Abstract

William McLachlan, a Scotsman, was converted to the L. D. S. Church, in Braintree, Essex, England in 1859. The motivating factor in his life was his faith that Joseph Smith was a prophet to whom the Lord had restored the precepts of the original Christian church. His journals, his letters, his speeches, his life, were oriented toward one ultimate goal, to build the Kingdom of God and to gain a place for himself and his family in that kingdom.
This thesis is a biography of his life and examines his emigration to Zion, his settlement and adjustment to the frontier, his occupation as a carpenter and contractor, his mission to New Zealand, his adjustment to polygamy and the period of the "Raid," and his leadership as the president of the Pioneer Stake. His life represents the thousands of British converts who, through faith and devotion to the Gospel, left their homes and struggled to lay the foundation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on the western frontier.

Degree

College and Department

Family, Home, and Social Sciences; History

Rights

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