1. 1999–2000 Church Almanac (Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1999), 299.

2. For more information about the mission in Chile, see F. LaMond Tullis, Mormons in Mexico: The Dynamics of Faith and Culture (Logan: Utah State University, 1987); F. LaMond Tullis, “California and Chile in 1851 as Experienced by the Mormon Apostle Parley P. Pratt,” Southern California Quarterly 67 (fall 1985): 291–301; Rodolfo Acevedo A., Los Mormones en Chile: 30 años de la Iglesia de Jesucristo de las Santos de los Ultimos Días (Santiago, Chile: By the author, 1990); and A. Delbert Palmer, “Establishing the L.D.S. Church in Chile” (master’s thesis, Brigham Young University, 1979). Andrew Jenson, “West Indies Mission,” in Encyclopedic History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Salt Lake City: Deseret News Publishing, 1941), 938–39; and 1997–1998 Church Almanac (Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1996), 345.

3. In 1841 and 1853, missionaries did go to Jamaica, which at that time was part of the British Empire. See “The Gospel in the United States, &c,” Millennial Star 15 (April 2, 1853): 21617; and Jenson, “West Indies Mission,” in Encyclopedic History of the Church, 938–39.

4. Joseph Smith Jr., History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, ed. B. H. Roberts, 2d ed., rev., 7 vols. (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1971), 4:413.

5. Journal History of the Church, May 27, 1849, 2, Archives Division, Historical Department, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City (hereafter cited as LDS Church Archives), microfilm copy in Special Collections and Manuscripts, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah (hereafter cited as BYU Archives). In its First General Epistle from Salt Lake City, the First Presidency stated, “Elder Parley P. Pratt has been assigned a mission to the Western Islands, whither he is expecting to go before another winter.” “First General Epistle of the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, from the Great Salt Lake Valley, to the Saints Scattered throughout the Earth,” Millennial Star 11 (July 15, 1849): 232. This epistle, issued in April 1849, was followed by a second in October of the same year: “For wise purposes Elder P. P. Pratt’s mission to the Western Islands will be deferred until spring.” “Second General Epistle of the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, from the Great Salt Lake Valley, to the Saints Scattered throughout the Earth,” Millennial Star 12 (April 15, 1850): 118.

6. Parley P. Pratt Jr., ed., The Autobiography of Parley P. Pratt, 4th ed. (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1985), 341–42.

7. Journal History of the Church, February 23, 1851, 1.

8. Elizabeth Pratt did not continue on to Chile but remained in San Francisco due to poor health. Reva Stanley, The Archer of Paradise: A Biography of Parley P. Pratt (Caldwell, Idaho: Caxton Printers, 1937), 244, 256. Reva Stanley is a pseudonym. The author’s name is Reva Lucile Holdaway Scott.

9. Parley P. Pratt to Brigham Young and Council, April 13, 1851, Incoming Correspondence, Brigham Young Papers, LDS Church Archives; Parley P. Pratt to Brigham Young, August 28, 1851, Incoming Correspondence, Brigham Young Papers, LDS Church Archives, reprinted in Pratt, Autobiography, 357. Whenever possible we have examined the original letters or photocopies of them in the LDS Church Archives or the BYU Archives. Some of the letters were published in Pratt, Autobiography. However, the letters in the Autobiography have been edited and some parts changed or left out. We have followed the spelling and capitalization of the original letters whenever used rather than the edited and published version. We indicate the publication information of printed versions.

10. A list of donors is found in Parley P. Pratt, Journal, February 25, 1851, in Papers, 1837–1867, BYU Archives. The loan is mentioned in Pratt to Young, August 28, 1851, reprinted in Pratt, Autobiography, 356. The sentence on the loan is left out of the published autobiography.

11. Pratt to Young, August 28, 1851. Ironically, while Pratt was determining exactly where to go, President Brigham Young may have had second thoughts about the South American venture. On October 23, 1851, the First Presidency addressed a letter to Pratt in which they stated, “Should you receive it seasonably to [secure] the benefit will first say, you are at liberty to remain on the Coast, or in California, at present; and send missionaries, where you will, unless the Spirit shall press you to go.” Since it required months for mail to travel between San Francisco and Salt Lake City, the letter arrived in San Francisco long after Elder Pratt had sailed—perhaps even after he had left Chile in March of the following year. Undoubtedly it was awaiting him upon his return. Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, and Willard Richards to Parley P. Pratt, October 23, 1851, Outgoing Correspondence, Brigham Young Papers, LDS Church Archives.

12. Pratt to Young, August 28, 1851, reprinted in Pratt, Autobiography, 356.

13. See for example, John M. Letts, California Illustrated, Including a Description of the Panama and Nicaragua Routes (New York: R. T. Young, 1853).

14. Parley P. Pratt to Brigham Young, March 13, 1852, Incoming Correspondence, Brigham Young Papers, LDS Church Archives, reprinted in Pratt, Autobiography, 367–68.

15. The statement that Lehi landed in Chile was recorded by Frederick G. Williams, attributed by some to Joseph Smith, and believed by a number of early Church leaders. Frederick G. Williams III, “Did Lehi Land in Chile? An Assessment of the Frederick G. Williams Statement” (Provo, Utah: FARMS, 1988), 1. For documentation of Elder Pratt’s belief that Lehi landed in Chile, see Parley P. Pratt, Key to the Science of Theology (Liverpool: F. D. Richards, 1855), 22–23, and Parley P. Pratt, “Proclamation! to the People of the Coasts and Islands of the Pacific” (1851), quoted in Williams, “Did Lehi Land in Chile?” 2. See also John L. Sorenson, An Ancient American Setting for the Book of Mormon (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1985), 1–2, who argues against the tradition of a Chilean landing for Lehi.

16. Tullis, Mormonsin Mexico, 6–7.

17. Chilean historian Mario Barros states, “From this moment [August 19, 1848] the ‘gold fever’ took hold of all classes of Chileans without exception. Three months after the notice, El Mercurio de Valparaíso reported the departure of 65 sailing vessels for the north . . . in 90 days. . . . In 1856 when the delirium ended the Chilean consul in San Francisco reported that over 70,000 Chileans had arrived in California.” Mario Barros, Historia Diplomática de Chile (1541–1938) (Barcelona, Spain: Ediciones Ariel, 1970), 192–94; translation by the authors.

18. Jay Monaghan, Chile, Peru, and the California Gold Rush of 1849 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1973), 201–2. See also George Edward Faugsted, The Chilenos in the California Gold Rush (San Francisco: R and E Research, 1963).

19. When telling Brigham Young about the baptisms that were occurring, Elder Pratt stated that among those being baptized were “strangers from different countries.” Pratt to Young, August 28, 1851, reprinted in Pratt, Autobiography, 356.

20. Parley P. Pratt to Agatha Pratt, August 27, 1851, typescript, Ann Agatha Walker Pratt, Reminiscences and Letters, 1847–1907, LDS Church Archives.

21. Pheobe Pratt to Family, reprinted in “His Eighth Wife,” in Our Pioneer Heritage, comp. Kate B. Carter, 20 vols. (Salt Lake City: Daughters of Utah Pioneers, 1958–77), 17:221–22.

22. Parley P. Pratt to My Ever Dear Friends, September 15, 1851, Parley Parker Pratt Collection [ca. 1835–1896] (hereafter cited as Pratt Collection), LDS Church Archives; reprinted in Pratt, Autoboigraphy, 358–60. The published letter, however, left out this quote.

23. “Sketch of the Life of Rufus Chester Allen,” [1905], typescript, LDS Church Archives. Pratt mentioned in a letter written on November 21, 1851, to the Millennial Star that he expected another missionary, Philo B. Wood, to go to Chile. Wood did not go. “The Gospel in South America. Letter from Elder P. P. Pratt,” Millennial Star 14 (February 15, 1852): 54.

24. “Noticias del arribo del ‘Henry Kelsey’ en diaries locales,” typescript, Rodolfo Antonio Acevedo Acevedo [Collected information regarding Parley P. Pratt’s mission to South America 1851–1852], LDS Archives (hereafter cited as Acevedo Collection). This information comes from a group of newspaper articles collected by Rodolfo Acevedo A. and sent to the LDS Church Archives. The missionaries could have traveled on a Chilean passenger ship Ann McKim, which carried seventy-seven passengers and arrived in Chile on the same day, but they probably chose the Henry Kelsey because the passenger fare was less expensive.

25. Parley P. Pratt to Dear Family, September, 15,1851, in Pratt Autobiography, 360.

26. We examined two newspapers for the period November 1, 1851, to March 10, 1852, El Mercurio, published daily in Valparaíso, and El Araucano, published daily in Santiago. The arrival of the Henry Kelsey with three passengers, “nuestros hermanos misioneros” (our missionary brothers), was noted, but the paper did not publish the passenger lists of this ship, as it did with other vessels, and it did not connect its mention of missionaries with the LDS Church.

27. Pratt, Autobiography, 360.

28. Pratt, Autobiography, 360. Elder Pratt inferred that this form of worship “must have been instituted soon after the Church of Jesus Christ became extinct in the Roman world, and, by some unaccountable blunder, borrowed its name from those institutions, which it does not even resemble in the least in any one feature save the name.” Parley P. Pratt to Dear Friends, November 9, 1851, in Pratt, Autobiography, 360–61.

29. Pratt was so enamored with his surroundings that he wrote a delightful poem called “November in Chili” and sent it with his November 16, 1851, letter. Parley P. Pratt to Friends, November 16, 1851, in Pratt, Autobiography, 361–62.

30. Stanley, Archer of Paradise, 257.

31. Parley P. Pratt to Dear Friends, January 31, 1852, Pratt Collection, LDS Church Archives.

32. Recently through the efforts of the Chilean historian Rodolfo Acevedo A., a plaque honoring Omner Pratt was placed in the cemetery where the burial occurred. See Rodolfo Acevedo A., “Cemetery Plaque Honors Historic 1851 Visit to Chile,” Church News, published by Deseret News, November 24, 1990, 3–4. Phoebe Pratt returned to Utah, where she gave birth to another child, Phoebe—her only child to live to maturity. Phoebe Pratt (Sr.) became a schoolteacher in Spanish Fork, Utah, and passed away in Provo on September 17, 1887. Susan Easton Black, The Membership of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1830–1848, 50 vols. (Provo, Utah: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1989), 35:58–990.

33. Monaghan, Chile, Peru, 199.

34. Monaghan, Chile, Peru, 174, 187.

35. Pratt to Friends, November 16, 1851, reprinted in Pratt, Autobiography, 361.

36. Parley P. Pratt to Belinda Pratt, February 25, 1852, Pratt Collection, LDS Church Archives.

37. Recaredo S. Tornero, Chile Ilustrado: Guia Descriptivo del Territorio de Chile (Santiago de Chile: Biblioteca Nacional de Chile, 1996), 213–14.

38. Pratt, Autobiography, 364.

39. Parley P. Pratt to Agatha Pratt, February 9,1852, typescript, Ann Agatha Walker Pratt, Reminiscences and Letters, 1847–1907.

40. See Fidel Araneda Bravo, Historia de la Iglesia en Chile (Santiago, Chile: Ediciones Paulinas, 1986).

41. Salvatore Bizzarro, Historical Dictionary of Chile, 2d ed. (Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1987), 110.

42. George Byam, Wanderings in Some of the Western Republics of America (West Strand, London: John W. Parker, 1850), 153, 155.

43. Francisco Valensuela Frias, Manual de historia de Chile (Santiago, Chile: Editorial Nascimento, 1969), 366–67.

44. Monaghan, Chile, Peru, 214.

45. J. Lloyd Mecham, Church and State in Latin America (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1934), 207.

46. Pratt to Young, March 13, 1852; reprinted in Pratt, Autobiography, 365.

47. Pratt to Young, March 13, 1852.

48. Pratt to Friends, November 9, 1851, in Pratt, Autobiography, 360–61.

49. Parley P. Pratt to Family, January 31, 1852, as quoted in Stanley, Archer of Paradise, 261.

50. Parley P. Pratt, ¡Proclamación! Extraordinaria, para los Americanos Españoles, Proclamation Extraordinary! to the Spanish Americans (San Francisco: Monson, Haswell, 1852). Since he was not able to have the proclamation printed in Chile, he immediately had it published in San Francisco upon his return. His translation for the name of the Church was Yglesía de Jesu Christo de los Posteros dias Santos. The present and more correct translation is La Iglesiade Jesucristo de los Santos de los Ultimos Días. For a discussion of the pamphlet, see David J. Whitaker, “Parley P. Pratt and the Pacific Mission: Mormon Publishing in ‘That Very Questionable Part of the Civilized World,’” in Davis Bitton, ed., Mormon Scripture and the Ancient World: Studies in Honor of John L. Sorenson (Provo, Utah: FARMS, 1998), 51-84.

51. Parley P. Pratt, ¡Proclamación! Extraordinaria, 3-5, 7, 11, 13; italics in original.

52. In a collection of Pratt’s letters and writing in the BYU and LDS Church Archives, there are two drafts of the proclamation under the title of “Facts for Serious Consideration for Spanish Americans.” There is also what appears to be a copy of the Spanish translation written in handwriting that is not Pratt’s. An example of Pratt’s difficulty with Spanish can be seen in a letter he wrote to his wife Agatha. The level of his Spanish is about where it would be expected after just a few months of study. See Pratt to Agatha Pratt, February 9, 1852.

53. “On the 22d day of October, A.D. 1827, an Angel restored the fulness of the Gospel to man.” Pratt, ¡Proclamación! Extraordinaria, 9.

54. Simon Collier and William F. Sater, A History of Chile, 1808–1994 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1996), 54–60.

55. Collier and Sater, History of Chile, 54–60. Three days after Pratt arrived, the local paper published an article on the civil war and its effect on Valparaíso. There was concern the fighting would reach their town. “La prensa y la guerra civil,” El Diario [Valparaíso, Chile], November 11, 1851, Acevedo Collection, LDS Church Archives.

56. Pratt to Young, March 13, 1852. This letter was published in his Autobiography but with some editorial changes, including the omission of the final sentence of this quote. Pratt, Autobiography, 367.

57. Pratt to Young, March 13,1852. In this letter, Pratt gives as his reasons for leaving Chile his difficulty with Spanish and a lack of funds, rather than the political restrictions of the country.

58. Parley P. Pratt, in Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. (Liverpool: F. D. Richards, 1855–86), 1:139, 141, 142, July 4, 1853.

59. Pratt to Agatha Pratt, February 9,1852.

60. Pratt to Belinda Pratt, February 25, 1852.

61. For information on Elder Pratt’s early success with the language, see Parley P. Pratt, Journal, January 19, 1852, LDS Church Archives.

62. Parley P. Pratt, Journal, April 18, 1852.

63. Pratt to Young, March 13, 1852, reprinted in Pratt, Autobiography, 368–69.

64. Pratt to Young, March 13, 1852, reprinted in Pratt, Autobiography, 369.

65. Elder Pratt’s journal, written retrospectively, says the Dracut left on March 2. Parley P. Pratt, Journal, February 25, 1852, LDS Church Archives.

66. El Mercurio [Valparaíso, Chile], February 28, 1852; “Movimiento Maritimo,” El Diario [Valparaíso, Chile], March 4, 1852. Photocopies of these articles are located in the Acevedo Collection.

67. Parley P. Pratt to Dear Brother, March 27, 1852, in Pratt, Autobiography, 370.

68. Parley P. Pratt to Dear Brother, March 27, 1852, in Pratt, Autobiography, 402.

69. According to the family story, Phoebe was saved by a vision of the whereabouts of additional food that was stored on board. Stanley, Archer of Paradise, 268.

70. Pratt, Autobiography, 372.

71. Pratt, Autobiography, 373.

72. Parley P. Pratt, Journal [May–August, 1852], LDS Church Archives, reprinted in Pratt, Autobiography, 373–75.

73. Parley Pratt had a premonition prior to his mission to the Southern States that his life might be taken. “I feel as if I shall never come back,” he told his wife Agatha. “Reminiscences of Mrs. A. Agatha Pratt,” typescript, 2, in Ann Agatha Pratt, Reminiscences and Letters.

74. James J. O’Kelly, “Dom Pedro in Utah,” New York Herald, April 23, 1876, 5.

75. Robert Evans, “The Emperor and the Saints: Dom Pedro II’s Visit to Utah in 1876” (honor’s thesis, Brigham Young University, 1993); David L. Wood, “Emperor Dom Pedro’s Visit to Salt Lake City,” Utah Historical Quarterly 37 (summer 1969): 337–52.

76. Andrew Jenson, Autobiography of Andrew Jenson (Salt Lake City: Deseret News Press, 1938), 547–76; Andrew Jenson, “South American Mission,” in Encyclopedic History of the Church, 810.

77. For a history of this mission, see Frederick Salem Williams and Frederick G. Williams, From Acorn to Oak Tree: A Personal History of the Establishment and First Quarter Century Development of the South American Missions (Fullerton, Calif.: Et Cetera Et Cetera Graphics, 1987), 17–33.

78. Melvin J. Ballard, “Significance of South American Revolutions,” Improvement Era 34 (April 1931): 317.

79. Elder Ballard’s work in Argentina bore fruit more quickly than Elder Pratt’s in Chile for a number of reasons: Elder Ballard was allowed to hand out pamphlets and to proselyte; there were German members living in Argentina who were stalwart missionaries; and he was succeeded by both German and Spanish-speaking missionaries. After what might have been considered a slow and discouraging beginning, the Church became firmly established in Argentina. See Williams and Williams, From Acorn to Oak Tree, 26–29.

A. Delbert Palmer

BYU Studies Publications