Were Mormons lazy during the 1820's1830'sand 1840's?

Answer 1

1820's: There were no Mormons to be lazy. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was founded in 1830. In the 1820's it was pretty much just Joseph Smith, who was between the ages of 14 and 24. He spent the decade working at various jobs to help provide for his family (parents and siblings), occasionally receiving visions and visitations from heavenly messengers, and got married.

1830's: The brand-new Church was founded and began it's aggressive international mission campaign. Church membership increased from 6 to 16,800. Church headquarters moved from New York to Ohio, where a temple was built along with many homes and businesses. Members began moving to Missouri where they faced extreme persecution as they tried to establish a new settlement. Zion's Camp marched from Ohio to Missouri to protect the Mormons there, endured a cholera epidemic, and then walked all the way back to Ohio. Also facing persecution in Ohio, it was decided that the church would move to Illinois. I'm sure some of those nearly 17,000 people were lazy - but the church as a whole was quite ambitious.

1840's: The Mormons moved from Ohio and Missouri to Nauvoo, Illinois. They built an entire city with a population rivalling Chicago in a mosquito infested swamp. They built a large and beautiful temple, established homes, farms, and businesses - mostly from scratch as they had little time to prepare or sell their homes before moving. In 1844, Joseph Smith was killed. In 1845 the Mormons left Nauvoo, spent a year in Winter Quarters, Nebraska, and then went on to what was then Mexico (now Utah). They heeded the government's call to send men to fight in the Mexican-American War, walked all the way there to find the war was over, then had to walk back to Utah through California and Nevada to do additional work for the army. They established Salt Lake City and many other smaller cities while essentially being cut off from the rest of the country. Meanwhile the missionary effort continued and membership grew from 16,800 to 51,800 with many of these new converts leaving all they had to walk 2,500+ miles across the plains and join the saints. If you were a lazy Mormon in the 1840's, you would not survive.

Answer 2

Traditionally, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (commonly called the "Mormon" church) have been known for their culture of hard work and industry - this is what earned Utah it's nicknamed of the "Beehive State", it was said that Mormons were as busy as bees. Diligence and ambitious work was a hallmark of early Mormonism and was stressed within the church until about the 1960's. Remember, within that first 120 years, Mormons had settled much of the west, increased their membership from 6 to 1,000,000, and established an effective charity and welfare system. Most Mormons at the time were living in a rural setting with relatively primitive resources - if they were lazy they simply would not survive.

However, times, cultures, and attitudes change. While these values are still honored in the church today, the focus has turned to other qualities and not everyone embraces these old ideals. Mormons are regular people, there are some Mormons that are very lazy and some Mormons that are very hard working. However, I think the average Mormon is relatively hard working compared to those in many societies today simply because a lot is expected of them. Most Mormons have duties within their congregation, participate in community service, contribute to an international humanitarian organization, host a missionary force of over 80,000, support large families, and attend to fairly demanding religious obligations (study, temple attendance, etc) - these are certainly not attributes of a lazy people.

Answer 3

no we are not