Welcome to these web pages that are dedicated to the Manx people and residents who joined the Mormon Church.

This might seem a little strange to dedicate a website to a church that is relatively small and unimportant on the Island - after all, the established church on the Isle of Man is the Church of England, and in common with other British Celtic areas, Methodism has also been very important. Catholic and Baptist churches are the next largest. The Mormon Church or The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS) to use its correct name is way down the list. Even the Jehovah Witnesses are currently larger with two congregations on the Island.

However it is very arguable that people from the Isle of Man and their descendants have had a bigger impact on the LDS church than on any other. This is all the more remarkable if you take into consideration that the LDS Church has existed on the Isle of Man for only two relatively short periods:

1. 1840's and 50's (a dwindling handful of members survived to the beginning of the 20th Century)
2. 1960's onwards

It was in September 1840 that the first missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints arrived on the Isle of Man. They were extremely successful - with little effort and in a short space of time over 300 men, women and children were converted. Members would be found on the Isle of Man until at least 1900, however, as a result of these conversions most Manx members would leave the shores of their beautiful island home to travel to a new world where they would try and build a 'New Jerusalem', - a society based on Christian principles.

This would be no easy task. In common with all emigrants of that time too many would die en-route. Those that reached their destination would feel that they were reliving the Bible. Like the Jews of old they followed their prophet across a thousand miles of wilderness (that is how the Great Plains were viewed at that time) to a new promised land, which contained a freshwater lake from which flowed a river to an inland salt sea. Not surprisingly they named the river Jordan. Here Manx men and women would become pioneers making the desert bloom. They were involved in the opening up of a new land, in which many would play a major role. The LDS Church itself would see the direct descendants of some Manx families occupy top positions of leadership. There is no doubt that these Manx converts played a role far larger than their numbers would otherwise suggest.

This website will at least initially concentrate on those early converts in the 19th Century and hopefully will be of some aid to those doing family research. While my research is very extensive, it will not be practical to put all my information on the Internet. However I will try to indicate where I do have a lot of information on an individual or family. I also want to be able to use this website to refer people to other web pages having relevant information. I hope you find these pages useful.

Finally, if you get chance would you please sign the guestbook? I hope to use the information to improve the website.

Martin E. Holden