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Show 92 n eed o f s k i l l e d masons t h a t Brigham Young gave o r d e r s t o p r o s e l y t i n g m i s s i o n a r i e s t o c o n c e n t r a t e on c o n v e r t i n g p e o p le w i t h b u i l d i n g s k i l l s , and a s t h e c o n v e r t s a r r i v e d i n Utah many w ere s p e c i f i c a l l y a s s i g n e d t o c e r t a i n c o m m u n itie s. I t i s w e l l docum ented t h a t b e f o r e 1890 most s t o n e masons i n Utah were from E u ro p e, e s p e c i a l l y G re a t B r i t a i n ( F i f e , 1972, 1 8 - 1 9 ) . And t h e new ly a r r i v e d E u ro p e a n s , tho u gh d e s ir in g to a s s im ila te , n e v e rth e le s s fre q u e n tly stay e d t o g e t h e r and e s t a b l i s h e d t h e v a r i o u s " e t h n i c " c o m m u n ities. For exam ple, t h e m a j o r i t y o f t h e s to n em aso n s i n M anti and S p r in g C i t y w ere o f D anish and Swedish b a c k g ro u n d . S c a n d i n a v ia n s were a l s o r e s p o n s i b l e f o r most o f t h e sto n ew o rk i n P l e a s a n t Grove, w h ile i n Heber and Midway t h e r e w ere many E n g l i s h s to n e m a s o n s , and S c o t t i s h im m ig ra n ts b u i l t e s s e n t i a l l y a l l o f t h e s t o n e h o u se s in B eaver (R o th , 1972, p e r sonal in te rv ie w ). I t i s i n t e r e s t i n g , how ever, and s i g n i f i c a n t t o th e c o n c l u s i o n s o f t h i s s t u d y t h a t t h e s to n e m a s o n s, r e g a r d l e s s o f n a t i o n a l o r i g i n , b u i l t h o u s e s h a v in g Mormon-American f l o o r p la n s. S t a t e d a n o t h e r way, i t i s i m p o s s i b le t o d e te r m in e t h e n a t i o n a l o r i g i n o f a b u i l d e r o f any g i v e n s to n e house i n Mormon c o u n t r y by s t u d y i n g th e f l o o r p l a n , s to n e masonry method, o r any o t h e r c h a r a c t e r i s t i c . I m p o r ta n t r e a s o n s f o r t h i s a r e t h a t s to n em aso n s e i t h e r worked u n d e r t h e s u p e r v i s i o n o f c a r p e n t e r s , m ost o f whom were A m e ric an s, o r f o llo w e d t h e i r e m p lo y e r s ’ d e s i g n s (R o th , 1972, p e r s o n a l i n t e r v i e w ) . A ls o , by t h e tim e s t o n e work became im p o r t a n t i n Mormon c o u n tr y Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. |