the COJCOLDS...” by Edward H. Anderson, Published
by the Missions of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (1902 edition),
Copyright by [President] Joseph F. Smith

 3.  Mission to the Lamanites

Oliver Cowdery was...called to preach the gospel to the Lamanites [D&C 28: 8]   
p. 48

At a three days’ conference in Fayette; the second held in the Church, beginning
September 1, 1830....two revelations were given (Doctrine & Covenants Sections
30 & 31) calling a number of brethren on missions; and soon after its adjournment,
preparations were made for introducing the gospel to the Lamanites, or Indians,
in conformity with the revealed word.”*  pp. 48-49   my emphasis
*Doctrine & Covenants Section 31.

The Indians, according to the belief of the Saints, which is founded upon the
statements of the Book of Mormon, are a branch of the House of Israel,...
Hence, the calling of missionaries,... to present the true gospel to them [Indians],
together with the Book of Mormon, a record of the hand-dealings of God with
their forefathers [from the Book of Mormon]. pp. 50-51   my emphasis

    The men selected by revelation* to perform this first distant mission, “to go into
the wilderness, through the western states, and into the Indian territory,” were
Oliver Cowdery, Peter Whitmer, Jr., Parley P. Pratt and Ziba Peterson.  While they
were specially called to the Indians, they were nevertheless to preach, whenever
opportunity offered.   p. 51
*Doctrine & Covenants 28, 30 and 32

Returning west, he [Parley Pratt] met, the Prophet Joseph at Manchester, being
soon thereafter called to fill the before-mentioned mission to the Lamanites or
Indians.

    Late in October, the four Elders began their westward journey,...Near Buffalo,
they presented their interesting message to the Catteraugus Indians, giving
them copies of the Book of Mormon.  They were kindly received by the red men…  
p. 52  my emphasis

   At Sandusky, in western Ohio, the Wyandots [Indians] were visited, which tribe
rejoiced in the strange tidings revealed to them of their forefathers, and of the
restored gospel…

At length, Independence, Jackson county, in the extreme western frontier of
Missouri, was reached…p. 54  my emphasis

    Two of the brethren remained at tailor work in Independence, while Elders Pratt
and Cowdery crossed the frontier to the Indians, tarrying one night with the
Shawnees [Indians]; after which they crossed the Kansas River to the Delawares
[Indians]....After some hesitancy, on the part of the [Delaware] chief, a council was
called and Oliver Cowdery was permitted to address the Indians…   
p. 55 my emphasis

1902-3: “Deseret Sunday School Union Leaflets (Lessons 1 to 212, Inclusive),”
Published and Issued by the Deseret Sunday School Union 1902

 Lesson 97.--Jacob Blesses Ephraim and Manasseh.
Notes.
Manasseh.--From Manasseh are descended the Indians of this continent
and the allied races that inhabit the islands of the Pacific Ocean.  Lehi, their
ancestor, was a descendant of Joseph’s eldest son (Alma 10: 3) though his
posterity were mixed with the family of Ishmael (I Nephi ch. 7) whose was of
the tribe of Ephraim, and of Mulek, the son of Zedekiah, who was of the house
of Judah.  (Omni I: 15; Helaman 6: 10; 8:21.)

Lesson 98.--Jacob’s Blessing Upon Joseph.
Notes.
Everlasting Hills:--The continuous chain of mountains, known by various local
names, that stretches through the entire length of North and South America, but
generally known as the Andes, in South America, and the Rocky Mountains in
the North Continent….Millions of the Lamanites, who are also the posterity
of Joseph, dwell in the immediate neighborhood of these “everlasting
hills,” which are situated in that land….     my emphasis
Progenitors:--Ancestors (often remote) in the direct line; forefathers, parents.

Lesson 105.--God calls Moses To Deliver Israel.
Notes.
Hebrews:--The original name of the Israelites. It first appears in the Bible,
Gen. 14: 13.  The name Israelites was used by the Jews of themselves, the
name Hebrews was that by which they were known to other peoples.

Lesson 139.--The Promise To Enos
Lesson Statement.
Because of the Lord’s promise to these prophets, the Nephites understood that
the records [the sacred writings of the Nephites] were preserved principally
for the Lamanites in the last days.

Lesson 142.--The Kings In The Land Of Nephi.
What We May Learn From This Lesson.
3. That the Lamanites and Nephites had spread almost all over South
America.

Lesson 194.--Israel
What We May Learn From This Lesson.
1. That God himself gave the name of Israel to the Patriarch Jacob.
2. That Jacob’s posterity were also called Israel, or the children of Israel,
or Israelites.

Lesson 195--The Dispersion of Israel.
Notes.
Gentiles:--A term formerly applied to all people not of the house of Israel;
therefore non-Jewish people. In the present day the term is sometimes used
to designate non-members of the restored Church.

Lesson 196.--The Gathering of Israel.
Notes.
Jews:--Properly men of Judah, or descendants of Judah, but the word is
generally applied to all who are called Hebrews.  “Under the theocracy they
were known as Hebrews, under the monarchy as Israelites, and during the
foreign domination as Jews.  The modern representatives of this stock call
themselves Hebrews in race and language, and Israelites in religion, but
Jews in both sense.  Standard Dictionary

Lesson 209.--The Standard Works of the Church.
What We May Learn From This Lesson.
15. The Lamanites are a division of the Nephite nation.

 1902-4: “The Latter-Day Saints, Their Religion, History, Condition and Destiny,”
By James H. Anderson, Bureau of Information and Church Literature 1902*

 *[“Bureau of Information and Church Literature,” by Benjamin Goddard,
Young Woman’s Journal, Vol. XIII-No. 11, November, 1902
The “Bureau of Information and Church Literature,” was organized and a
committee of management was appointed by the First Presidency to take
charge thereof,... p. 484]

The Book of Mormon

The Book of Mormon, which is a history of a part of the House of Israel, on the
American continent….   p. 39 my emphasis

 1902-5:  October 1902 [General] Conference Report, Elder Anthony W. Ivins

There are in Mexico about 12,000,000 of people, 9,000,000 of whom are
Indians whose blood has not been intermingled with the blood of other people.
------
The Lord told us in the early history of the Church that before the great day of
the Lord should come...the Lamanites should blossom as a rose….that our
destiny and the destiny of the American Indians, who are the descendants
of Lehi and heirs to the promises which God has made to the house of Israel,
are very closely associated together.  You will find that before the redemption
Zion the work of the Lord must be introduced among the Lamanites.
p. 27   my emphasis

1902-6:  “Mormonism...,” by B.H. Roberts, Published by the Church, Printed
at the Millennial Star Office, Copyright by Joseph F. Smith for The Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1902?

 Mormonism.  A Word With The Reader.
This brochure is issued under the authority of the Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints. It is, therefore, an authoritative utterance upon the
subject of which it treats…

 Origin and History of Mormonism
The Jaredites were destroyed about the time that the Israelites [Lehi’s colony]
came from Jerusalem, who succeeded them in the inheritance of the country
[ancient America].  The principle nation of the second race [the Nephites] fell in
battle towards the close of the fourth century (A.D.)  The remnant [Lamanites]
are now the Indians that now inhabit this country.      p. 12   my emphasis

1902-7:  “Outlines of Ecclesiastical History,” by Elder B.H. Roberts, Third
Edition, Published by The Deseret News 1902

 A WORD TO STUDENTS AND TEACHERS.
Before you take up the study of OUTLINES OF ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY…
The sections are again separated into topics, the titles of which are printed in
boldface type, and the paragraphs are numbered…[to] better enable the
student to discern the relation of the respective parts to the main subject, and
at the same time afford a convenient division for the assignment of lessons to
classes [quorums of the seventies and elders].     p. iii    my emphasis

Section III.
1. First Mission to the Lamanites.--At the conference held in Fayette, New
York, September, 1830, the first mission to the Lamanites was appointed.  In
the revelation*...Oliver Cowdery was appointed to a mission to the Lamanites;
And before the conference was adjourned another revelation as given appointing
Parley P. Pratt, Peter Whitmer, Jun., and Ziba Peterson to accompany him.  Great
promises are contained in the Book of Mormon concerning the Lamanites…

3. The Lamanite mission continued its journey westward, and in mid-winter
reach the city of Independence, in the western borders of Missouri.  Crossing the
frontier, several meetings were held with the Delaware Indians…  p. 315   
my emphasis
*********************************************
References & Accompanying Content for 1903

 1903-1: “Men and Monuments Speak of Joseph Smith,” by Dr. George H. Brimhall,
of the Brigham Young Academy, Provo, Utah, July 1903 Improvement ERA
(Organ of the Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations.)

The Book of Mormon, translated by the Prophet Joseph Smith, is devoted to the
rise and fall of two ancient civilizations, that had their being on the American
Continent…The second left the city of Jerusalem 600 B.C.  This people, also,
directed in all its movements by Providence, was the people of whom the
American Indians are a remnant.  p. 653    my emphasis

1903-2: “Subject: New Witnesses for God., Vol. II. The Book of Mormon.
Part I--No. 7, ”Young Men's Mutual Improvement Associations Manual
1903-1904, Published by The General Board of the Y.M.M.I.A. (Organ
of the Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations.)  Copyrighted
by Joseph F. Smith for TCOJCOLDS 1903  
Preface
...not until the General Board of the Young Men’s of the Young Men’s
Improvement Associations determined that the Book of Mormon be the principal
theme of study in the societies for the next two years--did the time seem fully
come for the publication of the work here presented.
    It will be observed that the title of the work is written, New Witnesses for God,
Vol. II.--The Book of Mormon.  This is done for the reason that as soon as the
associations have completed the manual for 1904-5, it is intended that this work
and the one already published on Joseph Smith the Prophet, shall be published
in two volumes...

In the Book of Mormon so considered we have the record of the handdealings of
God with the peoples that inhabited the western hemisphere.  We have in it
[the Book of Mormon] the record of those things which occured in a branch of
the House of Israel that God was preparing for the same great event for which
he was training the House of Israel in the eastern world,....This branch of the
house of Israel broken from the parent tree and planted in the western
hemisphere,...   p. 16     my emphasis
(j) The Nephites were the first followers of the first Nephi, the righteous son of Lehi,
who led the colony from Jerusalem [to America] six hundred years B.C.;, and the
Lamanites were the followers of Laman, the wicked son of the same Lehi.   p. 17
(a) Mormon here [Mormon 5: 12-15] refers to the Lamanites, that is, that the seed
of the Lamanites, the present “Indians” of the western hemisphere, might more
fully believe the Gospel, etc.  p. 23 my emphasis
Mulek’s Colony

The colony of Mulek was unquestionably made up of Jews...Lehi’s colony was
made up of descendants of Manasseh and Ephraim,(l) sons of Joseph, the son
of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, who was a direct descendant of
Shem.(m)   
    Thus eventually the races which, according to the Book of Mormon, have been
brought to the western hemisphere under the providence of God, are traceable to
one source, to one race; and may be expected to possess certain qualities which
will be in harmony with the fact of racial unity.  p. 95 my emphasis

(l) ...it is supposed that Ishmael and his family who joined Lehi and his family in
the journey to the promised land were of the tribe of Ephraim (See Dict. Book of
Mormon....Ishmael) [Why?  Because,...] There are promises respecting Ephraim
which cannot be realized except through the seed of Ephraim dwelling upon
the land of America,...  p. 95  my emphasis
(m) See Gen. xi.

 1903-3:  What is Being Done For and By the Indians,” Juvenile Instructor,
April 15, 1903, Vol. 38, No. 8

I have, since a little child, felt a deep interest in the dark-skinned descendants
of Lehi,...  p. 228  my emphasis

 1903-4:  “Mormonism...,” by B.H. Roberts, Published by the Church, Deseret
News Print, Copyright by Joseph F. Smith for The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints, 1903
This brochure is issued under the authority of the Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints. It is, therefore, an authoritative utterance upon the
subject of which it treats…

Origin and History of Mormonism
The Jaredites were destroyed about the time that the Israelites [Lehi’s colony]
came from Jerusalem, who succeeded them in the inheritance of the country
[ancient America].  The principle nation of the second race [the Nephites] fell in
battle towards the close of the fourth century (A.D.)  The remnant [Lamanites]
are now the Indians that now inhabit this country.      p. 12   my emphasis
*********************************************
References & Accompanying Content for 1904

1904-1:  “Subject: New Witnesses for God. Vol. II. The Book of Mormon. Part II.
No. 8, “Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations Manual 1904-1905 
Published by the General Board of the Y.M.M.I.A. (Organ of the Young Men’s
Mutual Improvement Associations.) No. 8,”

 III.  Native American Race Unit

 (p) Lehi’s colony was made up of two families and the man Zoram, servant of
Laban.  Lehi it is well known, was a Israelite of the tribe of Manasseh; Ishmael,
the head of the other family, was an Israelite of the tribe of Ephraim.  Zoram was
an Israelite, but his tribe is unknown.  Mulek’s colony were undoubtedly Jews.  
So that from the repeopling of America after the destruction of the Jaredites
early in the sixth century B.C.--so far as Book of Mormon migrations are
concerned the colonies were all of one race.  
pp. 325-26

1904-2:  “Translations From the Book of Mormon,” by Elder Andres Jenson,
March 1904 Elder’s Journal of the Southern States Mission, Vol. I-No. 8,

There is great satisfaction also in knowing that it [the Book of Mormon] gives us
light and knowledge in regard to who the North American Indians are,
something that is unknown to the rest of the world...The Book of Mormon is the
only real history we have of the North American Indians.  p. 109  my emphasis

Peter Whitmer, Jr., was one of the first missionaries who went among the
Lamanites--the North American Indians. He was a firm believer in the Book
of Mormon, and as soon as the book appeared in print, he was very anxious to
take among the Lamanites and tell them that it contained the history of
their forefathers. So he traveled with other missionaries 1,300 miles to the
Delaware tribe of Indians, who lived at that time just across the border of the
United States in what is now known as Kansas.  p. 123 my emphasis

1904-3:  “A Brief History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints,...”
By Edward H. Anderson, 1904, Published by the Missions of the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Copyright by [President] Joseph F. Smith

 3.  Mission to the Lamanites

Oliver Cowdery was...called to preach the gospel to the Lamanites [D&C 28: 8]

    At a three days’ conference in Fayette, the second held in the Church, beginning
September 1, 1830,....two revelations were given (D&C Sections 30 & 31) calling
a number of the brethren on missions; and soon after its adjournment; preparations
were made for introducing the gospel to the Lamanites, or Indians, in conformity
with the revealed word.  pp. 30-31    my emphasis

    The Indians, according to belief of the Saints, which is founded upon the
statements in the Book of Mormon, are a Branch of the House of Israel,...the
Book of Mormon, a record of the hand dealings of God with their [the Indians]
forefathers.

    The men selected by revelation* to perform this first distant mission, “to go
into the wilderness, through the western states, and into the Indian territory,”
were Oliver Cowdery, Peter Whitmer, Jr., Parley P. Pratt and Ziba Peterson.  
While they were specially called to the Indians, they were nevertheless to
preach, whenever opportunity offered.  p. 32 my emphasis

...he [Parley P. Pratt] met the Prophet Joseph Smith at Manchester, being soon
thereafter called to fill the before-mentioned mission to the Lamanites, or
Indians.
    Late in October, the four Elders began their westward journey,...Near Buffalo,
they presented their interesting message to the Catteraugus Indians, giving them
copies of the Book of Mormon.  They were kindly received by the red men…  
p. 33  my emphasis

   At Sandusky, in western Ohio, the Wyandots [Indians] were visited, which tribe
rejoiced in the strange tidings revealed to them of their forefathers, and of the
restored gospel…

At length, Independence, Jackson county, in the extreme western frontier of
Missouri, was reached…

    Two of the brethren remained at tailor work in Independence, while Elders
Pratt and Cowdery crossed the frontier to the Indians, tarrying one night with the
Shawnees [Indians]; after which they crossed the Kansas River to the
Delawares [Indians]....After some hesitancy, on the part of the [Delaware] chief,
a council was called and Oliver Cowdery was permitted to address the Indians…   
p. 34   my emphasis

1904-4:  “Was the Declaration of Independence a Heavenly Inspiration,” by Elder
Joseph E. Taylor, July 1904 Improvement ERA, Vol. VII-No. 9 (Organ of the
Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations.)

Lehi, about six hundred years B.C., was commanded by God to leave
Jerusalem...This colony landed on the western coast of South America.  The
American Indian of today is a small remnant of this Lehi family, who, at one
time, numbered millions of people, as did the people of Jared.  p. 643
my emphasis

1904-5:  “The Book of Mormon” by Elder Ben L. Rich, Nov. 1, 1904 Elder's
Journal of the Southern States Mission of the COJCOLDS Vol. II-No. 5,

The Book of Mormon purports to be a history of the ancient inhabitants of America,
the progenitors of the Indian. The second colony with which the Book of Mormon
deals principally, left Jerusalem, under the leadership of one Lehi,...set sail…[and]
landed on the western coast of South America...This transpired in the sixth century
before Christ….After the death of Lehi, the patriarch or leader of the little colony, a
division of the people was effected through the jealousy of brothers, and two tribes
or nations resulted, one called Lamani[t]es after Laman, a son of Lehi, and the
other Nephites, after Nephi, a brother of Laman…

...in the third or fourth century after Christ,...In a frightful was of extermination the
race known as the Nephites was blotted out, or what remained became absorbed
in the numbers of the Lamanites…....In 1492 Columbus discovered a remnant
of this Lamanite nation and called them Indians.  To this day scientists are
unable to divine the direct origin of this copper colored race.   p. 67 my emphasis

The Book of Mormon purports to be a history of a remnant of the people of
Israel that was practically destroyed.  p. 90 my emphasis

The Book of Mormon purports to be a record of the descendants of Joseph.
p. 91

Christ made a remark recorded by John…of the Prophets.  p. 91 [fill in the ellipse]

The Book of Mormon in its construction is simple, logical and harmonious….It
[the Book of Mormon] explains the origin of the Indian races.  
p. 110  my emphasis
*********************************************
References & Accompanying Content for 1905

 1905-1: “Rays of Living Light” Ray No. 8, by Apostle Charles W. Penrose,  April 15,
1905 Elder's Journal of the Southern States Mission of the COJCOLDS
Vol. II-No.16

This title [the Book of Mormon] was given to it because a prophet named Mormon,
by commandment of God, about four hundred years after Christ, compiled and
abridged the records of the Prophets who ministered on the American Continent,
back to about 600 years before Christ, when a colony of Israelites was led from
Palestine across the waters and became a numerous people, the ancestors of
the present race of the American Indians.  p. 246    my emphasis

According  to the Book of Mormon, the people who journeyed from Jerusalem to
the American continent,....,were of the tribe of Joseph through Ephraim and
Manasseh…  p. 246   my emphasis

The colonization of America by the seed of Joseph, who was sold into Egypt,
fulfills the blessings pronounced on the head of Joseph and his son by the
Patriarch Jacob,...The historical portion of the Book of Mormon shows that the
American continent, possessed by a “multitude of nations,” the seed of Ephraim
and Manasseh, is the “blessed land” bestowed on Joseph…  p. 247 my emphasis

1905-2: “Some Facts and Fancies of Mormonism,” by Dr. James E. Talmage,
September 1905 Improvement ERA
(Organ of the Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations.)

    The Book of Mormon...professes to be a record of the ancient inhabitants of
this western continent,...The aboriginal peoples of the west are represented
as descendants of small bands of colonists who came from Jerusalem,
crossed the deep waters, and landed on these shores….Book of Mormon history
closes with the destruction of the Nephite nation through an exterminating war.  
Were the account continued to date, it would comprise the history of one division
of the early colonists--the Lamanites--who, having fallen from civilization to
barbarism, are represented by the American Indians of today.    p. 855  
my emphasis

1905-3:  “Subject:  New Witnesses for God. Vol. II.  The Book of Mormon. Part III.
No. 9, “Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations Manual 1905-1906,
Published by The General Board of the Y.M.M.I.A. 
(Organ of the Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations.)
https://archive.org/stream/ymmia1903#page/328/mode/2up

 Chapter XXXV
(f) I have already at pages 86, 88 and the footnote on pages 325-26 of the
manual called attention to the fact that the colony of Lehi was made up of
families from the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh respectively.  p. 332  
my emphasis

Of course reference to the Israelitish decent is here made to the two last
migrations only, that is, to the colony of Lehi, and the colony of Mulek...The
Book of Mormon refers to Lehi’s colony as made up of descendants of
Manasseh [Lehi], and Ephraim [Ishmael],(n) while the colony of Mulek
were Jews.
    From this it appears that the Book of Mormon is as boldly original in
declaring the nativity of these colonies that peopled America with teeming
millions of their descendants,...    p. 375

(n) The statement here that Ishmael was of Ephraim is set down upon the
authority, first, of inference.  The inference is based upon the fact as already
stated in a footnote (Manual 1903-4 p. 95), that there are promises in the
Hebrew scriptures respecting Ephraim which cannot be realized so far as we
know, except through the seed of Ephraim dwelling upon the land of America,
as we have seen in considering the evidence of the Bible for the truth of the
Book of Mormon; and as Lehi and his family were of the tribe of Manasseh,
and Mulek’s colony being Jews, it leaves the family of Ishmael alone to
introduce the descendants of Ephraim into the western world.

Chapter XLII.

    Following the declaration that “many shall believe the words which are written”
is the statement, “and they shall carry them forth unto the remnant of our seed.”  
That is to the remnant to the seed of Lehi, the American Indians.  And then
follows this:

 “And then shall the remnant of our seed know concerning us, how that we came
from Jerusalem, and that they are descendants of the Jews.(c)  
p. 432   my emphasis

(c) “Descendants of the Jews.”  This expression, I believe, is used in this instance
as equivalent to “Descendants of the House of Israel.” That is, the American
Indians will know they are Israelites.  This sense of the phrase “the “Jews” is
used in other parts of the Book of Mormon:  for instance, “That the father may
bring about *  * * his great and eternal purposes, in restoring the Jews, or all the
House of Israel, to the land of their inheritance. We have already pointed out in
previous footnotes that according to the Book of Mormon the American Indians
are a mixture of the tribes of Manasseh, Ephraim and Judah (See pp. 95,
325-6); and therefore we think the phrase “descendants of the Jews,” does not
mean to confine native American race descent to the Jews alone, but merely to
say they are descendants of the House of Israel, for which the “Jews” here
stands as equivalent.   p. 432 my emphasis

The “many” who believe the Book of Mormon, according to the prophecy, are to
carry it forth unto the remnant of Lehi’s people, the American Indians. It is
notorious that they have done so.  The Church had been organized but six
months when in fulfillment of a divine appointment(d) a mission was sent to
the Lamanites consisting of Oliver Cowdery, Peter Whitmer, Jun., Parley P. Pratt,
and Ziba Peterson.  On returning from that mission Elder Pratt after recounting
their travels through the western states of the American Union, gives the following
summary of what was done:  “Thus ended our first mission in which we had
preached the Gospel in its fullness and distributed the records of their
forefathers among three tribes, viz., the Catteraugus Indians, near Buffalo,
N.Y.; the Wyandots, of Ohio; and the Delawares, west of Missouri.”(e)  p. 433
(d) See Doc. & Cov. Section XXIX and Section XXXII.  [These sections of the
D&C clearly indicate that this “divine appointment,” was from God to go
among the Lamanites who were unquestionably the American Indians.]
(e)  History of the Church, Vol. I, p. 185 note.
    
    While success in bringing the native American race to a knowledge of their
forefathers and an acceptance of the written word of God revealed to their
forefathers has been limited,...   p. 433

(d) See Doc. & Cov. Section XXIX and Section XXXII.  [These sections of the
D&C clearly indicate that this “divine appointment,” was from God to go
among the Lamanites who were unquestionably the American Indians.]
(e)  History of the Church, Vol. I, p. 185 note.

Chapter XLIII

In this connection, too, it should be remembered the class of people for
whom the Book of Mormon was especially prepared.  While a revelation to
all the world, and containing profound truths the depths of man by human
wisdom has not yet sounded, it is primarily designed for the benighted,
native American races, fallen from the high station their forefathers once
held in God’s favor….    p. 456 my emphasis

1905-4:“History of the Church, Volume III,” October 1905 Improvement ERA,
Vol. III, No. 12
(Organ of the Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations.)
https://archive.org/stream/improvementera0812unse#page/944

HISTORY OF THE CHURCH, VOLUME III.

  The third volume of History of the Church, treating, as it does, a most
important and exciting period of the history of the Saints, is made doubly
valuable by the editor’s [Elder B. H. Roberts] carefully considered and
explicit introduction.  The division under the heading, “The Saints and the
Indians,”...[is here quoted in part]:

    The interest of the Saints in the American Indians grows out of the
knowledge they have of their forefathers, revealed through the Book of Mormon.  
From the historical parts of that book they learn the origin of these Indians;  that
they are of the House of Israel:...and prominent in bringing to pass his [God’s]
purposes in the land of Zion--the two Americas.  It was a mission to the
Lamanites or Indians who first brought several elders of the Church of Christ to
western Missouri.  When the people of Missouri learned in what esteem the
Saints held the forefathers [“revealed through the Book of Mormon.”] of the
Indians: and also the Indians themselves, both on account of their forefathers
and the promises of God to them….       p. 945 my emphasis
*********************************************
References & Accompanying Content for 1906

1906-1: “Was He A Prophet?,” May 1, 1906 The Elders’ Journal of the Southern
States Mission of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints,  Vol. III-No. 17,
[From the Deseret News 1884]

Joseph Smith was the means in the hands of God of giving to the world what is
claimed by the Church to be a history of the ancient inhabitants of this
continent….Ultimately it [Book of Mormon] would be received by the
aborigines as the record of their forefathers.  p. 316    my emphasis

1906-2:  April 1906 (General) Conference Report, Elder Anthony W. Ivins, p. 46

There is a vast field for missionary effort in Mexico, and undoubtedly a greater
one in Central America and South America….There are about 30,000,000
Indians down south of us who speak the Spanish language--people whose
forefathers gave us the Book of Mormon.  p. 46  my emphasis
*********************************************
References & Accompanying Content for 1907

1907-1:  “The Story of Mormonism,” by James T. Talmage, 
Liverpool:  Millennial Star Office

 Chapter 1
This record, said the messenger [Moroni], was engraved on plates of gold, and
had been deposited by the ancestors of the natives of this land (America),
who at one time were a white and delightsome people...The record proved to be
an account of certain colonies of immigrants to this hemisphere from the east,
several centuries before the Christian era…[The colony divided] into factions,
which became later two great nations with deadly enmity between them.  One
part...designated themselves Nephites; the other faction...were known as
Lamanites.  pp. 10-11

...they [the Nephites] were continually moving to escape the depredations of
their hereditary foes, the Lamanites;...p. 11

Before their more powerful foes, the Nephites dwindled and fled; until about the
year 400 A.D. they were entirely annihilated after a series of decisive battles, the
last of which was fought near the very hill, called Cumorah, in the state of
New York, where the hidden record was subsequently revealed to Joseph Smith.
The Lamanites led a roving, aggressive life,...until they became typical
progenitors of the dark skinned race, afterward discovered by Columbus and
named Indians.   p. 12    my emphasis.

Chapter II

...The Book of Mormon had taught the people the true origin of, and had
shown them indeed part of the destiny, the Indians, and to this dark
skinned remnant of a once mighty people, the missionaries of
“Mormonism” early turned their eyes, and with their eyes went their hearts
and their hopes.
    
Within three months from the beginning, The Church had missionaries among
the Lamanites.  It is notable that the Indian tribes have always regarded the
religion of the Latter-day Saints with favor, seeing in the Book of Mormon
striking agreement with their own traditions       p. 23 my emphasis

1907-2:April 1907 [General] Conference Report, Elder Anthony W. Ivins, pp. 74-78
https://archive.org/stream/conferencereport1907a#page/n75

Mexico has a great interest to the Latter-day Saints from the fact that it is the
home of the Lamanites, the land of the Nephites.  There are millions of t
hose people, the dark descendants of Father Lehi, there.  p. 75

So we see that the Gospel has been introduced among them, that they are
coming to a knowledge of the truth, that they again know that their fathers
came from Jerusalem… p. 76
*********************************************
References & Accompanying Content for 1908

1908-1: “Ancient American Prophets,” Liahona, The Elders’ Journal, 1908-1909
(Official Organ of the Missions of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in
America)

(Note--The standing department of “Ancient American Prophets”...appear in
every number [issue] and are not indexed.) Index # I

During this thousand years the western world [North & South America] was
inhabited by two races, both descended from a colony of Jews, that left
Jerusalem about 600 years before Christ, under the leadership of a prophet
named Lehi.  These two races were called Nephites and Lamanites,
respectively, and were traditional enemies.  p. 10, 38, 62,.......668,.....1015,
1039, 1063, 1087, 1111, 1135, 1158, 1185, 1206, 1231,1253, 1277

1908-2: “Testimony of a Lamanite,” Sept. 5, 1908 Liahona, The Elders’ Journal, Vol.
6-No. 12. (Official Organ of the Missions of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints in America)

An incident...which many Latter-day Saints will attach significance, occurred
recently at a street meeting which four elders held in Montgomery, Ind….The
elders...met a young Indian, who said he was the son of an Apache chief who
used to live in Arizona,...The young Lamanite is well educated...During their
street meeting the elders called upon him to speak, and elder Overson gives the
following synopsis of his address:

  Gentlemen, I am not an elder in the Church of Christ, only a loyal
member...About six years ago…,as I came up to my father’s tent, I saw two
strange men white men, like these elders you see here tonight.  I said to my
father, who was the Chief, “What do these men want?”  He said:
“They...say they have a history of our forefathers.”  Then I said, “Tis a
lie.”  My father told me not to be too hasty, but to give them a hearing, which
I did, and they proved it.  
Now I want you to hear my testimony that the Book of Mormon is a history
of my people’s fathers and I know it...I know Joseph Smith was inspired
and chosen of God to bring forth the Book of Mormon for the saving of our
people….remember the testimony of Nixy the Apache.

The Lamanites are beginning to come to an understanding of the things taught
and recorded in the Book of Mormon.  pp. 280-81 my emphasis

1908-3:  Converted Lamanites,”  by C.A. Callis (Pres. South Carolina Conf.),
Columbia S. C., June 4, 1908, June 27 1908, Liahona, The Elder’s Journal

On Sunday, May 31 [1908], a conference was held on the [Catawba Indian]
reservation...Prest. Ben E. Rich came all the way from Chattanooga to be
present at the conference…[and] was the principal speaker at both meetings.

Quoting from the Book of Mormon Prest. Rich showed the glorious promises
that God had promised to the house of Israel, and reminded his hearers
[Catawba Indians] of their ancestry.  [Keep in mind this article is entitled
“Converted Lamanites.”]
------
At the morning meeting of the conference Prest. Rich invited the Indians to
express their feelings relative to the gospel, and both old and young, one
after another, arose to their feet and testified in earnestness that the Book
of Mormon was a sacred record of the history of their forefathers [Again,
keeping in mind this article is entitled “Converted Lamanites.”]...
pp. 48-49  my emphasis
*********************************************
References & Accompanying Content for 1909

1909-1: “Course of Study for the Quorums of Priesthood of the COJCOLDS.”
(Elders, First Year: Divine Authenticity of the Book of Mormon …) Prepared and
Issued Under the Direction of the General Authorities of the Church, 1909
The Book of Mormon
Mormon says:  
“...and also that the seed of his people(a) may more fully believe His Gospel,
which shall go forth unto them from the Gentiles.”(b) [It is suggested that the
reader study this entire page/section to ensure there is no misunderstanding
about its context.]  p. 28

(a) Mormon here refers to the Lamanites, that is, that the seed of the Lamanites,
the present day “Indians” of the western hemisphere, might more fully
believe the Gospel, etc.
(b) Book of Mormon, [Mormon] Chapter v: 12-15.

1909-2: “One Hundred Years of Mormonism,” by John Henry Evans, Published by
the Deseret Sunday School Union

PART FIRST.

Chapter II. The Other Sheep
Moroni’s Message.
The holy personage announced himself to be Moroni, an angel sent from the
presence of God.  The Lord had a work for Joseph to do,...This work concerned
a book of golden plates which lay buried in a hill near Manchester and which
gave an account of the origin and history of the ancient inhabitants [the
Nephites, Lamanites, etc.] of this continent, the ancestors of the American
Indians….    p. 40    my emphasis

Chapter IV. The American Bible
What the Book of Mormon Is.
It [the Book of Mormon]....was written and preserved to inform the “remnant of
the house of Israel”--the Lamanites--concerning their origin,....
    While the Jaredites were fighting their last battles, another colony--this time a
small band of Israelites from Jerusalem, in Palestine, landed in South
America,....the company divided into two parts.  Each took the name of its leader;
hence one was called Nephites, after Nephi, the other was named Lamanites,
from Laman. The latter, in consequence of wickedness, were cursed with a “skin
of darkness,” becoming wild and uncivilized; while the former retained their natural
color and kept on progressing.  The Lamanites are the real ancestors of our
American Indians, and this accounts for their color….   pp. 85-86 my emphasis

PART SECOND.

Chapter 1. The Land of Shinehah
The Mission to the Lamanites.
“Several of the elders,” remarks the Prophet, in referring to this occasion [a
conference of the Church held at Fayette in September, 1830] “manifested a
great desire respecting the remnants of the House of Joseph, the Lamanites,
residing in the West.”  In answer to this desire came the revelation contained
in section thirty-two of the Doctrine and Covenants, calling Parley P. Pratt and
Ziba Peterson on a mission “into the wilderness among the Lamanites.”  Oliver
Cowdery and Peter Whitmer, Jr., had already been called to this same mission.  
    In the following month these four elders began their westward journey,
traveling on foot.  Near Buffalo they stopped to preach to the Catteraugus
Indians, by whom they were received kindly and to some of whom they
presented copies of the Book of Mormon.    p. 122

Chapter II. Zion--Past, Present, and to Come
The Lamanite Missionaries.
After organizing the converts at Kirtland into branches with presiding officers, the
five missionaries to the American Indians proceeded on their way to the
West….At Sandusky [Ohio] the missionaries remained several days preaching
to the Wyandot Indians;...
    Arrived at Independence, Jackson county, Missouri, their long-sought-for
“borders by the Lamanites,”...Oliver Cowdery and Parley P. Pratt crossed the
boundaries of the state in quest of the Delawares [Indians]....After some
hesitation he [the chief of these Indians] consented to call a counsel of his
chief
men that they might listen to what the brethren had to say.
    Oliver Cowdery addressed the assembled sages.  He told them how, countless
moons ago, their forefathers came from across the mighty waters under the
guidance of the Great Spirit; how, for many generations, they dwelt here,....how
these five missionaries had come many hundred miles, through deep snows, to
bring this book to the Delawares [Indians or Lamanites as specified in the
revelation from God]….   pp. 135-136 my emphasis

    “Thus ended our first Indian mission,” wrote Elder Pratt, “in which we had
preached the gospel in its fullness, and distributed the record of their forefathers
among three tribes, viz., the Catteraugus Indians, near Buffalo, N.Y., the
Wyandots [Indians] of Ohio and the Delawares [Indians] of Missouri.  We trust
that at some future day when the servants of God go forth in power to the
remnant of Joseph, some precious seed will be found growing in their hearts
[“the Catteraugus Indians, near Buffalo, N.Y., the Wyandots of Ohio and the
Delawares of Missouri.”] which was sown by us in that early day.”...If the
expectations of the Saints respecting the Lamanites in their conversion to the
truth, were not realized, this mission might at least claim the honor of having
opened the way for the westward march of the Church...   p. 138 my emphasis

1909-3: “Birth of Mormonism in Picture” (Scenes and Incidents in Early Church
History), Narrative and Notes by Prof. John Henry Evans, Owned and Published
by the Deseret Sunday School Union, Copyright 1909 by Joseph F. Smith for
the Deseret Sunday School Union

There was a book of gold plates, he [Moroni] said, deposited in a hill nearby,
which contained a history of the ancient Americans, the ancestors of the present
race of Indians.   p. 26   my emphasis

1909-4: “The Articles of Faith,” by James E. Talmage. Deseret Sunday School
Union 1909, Copyrighted 1909 by the Deseret Sunday School Union
Lecture 14 THE BOOK OF MORMON

8. The Lamanites, while increasing in numbers, fell under the curse of darkness;  
they became dark in skin and benighted in spirit, forgot the God of their fathers,
lived a wild nomadic life, and degenerated into the fallen state in which the
American Indians — their lineal descendants — were found by those who
rediscovered the western continent in later times.  p. 272  my emphasis

Lecture 15 THE BOOK OF MORMON.--Continued.

II. Lehi and his company came to this continent, where they developed into
segregated nations Nephites and Lamanites, the former becoming extinct near
385 A.D., about a thousand years after Lehi’s arrival on these shores; the latter
[Lamanites] continuing in a degenerate condition until the present, being
represented by the Indian tribes of today.  
III. That Lehi, Ishmael, and Zoram, the progenitors of both Nephites and
Lamanites, were undoubtedly Israelites. Lehi being of the tribe of Manasseh
while Ishmael was an Ephraimite, and that the colony came direct from
Jerusalem, in Asia.
IV. That the existing Indian tribes are all direct descendants of Lehi and his
company, and that therefore they have sprung from men all of whom were
of the house of Israel.     p. 299   my emphasis

Lecture 17 The Dispersion of Israel

14. From these references it is plain that the followers of Lehi, including his own
family, and Zoram,(u) together with Ishmael and his family,(v) from whom sprang
the mighty peoples of the Nephites, who suffered extermination because of their
unfaithfulness, and the Lamanites, who, now known as the American Indians,
have continued in troubled existence until the present day,... p. 343  my emphasis
(u) I Nephi iv, 20-26, 30-37.
(v) I Nephi vii, 2-6, 19, 22; xvi, 7.

1909-5: “The Great Apostasy,” by James E. Talmage..Published by the
Northwestern States Mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

 Preface.
The little work has been written in the hope that it may prove of service to our
missionary elders in the field, to classes and quorum organizations engaged
in the study of theological subjects at home, and to earnest investigators of the
teachings and claims of the restored Church of Jesus Christ.   
James E. Talmage, Salt Lake City, Utah, November 1, 1909

 Preface to the Second Edition.
The first edition of “The Great Apostasy” was issued….in November,
1909….The author has learned...of the favorable reception accorded the little
work by the missionary elders of the Church, and by the people among whom
these devoted servants are called to labor. The present issue of twenty
thousand copies constitutes the second edition, and is published primarily for
use in the missionary field….James E. Talmage, Salt Lake City, Utah,
February, 1910.
Wikipedia
Talmage wrote his book with the intention that it be used as a teaching tool
within the LDS Church's Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association and
the Young Women's Mutual Improvement Association. The Great Apostasy
has been one of the few non-scriptural books that full-time LDS Church
missionaries [were once]...encouraged to study.

Chapter I. Notes.

5. Nephites and Lamanites.  The Lamanites, while increasing in numbers, fell
under the curse of darkness;  they became dark in skin and benighted in spirit,
forgot the God of their fathers, lived a wild nomadic life, and degenerated into the
fallen state in which the American Indians — their lineal descendants — were
found by those who rediscovered the western continent in later times. (The Author,
“Articles of Faith,” Lect. 14: 7,8.)  p. 24 my emphasis

*********************************************
References & Accompanying Content for 1910

1910-1: “The Story of the Restoration,” Lesson V., Hidden Gospel Records,
The Young Woman’s Journal Vol. 21 1910 (General Board of the Young Ladies’
Mutual Improvement Association)

The record is, then, mainly the story the ancient possession of South and North
America by the Nephites. Besides, the book tells of the Lamanites--the
brother-descendants of the Nephites, who remain to the present as the
American Indians…p. 524  my emphasis

1910-2: “The Great Apostasy,” by James E. Talmage, Published by the Missions
of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints [22 Separate Missions of the
COJCOLDS are listed such Bureau of Information--Temple Block, California,
Mission, etc.] Independence, Jackson Co., Mo. : Zion's Printing and Publishing Co.*

 *[See 1909-5: "The Great Apostasy," "Preface & Preface to the Second Edition,
Wikipedia]

Chapter I. Notes.

5. Nephites and Lamanites.  The Lamanites, while increasing in numbers, fell
under the curse of darkness;  they became dark in skin and benighted in spirit,
forgot the God of their fathers, lived a wild nomadic life, and degenerated into the
fallen state in which the American Indians — their lineal descendants —
were found by those who rediscovered the western continent in later times. (The
Author, “Articles of Faith,” Lect. 14: 7,8.)  p. 18 my emphasis

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