Item Detail
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9206
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1
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1
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English
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In and Out of Mormondom : Charles W. Hemenway, Journalist
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Utah Historical Quarterly
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Spring 1993
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61
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150-63
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Charles W. Hemenway had a brief, but flamboyant, career as an itinerant journalist with several Utah newspapers from 1885 to 1890. Born in Iowa in 1860, by his own account Hemenway led a life of romantic adventure prior to coming to Utah. He married a Mormon girl, Ireta Dixon, of Payson. As an editor of the "Ogden Daily and Semi-weekly Herald," he established as role as a defender of the Mormons. Found guilty of libel, he spent three months in jail in Ogden. After his release from jail, he left Utah, but returned in 1889 and purchased a Provo newspaper with the financial backing of his father-in-law. Under Hemenway's editorship, the "Utah Valley Gazette" became embroiled in controversy, invective, and insult. In early 1891, the newspaper was sold and the Hemenways moved to San Francisco. There he worked as a journalist and lectured against the Mormons. He died in 1897 at the age of 37.