Why Mormons are still thriving (From Malvern Gazette)

Why Mormons are still thriving

5:20pm Thursday 2nd September 2010 in News

Mormons, from left, Tony Bakewell, Craig Gardner and Elder Ackerman

THE Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints - the Mormons - is often thought of as a religion of exclusively American origin.

But how many people know that the world's oldest surviving Mormon chapel nestles in green countryside just south of the Malvern Hills, in the hamlet of Gadfield Elm, between Staunton and Pendock?

This may seen strange to people who associate Mormonism with the USA's desert state of Utah, but in fact there are close, if little-known links, between the religion's early days and this area.

The movement was founded in the 1820s in New York State by Joseph Smith Jr., who said the angel Moroni had given him a set of inscribed golden plates which he had translated as the Book of Mormon. In succeeding years he acquired increasing numbers of followers, and in 1839, two church members, Wilford Woodruf and Brigham Young, came to Britain as missionaries.

The two initially went to Staffordshire, where they met a man called William Benbow. He in turn invited them to come to Herefordshire to visit his brother John, who belonged to a Primitive Methodist sect called the United Bretheren.

It was the Bretheren who in 1836 had built the chapel at Gadfield Elm, and through the efforts of the missionaries Woodruf and Young, most of them joined the Mormon church.

Woodruf recorded in his journal that "on the 21st day of March I baptized Elder Thomas Kington. He was superintendent of both preachers and members of the United Brethren. The first 30 days after my arrival in Herefordshire, I had baptized 45 preachers and 160 members of the United Brethren, who put into my hands one chapel and 45 houses, which were licensed according to law to preach in."

Many were baptised at the Benbow Pool in Castle Frome, another historic site important to the Mormons.

At the same time, Brigham Young preached to the crowds from beneath Ledbury's famous mediaeval Market House and at its Baptist Church.

Something like 1,800 people from the area converted to the new faith, and subsequently many of them emigrated to the United States, selling the Gadfield Elm chapel to help raise funds. The emigres joined the great trek of Mormons across the United States, led by Brigham Young, as they fled persecution and settled in Utah, which has ever since been the spiritual capital of Mormonism.

Church member Anne Zoers said: "Therefore, many, many people in this area will have relatives in America and every year hundreds of Americans re-trace their roots back to the south west of England."

Among them were the famous singing sensations of the Seventies, The Osmonds, who visited a couple of years ago, and last autumn, a group of 32 Mormons were warmly welcomed to Ledbury, the town where some of their ancestors lived.

And on Monday, a group of church members took part in the Ledbury Carnival, re-enacting the journey of their ancestors, who left the area 170 years ago, pushing their possessions in handcarts.

The chapel at Gadfield Elm later fell into disrepair, but in 1994 it was bought by a trust set up by church members. It was restored and in 2000, church Elder Jeffrey R Holland, a descendant of William Carter and Ellen Benbow, who joined the church near Gadfield Elm, rededicated the chapel.

It will be open to the public as part of English Heritage's Open Days event, on Thursday-Saturday, September 9-11, from 10am-5pm (see p15 for more on the open days).