Reid L. Neilson - A Historian in Zion

Published by the Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, in cooperation with Deseret Book Company, Salt Lake City.

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2016 by Brigham Young University. All rights reserved.

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Cover design by Madison Swapp and interior layout by Alex Masterson.

ISBN: 978-1-9443-9400-4

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Jenson, Andrew, 1850-1941, author. | Neilson, Reid Larkin, 1972

editor. | Melville, R. Mark, 1988- editor.

Title: A Historian in Zion : The Autobiography of Andrew Jenson, Assistant

Church Historian / Edited by Reid L. Neilson and R. Mark Melville.

Other titles: Autobiography of Andrew Jenson

Description: Revised and Enhanced Edition. | Provo, Utah : Religious Studies

Center, Brigham Young University, 2016. | "For Ronald W. Walker (RLN) and

David and Eula Ebbert (RMM)." | Includes bibliographical references and

index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2016007885 | ISBN 9781944394004 (alk. paper)

Subjects: LCSH: Jenson, Andrew, 1850-1941. | Mormons--United

States--Biography. | Historians--United States--Biography. | Church of

Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints--History. | Mormon Church--History.

Classification: LCC BX8695.J46 A3 2016 | DDC 289.3092--dc23 LC record available at http://lccn.loc.

gov/2016007885

For Ronald W. Walker (RLN)

and David and Eula Ebbert (RMM)

On April 16th [1891] I received a telegram from Apostle Franklin D. Richards, requesting me to meet him at the Historians Office that day, which I did, and after I had read some letters which he had prepared for me he blessed me and set me apart as a historian in Zion , promising me that I should be the means in the hands of the Lord, and under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, to do a great work in the midst of the people who would receive me kindly and be pleased to administer to my comfort and welfare. I was promised wisdom and intelligence from above and also physical strength that I should have great joy in my labors and become more and more interested and efficient in the great and important work to which my whole attention now would be directed. And when, at some future day, the books should be opened to view, the importance of my labors should become apparent and the good work done by me should bring a blessing and a benefit to all Israel. I was also admonished to cultivate a spirit of humility and meekness, that I, in my lecturing and teaching among the people, might gain the love, good will and confidence of the saints, and be able to make proper impressions upon them and thus benefit them and be the cause of an improved system of keeping records being introduced in the various stakes of Zion. Elder Richards was fervent in his administration and implored the throne of grace earnestly in my behalf that I might be successful in my labors and accomplish my mission faithfully and well.

Andrew Jenson, Autobiography of Andrew Jenson

(Salt Lake City: Deseret News Press, 1938), 193,

emphasis added; page 192 herein.

Contents

Editors Preface

This revised and enhanced edition of Assistant Church Historian Andrew Jensons Autobiography is the fourth volume of his personal writings published with the Religious Studies Center at Brigham Young University. Previous volumes include Reid L. Neilson and Riley M. Moffat, Tales from the World Tour: The 18951897 Travel Writings of Mormon Historian Andrew Jenson (2012), Justin R. Bray and Reid L. Neilson, Exploring Book of Mormon Lands: The 1923 Latin American Travel Writings of Mormon Historian Andrew Jenson (2014), and Reid L. Neilson, Justin R. Bray, and Alan D. Johnson, Rediscovering the Sites of the Restoration: The 1888 Travel Writings of Mormon Historian Andrew Jenson, Edward Stevenson, and Joseph S. Black (2015). As Jenson devoted his professional life to the collection, preservation, and dissemination of the Latter-day Saint story, we feel his extraordinary life is worthy of remembrance and retelling in 2016, the seventy-fifth anniversary of his death.

The Danish-American historian passed away in November 1941 at the age of ninety. Norwegian John A. Widtsoe, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, spoke at Jensons funeral. He related the following story to the congregation assembled in the historic Tabernacle on Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah. A few hours before his death, Elders [Charles A.] Callis, A. W[illiam]. Lund and I stood by his bedside. In his delirium he seemed to be calling for pen and paper. There was history to be written. I thought that history of course will be written in the spirit world, and that no doubt he would be called to continue his work on earth in the Hereafter, he shared with Jensons family and friends in the congregation. But Elder Widtsoe then bore his belief that in a paradisiacal state the late Assistant Church Historian would have mightier tools than pen and ink with which to write upon the scrolls of eternity. Freed from the restraints of earth, there will be at his command vast universal forces, with which the story of the uncounted ages will be preserved. Jenson would continue to chronicle the life, faith, and works of the Saints in the eternities to come.

The Scandinavian apostle concluded his funeral tribute by reflecting further on his last mortal moments with Jenson: As I stood by his bedside, and since, the lines of Kipling passed through my mindthough we can not agree with them fully, they have seemed, since Brother Jensons passing, to fit into my thoughts. He then quoted English writer Rudyard Kiplings 1892 poem, When Earths Last Picture Is Painted, as his benediction on Jensons life:

When Earths last picture is painted and the tubes are twisted and dried,

When the oldest colours have faded, and the youngest critic has died,

We shall rest, and, faith, we shall need itlie down for an aeon or two,

Till the Master of All Good Workmen shall put us to work anew.

And those that were good shall be happy; they shall sit in a golden chair;

They shall splash at a ten-league canvas with brushes of comets hair.

They shall find real saints to draw fromMagdalene, Peter, and Paul;

They shall work for an age at a sitting and never be tired at all!

And only The Master shall praise us, and only The Master shall blame;

And no one shall work for money, and no one shall work for fame,

But each for the joy of the working, and each, in his separate star,

Shall draw the Thing as he sees It for the God of Things as They are!

Until his death, Jensons canvas, paints, and brushes were the paper, pens, and typewriters of the Church Historians Office. He found joy in his work, never seeking great money for his tireless efforts, Widtsoe seems to be suggesting. Following his recitation of Kiplings verses, the First Presidency counselor concluded his remarks: God bless the memory of Andrew Jenson; and bless his dear wife and his family. May their fathers faith be theirs.