alternatehistory.com
Part Fifteen: Advance of Religion and Science
Update time. 
Next update should include the 1848 election.
Also, do you guys like me explaining where various places are in OTL, or should I just describe the area and have you find the OTL equivalent yourself if there is one? I know sometimes I have fun trying to find locations of alternate cities when just given the description and am wondering if you all want me to let you do that.
Part Fifteen: Advance of Religion and Science
Mormon Exodus:
After being banished from towns in Ohio and Indiana, many followers of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints for their religious beliefs, they founded the town of Nuavoo in western Illinois. However, they continued to be persecuted by the state legislature and mobs of angry citizens. In 1847, after resolving to find elsewhere to settle, the Church split into two groups. One group, led by Hyrum Smith, brother of Church founder Joseph Smith Jr., went north to British North America. The other group, led by Brigham Young, went west looking for land in the sparsely populated Republic of California.
Smith's group headed north, arriving at Fort Decatur in April. His group continued northward eventually traveling along the east bank of the Red River. Finally crossing into Britain in late 1847, the group set up camp for the winter near Winnipeg. In the spring, Smith decided on a settlement after considering various possible sites around Lake Winnipeg and the surrounding area. The settlement was in between Lake Manitoba and Lake Saint Martin.[1] Smith named the settlement Whitmer after one of the Three Witnesses.
Young's group, the Vanguard Company, went west and consisted of the majority of the Mormons who fled Nauvoo. The group crossed Demoine and then followed the Platte River west, much like those heading to Oregon Territory. After following the Platte and the North Platte for months, the Vanguard Company broke off the river as it turned south. After reaching Fort Vasquez,[2] the company turned full south and entered the Republic of California in early 1848. Young consulted with trappers and frontiersmen about numerous sites for settlement as Smith did in Winnipeg, and decided on two places for settlement. The first and primary town, Vanguardia, would be on the east edge of Ute Lake. The second settlemnt, Youngstown, was much further south and east, along a bend in the Colorado River.[3] Over the years the population grew and smaller settlements spread out throughout the area, especially between the well travelled trail between Vanguardia and Youngstown. To this day the Mormon Church is one of the largest religious groups in the state of Espejo.
The Poinsettian Institution:
In July of 1847, Joel Roberts Poinsett founded the Poinsettian Institution, an organization to promote the advancement of science and general knowledge. The creation of the Institution was funded by the estate of Louis Elizabeth Hungerford,[4] after the death of his father, Hubert. Louis had read the will of his great-uncle James Smithson, which had stipulated that should Hubert die without heirs, the estate would go to the United States government for an "establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men."
Initially keeping the estate upon his father's death in 1835, Louis had over the next decade become infatuated with science and the world around him, and after reading a copy of Charles Darwin's Journal and Remarks on his voyage on the HMS Beagle, decided to fulfill Smithson's will and donate the wealth of the estate to the United States government. After the money was given to the government, Poinsett oversaw the creation of the Institution, and was its first Secretary.
[1] OTL Fairford, Maintoba
[2] OTL Fort Bridger, Wyoming
[3] Vanguardia is Provo and Youngstown is Moab
[4] This is the first fictional person I have mentioned in the timeline. In OTL, Hubert did not have any heirs, and the money went to the government automatically.
Next update should include the 1848 election.Also, do you guys like me explaining where various places are in OTL, or should I just describe the area and have you find the OTL equivalent yourself if there is one? I know sometimes I have fun trying to find locations of alternate cities when just given the description and am wondering if you all want me to let you do that.
Part Fifteen: Advance of Religion and Science
Mormon Exodus:
After being banished from towns in Ohio and Indiana, many followers of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints for their religious beliefs, they founded the town of Nuavoo in western Illinois. However, they continued to be persecuted by the state legislature and mobs of angry citizens. In 1847, after resolving to find elsewhere to settle, the Church split into two groups. One group, led by Hyrum Smith, brother of Church founder Joseph Smith Jr., went north to British North America. The other group, led by Brigham Young, went west looking for land in the sparsely populated Republic of California.
Smith's group headed north, arriving at Fort Decatur in April. His group continued northward eventually traveling along the east bank of the Red River. Finally crossing into Britain in late 1847, the group set up camp for the winter near Winnipeg. In the spring, Smith decided on a settlement after considering various possible sites around Lake Winnipeg and the surrounding area. The settlement was in between Lake Manitoba and Lake Saint Martin.[1] Smith named the settlement Whitmer after one of the Three Witnesses.
Young's group, the Vanguard Company, went west and consisted of the majority of the Mormons who fled Nauvoo. The group crossed Demoine and then followed the Platte River west, much like those heading to Oregon Territory. After following the Platte and the North Platte for months, the Vanguard Company broke off the river as it turned south. After reaching Fort Vasquez,[2] the company turned full south and entered the Republic of California in early 1848. Young consulted with trappers and frontiersmen about numerous sites for settlement as Smith did in Winnipeg, and decided on two places for settlement. The first and primary town, Vanguardia, would be on the east edge of Ute Lake. The second settlemnt, Youngstown, was much further south and east, along a bend in the Colorado River.[3] Over the years the population grew and smaller settlements spread out throughout the area, especially between the well travelled trail between Vanguardia and Youngstown. To this day the Mormon Church is one of the largest religious groups in the state of Espejo.
The Poinsettian Institution:
In July of 1847, Joel Roberts Poinsett founded the Poinsettian Institution, an organization to promote the advancement of science and general knowledge. The creation of the Institution was funded by the estate of Louis Elizabeth Hungerford,[4] after the death of his father, Hubert. Louis had read the will of his great-uncle James Smithson, which had stipulated that should Hubert die without heirs, the estate would go to the United States government for an "establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men."
Initially keeping the estate upon his father's death in 1835, Louis had over the next decade become infatuated with science and the world around him, and after reading a copy of Charles Darwin's Journal and Remarks on his voyage on the HMS Beagle, decided to fulfill Smithson's will and donate the wealth of the estate to the United States government. After the money was given to the government, Poinsett oversaw the creation of the Institution, and was its first Secretary.
[1] OTL Fairford, Maintoba
[2] OTL Fort Bridger, Wyoming
[3] Vanguardia is Provo and Youngstown is Moab
[4] This is the first fictional person I have mentioned in the timeline. In OTL, Hubert did not have any heirs, and the money went to the government automatically.
- wilcoxchar
- Word Count: 660