Ontario: The nursery of the Restoration

Alexander L. Baugh

Black Creek is the site of many Toronto baptisms, including John Taylor, the Fieldings and others on May 9, 1836.

When Church members think of church history places, Palmyra, N.Y., Kirtland, Ohio and Nauvoo, Ill., come to mind. But in Toronto, there is a remarkable amount of church history. One part of the Ontario border is located only an hour's drive from Palmyra. While Upstate New York can be called the cradle of the restoration, I like to call Ontario "the nursery of the Restoration."

Joseph Smith made two missionary journeys outside the United States, and both times were to Ontario. In his first missionary trip, he visited Mount Pleasant, Waterford, Colburn and Brantford in 1833. On his second trip in July 1837, he visited Toronto, Whitby and Ottawa. Wilford Woodruff and Brigham Young also served missions there.

In April 1836, Apostle Heber C. Kimball gave a blessing to Parley P. Pratt and his ailing wife. She was quite sick at the time but did get better.

Elder Kimball gave one of the most remarkable prophecies ever in this dispensation when he said, "Thou shalt go to Upper Canada, even to the city of Toronto, the capital, and there thou shalt find a people prepared for the fullness of the Gospel, and they shall receive thee, and thou shalt organize the Church among them, and it shall spread thence to regions round about, and many shall be brought to the knowledge of the truth and shall be filled with joy; and from the things growing out of this mission, shall the fullness of the Gospel spread to England, and cause a great work to be done in that land" (Parley P. Pratt, Autobiography of Parley P. Pratt (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1985), 110).

Elder Pratt did find many people prepared for the gospel in the Toronto area. One of them was John Taylor, who was baptized in Black Creek, on May 9 1836. Taylor later became the third president of the church. President Taylor's wife, Leonora Cannon, had a nephew who would become counselor to four church presidents: George Q. Cannon.

Other early members were the Fielding family — Joseph and his sisters, Mercy and Mary. All of them were baptized into the church, and Mary eventually married Hyrum Smith. Mary's son, Joseph F. Smith, became the sixth president of the Church, and Mary's grandson, Joseph Fielding Smith, became the 10th president of the church. Others who were baptized at this time were John Snyder, Isaac Russell and John Goodson.

In June/July 1837, the first seven missionaries of the church to go to England arrived there. Four of those missionaries were Toronto area converts — Joseph Fielding, John Goodson, Isaac Russell and John Snyder. This turned out to be one of the most important missionary efforts in this dispensation, with thousands of people converting to the church in England.

According to the LDS Church Almanac, it is estimated that 2,500 Saints from Ontario left to gather in the United States. In the early days of the church in the West, the vast majority of Canadian Saints were from Ontario. There were a few places in Ontario where so many people converted to the church, when they left to gather in the U.S., it completely changed the demographics of the local area.

One of the people who left Ontario to gather with the Saints was Ira Nathaniel Hinckley. He was born 30 October 1828 in Leeds County, Ontario and was baptized in July 1843. Hinckley's grandson, Gordon B. Hinckley, was the 15th president of the church.

Two of the current Apostles served as mission presidents in Ontario: President Thomas S. Monson in the Canadian Mission in 1959 and Elder M. Russell Ballard in the Canada Toronto Mission in 1974. Elder Ballard himself is a direct descendant of Mary Fielding.

In 1984, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir visited Toronto. At one part of the program, Choir members were asked to stand up if they had any Canadian ancestry. Approximately half of the choir stood up, to cheers and applause from the audience. In 1990, when the Toronto Ontario Temple was completed, the temple district included Palmyra and Kirtland, although the two locations are no longer within the district.

If there had never been Gatherings of the Saints to the United States, there would probably be hundreds of thousands of Saints living in Ontario now.

Although I know that wherever the saints are gathered, Heavenly Father is there with them, I feel truly blessed to have lived all of my life in Ontario, the nursery of the restoration.

Ken Sisler is a member of the Newmarket Ward, Brampton Ontario Stake.