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Perpetual Emigration Fund
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== Fund practices and operations == [[File:Fielding Garr Ranch House.jpg|thumb|alt=Brick ranch house with red trim|Parts of the historic ranch house on [[Antelope Island]] date to when the ranch served to help support the PEF]] The PEF used a combination of church resources and private contributions to provide initial aid for impoverished church members as they moved west. The ordinance incorporating the PEF set aside [[Antelope Island]] and [[Stansbury Island]], two islands in the [[Great Salt Lake]], for the company's exclusive use.<ref name="Ordinance"/> On Antelope Island, the church operated a [[Fielding Garr Ranch|ranch]] with [[Tithing in Mormonism|tithing herds]] of cattle and sheep in order to generate revenue for the fund. The aid provided to emigrants was structured in the form of loans, with the design of constantly replenishing the fund by having these members repay the assistance once established in their new homes.<ref name="Encyclopedia">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Boone |first=David F. |authorlink=David F. Boone |chapter=Perpetual Emigrating Fund (PEF) | editor-last=Ludlow |editor-first=Daniel H. |title=[[Encyclopedia of Mormonism]] |volume=3 |publisher=Macmillan |location=New York |year=1992 |pages=1075β76 |chapter-url=https://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/digital/collection/EoM/id/4043 |accessdate=November 26, 2023}}</ref> Recipients would sign a [[promissory note]] to reimburse the company for their costs, and were often permitted to satisfy their obligation with commodities or labor in addition to cash. Over the life of the program, nearly 30,000 individuals received assistance, primarily with travel arrangements and outfitting.<ref name="Sureties">{{cite journal |last1=Jensen |first1=Richard L. |authorlink=Richard L. Jensen |last2=Ward |first2=Maurine Carr |title=Names of Persons and Sureties Indebted to the Perpetual Emigrating Fund Company, 1850-1877 |journal=[[Mormon Historical Studies]] |volume=1 |issue=2 |date=Fall 2000 |pages=141β45 |url=https://ensignpeakfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/mhs1.2JensenWardFall2000.pdf |accessdate=November 26, 2023}}</ref> As the funding was never able to support all who might need assistance, priority was given to longstanding church members and those with useful skills needed in the Western frontier environment.<ref name="Encyclopedia"/> While proselyting efforts in Europe led to increasing numbers of new converts drawing on the PEF, the company only sometimes paid for a recipient's ship passage; more often it assisted with overland travel costs for those already residing or newly arrived in the US.<ref name="Sureties"/> In the Utah economy, availability of cash remained a limiting factor. For members seeking to emigrate from Great Britain, church mission president [[Samuel W. Richards]] instituted a plan that the emigrants would pool their existing if meager resources into the PEF, then pay back the full amount of assistance regardless of whether they had also donated. As not all could be accommodated at once, this would help the earlier group of emigrants support those coming after.<ref name="Aird">{{cite journal |last=Aird |first=Polly |title=Bound for Zion: The Ten- and Thirteen-Pound Emigrating Companies, 1853-54 |journal=[[Utah Historical Quarterly]] |volume=70 |issue=4 |date=Fall 2002 |pages=300β325 |doi=10.2307/45062743 |jstor=45062743 |s2cid=254446784 |url=https://issuu.com/utah10/docs/uhq_volume70_2002_number4 |accessdate=November 26, 2023|url-access=subscription }}</ref> The earlier growth of the LDS Church in Britain meant that a higher percentage of British members received PEF assistance than emigrants coming from elsewhere (primarily Scandinavia). Those who had relatives already in Utah were more likely to receive support, and donors to the PEF could also designate recipients with their contribution.<ref name="Steam">{{cite journal |last=Jensen |first=Richard L. |authorlink=Richard L. Jensen |title=Steaming Through: Arrangements for Mormon Emigration from Europe, 1869-1887 |journal=[[Journal of Mormon History]] |volume=9 |year=1982 |pages=3β24}}</ref>
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