The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 49, July 1945 - April, 1946 Page: 243
717 p. : ill., maps, ports. ; 24 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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The Mormon Migration into Texas
March 21, 1853: 25 chairs at $1.00 each $ 25.00
May 12, 1853: 75 chairs at $1.00 each 75.00
2 saddles at $17.00 each 34.00
1 saddle at $18.00 18.00
2 girths 3.50
Aug. 20, 1853: Cash 230.00
Dec. 1, 1853: Cash 50.00
Jan. 2, 1854: Girths and saddles 72.6014
The suit died on the docket of the court because of the
inability of the sheriff of Bexar County to locate Wight and
serve citation upon him. Evidently Wight found convenient
ways to avoid the presence of the officer.
Troubles continued to beset the colonists, and Wight was
again seized with the wanderlust. In March, 1858, declaring
that he had a premonition of the War between the States, he
gathered his followers together and headed northward. His
son, Levi Lamoni, had this to say:
In the spring of 1858 my father planned another move. Of course we
must all go. Here came quite a test of faith in the technicalities of his
religion. I told my wife that I was not going to follow those wild moves
any longer. We consulted about the matter for several days and came
to the conclusion that we would rebel and arrange to stay where we were
and risk the consequences and went to plowing. I thought over the matter
seriously. My father and mother were getting old and feeble and we
could not tell what might happen to them, and finally thought it our duty
to follow them once more, so we arranged to go along.1'
On the second day of the journey, at a point about eight
miles from San Antonio, Wight suddenly died. His body was
carried by his family and followers to the old settlement of
Zodiac and there interred in the cemetery.
No colonists in Texas were ever more thoroughly under the
domination of one man. In a literal sense, Wight was their
material and spiritual leader. His colony was a "common stock"
proposition, in which he was the absolute dictator. All business
was done and all property was held in his individual name. It
was inevitable that when his dominant personality was gone
the colonists would divide into several groups. There was no
leader to succeed him. The greater number continued the jour-
14Petition and citation, Cause No. 1100, John Bremond vs. Lyman Wight,
Civil Docket, District Court, Bexar County, Texas. These papers are now
on file in district clerk's office, Bexar County.
15L. L. Wight, "Autobiography," Journal of History (Published by
Board of Publication of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter
Day Saints, Lamoni, Iowa), IX (July, 1916), 268.243
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 49, July 1945 - April, 1946, periodical, 1946; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth146056/m1/276/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.