Keywords

church history, mormon studies, latter-day saint, immigration

Abstract

On 11 September 1887, the front page of the Norfolk Virginian had a bold headline, "Four Hundred Mormons," along with the following information: "The Old Dominion steamer Richmond, which arrived from New York yesterday, had on board four-hundred and twenty Mormon immigrants from the British Isles who had arrived in New York on Thursday on the steamship Wisconsin. The immigrants are all new converts to the Mormon religion and will swell the number of adherents to the Brigham Young faith in the territory considerably. The party is composed of men, women and children, and when the special train with nine coaches put in appearance, there was a rush and scramble to get aboard. Mr. A. S. butt, the immigrant agent had his hands full in attending to their wants, and allowed a large smile to overspread his face when the train pulled out. The train goes direct to Utah without stops. This is the largest party that has passed through the city." On this same day, the Norfolk Landmark noted, "Four hundred and eighty loaves of bread were ordered from one of our bakers for the Mormon immigrants who left over the Norfolk and Eastern railroad yesterday morning." The increase of Mormon immigrants was certainly providing a boost to the Virginia economy.

Original Publication Citation

Fred E. Woods, "Norfolk & Mormon Folk: Latter-day Saint Immigration Through Old Dominion (1887-1890)," Mormon Historical Studies 1, no. 1, (Spring 2000): 72-92