William Harrison Folsom


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Commenting on the engraving of "The Old Territorial Capitol," Sorenson says: .

"The engraving, however, does not do justice to the building, as it was made from a photograph taken after the colonnade, which surrounded it, had been torn down When the columns were standing it is said that the structure presented a very handsome appearance, excelled by but few other buildings in the country at that time.... It was erected by Bovy & Armstrong" (p. 91).

Folsom was immediately awarded other contracts and soon established a thriving contracting and bui1d~ng business of his own. The population of both Omaha and Council Bluffs was growing by leaps and bounds. Saints living in this area had erected a few comfortable homes and some business buildings. Nevertheless, in 1852 Brigham Young urged all Saints residing in or near Omaha and Council Bluffs to make an effort to come to the Rocky Mountains. Twenty-one companies besides a few independent companies left for the West, but of course not all of the Saints were able to go at this time. The church emigration point was moved to Keokuk, Iowa.

Orson Hyde, who had been presiding over the Saints in Council Bluffs and editing and publishing the Frontier Guardian, sold the publication and moved to Salt Lake City, Utah Territory. When the Fo1soms arrived in Council Bluffs in 1854, L.D. Littlefield and Joseph Ellis Johnson were publishing this paper. Other members of the Ezekiel Johnson and Wilson families, the Le Barons, Almon W. Babbitt and John Leavitt were also in residence. B. Franklin Brown and his brother Philander were in the hotel business; C. R. Savage had set up a photograph parlor; Lewis S. Hills was serving as United States Land Registrar.

Shortly after the Fo1soms arrived in Council Bluffs; they received word of the death of Eliza's father, Richard Clark, at his home in Atwater, Ohio. He passed away November 13, 1954.

On November 4, 1854, Apostle Erastus Snow organized a Stake of Zion at St. Louis, Missouri, with Milo Andrews as President and Charles Edwards and George Gardiner as Counselors. A High Council was also organized (Andrew Jenson, Church Chronology).

November 22, 1854, the first number of the St. Louis Luminary was published by Erastus Snow (Church Chronology, p. 52).

May 12, 1855, the Luminary published the following:

"We have been favored with a brief report on the Conference held at Council Bluffs City, April 8, 1855. William H. Folsom as President of the Branch; Francis A. Brown, Clerk. The names of the General Authorities were presented and unanimously sustained by vote of the Conference. The Indian Creek Branch was represented by James McCallister contains 16 members, including the officers. We have not been furnished with representatives of other Branches. Instructions were given and general business taken care of, after which, Francis A. Brown addressed the congregation. 'I feel to acquiesce in the remarks of President Fulsom and I rejoice that we still wish to preserve that union and perseverance in the great work we are enlisted in.... It was said that we could not sustain an organization here, but thus far it has been kept from snags and shoals and our most sanguine expectations have been more than realized'.


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