Comments on: Five Thousand Zulu Warriors, One Prince of Wales, and Two Mormon Missionaries

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 10:25:12 +0000

Thank you, Sibusiso,for this explanation. Your comment is very much appreciated.

By: Sibusiso Dube

Sibusiso Dube — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 08:12:18 +0000

Hi all,
I just want to give you an understanding here regarding your differences concerning the praise from the native above or praise song. Im a Zulu by ethnic from Dube clan. We call these poeple praise singers though they not exatley sing. They are a very important figures in our nation. They are the messangers who dont lie. I wont explain what they ment here but what I can say is that these poeple are the only poeple who can tell the King when when he is doing wrong by means praise singing. They can say anything to the King in this manner.If the King is doing good to the nation they will mention that, if the King do something that hes subject dont agree with, he will say it. If the king is ugly, handsome, have a good eye on woman, or anything that the king hase done. They were more like historians or history keepers of the monach. Same here with the Prince if the poeple felt that the Prince was not a good person they will say it as is. If the Prince was preaching good and dont practice it, he will say it. Thats these mans jobs to advise the Kings on theire doing or remind them what they have done. Than from there the King will know where he had fowl the nation, or where the nation gives praise to him. So it was the same with the Prince they were appliying the same prinsiple.

Have peace and may you find what you are searching for in this life.

By: Clair

Clair — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 22:44:31 +0000

Here is one history of Gobo Fango and his death:

http://www.signaturebooks.com/excerpts/fringe.htm#death

By: Clair

Clair — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 22:42:38 +0000

The Friend article was at least a bit sanitized. The histories are conflicting.

My GGGrandfather’s journal (Eli Wiggill) describes Gogo Fango’s immigration with the Charles Talbot party from South Africa to Utah.

Gobo Fango was either a beloved Talbot family member, sealed to them after his death, or a servant who lived in a shed and was sold to the Hunter family when they needed a sheepherder, or some of both.

His death is also controversial. He was either murdered by a cattle rancher or killed in a fair gunfight. The rancher was tried twice, with a hung jury (11-1 guilty) at the first trial and an acquittal at the second.

He left $500 to the LDS Relief Society.

His story needs sorting out by a good historian.

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 04:25:55 +0000

No, clair, I never saw any such email – I would have at least acknowledged it! T&S linked to a newspaper column about Gobo Fango a while back, and he’s been written about in one of the church magazines. I’ll bet his story isn’t known to most church members, though — he’d made a great post here.

By: clair

clair — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 04:08:52 +0000

A few months ago, I sent an email to this blog’s address about a young Xhosa boy, Gobo Fango, who came to Utah from South Africa with my GGGrandfather’s company, in 1860. He became an independent sheepherder in Idaho and was killed in a grazing dispute by a cattleman.

Ardis, I am curious whether you received that email. His is a fascinating story, with conflicting histories.

By: J.Paul

J.Paul — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 23:51:29 +0000

Great story Ardis Lots of good details. However, this was not “the first Mormon exposure to the sight and culture of the native peoples of Africa.” Missionaries had been In SA intermittently since 1853 and while there, they taught someone. Lots of someones Those someones had contact with Native Africans before and after their conversions. Though Missionaries taught mainly British subjects they also taught a handful of boers and natives. In 1905 man called Dunn, whose Mother was a Zulu, was baptized by the Mission president. He was the first black African Baptized in Africa. In 1915 another S. African, William Paul Daniels journeyed to Utah to visit some family and was baptized. He met with Pres Joseph F. Smith who promised him some day he would be able to hold the priesthood ( if not in this life, then in the next life). Although He experienced neglect and racial ostracism from the other S A members He kept his testimony the rest of his life. He died in 1936 but his daughter lived see the Priesthood revelation and was sealed to her parents in the SL temple in 1980.
There were Mormon who served in the British Army and Navy during the time in question so there may have been soldiers fighting against the in the previous wars.

By: Anne (UK)

Anne (UK) — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 15:47:15 +0000

Thanks for the full version!

That final verse….by our standards today, how true it is. By Victorian/Edwardian standards, it would just go to prove the case for the duty of the Empire to bring enlightenment to the ‘natives’. (And yes, I realise it was written after the Edwardian era).

By: Floyd the Wonderdog

Floyd the Wonderdog — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 11:09:48 +0000

“Calf-of-the-great-Beast”? Sounds very Book if Revelations-ish to me.

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 23:46:06 +0000

That is a different translation than the one I used in the post — the “You sent us the truth, you denied us the truth” part in the post matches up to the “here you come with a bottle in one hand and a Bible in the other” of the version in the comment. I don’t have any idea which is more literal.