On February 4, 1846, a party of Mormon pioneer families (the "Brooklyn Saints") began a voyage aboard the ship Brooklyn from New York City to Alta California, to establish the first Mormon colony in the West,Ludlow, Daniel H. "Pioneer Settlements in California." In: Encyclopedia of Mormonism. New York, New York: Macmillan Publishing, 1992, pp. 246–247. See also BYU Library Digital Collections. as part of the plan by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) to relocate the Mormon populace outside the United States to escape religious persecution. Two hundred thirty eight pioneers, led by Samuel Brannan, were recruited to sail around Cape Horn with heavy equipment for a large colony, plant crops, and build infrastructure to receive a larger migration that was planned to come west by wagon the following year.
Brooklyn took six months to sail 24,000 miles. It arrived at the San Francisco Bay shortly after the Mexican–American War commenced in California, just as US forces were gaining control of the area. Brooklyns seventy male passengers were immediately pressed into service, delaying the construction of the planned settlement.
Initially, food and shelter was scarce, but soon many acres of land in the San Joaquin Valley were fenced and planted with wheat, and a grain mill was erected. Eight nearby towns were founded, connected by ferries, roads and bridges.Silver, Mae. "The Farmer with the Golden Plow: John Meirs Horner (18211912)." Historical Essay in Rancho San Miguel. Accessed 10-14-20. The Brooklyn Saints were instrumental in building San Francisco,McPhate, Mike. "When San Francisco was a Mormon town". California Sun. July 29, 2019. which, as other American settlers arrived, grew into "the great emporium of the Pacific".
In 1847, the Brooklyn colonists learned that instead of the main body of Latter-day Saints coming to California, Brigham Young had chosen the Salt Lake Valley as the new center place for the Mormon population.Brigham Young. "An Epistle of the Council of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to the Saints in California under the Presidency of Elder Samuel Brannan." 7 August 1847. Special Collections, BYU Library. Although uniting with the rest of the Mormon populace was still much desired,Letter from Samuel Brannan to Brigham Young, 3 October 1847. Brigham Young Papers, LDS Archives. the Brooklyn settlers lacked resources to undertake an 800-mile overland journey and start their lives over.
Within three months, funding for a second migration became possible when gold was discovered at Coloma (January 24, 1848).Bigler, Henry W. The Gold Discovery Journal of Azariah Smith. Louisville, Colorado: Utah State University Press, 1996, p. 108. Brannan publicized the rich finds locally in his newspaper and sent riders with a special edition back east, spurring the California Gold Rush. He operated lucrative trading posts for miners,Paul, Rodman W. The California Gold Discovery: Sources, Documents, Accounts and Memoirs Relating to the Discovery of Gold at Sutter's Mill. Georgetown, California: The Talisman Press, 1966, p. 130. while most of the Brooklyn pioneers worked placer mines along the American River. With the gold they unearthed, by July 1849, about half of the Brooklyn pioneers outfitted wagons and headed over the Sierras to Salt Lake City on a new route built by veterans of the Mormon Battalion.Available at the Family History Library, 979.4 K2br. Their Mormon Emigrant Trail through Carson Pass became the main route west for gold seekers to reach the mining regions.Howard, Thomas Frederick. Sierra Crossing: First Roads to California. Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 1998, pp. 48–63
In 1851, church leaders from Utah recruited about half of the remaining Brooklyn pioneers to build another Mormon colony at San Bernardino, California.Lyman, Edward Leo. San Bernardino: The Rise and Fall of a California Community. Salt Lake City, Utah: Signature Books, 1996, pp. 16–17. Two Brooklyn Saints went to the Sandwich Islands, while most of the rest returned to their lives in the eastern states.
Background The Mormon exodus
The 1846 maritime migration of the Brooklyn pioneers was part of the larger Mormon exodus from the Eastern United States to the Salt Lake Valley. For over a decade, members of the LDS Church had been subjected to voter suppression, property destruction, looting, rape, tar and feather attacks, mob violence, massacre, and finally the death of Joseph Smith, the church founder. Leaders of the church repeatedly sought assistance from local, state and federal officials to deal with the abuses. Despite pleas for law enforcement, government officials rarely intervened to protect Latter-day Saint settlements, citing a difficult political situation or openly siding with anti-Mormon mobs. Efforts at self-defense made matters worse. Mormon communities moved from place to place seeking a safe environment.
Government response Brigham Young received a letter from Illinois Governor Thomas Ford, dated 8 April 1845, advising him to find a new home for his people, suggesting that they establish an independent colony in Alta California (modern Utah, Nevada, Arizona, and California), where they could live and worship as they pleased. Before doing so, President Young vainly requested asylum in Arkansas from its Governor Drew, who refused them. The governor suggested that they go to Oregon Territory, Alta California, the Republic of Texas, or Nebraska Territory. However, Orson Hyde wrote, "most of the settlers in Oregon and Texas are our old enemies, the mobocrats of Missouri... and should we attempt to march to Oregon without the government throwing a protective shield over us, Missouri's crimes would lead her first to misinterpret our intentions [and]... to fan a flame too hot for us to encounter." A delegation sent to Washington, D.C. in March 1844 requested authorization for a "protective shield" of 100,000 armed volunteers, but such an action was deemed likely to provoke international complications with Great Britain. Illinois Congressman Stephen A. Douglas, an ally of James K. Polk, privately provided the Latter-day Saint delegation with a map of Oregon and a copy of Frémont's path-finding report. Douglas urged church leaders "not to wait for government action but to strike out for Oregon, and if at the end of five years Congress would not receive [them] into the Union, [they] would have a government of [their] own."
Planning the exodus
In the years preceding the Mormon exodus, Joseph Smith and other church leaders made repeated attempts to engage local, state, and federal authorities in protecting them from mob attacks, in obtaining restitution for damaged or stolen property, and in supporting their Constitutional right to freedom of worship. Generally such assistance was not forthcoming. Instead, Smith was frequently charged with various forms of troublemaking or inciting unrest. Governor Ford and President Martin Van Buren each responded that they were unable or unwilling to act in favor of the Latter-day Saints because of strong popular sentiment against the sect.Barney, Ronald O., "Joseph Smith Goes to Washington." In: Holzapfel, Richard Neitzel and Jackson, Kent P. (Eds.), Joseph Smith, the Prophet and Seer. Provo, Utah: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2010, pp. 391–420. Although national leaders were aware of the injustices done to the Latter-day Saint population, which numbered close to 200,000 at the time, other matters of economic recovery and sectionalism had their attention. After Smith's death, church members re-grouped and determined to re-settle outside the United States. The voyage of the ship Brooklyn was part of that re-settlement effort.
Brigham Young announced on September 16, 1845, that the Latter-day Saints would abandon their headquarters city of Nauvoo, Illinois, in the spring (when prairie vegetation, necessary to feed livestock during overland travel, would be growing).
Expedition to Alta California At that time, the Great Basin was part of Alta California, a sparsely populated region, nominally under the jurisdiction of Mexico, but primarily occupied by indigenous people (Ute, Dine' (Navajo), Paiute, Goshute, and Shoshone). Young intended to move church members in stages and in separate wagon trains, with earlier groups establishing farms and temporary settlements along the way to feed and support the wagon companies to follow. The ship Brooklyn could carry heavy items the main migration would need in their new location, such as mill stones for grain, hundreds of farm implements, and a printing press.
Joseph Smith had spoken about moving the church beyond the Rocky Mountains as early as 1842. Serious efforts to identify an optimal location were made between 1842 and 1845. Since constitutionally guaranteed protections under the law were not being enforced in the U.S., the intention was to transplant the main "gathering place" for Latter-day Saints outside the country. During the October 1845 general conference, the exodus was announced to church members at Nauvoo, Illinois. Mormons around the globe were urged to prepare for the move "to a far distant region of the west" where they would not encounter the hostility previously experienced. The following month a regional meeting was held in American Hall in New York on November 15, 1845. Orson Pratt, a member of the Council of the Twelve governing body, visited the eastern states to urge all church members to evacuate from the country. Those living in the Atlantic states were advised that it would be quicker, cheaper, and safer to sail to California around Cape Horn than to travel overland.
Samuel Brannan
At the New York conference, Samuel Brannan was named to lead the shipload of Mormon immigrants to the West—despite an earlier difficulty with the church hierarchy that had resulted in his being excommunicated for a short time. Brannan sought to be restored to church membership and to prove himself to those in leadership positions."Brethren and Friends," The Prophet, 10 May 1845, #2, pp. 1–2. He was allowed to serve as editor of a church newspaper under the supervision of apostle Parley P. Pratt. With most leaders recalled to the church headquarters to organize the cross country exodus, Brannan was called upon to lead the Brooklyn expedition. The potential for further violent incidents on shore and the desire to avoid the storm season at Cape Horn determined the departure date window. There was only a short time to make all the arrangements and recruit settlers for the voyage. Over the next three weeks, Brannan spoke in Philadelphia, New Jersey, Boston, New Haven, Washington City (D.C.) and New York to raise money and register passengers. The ship Brooklyn was chartered and converted from a cargo vessel to an immigrant ship. Using church funds, William Appleby purchased tents and other items the pioneers would need. The ship Brooklyn was loaded with hundreds of agricultural tools, mechanical supplies, and large items like grist mill stones and a printing press to lay the groundwork for the new colony in the West. Brannan had the voyage organized by the end of January 1846. Historian H. H. Bancroft described Brannan as "an erratic genius", energetic and able, shrewd in business, "famous for his acts of charity", but given to strong drink in his later years.