The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Oklahoma - History

History

In the late 1840s, George Miller, a former bishop who delayed going to the West, traveled from Winter Quarters to visit his son in Texas. He and two other members with him, Joseph Kilting and Richard Hewitt, found construction work available in the Cherokee Nation. They arrived in Tahlequah on July 9, 1847, and began to build houses. They also began to teach others about the Mormon faith, but antagonism forced Miller to leave in December. Hewitt and Kilting remained to work.

In 1855, Orson Spencer and James McGaw visited the Indian Territory from St. Louis, Mo., and on April 8, five more missionaries were sent from Salt Lake City, and four from St. Louis. The Indian Territory Mission was created and placed under the leadership of Miller on June 26, 1855.

The missionaries met and reconverted followers of Lyman Wight. One of these was Jacob Croft who had met missionaries earlier and started for Utah. After hearing misconceptions about conditions there, his party settled in Indian Territory and built a gristmill.

As early as July 1855, missionaries preached to about 400 Indians, and the Cherokee Branch was started at Croft’s Spavinaw Creek mill. This became Mission headquarters. Croft later lead a party of 56 including other former followers of Wight and some re-converted "Strangites" to Utah.

Later in the year, missionaries were sent from St. Louis to southern portions of the Cherokee Nations. In 1856, the Princess Creek branch was organized. The Lehi and Nephi branches were organized in 1858.

Illness was a problem in the Indian Territory Mission for many years. At least four missionaries died including Orson Spencer.

The Remaining Members Migrated to Utah in 1858-1859. By 1860, all the missionaries but John A. Richards, who had married an Indian wife, returned to Utah and the mission was discontinued.

When Matthew Dalton and John Hubbard returned to begin missionary work in 1877, they found John Richards was still faithful, and they received assistance from him. Later that year, Elder Hubbard died and the mission was closed. In 1883, Matthew Dalton and Elder George Teasdale of the Quorum of the Twelve reorganized the mission. Tracts in the Cherokee language were printed.

Andrew Kimball, father of President Spencer W. Kimball, presided over the mission in 1885. Although he had contracted malaria, he carried on the work and was assisted by John Richards, and later by additional full time missionaries. In 1892, the first meetinghouse was built in Manard(Cherokee County). Another was built in Massey (Choctaw Nation).

On November 7, 1911, a branch was established at Gore with 113 members but was later dissolved. It was not until May 1, 1960 when the branch was again organized in Gore. A Sunday School that began in Bartlesville in 1924 became a branch on October 13, 1945. Membership increased slowly as many converts moved to Utah.

Membership increased in the 1950s and 1960s. Two stakes were created in 1960. The Tulsa Stake was created on May 1, 1960, and the Oklahoma City Stake on October 23, 1960.

The Latter-day Saint community reached out to those in need after a bomb destroyed the nine-story Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995.

In 1999, thousands of Latter-day Saints volunteers from Oklahoma and surrounding areas came to Oklahoma in response to the 1999 Oklahoma tornado outbreak to provide rescue, relief, and recovery for the victims of the storm. Latter-day Saints in Oklahoma provided relief to victims of other disasters including floods in 2007, the Mid-May 2008 tornado outbreak sequence, and provided aid to victims of Hurricane Katrina.