Zion's Trumpet: 1853 Welsh Mormon Periodical
Edited by Ronald D. Dennis
Two volumes of Zion’s Trumpet were completed during 1853—the 26 weekly issues of volume 5 that were published from January to June, and the 27 weekly issues of volume 6 that were published from July to December.
It was two days after Christmas in 1852 that Dan Jones arrived back in Wales to serve his second mission, and in a year’s time he would be called as president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Wales in place of William S. Phillips and as editor of Zion’s Trumpet in place of John S. Davis.
Something even more impactful in 1853 was the issue of polygamy. This practice among Latter-day Saints was publicly acknowledged on 28 August 1852 in Salt Lake City. The acknowledgment in Britain, however, came three and a half months later in the 1 January 1853 issues of Zion’s Trumpet and the Millennial Star.
Because of the anticipated impact the announcement of polygamy would likely have on Mormons in Wales, John Davis used the translated writings of Orson Pratt in its defense—these would occupy over 20 percent of the pages of the two Zion’s Trumpet 1853 volumes.
As with the English translation of the four preceding volumes of Zion’s Trumpet, these two 1853 volumes are published in a “facsimile translation” format to provide the reader with something of the appearance and flavor of the original Welsh publication.