When my Mormon ancestors joined the church and moved west their neighbors weren’t sorry to see them go. It was even worth a poem to celebrate them leaving.
good bye to Mr. Hale, Good by to Mr. Ball,
good bye to Mr. Woodruff, the greatest one of all.
good bye to all the Deacons good bye to all their Church
they Can not get their money, they’ve left them in the lurch
good bye their Book of mormon, good bye their Revelation,
good [bye] to all their fools, and all their Botheration—
good bye to Elder Luce, good bye to Deacon Thomas,
Look not to right or left, till you see the land of promise
good bye to all the Ladies that like this thievish Band
goe taste their milk and honey in the promise land
weil Eat our fish and taters, and tell the same old story
While you travel on, to the great Missouria
Remember old lots wife, was turned into Salt
for looking found Behind her, Commanded not to halt
To now you are pondering right between two Schools
good Bye to all your nonsense, for listening unto fools
Iv’e Bid you all good Bye, for forming Such a lie
the time is soon a Coming we surely all must Die
suppose I should die here and you die in Missouria
which do you Suppose, would be the nearest [to] Glory
A poem found in a Bible owned by a family living on the South Island represents perhaps the only surviving contemporary account of the anti-Mormon sentiments on the Fox Islands. Source: Religious Studies Center, BYU
Jason E. Thompson. “‘The Lord Told Me to Go and I Went’: Wilford Woodruff’s Missions to the Fox Islands, 1837–38”.” Banner of the Gospel: Wilford Woodruff, ed. Alexander L. Baugh and Susan Easton Black (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2010), 97–148.