A Biography of Ezra Thompson Clark

Ezra Clark, page 010

EZRA THOMPSON CLARK the Clark home, and she also gave birth to a child while her husband was on a mission in England. Here in Iowa there was less political discord as the governor was friendly to the Saints, and no doubt Ezra enjoyed a quiet home life on his farm. Some of the greatest contributory factors in the bitter persecution of the Saints in Missouri and Illinois were: The unfriendly attitude of the Saints toward those belong- ing to other churches; the assumption that the Mormons were members of the Only True Church on earth; that they were especially favored of God; and that eventuallv all people would acknowledge their supremacy and be- come affiliated with them. Such bigotry engendered hatred. Then, too, the loyalty, which the Saints manifested for each other in all activities, whether farming, stock-raising, industry, business, or social life, was not compatible to a democratic government, more particularly so because the Saints voted solid. Such unitv was not conducive to a harmonious spirit among their neighbors.. The ideals and attitudes of these pioneer Mormons are easily understood by their successors in the Rocky Moun- tains. The writer can remember when a solemn promise, by raising the right hand, was made to refrain from pa- tronizing those who were not of our faith. An institution established and managed by a non-Mormon was to be re- garded as a place "opposed to the success and welfare of the community and a particular enemy of the Church. A com- mon expression was : "Those that are not of us, are against us." Devoted as Ezra was to his Church, one of its officials at one time threatened to report him to the general authori- ties for buying a wagon from an "outsider." The Saints were not aware of their weaknesses, rather