William Wines Phelps --

One thing I did like growing up in the LDS church was the music.  I enjoyed singing with a group and the feeling of belonging that brings.  I am sure many people stay in their respective churches more from the spiritual feeling you get from singing as part of a group than from the rhetoric and tall tales you are expected to digest as reality.  I think I probably stayed in church longer than most persons with a similar agnostic bent, because I accompanied the singing on the piano frequently during various church meetings.

One of the songs I actually really liked that my husband informed me just now is "creepy" is one of the songs written by William Wines Phelps,  a man with a pretty interesting life story, who went in and out of allegiance to Mormonism.  (I still like the song and do not feel it is at all dogmatic -- just full of friendly wonder.)

The song is called "If You Could Hie to Kolob".  Kolob being the planet God lives on, according to Mormon theology as dictated by Joseph Smith.  Rereading the lyrics while thinking about the possible genetic origins of  Mormons gave new life to the tune for me:

There is no end to matter

There is no end to space

There is no end to spirit

There is no end to race. 

There is no end to glory

There is no end to love

There is no end to being

There is no death above


Husband thinks I am reading too much into the "race", and must think that means we are all little hamsters on our running wheel, forever trying to get ahead of everyone else.  Well, Mormonism sometimes feels like that, but I don't think that's what the line means.

Here's a photo of the author of those lines:

I am interested in his pheno-genotype just based on his picture, and also on his biography.  I was chatting with a poster on a 23andme forum with a fellow of mostly British origins who studied genealogy and DNA for a career, and who lives in Canada with the Mohawk nation.  While I was wildly speculating about the genetic origins of Mormons, I brought up a photo of W.W. Phelps.  He informed me that there was an individual by the last name of Phelps who temporarily joined the Mohawks in Canada, but then returned to English society in America.  Whether there is a true link there or not, I do not know.  But, I can tell you some interesting facts I learned about him reading Wikipedia.

Born in Hanover Township, New Jersey, his father Enon Phelps and mother Mehitable Goldsmith moved the family to Homer, New York, in 1800. 

In 1827 he relocated to Canandaigua, New York, where he began publishing and edited the anti-Masonic newspaper Ontario Phoenix through 1828. Phelps has been referred to by Dean Jessee as "one of [the] founders" of the anti-Masonic movement in New York.<sup>[1]:650-51

(Interesting that he is anti-Masonic, given the presumed Masonic bent of the Mormon faith.)

 a I suppose I am just highlighting these facts and omitting other details because they hint more at ideological, political, genetic and religious identity.  I am interested in the synergistic nature of Mormonism, and I believe that can be evidenced through struggles between conflicting ideology.  I'm curious about the name Goldsmith.  I wonder why he's Anti-Masonic.  I know he has mostly English heritage.  And I am continuing to explore the tension that gives rise to the formation of a "new race", if such a thing is possible, or was desired by early Mormon pioneers.  Curious why people feel the need to break away, and why others decide to join them......</sup>