The Mormon Church was officially founded by six individuals in 1830; by 2002 there were approximately 11 million members. When the first prophet, Joseph Smith Jnr, died in 1844, he had gathered some 26,000 followers and these had grown to some 115,000 when his successor, Brigham Young, died in 1877. The middle and later decades of the nineteenth century witnessed a large part of this growth through migration of converts from Great Britain and Scandinavia. Such emigration largely ceased with the beginning of the twentieth century and growth was relatively slow to 500,000 members by 1919. The Church had increased to 2 million members by 1963; this doubled to 4 million by 1979 and to 8 million by 1991. The quickening growth in the closing decades of the twentieth century was due to rapid expansion in South America, which helped to produce the 11 million or so in the opening years of the twenty-first century. These patterns of growth reflect the changing nature of this church, the early years being a time of ‘calling to Zion’, gathering converts in America to prepare for Christ's Second Coming. Then followed a steady state when the Saints became consolidated in their North American heartland, especially in Utah. After defending themselves from opposition by the Federal Government on the issue of polygamy, they finally capitulated, officially abandoning the practice in 1890 whilst continuing to emphasize the importance of family life.