Hugh Findlay

Infobox Person
name =Hugh Findlay


birth_date =birth date|1822|6|9|mf=y
birth_place =Newmilns, Scotland
death_date =death date and age|1900|3|1|1822|6|9|mf=y
death_place =Fish Haven, Idaho|
spouse = Isabella Ratray
Catherine Ann Partington
Mary Ellen Smith
Ane Marie Dorthea Nelson

Hugh Findlay (Newmilns, Ayrshire, Scotland, June 9, 1822 – March 2, 1900 in Fish Haven, Idaho) was one of the first two Mormon missionaries to enter India and opened missionary work in the Shetland Islands.

Conversion

Findlay was baptized in Dundee, Scotland, [Findlay lived on Barrack Street in Dundee, Scotland.] on July 1, 1844, by missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He married Isabella Ratray that same year."The Mormons From Scotland and Wales: Others From Scotland". "Our Pioneer Heritage". Volume 13. Company E.] Between 1847 and 1848, Isabella and the two little boys she and Findlay had together, James and Ephraim, died in what was probably a diphtheria epidemic. Both boys were under two years old. ["Eardley and Slaughter Family Tree". [http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=:2259913&id=I712] . Accessed 13 August 2007.]

in the name of the Lord and prayed for her, and from that day until now she has never had a fit... For the truth of which, witness our hands,

"James Davidson, Maria Davidson, Hugh Findlay" [Pratt, Orson. "Divine Authenticity of the Book of Mormon". Numbers 1-3. Liverpool, 1850.]

While in England, Findlay engaged in public debates with anti-Mormon ministers from other faiths. [cite book|author=Theobald, John|title=The overthrow of infidel Mormonism: being a report of the Louth discussion which took place in the Guild Hall, Louth, Lincolnshire, August 28, 29, 30, & September 2, 3, & 6, 1850, between Mr. Hugh Findlay, Mormon elder, from Scotland, and Mr. John Theobald, Primitive Methodist local preacher, temperance advocate, anti-Mormon missionary, author of Mormonism Dissected, &c., to which is added an account of the discussion which took place at Spondon, on the 26th of May, 1848, between Mr. Theobald and Mr. George Henry, Mormon delegate|year=1850|publisher=London : W. Horsell, Aldine Chambers|id=OCLC: 171289016] He was serving as a district president (head of the Hull Conference) [cite book|author=Tullidge, Edward|authorlink=Edward Tullidge|title=Tullidge's Histories, vol. II|publisher=Press of the Juvenile Instructor|year=1889|pages=14] in England when Lorenzo Snow called him and William Willes to serve a mission in South Asia. [Roberts, B.H. "Comprehensive History of the Church". Vol.3, Ch.88, p.389]

Mission

Findlay and Willes arrived in 1851, seeking to build on reports from early members of the Plymouth Brethren that India would be a fertile ground for proselytization. However, almost immediately they were met by opposition from the established Protestant denominations, the press, and military officers and chaplains.Britsch, R. Lanier. "Latter-day Saint Mission to India". "Brigham Young University Studies 12, No. 3 (1972)". See [http://byustudies.byu.edu/shop/pdfsrc/12.3Britsch.pdf] .] Findlay labored first in Bombay; Willes travelled up the Ganges to Simla. [cite book |last=Smith |first=George Albert |authorlink=George A. Smith |coauthors= |editor= |others= |title=The rise, progress and travels of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints |origdate= |origyear= |origmonth= |url= |format= |accessdate= |accessyear= |accessmonth= |edition=2d. |series= |volume= |date= |year=1872 |month= |publisher=Printed at the Deseret News Office |location=Salt Lake City |language=English |isbn= |oclc=2070492 |doi= |id= |pages= |chapter= |chapterurl= |quote= ] It took Findlay six months to baptize his first six converts. While in Bombay, he was restricted from all military areas (cantonments) and was forbidden to preach to military personnel. In April 1852, he moved on to Poona, 90 miles distant, where he was eventually granted permission to proselyte. The local cantonment commander reasoned that "the less these people are opposed the less harm they would do." Findlay was eventually able to organize a branch of twelve members in Poona by mid-September 1852, a mixture of "European, Eurasian, and native." ["Millennial Star" (London, England), Vol. XIV, pp. 635-36.] However, in October Findlay was asked to leave the cantonment. He found new quarters in a small shelter in Poona, where he continued to hold meetings with the branch. Several months later, he completed a chapel directly across the street. ["Millennial Star" (London, England), Vol. XIV, pp. 654-55.]

After being banished from the cantonment, Findlay focused his efforts almost exclusively on the native population. He studied the Marathi language and spent considerable time discussing religion with a group of Brahmin intellectuals.

Findlay's brother Allan joined him as a missionary in India. [cite book|author=Tullidge, Edward|authorlink=Edward Tullidge|title=Tullidge's Histories, (volume II)|publisher=Press of the Juvenile Instructor|location=Salt Lake City, Utah|year=1889|pages=60] Allan McPherson Findlay, a baker by trade,Ship Manifest. "Ship Thornton". 3 May 1856 Liverpool, England - 14 Jun 1856 New York, New York. See [http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~tolleygenealogy/fthornton.html#findlay] .] was born in New Milns, Scotland, in 1830, and was baptized in November 1846. He accepted Findlay's urgent request to join him in Bombay and Poona, without any official call from the church. He arrived on September 7, 1853, about two years after Findlay.Britsch, R. Lanier. "The 1851-56 Mission to India". "Journal of Mormon History", Volume 27, Issue 2, Fall 2001]

Hugh Findlay and his fellow missionaries ultimately found little success in India. He served in Poona and Bombay for several years, most of it alone. [Britsch, R. Lanier. "The Nobility of Failure". "Speeches". Brigham Young University Press. 1999. [http://speeches.byu.edu/reader/reader.php?id=1702] ] Brigham Young ordered the mission closed in 1855. [Hunter, Milton R. "Brigham Young the Colonizer". Third Edition. 1945, p. 89. ISBN 141796846X. ] Historians have concluded the mission's significance lies is in its failure to secure more than a handful of converts, in contrast with other missions at the time (in Scandinavia and the British Isles) that were extremely successful. [Britsch, R. Lanier. "Nothing More Heroic: The Compelling Story of the First LDS Missionaries in India" Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1999.]

Emigration and settling Utah

Findlay completed his mission and departed Bombay on March 15, 1855. [Jensen, Andrew. "Church Chronology: A Record of Important Events Pertaining to the History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints". 1914, p. 53. ISBN 1417968540.] He and a few fellow Mormons emigrated by way of Hong Kong (where they baptized one convert) to the United States, arriving later that year. He married 23-year-old Catherine Ann Partington [According to Sons of the Utah Pioneers-Utah, Pioneer Companies, Catherine arrived in Salt Lake City on September 15, 1853, at age 20, as part of the McIawson Company with her father (Ralph Partington), two brothers (James and William) and her sister (Sarah).] on March 25, 1856, in the Endowment House. Brigham Young performed the ceremony.cite book |title=Pioneer Photographers of the Far West: A Biographical Dictionary, 1840-1865 |last=Palmquist |first=Peter E. |authorlink= |coauthors=Kailbourn, Thomas R. |year=2000 |publisher=Stanford University Press |location=Stanford, Calif |isbn=0804738831 9780804738835 |oclc=44089346 |pages=228-229 ]

The couple helped settle Riverdale, Utah, where Hugh made a living by manufacturing and selling matches. They eventually had nine children together."Hugh Findlay". "Ancestors of Sarah Ellen HALES". http://www.geocities.com/halesnelsongen/aqwg05.htm. Accessed 13 April 2007.]

In 1857 Findlay began practicing plural marriage when he married 16-year-old Mary Ellen Smith, with whom he eventually had seven children. Beginning in 1858, Findlay became Riverdale's first school teacher.Judkins, Lucille Child. "A History of Riverdale". March 1972. [http://www.riverdalecity.com/about/history.htm] ] He was also at one time the president of the "17th Ward Silk Producing Society". ["Home Manufacture". "Our Pioneer Heritage". Volume 12. The Year of 1868. Company E.]

In June 1862, Hugh Findlay's 19-year-old brother-in-law, Jared Smith, was killed in the Morrisite War. Smith had been engaged to Ane Marie Dorthea Nelson, a 19-year-old Danish immigrant. The next month, Findlay married Ane Marie. They had three children together and raised them as Jared's.

By 1864, Findlay was manufacturing and selling matches, wholesale and retail, at a location on Main Street in Salt Lake City. [cite book |title=Almanac for the Year 1864 |last=Phelps |first=W.W. |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=1864 |publisher=Printed at Deseret News Office |location=Great Salt Lake City, Utah |isbn= |oclc= |pages=16 |quote=Hugh Findlay, First Prize Matches, wholesale and retail, west side of Main street, 14th ward; also blacking] By the next year, he was also proprietor of a music store on East Temple Street. [cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |author= |coauthors= |title=Advertisement |url= |format= |work=Salt Lake City Deseret News |publisher= |location= |id= |pages= |page= |date=Feb. 15, 1865 |quote=SOMETHING NEW IN UTAH! AT FINDLEY'S [sic] MUSIC STORE. An Exhibition of the latest improvement of the Stereoscopia [sic] and Panoramic arts, comprising a Choice Selection of Transparent and Large Scenes, at once amusing and interesting to old and young.... This Exhibition, with an extensive change of Views and rich Fittings, is offered for Sale, presenting a rare chance for remunerative speculation. A Few stereoscopic Boxes and Views For Sale, a pleasing parlor entertainment |archiveurl= |archivedate= ]

Allan emigrated to the U.S. by way of Liverpool, England, where he set sail on the Ship Thornton to New York City. On the second day of the voyage, 26-year-old Allan married Jessie Ireland, [ See http://handcart.byu.edu/. Accessed 13 April 2007.] a 28-year-old whom the ship's manifest identified as a spinster, although they had been dating for about ten years. They met Allan and Hugh's mother (Mary McPherson Findlay) in New York and the three of them headed west. During the journey, they became part of the ill-fated Willie Handcart Company, ["Immigration to Utah," "Deseret News", 15 Oct. 1856, 254.] ["Journal History", 9 Nov. 1856, p. 25] ["James G. Willie Company (1856)". "Mormon Pioneer Overland Travel, 1847–1868". www.lds.org. http://www.lds.org/churchhistory/library/pioneercompanysearchresults/1,15792,4017-1-319,00.html. Accessed 13 April 2007.] although each eventually arrived safely in Salt Lake City. ["A Lamentable Accident," "Deseret Evening News", 5 Mar. 1891, 8.]

Later life

In the Fall of 1869, Brigham Young called Findlay and his families to help settle the Bear Lake country. They arrived on May 22, 1870, and along with Henry Howell helped settle Fish Haven, Idaho, where he later served as Bishop. Ane Marie died in Fish Haven in 1872 at age 29.

In 1878 the church called him to open a mission in the Shetland Islands, an archipelago northeast of Scotland. He arrived on January 4, 1879, and within three months baptized the first two converts in the Shetland Islands, on March 31. [Jensen, Andrew. "Church Chronology: A Record of Important Events Pertaining to the History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints". 1914, p. 103. ISBN 1417968540.]

On May 5, 1879, Orson Pratt (who was also in the British Isles at the time) received a letter from John Taylor, instructing him to obtain electroplates for a new edition of the Doctrine & Covenants. Findlay and three other men helped him divide the text into verses and supply references. [Davis, Marguirite R. "History of John Ryder". The Yancey Family Surname Resource Center. See [http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Acres/7647/jrhist.htm] .]

While in Shetland he was asked to preside over the Scotland Mission. One history records: cquote|"He had no money with which to pay his steamboat passage to Scotland, but, true to his unwavering faith, he packed his suitcase, ready to obey, and walked toward the wharf where he was to sail. As he passed the post office, he asked for his mail and received a letter from a strange lady who wrote him of her interest in articles he had written for the Millennial Star and enclosed for him a five-pound note which was equal to about twenty-five dollars in American money."

He was released as president of the Scotland Mission in 1880. He returned to his families in Fish Haven, where he served as a Patriarch until his death on March 2, 1900.

Articles

*cite journal |last=Findlay |first=Hugh |authorlink=Hugh Findlay |coauthors= |year=1882 |month=January 15 |title=Ornaments and Dress in India |journal=Juvenile Instructor |volume=17 |issue= |pages=29 |id= |url= |accessdate= |quote=
*cite journal |last=Findlay |first=Hugh |authorlink=Hugh Findlay |coauthors= |year=1882 |month=February 1 |title=A Funeral to the East |journal=Juvenile Instructor |volume=17 |issue= |pages=43 |id= |url= |accessdate= |quote=

Publications

*cite book |last=Findlay |first=Hugh |authorlink=Hugh Findlay |coauthors= |editor= |others= |title="The Mormons" Or "Latter-day-Saints": A Reply |origdate= |origyear= |origmonth= |url= |format= |accessdate= |accessyear= |accessmonth= |edition= |series= |date= |year=1853 |month= |publisher=Dustur Ashkara Press |location=Bombay |language=English |isbn= |oclc=20471665 |doi= |id= |pages= |chapter= |chapterurl= |quote=
*cite book |last=Findlay |first=Hugh |authorlink=Hugh Findlay |coauthors= |editor= |others= |title=To the Marattas of Hindoostan: A Treatise on the True and Living God and His Religion |origdate= |origyear= |origmonth= |url= |format= |accessdate= |accessyear= |accessmonth= |edition= |series= |date= |year=1855 |month= |publisher=Gunput Crushnajee's Press |location=Bombay |language=Marathi |isbn= |oclc=20473523 |doi= |id= |pages= |chapter= |chapterurl= |quote=

Notes

External links

* [http://www.riverdalecity.com/about/history.htm History of Riverdale, Utah] Municipal History
* [http://speeches.byu.edu/reader/reader.php?id=1702 BYU Devotional speech]