BYU Studies Quarterly
Article Title
Proselyting on the Rock of Gibraltar, 1853-1855: The Letters of Edward Stevenson to the Juvenile Instructor in 1885
Keywords
Mormon studies, proselyting, Gibraltar, Juvenile Instructor
Abstract
In January 1885, the Mormon Juvenile Instructor magazine ran a short cover story on the history of Gibraltar, known as “the Rock,” the British overseas territory located on the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula bordering Spain. While the magazine aimed to educate Latter-day Saints about the cosmopolitan world generally, the Rock did have a noteworthy place in Mormon history. The editor, George Q. Cannon, wrote, “As in the mother country [Great Britain] all religious societies are said to enjoy perfect freedom. Still when Elders Edward Stevenson and N[athan] T. Porter arrived in Gibraltar in March, 1853, to preach ‘Mormonism,’ they were immediately taken before the police to plead their cause.” Cannon concluded his short secular and religious history of the British territory, “Elder Porter was required to leave and the only thing which saved Elder Stevenson from sharing the same fate was the fact that he had been born on the rock; still he was forbidden to preach his religion. He, however, during his labors of one year, and amid great privations and trials, succeeded in bringing several persons into the Church.” More than three decades had passed since the First Presidency had sent Stevenson and Porter to Gibraltar as missionaries by the time the related magazine article appeared in the Juvenile Instructor in 1885.
Recommended Citation
Neilson, Reid L.
(2016)
"Proselyting on the Rock of Gibraltar, 1853-1855: The Letters of Edward Stevenson to the Juvenile Instructor in 1885,"
BYU Studies Quarterly: Vol. 55:
Iss.
1, Article 8.
Available at:
https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/byusq/vol55/iss1/8