Tampa, USA – They were raised on stories of persecution — of a founder martyred, of ancestors driven from Missouri and Illinois who crossed the Plains to settle land no one else wanted, and who turned wilderness into towns and desert into farms.
And on Thursday, these American Mormons — members of a church once targeted by a governor's "extermination order" — saw one of their own accept the Republican nomination for president.
Mitt Romney's ascendance thrilled millions of fellow members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, especially those from the 19th-century Mormon pioneers' promised land, Utah.
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"This shows a transformation from persecution to acceptance," said David Nielsen, 26, a GOP convention delegate from Provo. "It's a privilege to witness it."
It was more than politics. This was the Mormons' moment, like African Americans' in 2008 with Barack Obama and Catholics' in 1928 with Democratic nominee Al Smith and 1960 with John F. Kennedy.
Nielsen was on the convention floor. This, he said, was how history felt: "exciting and inspiring and overwhelming." And, considering all he knew about the Mormon story, this, too: "surreal."
"We've come a long way as a country," agreed Enid Mickelsen, 53, a former U.S. congresswoman whose great-great-grandfather was a pioneer settler with nine wives. "Nice to see barriers come down," fellow delegate Sen. Orrin Hatch said, beaming.
Mickelsen, used to say she suffered from the last two acceptable prejudices — against the Mormons and the chubby. "Now, after tonight, there's just one," she said with a laugh.
She said Romney will promote understanding: "He's not running for Mormon in chief, but he's given us a chance to talk to people who are curious about our religion."
Some church members thought they would never see such a day; others, such as Peter Knudson, 74, of Brigham City, were sure they wouldn't. "To see one of us reach this level," he said, and paused to gaze at the convention stage. "It's pretty exciting."
The nominee was not merely a member of the LDS church, but one who became a bishop in his adopted home of Belmont, Mass., at age 34. He spent decades as a lay leader, eventually rising to stake president, which gave him authority over churches in greater Boston.
In his campaign this year, the candidate rarely and only vaguely spoke of his role in the church. But in an effort to explain Romney the Mormon, he was preceded on the convention stage Thursday night by other Mormons who told stories about him, his faith and his church work.
He was described as a follower of Christ who worried less about theology than serving other people. Pam Finlayson, a church member in Massachusetts, received a stranding ovation when she told how Romney interrupted his deliberations over whether to run for president two years ago when her daughter died.
"It seems to me when it comes to loving our neighbor, we can talk about it, or we can live it," she said, tearing up. "The Romneys live it every single day."
Changing attitudes
Quin Monson, a Brigham Young University political scientist and church member, said that although attitudes toward Mormons have been changing for a long time, the convention program was significant because — unlike the last night of the convention in Los Angeles that nominated Kennedy — it deliberately focused on the candidate's religion.
Some uncertainty still remains for voters, however, recent polls show. A Washington Post poll in July showed that 39% of those surveyed had a positive view of Mormons, while 31% had a negative view. Twenty percent also said they would have a problem with a family member marrying a Mormon.
Mormonism was born in Upstate New York in the 1820s based on the visions of Joseph Smith, who said an angel led him to a book containing the religious history of an ancient people. His translation was called The Book of Mormon, for the ancient prophet who Smith said compiled it.
The early church grew westward, following the path of missionaries dispatched by Smith. But persecution followed. In 1838, after the Mormons had settled in Missouri, escalating tensions led to open war with existing settlers.
In what became known as the Haun's Mill massacre, in which 17 Mormons were killed. A settler reportedly said he killed a 10-year-old boy because: "Nits will make lice, and if he had lived he would have become a Mormon."
A governor's decree
The Missouri governor, in an official order, said, "The Mormons must be treated as enemies, and must be exterminated or driven from the State if necessary for the public peace …"
After Smith was killed by a mob in Illinois, the Mormons fled west to Nebraska and eventually settled in Utah. One of the early settlers was Mitt Romney's great-great-grandfather.
Even after polygamy was abolished and Utah entered the union, the Mormons were resented for their success, suspected for their theology and ridiculed for their polygamy, even though the church had repudiated it.
The persecutions and pioneer struggles remain a foundation of Mormon identity, said Monson at BYU. They're revived when someone jokes about Mormons and polygamy, or describes the religion as a non-Christian cult, or slams a door in a Mormon missionary's face.
"It's a nice moment tonight," Monson said on the phone from Utah. "But probably some people will wish we could just stay under the radar."