Mendon School Trustee ~ Index
This is Peter Andrew Sorensen's 1888 school trustee, certificate in and for the Mendon School District, of Cache County, Territory of Utah.
It is quite an interesting read, in what was deemed important at the time, regarding the qualifications for a local school trustee. Of most importance was to have one wife and only one wife, that was the major need at this time.
Whereas Peter Andrew Sorensen did not have a wife nor ever marry, he was well qulified and filled the requirements of the time to a perfect T.
Several of Mendon's leading citizens as well as others, were barred from holding public office due to the "Problem" of the time, polygamy, bigamy and etc. These were most interesting times to live in, to be sure. Stories of the Underground and men hiding in their own homes, going on missions for the church, in distant lands to keep them from the ever present eye of the federal marshal.
Many men were disenfranchised of their right to hold office of any kind. They were barred from jurry duty as well as losing many of the privileges of being a United States citizen in what was considerd good standing.
The September 1890 Manifesto from then President Wilford Woodruff, of the Latter-day Saint Church was still two years in the future, at the time Peter A. Sorensen filled this office as one of the Mendon school trustees. The first Manifesto of 1890 did not quite take, so the second Manifesto of 1904 was issued to stop futher plural marriages in all countries and places. The Old Endowment House, once located on Temple Square, was quickly razed in October of 1889, as a first step to control plural marriages, other measures would follow.