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Acknowledgments

Throughout the writing of this history, I have been helped immeasurably by the timely suggestions of many scholars. Many of my colleagues at Brigham Young University read portions of the manuscript at various stages of development, and to them I extend my appreciation. I am especially grateful to Dr. Keith Perkins, Dr. Robert J. Matthews, Dr. Larry C. Porter, Dr. Melvin J. Petersen, Dr. H. Donl Peterson, Dr. Larry T. Wimmer, Dr. Ben Bennion, Lyndon W. Cook, and my father, Milton V. Backman. I appreciate the work of Merrill Ridd, cartographer, and of Eleanor Knowles, who edited the book. I also extend appreciation to Dr. Leonard J. Arrington for encouraging me to continue my exploration of this formative period and for offering valuable constructive criticism as the work was nearing completion.

A number of students enrolled at Brigham Young University also helped in research, typing, and proofreading the manuscript, and to these individuals I am grateful.

This volume could not have been prepared without the assistance and cooperation of many librarians, especially those serving in the historical and genealogical departments of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Brigham Young University, Archives of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the Lake County Historical Society (Mentor, Ohio), the Ohio Historical Society, the Western Reserve Historical Society, the Hiram College Library, the Hiram (Ohio) Township Historical Society, Archives at the Western Reserve University, the Geauga County Historical Society (Burton, Ohio), the Rutherford B. Hayes Library (Fremont, Ohio), the Cincinnati Historical Society, the American Jewish Archives (Cincinnati, Ohio), the Shaker Historical Society (Shaker Heights, Ohio), the Cleveland and Dayton public libraries, the Disciples of Christ Historical Society (Nashville, Tennessee), the Library of Congress, and the Bancroft Library (University of California at Berkeley).