Utah’s Road to Statehood: The Finish Line

In 1894, Congress voted to invite Utah into the Union. President Grover Cleveland signed the Enabling Act, which allowed Utah to officially form a Constitutional Convention. Utahns moved with enthusiasm as they had been waiting for the opportunity to become a state for decades. They held an election to choose the delegates and convened the convention in March of 1895.

In the last post, we explored the political obstacles that prevented Utah from becoming a state until 1896. There was another large obstacle that made Congress wary of giving Utah statehood: polygamy. Polygamy started in April of 1841 when Joseph Smith married his first plural wife. By the time the Latter-Day Saints moved from Nauvoo, Illinois, to the Salt Lake

It was in March that the landmark anti-polygamy Edmunds-Tucker Act took effect 132 years ago in 1887. A note in the divorce record for the Tooele County Probate Court highlights the far-reaching extent of the legislation. After the final divorce record from February 1887, the court clerk made a simple note explaining the abrupt end to the record. He noted

All public records at the Utah State Archives are accessible through the Research Center. However, once processed the records are easier to use with proper storage and fuller descriptions, including online series inventories. The following list includes record series that were processed during the month of September 2013: Cedar City (Utah) Cemetery burial card file, 1858-1992 Cemetery burial records, ca.