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This came from the series on Great Britain on GEMS. Notice who some of our illustrious relatives are. At the end I've added a short chart showing exactly which Great... he is.
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Worldwide Saints would like to thank Peter Fagg of the Preston area for
providing the content for this part in our series.
Part 10 : John Lothropp--A Legacy of Conviction and Faith
If you stand on the northern end of London Bridge and look from the city of
London across the River Thames, you see a wide vista of Victorian
warehouses, modern offices, red double-decker buses, black taxi cabs,
office workers, and tourists all competing for space. This area is called
Southwark and has been at the heart of London’s history for more than 2,000
years, producing such notables as William Shakespeare, Florence
Nightingale, and John Harvard (Harvard University). Few of Southwark’s
current occupants are aware that another notable individual named John
Lothropp lived here in the 1600s and is tied to significant figures in
Church history.
John Lothropp was born on 20 December 1584 at Etton, Yorkshire. He was
educated at Oxford and Cambridge Universities and was appointed as minister
over the parish of St. James in Egerton, Kent. He could have lived a
comfortable life, but he felt uneasy about the moral state of the Church of
England. At the age of 39, he was prompted by his conscience to abandon the
security and status of his ecclesiastical position.
He moved with his family to Southwark, where he became pastor of an
independent congregation that had to meet secretly since their meetings
were considered illegal. All clergy were legally bound to conform to the
Prayer Book in their services and had to accept the monarch as the head of
the church. If caught worshiping in any other way, they could be submitted
to fines, imprisonment, or exile. Despite these threats, thousands were
more willing to follow their conscience and worship illegally than conform
to the rules of an oppressive government. For eight years, John’s faithful
congregation met undetected, but then came the fateful day when they were
discovered.
William Laud was the bishop of London at the time, and he actively tried to
silence the dissenting religious voices of England. William was a firm
believer in uniformity, and his aim was to have these "Puritan" ideals
"harried out of the land." He was aware that illegal meetings were going on
around London and tried his utmost to repress them. On 22 April 1632, he
found where John was conducting his services, burst into the building with
his men, and arrested 42 members of the congregation.
Over the next few years, John and his followers were held captive in a
number of prisons, including the Clink, Newgate, and Gatehouse--the
condition of which were filthy and disease ridden. A few sections of the
old Clink prison are still visible along one of Southwark's darker streets.
While in prison, John’s wife became sick. John was granted a visit to her,
and while he prayed over her she died.
With the death of his wife, John’s many children, ages twenty to eight,
were orphaned. The children approached Bishop Laud and plead with him to
release their father. Miraculously, in 1634, Laud’s heart was softened and
he released John on the conditions that he paid bond and would appear
before the court in the next term. After his release, John saw to some
final matters of his congregation and then set sail for America. Needless
to say, he did not appear for his next court date.
Fleeing to America for religious freedom was a common theme during this
period in history. Between 1628 and 1640, around 20,000 people fled to
America to escape Laud’s persecution.
When in New England, John Lothropp became a prominent community and church
leader. He stood as a great example of someone who prized standing for
truth and freedom even in the face of intense opposition. His legacy has
had a great impact on history. John’s notable descendents in American
history include Ulysses S. Grant, Franklin D. Roosevelt, George Bush,
Oliver Wendell Holmes, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. More importantly, he
was the sixth great grandfather of Joseph Smith. His other Latter-day Saint
descendants include four more modern prophets: Joseph F. Smith, Joseph
Fielding Smith, Wilford Woodruff and Harold B. Lee, as well as Frederick
Williams, Oliver Cowdrey, Orson Pratt, and Parley P. Pratt.
Orson Pratt in a letter to his brother Parley remarked, "You will recollect
that Joseph [Smith] had a vision and saw that our families and his all
sprang from the same man [John Lothropp] a few generations ago. Truly the
Lord had his eye upon him, and upon his father, and upon their progenitors
. . ."
In 1840, more than two hundred years after John Lothropp’s escape to
America, Wilford Woodruff, Heber C. Kimball, and George A. Smith crossed
London Bridge into the High Street of Southwark and found lodgings on what
was then called King Street. It was a noisy, vibrant place, and Wilford
remarked, "It is with difficulty that I could sleep at night." Wilford had
earlier declared, "We are the first Elders of the Church of Latter day
Saint [sic] that have ever walked the Streets of London. O London, as I
walk thy street and behold the mass of human beings passing through thee
and view thy mighty palaces, thy splendid mansions, the costly merchandise
wherewith thou art adorned even as the capital of great Babylon, I am ready
to ask myself, what am I and my brethren here for?" Wilford was probably
unaware that his very own ancestor John Lothropp had walked the very same
streets of London and had probably asked himself a similar question: "what
am I and my brethren here for?"
John Lothropp’s convictions freed the way for thousands to look for more
truth. He left a great heritage of faith to many, including the great men
and women the Lord rose up to move the work of the Church forward. Perhaps
fitting John’s legacy is the statement by Sir Isaac Newton, "If I can see
further, it is only by standing on the shoulders of giants."
Peter Fagg is the bishop of the Chorley Second Ward, situated on the
Preston Temple site. He is a partner in two "Latter-day Book Stores" in
England and is a registered Blue Badge tour guide. Bishop Fagg is currently
working on a history of the Church in England, titled "Standing on the
Shoulders of Giants." He and his wife, Nicola, are the proud parents of two
girls. He can be contacted at peterf@btconnect.com
(Copyright 2001 Peter Fagg)
Source of Orson Pratt quote: "John Lothropp, Forebear of Prophets,
Presidents, and Others" by Keith W. Perkins, in "Regional Studies in
Latter-day Saint Church History." Edited by Donald Q. Cannon. Published by
Department of Church History and Doctrine Brigham Young University, 1990.
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Here's the list decending from John Lathropp
John Lathropp
Samuel Lathrop
Martha Lathrop
Samuel Moss
Esther Moss
Benjamin Canfield
James Canfield
David Canfield
Clara Canfield
Bartlett Canfield Farnsworth
Erwin H. Farnsworth
I think you all know how you are related to Grandp Farnsworth. |
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