Editor's note: This is a synopsis of an article appearing in the latest volume of BYU Studies about motives behind the 1838 persecution of Latter-day Saints in Missouri.

New findings reveal that several prominent Missouri persecutors in Daviess County made immense profits off the lands from which early Mormon settlers were driven. New research also suggests the timing of the Extermination Order facilitated this landgrab.

In 2005, Jeffrey N. Walker was working as manager of the Legal and Business Series for the Joseph Smith Papers project when he discovered important documents that shed new light on the 1838 conflict between Mormons and Missourians in Daviess County. Walker shares his findings in the current issue of BYU Studies: �While popular history has painted the persecution as religiously motivated, the facts suggest a more base reason: greed, in its most ugly and insatiable form.�

Read the full story at MormonTimes.com