In the context of this story, it’s the fact that Nell’s ancestry is Fijian that matters. The Everetts might still have objected to a Samoan ancestry the same as they presumably would have objected to Hispanic or Native American or perhaps even southern or eastern European — but it’s the presumed negroid origins of the Fijians that “taints” Nell and makes an absolutely impenetrable barrier to this marriage.

My grandfather served his mission in New Zealand from 1947-1949. He wrote about several native Maoris in New Zealand as “elders,” and one in particular who served as a district president. At the time he served, New Zealand had 15 districts with 75 branches, which I am certain could not have sustained by missionaries alone. He also writes of Elder Matthew Cowley setting apart native Maoris as missionaries during World War II.

I also had a hispanic friend whose fiance’s father wouldn’t come to their wedding because of her nationality. Today we are astounded at such feelings, but they were very real back then.

Thanks for your interest in reading this, whether you always read the serials or whether my tease was especially enticing. As kevinf points out, reading something like this in the context of a history-themed blog can be quite different from reading it in, say, an anthology of Mormon literature. We can talk about it as the story develops — what it says about who we were, and how stories like this may have affected our grandparents (was the story shaped entirely by how Latter-day Saints of that generation already felt, or might it have helped to shape and harden attitudes that were only generally understood?). Anyway, fasten your seatbelts for a turbulent sea.