The Life and Times of Joseph Fish, Mormon Pioneer (review)

360civil war history most of which need footnote references. However, the appendix, with its list of George Peabody's gifts and legacies, is most helpful. William P. Vaughn North Texas State University The Life and Times of Joseph Fish, Mormon Pioneer. Edited by John H. Krenkel. (Danville, 111.: Interstate Printers and Publishers, 1970. Pp. 543. $7.00.) Joseph Fish was born in 1840 near Joliet, Illinois, to parents who followed the ups and downs of the Mormon Church from the halcyon days at Nauvoo to the death of the Mormon prophet Joseph Smith, through the harrowing nightmare of the migration to Utah, and the hard life of breaking the backs of the harsh Western environment and the aborigines. Joseph Fish embraced Mormonism with a fervor that carried him through the persecutions in Illinois, the hardships of transcontinental travel, colonization, and legal prosecution for practicing polygamy. After a life of hard work and a series of setbacks almost reminiscent of Jude, the Obscure, Mr. Fish retired to Enterprise, Utah, to write history. Poor, but unbroken in spirit, he wrote "The Pioneers of the Rocky Mountain Region," a "History of Arizona," "The Life and Times of Joseph Fish," and completed his journal in longhand, covering nearly seventy years on the frontier. This book has diary entries from the late 1850's to 1924. A man of great integrity and ability, he related the events in his lifetime—trivial and important—with clarity and openness. Mr. Fish, being a member of what we would term the lower-middleclass , presents a panorama of the Intermountain West in contrast to that found in the journals and correspondence of political, economic, and religious leaders of the same region. The spectacular includes raising log houses, making furniture, building defensive walls around local communities, and struggling with predatories. Mr. Fish faced compulsory militia duty, was ruined several times when Indian marauders stole his budding herd and few horses, rode guard over the livestock of the community, and had exciting episodes riding with militia columns chasing Indians racing livestock through valleys and mountains of Utah. There were unending searches for work, building fences to enclose stock, road construction, and unemployment. Local civil and church courts in operation, community parties, and the unsettledness of many families on the frontier are described. Included in the account are building new towns in Utah, Arizona, and Mexico with a strong dash of physical and political difficulties. Some material is included on the building of railroads in Arizona. He was in the Arizona legislature, robbed by prominent outlaws, suffered the agony of polygamy, and went through a polygamist divorce. A clear picture of the hardships of the lower-middle-class emerge from the autobiography. BOOK REVIEWS361 There are certain weaknesses in the volume; some of which are inherent in Mr. Fish being a contemporary of the events he describes, and some from an inadequate job by the editor. Because Mr. Fish wrote about events familiar to him and his times, his diary entries often lack the background material to place a particular problem in its historical setting. A good example would be his view of the struggle between the Mormon Church and the Federal government over polygamy . To fully grasp the significance of the fight, it will be necessary to supplement the diary with recent historical accounts. The editor could have given a resume of such material in a concise explanatory footnote. Also, because Mr. Fish was an ardent Mormon, he avoids criticism of his church leaders and doctrine. But that is a positive feature of the autobiography. It gives the historian a good view of this religious mentality on the frontier. One will not find much introspection or discussion of church doctrine by Mr. Fish. Being a "true believer," he accepted the leadership of his church without question. There is a problem with collation, too. Mr. Krenkel tells the reader in the "Editor's Preface" that about one-third of the autobiography was deleted for being repetitious. He promised to indicate in the footnotes where "some" of the lengthy deletions occurred. However, upon an examination of the footnotes, only one such deletion is mentioned (p. 349). In other footnotes, important information is given...