In the Midst of Those Awful Mormons

DESCRIPTION: "Oh dear, I"m sad, I've got the blues, I've lately heard some dreadful news, I really tremble in my shoes, It's all about the Mormons." They are "the queerest set... They live in... Deseret." They obey Brigham Young in everything. They have many wives
AUTHOR: Words: William Willes? (source: Lingenfelter/Dwyer/Cohen-SongsOfAmericanWest)
EARLIEST DATE: 1872 (Willes, The Mountain Warbler)
KEYWORDS: husband wife home battle America children | Mormon
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1801-1877 - Life of Brigham Young
1832 - Young becomes a Mormon
1844 - Young becomes leader of the Mormons
1847 - Mormon migration to Utah
1850 - Young made Governor of Utah territory. From 1857, however, the U.S. Government enforced various restrictions on the Mormons and their governor, mostly in response to polygamy
FOUND IN: US(Ro)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Fife/Fife-SaintsOfSageAndSaddle, pp. 123-124, "In the Midst of Those Awful Mormons" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hubbard-BalladsAndSongsFromUtah, #216, "Brigham Young II" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lingenfelter/Dwyer/Cohen-SongsOfAmericanWest, pp. 220-222, "In the Midst of Those Awful Mormons" (1 text, 1 tune)
ADDITIONAL: William Willes, _The Mountain Warbler: Being a Collection of Original Songs and Recitations, by WIlliam Willes, with a Selection from Other writes, for the Use of Choirs, Sabbath Schools and Families_, Deseret News Book and Job Establishment, Salt Lake City, 1872 (available on Google Books), pp. 49-50, "(no title)" (1 text, tune referenced)
Roud #10900
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Brigham Young (I)" (character of Brigham Young) and references there
cf. "The King of the Cannibal Islands" (tune, according to Lingenfelter/Dwyer/Cohen-SongsOfAmericanWest)
NOTES [104 words]: Not everything in the Willes book is by Willes (and, we might add, it's texts only; no tunes are printed; despite its title, it's not what I would call a book for choirs!). Willes generally attributes poems written by others, and this has no attribution. On the other hand, he put a "W. W." after some of his own poems, and it doesn't have that, either. It's almost certainly by Willes, but perhaps one could argue that it has not been proved.
This seems to be the most popular piece by Willes. Not that that's saying much; if the Mormons actually had divine inspiration, why did they let such an awful writer continue? - RBW
Last updated in version 6.6
File: FSSS123B

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