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Transcription of the Journal of Aroet Lucious Hale
by Robert Morgan Hale, Great-Great Grandson
(Solomon | Wallace | Whitney)
Please note: this transcription has attempted to preserve the original spelling and grammar based on the original hand-written journal of Aroet, with hopes to give the reader a more intimate experience.
Journal[a] of myself or in other words, I Aroet Lucious Hale Born in Dover newhampshire May 18th 1828. Which was the son of Johnathan H. Hale[1], which was the Son of Eliphlet Hale[2], which was the Son of Solomon Hale[3], which was the Son of Samuel Hale[4].
My Mother name was Olive Boynton[5]. Her Farther name was Eliphlet Boynton[6], which was the Son of Samuel Boynton[7]. Her Mothers name was Susan Nichols[8], Daughter of Jacob Nichols[9]. My Father and Mother received the Gospel and was Baptised in Dover Newhampshire into into the new and everlasting covenant, on the 13 day of June 1834 by the hand of Elder Gladden Bishop[10], and ordained by him to the office of an Elder in August Same year, to Preside over the church in Dover.
“Left Dover April the 10th 1835 for kirtland Ohio[b]. Arrived in Kirtland April 28 which was Tuesday, and Thursday received my Patriarkal Blessing[11] April 30th 1835 under the hand of Joseph Smith sen.[12] Recived many Blessings while their. Left Kirtland on the forth of may for the Eastern States with the twelve Apostles of the Lanb. Traveld through the State of Newyork. Attended the Different Confrences[c]. Left their in Company with Elder John Murdock[13]. Traveled with him two Weeks. Come with him to the Freedon Conferecse when conference was over. Left with Elder Heman Hyde[14] with eight of the twelve and Prest Wm. Marks[15]. Arrived at his House in Portage. Stade their two Days. Left their in Company with Elder Thomas B. Marsh[16] and David W. Patton[17]. Thence to Palmyra to the Home of Elder Martin Harrises[18] thence to the hill of Comorah. All went on to the hill and offerd up our thanks to the most high God, for the reckards of the Nephites and Other blessings. Then went about from House to House to inquire the Character of Joseph Smith jn previous to his reciving the Book or the plates of Mormon. The ancer was that his Character was as good as young men in general. This was on the 30 Day of May 1835.”
The above sketch is taken from my Dear Father Journal. He writes:
“I then Left the Brethren and persued on my journy and arived in Dover, N.H. the 8th of June 1835 to the bosom of my family, after the absence of two months. In the which time [end of page 1 of manuscript] I traveled about 1550 miles. I then went to work for B Wiggins about six Weeks. Then went to Bradford to a Confranse of the twelve which was in July. After Confranse was preordained under the hand of Elder T.B.Marsh. I then took my team and Carried three of them to Salem ma T.B. Marsh, P.P. Pratt[19], H.C. Hinkle; then returned to Dover, with Elder Luke Johnson[20] and Elder Wm. Smith[21] to my home. Stade at home a few days, then tood 2 horses and Wagons and Elder Luke Johnson and went to the Saco[d] Confrance met the most of the twelve there. After Confrance, I took as many of the Twelve as I Could carry, viz. Elder TB Marsh, P.P. Pratt, B Young[22], O Hyde[23], and part of the time five. We went to Farminton and attended Confrance. after Confrance was over, we came back to Saco, and thence to Dover and thence to Bradford. Making in all 320 miles. I then returned to Dover and settled my Business and moved my famley to Bradford the 17th Day of Sept 1835. Lived with my Father in law Eliphalet Boynton. Assisted him in Selling his Farm and property, which was done previous to June 1836. I Left Bradford (Mass) with my famley in Company with Elder Henry Harriman[24] and wife, and Sister Mary Ann Boynton on the 16 day of June 1836. Had a pleasant journey and arrived in Kirtland Ohio, the 10th of July all in good health and Spirits. Distance 750 miles. My family consisted of Myself and Wife, Aroet Lucius Hale, Rachel Johnson Savory Hale[25], Alma Helaman Hale[26]. These are the names of my children. Aroet was Borne in Dover (NH) May 18th 1828 Rachel was born in Bradford (Mass) August 27th 1829 Alma was Born in Bradford April 24th 1836 I also brought with me Sariah Ann Knight. I stade in Kirtland and worked at Divers kind of work. My Wife[e] recived her Patrickal blessing the 10 of November 1836 in the Lords house, under the hand of Joseph Smith Sen. The Winter after I arived in Kirtland I was Chosen to be One of the third corum of seventys Was ordained under the hand of Elder Harren Aldrech[27]. On the 4th of April a number of the Seventes met at my house, to recive to Recive their washing to prepair for the anointing. [end of page 2 of manuscript] I received my washing under the hands of Elder Joseph Young[28] one of the presidents of the seventies. Recived my anointing on the 5th of April under the hands of Elders Joseph Young and Heren Aldrich and recived a great blessing April the 6 which was the Solumn Assembly. Then I recived the washing of the feet by Elder Heber C. Kimble[29] and pronounced me clean of the blood of this Generation. Traveled up to this time 2740 Miles mostly on foot.”
I Aroet moved to to Kirtland Ohio with my Farther. Their I was Baptised Being 9 years old by Wilford Woodruff[30] into this Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saintes. Thow a Boy, I will remember many incidents that happened Their. The Apostacy of John F. Boynton[31]. My Dear Mothers Brother The cause of is apostasy. The Prophet Joseph Smith cald on him for money. He had the money but refused. This was a turning point in his Life. The Prophet wanted money to redeem Land that he had bought in Jackson Co Missouri at the senter Stake of Zion, The birning of the Printing Office[f], The failure of the Kirtland Bank[32], and other things caused grate apostasy. Persecutions commence. The Kirtland Temple was dedicated in 1836 on the 27 of March. On this ocation the Prophets Moses, Elias, Elijah apeared to the Prophet Joseph Smith, committed the keys of their respective Dispensation to him. The Power of God was made manifest in a grate degree. The visions of heaven were Opned, angles administerd to them. Butiful Singind was heard from the top of the Temple. I will remember of hereing our parents talk of these things. We Children was taught to Love the Prophet Joseph Smith, a man that could talk and converse with holey angles and Our Heavenly Father. The Prophet Joseph had to flee from his Enemies. Persecution still raged. This being the third time that he visited Missouri. Many Saints followed after him. The first larg Emigration Company of Saints of some Seventy Wagons 515 Saints was Organized and led by Joseph Young[33], Elias Smith, Henry Harriman[34], Johnathan Dunhan, Johnathan H. Hale and others. They started from Kirtland on July 6th 1837, and arived in Far West[35] [end of page 3 of manuscript] on October 20th. I will relate a few incidents that happened on our way to Missouri. My Farther was arrested with Others and held for trial. He was supposed to be One of the Directors of the Kirtland Bank. He had his trial. The third Day Overtook the Camp. Brother Marlin H. Peck had a Childe between 7 and 8 years old run over by a loded wagon. The wheels passing Over both his legs. The child was anointed with oil and administered to. The Camp was only detained about one and a half hourss. The Camp on ariven at Far West, the Prophet Jseph met them & pronounced blessings apon them. Farther was sent with a small company of Saints to Adam-ondiaham. Shortly after ariving at Adam-ondiahman Gov. Lilburn W. Boggs[36] issured his exterminating orders which gave the Saints the Choice between banishment from Missouri and Death. The Mobers soon renewed their Depredations by burning Houses, killing and Driving of Stock. Soon Orders came to Lay down their arms on the penalty of Death, if Eny more found in Serching the Tents and Wagons. My Dear Farther lade down tue Nice rifels. One was intended for me as soon as I was larg anoff to youse it. Soon after Our Tents and Wagons was Serched by a Mob Militia. My Dear Mother was lying Sick in a Wagon Box in the Tent. Four of the Mob cane into the Tent on Each side of the Beed. They took holt of the beed and throw her fron One Side to the Other against the Wagon Box till She was nearly Exosted. They ware froward blocked & looked like Demons of hell. Other Famleys and Tents and Wagons was Served the Same way. After they had got all the arms, they took the Brethering present and marched them off. Farther was among the rest. I was about the largest Boy in Camp. I had to cut Wood, burn it into Cols out side the Tent, Take the Cols into the Tent in a bake kettle to keep my Dear Mother and her Little children from freesind. Farther returned in a few Days. We Lived in the tent till it frose Ice in Grand River, till loaded Teams crost on the Ice. Their was a incidenta or two that I will make meccion of. When Farther came into the tent to get the Guns, he took them from under the bed whair Mother [end of page 4 of manuscript] was Laying Sick. Farther took from under the Bed a pair of Silver mounted Derrenger Pistels. Mother ses to Farther, Johnathon Let me take those Pistols. Farther gave them to her. She put them into her Bossom one on each side. They ware their wen the mob was throwing her around in Search of fire arms. When we arived in Quincy Ill. we did not have a Spoon full of anything to Eat and no Money. Farther took those Pistols and put them in pond for a Little Bredstuf that we Chreldren minte Eat befoe we Slept. Another incident, The Mob camped alond the bank of Grand river so our Horses & Cows Could not get a drink of Watter without going through their Camp. Their was a dutiful Bull Came with the Cow heurd from Kirtland Ohio. One Day the mob had that Bull surrounded and was Shooting at the Brass nobs on his hornes. They Shot his horns all to Slivers till they hung by the Side of his head. The next Day he was found Dead near their Camp. Farther had a good Team and Wagon when we went to Missouri. He Lost everything. And was hold out of Missouri by one of the Brethering by the name of Bird. Farther worked in Quincy Ill. afen Days. Formed an aquaintunance with one Robert Stilson that had a Farm twenty mile East of Quincy. Mr Stilson Offird my Farther Oll that he Could rase on the Farm and pay him the money for all the improvements he Could make in the way of fencing & repairing buildings, etc. This was in the Spring of 1838 after being drove our of Misouria by a Mob. Farther continued Working on the Stilson farm, till he was able to by him a good Span of horses, harnes & Wagon. Then fitted up for Nauvoo Duering our Stay on the Stilson Farm. The Prophet Joseph bought a larg tract of Land Cald upper Commers. Afterwards Cald Nauvoo, on the Mississippi River. Their the Saints gethered and the Nauvoo Temple was Built. Farther moved to Nauvoo in the Spring of 1841. On arriving at Nauvoo, he Unloded his wagon at the south End of Brother John P. Green[37] House and Commenced hulling Rock on the Temple. And never seased [end of page 5 of manuscript] Till he had pade up too and a half years back tithing Here at Nauvoo. I become better aquainted with the Prophet Joseth Smith. I was in my 18 year when the Prophet Joseph & Hiram Smith was Murterd. Well remember meny incidence that happent while Living in Nauvoo. Was well aquanted with the Prophets most bitter Enimes, John C. Bennet[38], Dr. Foster, the Highber & Laws. They was all member of our Church. Bennet was an adultrus man. The Prophet told hin of his sickness and warned him to repent. This made him more angray, and he swore vengeance against the Prophet, Joseph Smith. They ware finley dut of from the Church. They then went to Warsay, amoung th Mob. They never ceased their Cusin Theirafter till they kild the Prophet Joseph and Hyron Smith at Carthage Jail, handcock Co, Ill. This Occurance took place on the 27 of June, 1844. I well remember the Day that the Bodys of Joseph and Hyrum Smith was brought into Nauvoo. Our Parrence all wnet out to see as the possession pased along the Road. TheCity was in one Complete seene of weeping, mourning, and lamintation after the bodys arived at the Mansion House. It was snuff to break the hart of a Stone, to here Grandmother Smith and the Saints weep Over the loss of their Dear Prophet & Patriarch Joseph and Hyrum Smith. Br Johan Taylor was brought from Carthage on a sled on account of his wounds. Could not be brought on wheels. When Govenor Forde[39] Demanded the State arms they ware sirrenderd to him. When Joseph and Hiram started with the rest of the Brothern to go to Carthage Govnar Ford pledged his honar and the honar of the State that Joseph Should be Procteded back to Nauvoo. The Prophet Joseph predicted a Curs on John C. Benet. Told him if he did not repent of his Sins and Sin no more, the Curs of God allmighty would rest upon him, that he would die a vagabond apon the face of the Earth without friends to berry him. Told him that he Stunk of Women. In the Year 1850, President Young was speeking about the matter. Said that he had watch the Life of John C. Benet. That Bennet went to California in the grate Gold Fever [end of page 6 of manuscript] Excitement. That Bennet Dide in on eof the lowest Slums of California. That he was draged out with his boots on, put into a cart hold off and Dumped into a hole a rotten mass of corruption. This prediction or Provisy came to pass as will as many Others that I heard the Prophet Joseph Smith make. The Nauvoo Temple was Dedicated, May 1st 1846. I was Ordand an Elder in the Church. Olso recived my Washing and anointing in the Temple the same year. I will relate a few incidents that I heard and som The Prophet set the patton for the Baptism of the Dead. He went into the Missisipu River Baptised Over 200. Then the Apostles and Other Elders went into the River and Continued the Same Ordanance. Hundard ware Baptised their. With the instructions from the Prophet Joseph to have the work don Over as quick as the temple was finished wheir it Could be done more perfect. Another indident worthy of note, The Prophet Joseph was visiting at our Houes on One occasion. Spent the Evning. My Farther was a Bishop of One of the Wards. With the Prophet concernt, Father invited in his Counclers and afew of the good Old Staunch Brethering. Among the few was Uncle Henry Harriman. One of the first seven Presidents of the Seventies, and Johnathon Homes, and Several Others of Farthers Old Standby Friends. This circumstance took place at my Farthers House, Johnathun H. Hale’s, Bishop. This was th first time that Our Parrance had Ever heard the Prophet Speak on the subject of secilestual marrage. Duren the Evening the Prophet Spoke to Uncle Henty Harriman. Ses he Henry, your Wife Clarica[g] is Barren. She never will have ony Chreldren. Apon your Sholdirs rest grate responsibilities. You have a grate work to preform in the temple of our God. You are the Only Herraman that will ever join this Church. Even told him the lenige that he was of. Told him that he mus take a nother Wife. And rais up a family to assist him in his grate work. And to Honar and revere his name. The Prophet olso told Ant Claracy that if she would consent to this marage and not try to hinder Henty that She Should Shair aportion of the glory that would be Derived from this marige. Uncle Henry Harriman was finley [end of page 7 of manuscript] convinced that the command that the Prophet Joseph had gave him was right. In a Short time he took a Young Woman and was Sealed by the Prophet. He brought her to the Vallay. They have raised a famley of Chreldren. They have don a good work in the St Gorge Temple. One Son has ben cald on a mishon.
Uncle Henry Harriman lived a few years in S. L. City. Was cold to Dixey. Lived in Washington near St Gorge afew years then moved to Huntington and Dide at Huntington. The seventes built a fine monument in honar of him. I Aroet Lucius Hale was in my 17 year, when the Prophet Joseph and his Brother Hyrum was marterd. Was aquainted with them as Milateria Officers. Lieu. General Joseph Smith Was a Fine Looking Officer. I was a Drummer Boy in the Nauvoo Legion. Frequently use to Serenade the Prophet Joseph. Was on general Perade when General John C. Benet Chalange General Joseph Smith to take one of the Cohorts and he One, and Fight a Sham Battle. General Smith Declined, Settling bitter Enemity in that way. I heard General Smith make his last address to the Nauvoo Legon, Cold the Sermon on the House Top, Wheir he said that he had on sheath his sword for the last time. That Peace was taken from the Earth. I was with the Nauvoo martial Band at the Mock Furneral of Joseph and Hyrim Smith. The Object was to Decoy Our Enemes. The Nauvoo Temple was Dedicated May May 1st 1846 by Orson Hydezzz, One of the Apostle. Recive my Washing and Anointings in the Temple. Was Ordaned a Seventy and placed in the 19th Quron of Seventes, Samuel Moor Senor President. Earley in the Year 1846 the Saints Commenced to leave Nauvoo. February 15th Apostle Brigham Young and Others of the Twelve Apostle, With their Families, crost the Missisippi River and camped on Sugar Creek. My Farther was a Bishop, Hohnathan H. Hale and Stade in Nauvoo. Lacking a teamster, Father went with President Kimble. They could not hire a man or a Boy in Nauvoo. Finley Br Kimble asked Farther if he Could Possibly Spair Aroet Lucius. [end of page 8 of manuscript] He Said he would. I was soon fitted up. Went to the Temple the Last Day but One that they worked in the Temple. Had my Indowments and Started for Shugur Creek and Organized into the grate Camp of Israel bound for the Rockey Mountains. The Camp Stade here till the first of March. Sunday Morning being the first of March President Brigham Young cold the People together. We had a good meting. The Orders was for Evry Man to be redy to roal out and Start his Journey at 10 Oclock Next Morning. The Main Camp Started.. Our travels was verry Slow not Everuge more than four miles aday when we travled. The hole Camp had to Cut Brows and heard their Cattle and Horses. They ware verry Poar. Some Dide. We arive at the East fork of Grand River on the 25 of April. Sunday 26 a grand meting was Cold. Preident Young spoke on the Prinsipl of Stoping here, and Opning up a Farm, putting in Gardings and Crops, Building Houses for the Poar that was Left behing, that could not get eny Further. Monday 27th, The men ware all Cold together and Organised into Difrent Companies, Some to Spliting Rails, Some to Cutting House Logs, and Some to Diging Weels. Evryman to work at the best advantage. I was Organized into the Company to Cut House Logs and build Log Cabbings. Fryday the first of May, we raised the first log House on the farm. We continued working on the Farm till the 16 of May. Then Left Garden Grove. The Twelve and a larg portion traveledon till the 23 of May. Camped on Grand River. Here a part of the Camp was Cold a pon to stop and put in a nother Farm Crop. Sunday the 24th we had a good meting. The Twelve spoke well. It was considerd best for all that could not make a good outfit to Stop on the farm. I continued working on the Farm till the 16th of June. I then was councled to return to Nauvoo to meat my Farther. I met my Farther on Soap Creek 30 miles from Mountpisgy that being the name of the Farm that we built on Grand rivier. We arived at Mountpisgy the first Day of July. Farther being Councled not to Stop but to proseed on to the Bluffs of the Missisori River. We continued Our Journey. Started on the Seckond [end of page 9 of manuscript] of July. Arived at the Bluffs on the 16 of July. While traveling through Iowa the Saints ware cold apon to rais five hundard men to Perticipate in the War with Mexico. Farther Camped on Mosquito Creek about nine miles from the Trading Post on the Missouri River. July 13 In Obedince to a call of the authorities of the Camps of the Saints, The men all met at head-quarters on Mosquito Creek. Col. Thomas L. Kane who had arived in Camp, and Capt Allen ware present. Pres. Brigham Young, Capt. Allen, and others addressed the Saints in regards to furnishing the Battalion. Four Companies waier raised on that Day and the Day following. I had a desire to go with the Battalion as a Drummer Boy, being a member of the Marchal Band in Nauvoo. Taught by Edward Dusett Drum Major of the Nauvoo Legion. President Heber C. Kimble Talked to me. Ses he Aroet you have ben away from your Farther and Mother five months in the Camps of Israel, as a teamster. Your Dear Farther on Cruchers with a broken lage, and no help but your Mother and her Little Ones. I took President Kimble Councle, and well that I did. Farther was Cald as One of the high Council to Preside on the Ease Side of the Missouri River. The Council picked for their winter Quarters, Council Point, near the Missouri River, and Commence Cutting Timber and prepairing for Winter. The wether was verry warn the River Watter verry bad and in a few Weeks nearly all the camp was taken down with the Chills and fever. A grate many Dide. My Dear Farther Dide Sept 4, 1846. My Mother Sept. the 8th 1846. Only four Days between their Deths. Mother was Confinde about the or twelve Days before Farther dide and haveing the Chills and feever, being verry Sick gave up all hopes. She Said that She had no Diser to Live. She would soon go and Join her Companion Johnathan H. Hale. She Said She was always happy with him. Mother was neeling beside the Bead when Farther drawed his Last breath. I led her to the Wagon which was in rear of the Tent, then Cald Sister Allred and Sister Morley wifes of to of the Counclers into the Wagon [end of page 10 of manuscript] told them where Farthers Temple Closes was and how she wanted him drest. She Olso told them that She wanted her Sister Clarisa Harriman to have her infant baby. Ant Clarisa never had Eny Chreldren. Uncle Henry Harriman had crost the Missisari River and was at Winter Quarters. Sisters Allred and Sister Morley Started after Mother Dide with the Infant. They Came to the Ferry Boat on the River. The Wind blowed so hard for two Days that the Boat Could not Cross the River. During that time the Infant Dide and was brought back and Burred with its Farther & mother. After Mother had talked about Farthers Bearrel Close & the Infant, The Cald me into the Wagon. Ses She to me Aroet Promis me One thing, that you will take good Cair of my darling Chreldren and go to the Mountains with President Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimble. There is whair your Dear Farther Started to go with them. Don’t be Persuded to turn Back, By Eny of Our Relations that is writing to us. Do as I have Councled You, and I bless you, and the Lord will Bless you. These are about the Last Words that my Dear mother ever spoke on her Dying Bed. I never have forgotten those words. I promest her that I would do as She had requested me to Do. I kep my Promice good. I arived in Salt Lake Valley in the Fawl of 1848. The Famley was as follows my Sister Rachel 17 years Old, My Brother Alma, Ten, Br Solomon Seven. Farther Dide with the Chills and fever, turned to Sleepy Lethergy. The Elders would Come into the Tent, and try to arouse him from his sleep, would get him onto his knees and get him to Praying. He would Pray a Short Sentence, then fall to Sleep on his knees then arouse him and he would Pray a Short Centence and fall to Sleep. The Last words that he Eve Spoke was in Prair to God our heavenly Farther. President Heber C. Kimble, and others came and administered to Farther severule times. I will here relate a Provisy of President Kimble apon my Head. I was taken Sisk before my Farther, with the Agaue & feever,Shook about two hours in [end of page 11 of manuscript] the fare noon and a burning feever in the after noon. I was not able to take Cair of myself. Br Kimble Came into the Tent whire I was Laying on the Bed. Ses he Aroet whire are your Cattle that your Farther moved into this Camp with Farther. Now me has not Seen an Ox or Cow for two Weeks. Some mabe up on Mosquetes Creek. Some on Cage Creek, and Some may be gon as far East Nishnebottany. Ses he Aroet if you will git up to morrow morning and go and hunt Cattle anuff, to move your Wagons out of this Camp, up to Winter Quarters, you never shall have a nother ague Shake as Long as you Live. I tride to make Some Excuse but no good. Some of the Brothering and Sisters had gethered around the Tent Dore, hereing him talk to me. Ses he, will you go. I Ses, I will try to go. Br. Kimble then administered to me, then Spoke to Uncle James Allred. Ses he Br Allred you have a horse Saddle and Bridle here to morrow morning by eight Oclock. Br Hale is goen to get Cattle a nuff to take his Wagon up to Winter Quarters, at my Camp. Distance twelve miles. In the morning Brother Allred was their with the riding anumel which was a Little White Mule that belong to Some of the Brothering that had Come from Texas that year. I Started acording to agreement. They watch me as far as they Could See me. Some of the Women Said that I never would return a Live. Some found falt with Br Kimble for Sending a Boy as Sich as I was, alone, to hunt Cattle. I road to Mosquiutes Creek five miles. I was nearly chucked for Watter. I crouled of my mule to the Creek had a good drink of Watter Lade back on the Bank to rest me, and fell a Sleep. Did not wake up till after dark. I found my Mule a Short distance below on the Creek. I Caught the mule, and was thinking what to do. I had not sene eny Camps as yet on the Creek. While thinking what Corse to persue I heurd a Dog Bark up the Creek. I Crald on to the Mule and Started up the Creek. Soon found a Camp, told [end of page 12 of manuscript] them who I was, and what I was after. The man was a Little aquantid with Farther. They took me in and took Care of me and in the Morning Sent a Boy with me. The third Day I found three Oxes and One Cow. I returned to Camp. Some was surprised to See me. Others was Soon inquiring about Br. Kimble Provisy. I told them I had not had a ague Shake cence I left them. I then and their bore my testimony, that if their Ever was a Prophet of God on this Earth that Pres. Heber C. Kimble was One. The next mornind the Brethering helped me hitch up my Teams. I put the heavest yoak of Oxen on the hevest Wagon. The Ox and Cow on the Light Wagon. My Sister Rachel drove the Light wagon and I the Other wagon. We arived at the Boat Landing all right. Br Heber C Kimble was their. And Soon, I was told to Drive my Wagons on to the Boat. I will here Say that Others had to Pay one Dollar a Wagon, but I was told to Drive off. Br Kimble walk a head of the Wagons and Pioleted me to whair Uncle Henry Harriman was building his cabbing. They was Pleased to See us Chreldren. My health had improved from the time that Br Kimble had administerd to me and Provised on my head up to that time. Uncle Harrimon had his Cabbin three rounds high. I went to work with Oxen and wagon an we put a Room on to the End of his house. My Sister Rachel was Old a nuff to keep House for me. And we was Son Confitable for the Winter. I will here Say the President Heber C Kimble & Pres. Brigham Young was Olways verry kind to me. Br Kimble made me Promis that I never would make Eny general move, without Counciling him. I always kep that Council or promis as Long as he Lived. And I was always Blessed and prosperd in doing So. Winter Quarters was Soon a City of Log and Sod Houses. Devided into 22 Wards each Presided Over by a Bishop. The first of December Winter Quarters Inhabitance numberd 3,483 Soles. Meny Saints sufferd and dide on the Banks of the Missouri river. The Saints on the [end of page 13 of manuscript] East Side of the river was Divided into Wards, and presided Over By Bishops. Olso a High Counser was apointed. They made their Quarters at Councill Point. My Farther was one of the Council and took Sick and Dide their. Olso my Mother. Preident Brighan Young and the Apostles, Commenced Organize the Camps by apoynting Captians of hundards and fifties. The Captins weir Directed to Organize their respective Companies. This was about the 14 of January 1847. I attended the Metings, heard the Councile that was geven to the Saints. None was to Start with Les than the requird amount of Bread Stuff, One Cow to two persons, Sead grane, Seid potatoes, and a good Outfit for One Year. I knew that I Could not go in 1847. I had not more than one half the requard amount of Bread Stuff, Les One Yoak of Oxen, Less Seed Grane and a grate meny Other things that was required to make Outfit. I See that I had to go to my Counclor & adviser as I had agreed to do, President Heber C. Kimble. I told him I had attended the metings. I had heard the Councile that was given to the Saints. I told him that I was One Yoak of Oxen less, about one half the amount of Bread Stuff less, no Seed Grain. Ses he Aroet there is agrate meny that will have to Stop till a nother Year. Some of my Famley, Some of President Youngs famley will have to Stop. We have astablished a farm Each for portions of Our famleys and friends that wish to Join us. My Farm is Six miles up the river, and Presidents Young is twelve miles up the river. There is a track of Land their that you Can rais a good Crop of Carm, Squashes and Potatoes and Other Vegatables. be industrious. Rais allYou Can and next Year You Shall go to the Mountains with me. Uncle Henry Harriman had not the required a mount and he Concluded to go to the Kimble Farm. Agrate meny that had not the required amount recrost the River and took up Land and Farmed. Their headquarters was Kensville. I Joined with Uncle Harriman. [end of page 14 of manuscript] We worked together raised a good Crop of Corn and vegutubles. Duering the Fawl and winter I made several trips down into Misourri. Worked and Pedeled some things that we Could do with out. Sech as Iron wair, Shovel and tongs, andirons, flatirons and hevy Cookings utenchels, which Litned up our Load and help make our Outfit. Tuesday the ninth of May, 1848, 22 Wagons the first of the Season Left Winter Quarters for the Valley. The first week in June, President Young brook Camp at Elk Horn and Started for G. S. L. Valley with a Company consisting of 1229 Soles, and 397 Wagons. He was followed by Heber C Kimbles Company of 662 Soles and 226 Wagons. I was Organized into Heber C. Kimbe Company first Fifty. Henry Harriman, Capt. of first Fifty. My Outfit Consisted of two Yoak of Oxen, and one Yoak of Cows. One yoak of Oxen on one light Wagon, and one Yoack of Oxen and One Yoak of Cows on the hevy Wagon. The Famley as follows, I Aroet was the Oldest, had Charg of the famley. I was in my 20 year, My Sister Rachel in her 19 year, My Brother Alma in his 12 year, My Brother Solomon in his 9 year. I was apointed One of the Hunters for the first 50. Ozro Eastman was my Hunting Companion. Buffilo and Antloap was verry plentyfull, common up the Plat River. We had good luck and surplice our Division with what Buffilo Meat theey Needed while we wair in the Buffilo Country. Our travels acrost the Planes wa a Long tiersom trip over one thousand miles with Ox teames. Was hard on Old People and Woman with Chreldren. The Young folks had enjoyment. President Young and Kimble was Verry kind and indulgent to the Young. They frequently Stop within a Mile or So apart. The Young yould viset from one Camp to the Other. And frequently would get musick and have a good Dance on the Ground. Some times the Older Folks would Join wiht us. On one Occation President Young took part in the Injoyment. I formed an acquaintance with a Youns Lady Crosing the Plains that I after wards merred. Her name was Olive Whittle, a Daughter of Thomas [end of page 15 of manuscript] Whittle, formaly from Canada. SO I done my Sparking along the Road, So I did not have So much to Do after I got into the Valley. On our travels, as we neared the Valley, we met Saints of 47 on their way back to the Misouri River, after famleys that was left. Also Quite a Nomber of Battalion Boys. My Dear Old friend Lucus Hogland, was one of the Number. He found what he was Looking far, My Dear Sister Rackel Hale. They Commenced keeping Company before they Left Nauvoo. Of Corse he turned about, Came into the Valley with us. We arived in the Valley of Grate Salt Lake in the fawl of 1848. We camped around the Old Forts that the Poyneers of 47 had built. In the Fawl of 48 all the Saints had Libety to Scatter out, and farme near by Settlements and Settle on their City Lots. President Kimble, my good adviser, Sent for me to Com, and See him. Ses he Aroet you are natural ingenous. Go to the Adoby Yard. Make you 7 or 8 hundard larg Spanish adobes. While they are Dryind, Onload one of your Wagons, go to the Canion get a Load of Logs. Take them to the saw pit. Have them sawed for your Doure frames & Window frames, and by that time I will Show you your city Lot. I done as my adviser coucled me to do. I took one of the End gates out of the Wagon, went to the Carpenter Shop. I found Their Br Shumway Carpenter, an Old Nauvoo aquaintunce. He was Pleas to See me. And Soon had a pair of adoby moles made me. Tthe adobes that was first made for our Small Houses was 18×9x4, what was Cald Spanish adobes. The first Week, I had Seven hundard adobes Laid out to Dry. I onloaded one Wagon, went to the North Canion in Campany with Other Few. We got a Small Load of Loges, took them to the Saw Pit, Whatch was run by Br Blazard. For my Shair I got Lumber a nuff to make me One Doar frame, two Window frames, and two Plates far the Wall. I was now reddy to report to President Kimble, adviser. Ses he Aroet Come up on to the City town Site to morrow afternoon and I will Show Your City Lot. I went as agreement. [end of page 16 of manuscript] Found Quite a number of the Brethering and the Survayres, Survaying of Ten Acrs Blocks. Br Kimble wasled with me to what is known as North Temple Street, to the Seckond Block below the North West Corner of the Temple Block on the North Side of the Street. He Come to the South East Corner Stake of the Block. Their was but four Corner Stakes Stuck on the Block. Ses Br Kimble right here on this Lot No 1 Belongs to Br Henry Harrimon. Lot No 2 Belongs to Br Aroet Hale. Lot No 3 Belongs to Sister Broomhead. Lot No 4 Belongs to Br Thomas Whittle. He Looked to me and Lafted. Ses he do You know Sesh aman. I ses I hope I Shall know his Daughter Better. I soon had my Wagons on my Lot. One onloaded and Commence halling Ston Sand and Clay. By the time the foundation was Lade the Adobys was reddy to hall. I Commenced the Seckond House in the 17th Ward. The Wards was Soon Lade off. My City Lot was in the 17 Ward. Bishop Joseph L. Haywood, first Bishop. I was Cald and acted as Teacher in the Ward. Was Soon Ordained a Seventy and plased in the 19 Corum of Seventys. In Sept 15th 1849, I married Olive Whittle, Daughter of Thomas Whittle, merried by Heber C. Kimble. A Short time after, merred & Sealed in the endowment House. In the Spring of 49, I drawed or recived five acrs of Land Laying on the Bench a Little below Father Neff Mill, Now Situated in what is known as the Sugar House Ward. Here I had my firs Experance in Eregation Commence. My Brother inlaw, Lucas Hogland one of the Battalion Boys Secured from his Farther, The late Bishop Hoagland, three pecks of Seed wheet. It was planted in the following manner by advice from fortyseveners in Drills Eighteen inches apart, the watter ferrows between the rows. I wattered my Wheet from Millcreek. It came up, Looked well. I wattered it Once a Weak. About the middle of June, I went to Watter my Wheet, and to my Surprise it was covered with Crickets. Myriades of big black Crickets Came down from the mountains, and began to Sweep away fields of grain. I Lost the most of my Little Crop of Wheet. [end of page 17 of manuscript] The Most of the Earley Grain near the City was Saved by immense Flocks of Sea gulls, which came and devoured the Crickets. This was Considerd a God Send, and Meny Escaped what minte have ben a Severe famin. A fine of five Dollars was placed apon the head of Eny One that kind a sea gull. One thing Singular, the Oldest Mountaineers and trappers Said that they never Saw a Sea Gull till after the Mormons Settled this Country. In Consequence of the Scanty harvest of 1848 Bread Stuff and Other Provisions became verry Skirce. Meny had to Eat raw hides, dig segos & thistle roots for monts. I was One of that number. The Last of June, Jest before harvest was the hardest time of 1849. I will relate a Little incident to Show to Our Chreldren & the rising generation how their Parrence Sufferd in Earley Days of 47, 48 & 49. Lucas Hoagland merred my Sister Rachel Savory Hale, Late in the fawl of 1848. Our Famley then Consisted of five in number, Lucas and wife, My Brother Alma Helaman Hale, age Ten, My Brother Solomon Eliphlet Hale, age Seven, and my Self. After Lucas merred my Sister Rachel, of Corse, I hade more help to Surstain the famley. it fell to my Lot to attend to Wattering the wheet. I had two Cows. Luckely both given milk. When I went to the field to watter the Wheet & fite the crickets, I used to Drive one Cow to the field with me. At knight, milk the Cow, Strain the milk. As Soon as it was Cool Stur in two or three Spoon full of Moldy Corn meal. Set Over the Camp fire, make my Porrage & go to bed. The Same in the Morning. This was better with the blessing of the Lord on it than bilde rawhide and Thistle roots. For Dinner take my Shovel go out on the Bench Land and dig Segos which was plentiful thank the Lord. While I was tending the Wheet, Lucas was working around whair he could get a Little provisions for the family he used to go to Provo River with fishing parties, ketch fish, Salt and Dry them. They ware verry good and Considered a rairaty. I will relate a Little insiden to Show how hard was to get bread stuff [end of page 18 of manuscript] my Wheet was heading Out and Commenced turning a Little yellow. I thought I Could glean a Little Out that would do to thrash and grind in a hand Mill, which meny did. I saw Several goen to Neffs Mill with Small grists of Corn that was rair in 48. Thought Struck me that I minte be able to trade for Some. I hade a fine Little Saddle Horse that Lucus Hogland had told me to trade for bread stuff Or Eatables of Eny kind. I Saddled up went to the Mill, Saw Several their buying or trying to by. Some Widdows with famleys. I Spoak to Neff told him my situation. I Offered him the Horse, Saddle & Bridel, a new Callifornia mecheir Saddle for three Pecks of Corne Meal. One Peck to take home with me, One Peck the next Week, the third Peck, the third Week. Now for the ancer. Ses he You grate boobby here trying to get three Pecks of meal. There is Women here beeging for two quarts to take home with them to feed their Little Chreldren. This Ancer heart my feelings So bad. I thought of the Situation I had Left the famley in in the morning without a Spoon full of Eny thing to Eat of bread Stuff kind, that I Cride Like a baby, to be Cald a booby for trying to make an honest trade with the miller. I continued hiting Crickets till nearly night when I heard a nois towards the Mouth of Enegration Canion, a Little North of Me. I Looked and to my Surprise, I saw a train of four and Six horse wagons comming Out of Emergration Canion. This proved to be a Company of the Gold Emergration, the first that arived in the Valley. I Sprung onto my Horse, went acrost the bench into their Camp. Was the first Mormon Boy in their Camp. They apeard to be verry much excited Over Gold and the mines. Asked meny questions. What news from the Gold Mines. Is their eny more of the Battalion Boy Came in. What News do they bring. Have You Seen Eny. Have You got Eny gold. I had a verry Little that Hogland hade gave me to try and get a Little bread Stuff with. [end of page 19 of manuscript] I Let them See what Gold I had. They ware all Excited in a minet. All had to See the Gold Dust. While they was Looking at the Gold Dust, and Old gentleman tuched me on the Sholder and becked me to One Side. Ses he I have a Span of Young Americun Colts, four Years Old. They have ben worked on Lead, have puld themselves down verry poor. Ses he I will give you that Span of Young Horses. Their Harnes and Lead bars for Your Poney Saddle and Bridle. I told him that I would go with hin and See the Horses. We went. He shode Me the Horses. They ware as he reckonend them to me. I thought of the trade I had Offerd the Miller Neff a few Ouers before. I thought of My Sister and the Little Boys at home, with out Eny thing to Eat but a Little Milk & Segos for Supper. Ses I Could You Spear Me a few Lbs of Flower a Small peace of Bacon a quart of Beens or eny kind of Eatables. Come to the Wagon I will See what I Can find. He got into the Wagon throwd out a Sack with Eight or Ten pownds of Flower, Ten Lbs of Bacon, and by that time the Boys had got Supper. They invited me in to the Tent. Their I Eat the best Supper that I Ever Eat, or Relished the Best. I led my Horses to the City. When my Sister Rachel Saw the flour and Backon She wep for Joy. Gold Emergration Continued to Come, and they wais willing to traid their Poor Stock fore those that ware in better Condishon. The Gray Horses that I got for the Saddle Pony brought me two Yoak of Oxen & Wagon, and a nice Sute of Close. This remindes me of a Provisy of President Heber C. Kimble. Two monts before the Gold Emergration Came into the Valley he Provised That Clothing would be Cheaper in Salt Lake City than it was in New Yourk Citry. We Saw this Provisy Come to pass. They ware Loded to heavy to Continue their Journey and all had somthing to Sell or trade. Horses, Harness, Wagons, Clothing, Provisions, Cooking Utensils, Stoves, Tents, Guns & arminshions. This was Considered a god Send. [end of page 20 of manuscript] The first Publick meeting was held on the Temple Block, G.S. Lake City Sunday March 25, 1849. Wendsday 28 of March, The Nauvoo Legion was partly reorganized. Danel H. Wheils was apointed Major General. The first Company Organized was under the Command of Capt Gorge D. Grant, and those belonged to it wair Skled Minuet Men. I was One of that number. The first Celebration to Commemerate the entrance of the Pioneers into G. S. L Valley, was held in G.S.L. City July 24th 1849.
Our Indian Troubles Commenced in the Earley part of Feb. 1850. President Yound Cold apon Capt. Gorge D. Grant to go to Provo to Chastise the Indians. President Brighan Young had made Several treates with the Indians, gave them Beef Cattle & Blankets, but they Soon forgot their treates and Commenced kining heardsmen and Seeling Stock. I was Cald apon. I Laid down my Snair Drum, being a member of the Nauvoo Marchal Band, Dimick B Hunting, Capt of the Band. I was a Surviver of the Nauvoo Marchal Band in Nauvoo, Dusett Drum Major. I volunteered went with Capt Gorge D. Grant, Capt of 100 Cavelry minute men. Arived on the 7th of Feb. Snow a foot Deap & Verry Cold. Found the Indians fortified in an Old Bed of the Provo River. They had fell Cottonwood treas along the Bank and piled up Snow with port holes through the Snow which Completly hid them from Our View. Capt Grant fought them on the 8th with but Little avale. Olso on the 9th On the Evning of the 9th General Wells arived with more men & a Cannon. I was placed under Capt Jacob Hoofines, Capt of Artelerman. After Shootimg awon all Our Canon Balls & Grape Shot, and a Set of Blick Smith tools Sech as harness and Other hevy Peaces of Ion to no avale, I was Placed in one of Lieutanant G. W. Howland Batterys, which don good Survise. There Batteres was two inch pland placed on Ox Sled in the Shap of a V with Blankets throud Over the plank. They held Eight men and don good Survise in the Grand Charg which was made on the 10th of February. Lieutanant Howland proposed there Batterys & they ware named after him. [end of page 21 of manuscript] The Battle was fought between the minute men numbering about one hundard & about Seventy Indians warrious under Big Elk and Cheuf Walker, Clost to Utah Fort, near whair Provo City now Stands, in which Several Indians ware kind and wounded. Several Minute men wair Wounded, but all recoverd but One Joseph Higby, by name, was kild. The Indians after skining the meat of one the Horses that was kild in the Charg, waded the Provo River, Watter up to their necks, Ice swimming and made their Escape to the mountains. The Grand Charg was made on the third Day. General Wells, taken Chard. The Provo River was riming nearly East & West. The Cavelry Company was Sent up the river a Short Distance. A Company of Infantry Cald Bushwackers on the West in timbe & Willows, on the South. three of Lieutanant Howland Batterys, Eight-men in a Battery. I was in One of the Batterys. About 10 Oclock when all was reddy, The General Gave the word of Command, Close up on the right and Left. Push Batterys to the frunt. Three Cavelry Horses was Shot Dead from under their riders. One Cavelry man Wounded, One kild Joseph Higby by name. One man Slitely wounded in the Leg. Several Warriors made their Escape. General Wells persude them and Over took them near Table Rock. They ware Crossing the Lake on the Ice near the South End of the Lake. Five wariors ware kild and the rest taken taken Prisoners. The Squaws and Children wair taken to Salt Lake City. Several Children ware adopted by Sitizens, and the rest aloud to return to their Tribe in the Spring. Capt Howard Stansbury Winterd in S.L.City in 1849. He was verry kind to the Mormons People. Sent all his Guns & armunision. Sent his Lieutenant G.W. Howland and his Sergent Doctor with us. We wair fifteen Days in the Survise. This wound up the troubel with the indians for Several Years ameadetly around Salt Lake Co. and Utah Co. After we returned Capt Gorge Grant was Cold apon to keep [end of page 22 of manuscript] his Company. We wair Cald Minute men as Life Gards. It was Our Duty to protict the Out Side Settlements against Indaon Seprad actions & to travel with Govenar Young, and his party. I belong to this Company for Six Years. I held two Commishons. One as Ordely Sirgent of minet men or Life Gards, and One Battalion Adjunt in the reorganized Nauvoo Legon. I was on nearly Every Indian Campagn that was made againts the Indians, both North South East & West. Capt Gorge D. Grant, Capt Wm Kimble, General Robert Burton, was Most Generaly had Command of Our Company. When we ware on Indian Campagn, I was frequently cald apon by Sheruf Robert Burton and Rodney Butler to help make up a Sherif Possy. When the Gold Emergration was passing through our Territory, And doing So Much Steeling of Horses, Saddles & Bridles, I was Olso with Jedediah M. Grant. He was Cald apon to take Ten Men, and go to Bair River and Serch for the Body of Rodney Badger. He Lost his Life trying to Save a Emergrant Woman from Being Drounded. We run Some Verry narrow risks. The Watter was Verry high and Swift. Pore Rodney was found about a Mile below wheir he Jumped into the River with his boots and Spirs, Jest as they wair when he Sprang from his Horse. He was found in the fawl of the year after the Watter fell. In fact from the Year 1848 to 1854 I was One of the Boys always reddy and willing when Cald apon by the propper authority. In 1854, I Sold my Property in the 17 Ward to the Church, Bishop Edward Hunter & his Councilor Leonard W. Hardy sent aprisors. At the April Confrance 1855 I was Cald on a mishon to the Lasvagus. Wm Bringhurst, President. Then my Labourr was nearly two Years more a mong the Indians of the worst kind. We was Sent by President Brigham Young to bild a Station in the middle of the grate american Desert, For the protection of the United States male and the Emergration that was travling the Road to California. A bunch of the Navhose Indians would Cross the Colorado River and make terrible raids on Emergration Companys, Steel their Teams and Stock, Leave Women and Children to Suffer and nearly Chock to Deth. Meny had to Drink the Blood of their Cattle. We number 33 men, no Women. We arive at the Lasvagus June the 15th, Crost the grate american Desert with Ox Teams, Which was an unheard of thing at that [end of page 23 of manuscript] of the Year. So Ses the Mexicon Fraters. The first three Monts was Spent in Grubing, Muskeet & Willous for Our Gardens, Making Watter Ditches, putting in our Garding, Making Adobes for Our Foart and Exploring for Timber. I will here relate a remarkable Provisy of President Brighan Young. That Spring their was four or five Mishons Casld, The Humbolt Mishon, the Elk Mountains Mishon, the Fort Surply Mishon and the Lasvagus Mishon. We wair all Cald to gether and Each One was assind his Mishon and President & Counslers apointed. The Vagas Mishon Came Last & Ses he Calling the attension of President Bringhurst and his mishonaries, Your Mishon is a Little Different that the Others. You are Cald to the Colorado River Country whair a fraction of the Navhoes Live & Clame that Country. They never alow a White man to Cross their trail with Out fetching battle. But I will Bless you and Pronounce a Provisy apon your heads. If you will go and fill that mishon, be humble and Prayerful and Carry Out My Counsel Strickley, Every One of you Shall Live to return to your famleys, & Every member of your Famleys, Their Lives Shall be preserved unto you. Two of Our Exploring parties was taken prisnors by the Indians, and when we had trouble the first thing that Came into our minds was this Provisy of President Brigham Young. Every Mishonary returned to their famleys, and I never heard of One of their famleys Dying in their absence. A nother Insident worty of note. While on my way to the Vagas, we was Camp at Provo Valley Nefy. Patirarch Farther Morley Came into our Camp. Ses he Br Hale what relation Was Johnathon H. Hale, to you. I ses he was my One Dear Farther. Ses he I and my wives was with your Dear Farther & Mother in their Sicknes and Deths at Council Point on the Missouri River. I wan to give you a Paterarchal Blessing. I ses Farther Morley I would be Pleas to recive a Blessing from you. I cald the Clirk of the Camp, Set down on a Wagon tong, recived a Blessing and Strange to Say it was almost word for word Like Like the Parting Blessing that we recived from President Brighom Young. We hold Our Saw Timber near forty miles from the Mountains North west from the Vagas. It was whip Sawd for the Dore & winder frames, and Gatefroms [end of page 24 of manuscript] to our Forte. After our Timber and Rock & Adobes and hevy work with our Cattle was dun, President Bringhurst and Gorge Snyder, his first Councler, took our Oxen and Wagons down into Callifornia and traded them for Horses and Mules and Saddles. Then we had anames to ride and Exploring Commensed. Our Exploring trips was mostly on the Colorado River, Riovergin River and Mudy, and in the Mountains, whair we Could find Smawl bands of Indians. The Indians Soon began to finde out that we was their freiends, was Sent to Them by the Big Cheaf, Prighan Young. Gorge Been of Provo, An Indian Intirpreter used to talk hours and hours to them wheir Ever we Could finde them. They Soon began to visit our Camp, and attend our Sunday Metings. We made them Some fine presents, gave them Seed Corn, Garden Seeds of difren kinds, Shode them how we planted and Wattered them. We found that they hade raised Some Corn, The small Spanish Corn. It May be interesting to now how they and their fore Farthers how they raised Corn on the Colorado & Riovergin Rivers, in the Earley Spring, when the watter is at it highest Stage, then the Squaws takes a Sharp Stick and plants a rough of Corn along the wet Sand, and as Soon as the Watter fawls ferther anuf plant a nother row, and so on till they get to Low watter mark. On one of Our Exploring trips we tride to find a ford wheir we Could Cross the Colorado river. The Indians gide Shode us a plase that he Said the mexican use to Cross. One of Our men volunterd, Wm Smoot, to triy the plase. He was given the Chois of the Horses. Came near Loosing his Life. he got about three rods from Shore. The Horse went into a hole out of Site. William was throwed from the Horse. Luckley he grabed the Horses tale and was puld out nearly Exzosted. I tel you I thought of President Young Provisy apon our heads, Olso Patriarch Isack Morley Blessing upon my head. On One of our Explring trips we wais taken Prisnars by the Indians. We had ben down the Colorado River two Days travel from the Vagas. We was returning Home, travling up the Colorado. The Indain gide that we had with us had prommist to Show us the Salt Cave or Mountain. When we Came to the Riovergin wash whair the Muddy and the Riovergin Empentes into the Colorado [end of page 25 of manuscript] River in high Watter. We traveled up the Riovergn wash About 6 miles till we Come to the Muddy Creek. About 3 miles we Came to the Salt Cave or Mountain. We Viseted the Caves. it is Situated on the North Side of a high hill or Low Mountain. It apears to be a Larg mountain of Salt. We went upon the Side of the hill a few yards, then we Eplir the Cave, & go down about 20 feet in Solled Rock Salt. we took Speesmons of Salt and traveled on Our Journey. We went a few miles and goen through a patch of Willurs & Grape Vines, To our Surprise we wair Surrounded by about Twenty Indions, With their Bows and arrows Strung & ther was paints Shode that they ment business. our gide a friendly Indian run and Left us. Their we was Seven of us Surrounded by about 20 Waryours. Our Interpreter Gorge Been Commensed Tocking to them, telling them that we ware their friends Sent there by the Grate White Chief Brigham Young, That we wanted to do them good, That we Lived Over at the Vagus, and that Some of thir friends had ben their and we had Smoked the Pipe of Peace with them and had trade them Presents & if they would Com we would Smoke with them. They began to talk and soon felt a Little better. Our Interpreter Gorge Been, Soon found Out why we ware taken Prisnors. Now Coms indian Traddition. They Said the Chief of their band had a Sick Pappoose or Child, that was verry Sick, that Shinnob the grate Spirit, meening the Lord was mad at them for Letting us travel Over their Lond that they and their fore Farthers had Lived on So Long. It Seemed that they had a Spy watching us from the time that we Came to the Colarado River. as we neard their Camep the Pappoose grew wors. This was about the middle of the afternoon. If the Chold dide at Sundown we ware all to be kild. We Soon all became anxious to See the Cheuf & Paappose. after a Long talk we had permishon. We wais poileted through a Long patch of Willows and Grape Vines up on to the Side of the Mountain into a Cave. Their Set the Cheif and Squaw. The Child roled in a bunch of Old rags was the Child. The Chief Looked more [end of page 26 of manuscript] Like a marble Statue than he did Like a humon being. Our Interpreter asked hin if he would Smoke the Peasepipe with us. He was finley prevaled on to Smoke. The Pipe was fild by Gorge Been, Our Interpreter. he would not tuch the Pipe till we all took a whiff. Then he premeted is to See the Child. Br Gorge Snider took the Child, took Some warn Watter, took his hankerchief, washed the Child all Over. when Clean we all nealt around the Child and Administerd to it. The Child Opened its Eyes and was much better. Then Br Snyder went to his Grip, found a few Crums of Bred and a Little Shugar, warmed Some Watter, made a Little Baby food and Commenced feeding the Child. The Pipe was pasted around again. The Cheufs Tongue was Loosed and he began to talk. A Little before Sundown we Adminesterd to the Pappoose, Made the Old Chief a few Little presents & at Sundown we ware premeted to go on our Journey, thanking the Lord that he had herde and answerd our prairs. We all thought of Presedent Brighon Young parting Blessing or Provisay. The Next Day we arived at the Lasvagas found Our Brethering all well at Camp. We arived at the Vagas on the 15 of June. We Soon had Our Gardens Watterd, Plowed & planted applying the Watter to the hot Sand Vegation grew Verry fast. we Soon had redisish, Turnips, Lettis, String Beens & etc.
Fryday the 22 of March quite a Larg Company of Elders and Mishnarys arived at the Vagas. Brothers West and Allred had Charg of the Company. They was morethan Pleased to find Some of their Brethering their, whair they Could have a resting place in the middle of the grate American Desert and be secure from the Indians. They ware mostly from the Sandwitch Ilands and Others Mishons. They wair on their way to their famley in S. L. City. They stade with us till the 26th recuited up their teams and had a good rest. Br William McBride, and Others of my aquaintenses ware in the Company. The Evnind was Spent in Singing and Prays and talkind Over Old times. Sunday the 24th we had a good Meting. Br Mackbrid and Others gave us a Skeetch of their travels while on their mishons. [end of page 27 of manuscript] President Bringhust and Allred Stoke apon the Spreading of the Gospel among the Indians or red men, etc. We Only had the Male Once a Month from S. L. City. We ware Expecting hourley from California. Monday the 25 was Spent in writing Letters to Our Wives and Famleys. Tuesday 26th the two Camps was Cald together, Sung had Prairs and Parted in good Spirets. Br Rufus Allen Company Left at the Some time. He was Sent with a Small party to go down the Colorado River Much ferther than we ware cald to go. Sunday the first of July we had a good meting. it was voted to Selebrate the forth of July. We wair Orgnized into an Infantry Company Cald the Vagus Gards. The Gards was Organized as follows, Br. John Steel was Elected Capt, Albert Napp1, James Allred2, William Follet3, as Lieutanants, Aroet L. Hale1, Joseph Milam2, Amary Merriam3, Benjamon Cluff4, Sirgents, Thomas Ricks1, John Turner2, Wm Smoot3, and James Been4, as Corperals. On the 3 of July we ware making prepperations to Selebrate. We had for a Liberty pole a big willow Lashed to the Longest Meskeete pole that we Could get. It was made reddy, and the Stars and Stripes throwed to the Breese at Sunrise. The Vagas Gards was on duty and fired a Selute of three rounds. We then went to the Bowery wheir 2 or 3 hours was Spent in Speaches and toste. we had an injovable good time. We Suposed we wheir the first men that Ever Selebrated independence Day in Nevada Territory. We always held two Mitings on Sunday and was cald apon by Our President in turn to Speek. We ware Devided into Companys to work at the best advantage Some building Bridges Other Working on Watter Ditches & Some to work on our Correll for the protection of Our Horses & Stock againts the Indians. Monday the 16th the Male arived from California. Some Little news from the South. Fryday the 14 of December, Cold and Storny. Nothing Special till the 20. The Male arived from S.L. City. I resived a Letter from my Wife Stating that She & the Chreldran ware well. This gave me much joy, being the first News that I have had Cense I Left my home in Grantsville. The Bretheren in our Camp all recived Letters and Papers that gave grate Sattisfaction. Tuseday 17th the male Left for california. The United States Male was Carrid by a Mr Hubord and post and repast Only Once a Month. Tuesday the Male Lift here for California. Olso 9 of Our Company was Cald apon to go [end of page 28 of manuscript] and Explore in a Northley Direction for Timber. They had an Indian Guide with them. The party returned on the 19th reported frinding a Small patch of Saw timber a bout 23 miles in a westly Cours. on the 25 the Correll was Lade of, and all hands Commensed work on the Correll. Our Courrell for the protection of Our Stock, was made of mud, three feet in the bottom & tapering to 18 inches at the top four feet high, with a good Ditch on Eack Side. When dride becume Verry hard, Like the Spanish Adobes. after the Correll was finished all went to work on our Gardins, howing wattering and divers kind of Work. Sunday we had a good meting. President Bringhurst Cald on a few of the Brethering to go on a nother Exploring trip. I was One of the number. Monday the 30th we was makin prepperations. This Exploring Trip was to Visit Several Small Camps of indians, forme their aquantance, Talk to them, Let them knou that we ware their friends, invite them to Come to the Vagas and visit us.
Tuesday the 31 we travled about 25 miles in a North west Corse Over a Rocky Country Past twoo Small Springs near the edge of the Desert. Wednesday the first of August, we traveled about 17 miles, and arived ar the big Snow Covered mountains. Thirsday the 2 We Viseted the big Cave that the Indians had told us So much about. I will relate a Little of the Indians traddision. Our Interpreter, Br Gorge Bean, had told them that we ware agoing to Bild Houses and Live among them. They the Indians told us that they mew whair their was a Big House that the grate Spiret Shinob, mening the Lord, use to Live in. We Suposed that we was agoing to See a House that had bilt by the hand of Man, Some Old Spanish reck, or the work of Cliff dwellers. We felt Anxious to See the Cassel or big House as they Called it. Our Indian Guide Sad that we ware goen in the right direction to See Shinobs, mening the Lords big Wickeup or House. We made him a few Little presents and he areed to Show us Shinnobs Dwelling. He wanted Some [end of page 29 of manuscript] Bread or Some kind of Eateables to Leave on the table for Shinob to Eat. we gave him Bread, and when we was in about One hundard Yards, we was to Dismount, Leave our horses with a Gard, Let him take the Lead, go as Still as we Could, make no noise. if we did Shinnob would be Mad and Leave his House. we don as he wished us to do. When we arived at the place to Our Surprise it was a Large Cave. the Boys was So Surtrised that one of the Boys Shot of his Pistos. The Guide, the Indian ran and Left us. One of the Boy had to follow him on Horseback and hire him to Come back. The Table that he Spoke of was a Lard Squair Rock that had fell fron the roof of the Cave. The Cave was about 100 feet in Length and about 40 feet in wedth. The traddishon of the Indians runs thus, that Shinob the grate Spiret had a Verry butiful Squaw, and Shinubet Menind the Devel or bad Spiret, fell in Love with Shinob Squaw, and on a hunting expudision Shinubet pushed Shinob of one a hign mountan into the Colorado River and Shinob was Dround. Then Shinubet Crost the River and Stold the Squaw. The indians told us that when we wair on the Colorado a gain they would Show us the mountain that Shinnob Sled from the top into the Colurado River. We Left on Our Exploring Trip Tuesday the 31 of July, arived on the 4 of August at the Vagas, found the Brethering all well, Traveled about 130 miles, Visited the big Cave, past three Small Sprngs of Watter, found timber in the big Snow Mountains North of the Vagus, Viseted three Small Camps of Indians, was well recived by the Indians. One the 5 of August Sunday we had a good meting. Monday and the rest of the Week, Watterd and tended to Our Gardens. Wednesday 8th We Commenced Clearing of the Ground for our Adoby Yard. Sunday morning Br Perry picked full grone Summer Squashed at 8 Weeks groth. All hands went to work on Adoby making and Gardning & Divers kind of wark. Monday the 13 Mr Savage [end of page 30 of manuscript] arived with the California Male, Brought us afew Letters & papers from California. I recive a Letter from my Brother inlaw Lucas Hoagland. Thirsday the 16 of August the male arived here at the Vagas from the Valley Salt Lake City. Whish brought me four Letters from my Wife and friends. The News was Verry Discourigen from home. from 20 acers of Sowing and planting, they will Only reap about 20 Bushels of Bread Stuffs all told. Coused by the Scearsity of Watter and the dryness of the Season. Sunday 19 we had a good meting. The Spiret of the Lord was made mannefest in Our meitings. Monday 20 all hands at the Adoby yard. Tuesday 21 my turn Come to do hearding Garding and Camp Duty. Saturday 25 A Mr Sanford arived at the vagas with his train on his way to California from Salt Lake Valley. Sunday 26 we had a good meting. Several Strangers attenden our meting. They ware pleas with the Preachen. I was Cald apon to take Charg of the Stone and Adoby Laying. We ware Organized and all warked at the best ability to Compleat the Fort & Our Houses. Wednesday the 12 of September the Califarnia Male arived at the Vagas. I recived A Letter from Lucus Hoagland a Brother in Law and a Quire of writing paper which was quite a present at that time. Olso on the 12 of Sept. President Bringhurt Started with the Oxon to California to trade for Horses and mules. On the 15 Mr Savade the California Male Carrier Left the Vagas. The rest of the Week all hands worked on the Fort Wall. On the 23th a Small Company arived at the Vagas. among the nomber was Ozra Eastman a Broherinlaw. he brought Letters from My Wife which was verry kindly recived. Wendsday the 26 of Sept I Cut up my Corn that was planted on the 21 of Jun. it was ripe and was a good Crop. Saturday 29 Come my tern to atend Camp duty and Guard. Sunday we had a good meting. I was Cald a pon to Speak which I don at the best of my ability. Monday the first of October, to the 12 of October all hands worked on the fort Wall. In the Evning the Male from California [end of page 31 of manuscript] arived. Sunday 14 the Male arived from the Valleys. I recived Letters from my famley. after the Morning meting the rest of the Day was Spent in Writing to Our famleys. Oll worked with a will till the 2 of Novembr on the Fort and Our Houses. In the Evning of the Seckond of Nov President Bringhurst & Brethering arived at the Vagas with the Horses & Mules. all well had a plesent trip. Saturday the 3 the Stock was Devided, Part to those that Sent Cattle to California. I recived 2 Wild Mules and 7 Dollars for my Yoak of five year Old Cattle. The Night of the Third, We had a Frost that kild the Vines. Sunday the 4 of November We had a good meting. after meeting we Baptised upwards of fifty Indians. The Cheafs preach to their Indians. Their was a good Spiret prevaling a mong them. At the Evning meeting Br Parrey Spoke in tongs. Our Interpreter Said that he Spoke the Indian Langwage Plane. He understo Every Word that he Said. In the Evning of the 5 of Novenber President Bringhurst Cald a meting to Learn the Situation of Every man’s famley at home. He then Said tha those that wanted to fetch their famleys here Could return fore them. 3 or 4 of the Brethering Volunteered to fetch their famleys. he then picked out Eleven men of our Company to return for Their famleys. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday Was Spent Braking Wild Mules and Horses, Tending Camp Duty. Thursday The 8 Brethering Started for the Valleys for their famleys. In the after noon the 8 of November Br Amacy Symon arived at the Vagas with a Small Company, bound for S.L. Valley. Their was Several of the Mishnaries from the llands of the Sea with him. He Stade with us on Friday, and Preached to us in the Evning we had a good Meting. He left the Las Vagas on Saurday the 10. Sunday the 11 of November, We had a good meting. Monday the 12 and the rest of the Weak was Spent as usual every man to work to the best advantage, Some braking Wild mules & Horses, Others on the Fort & Houses. Saturday morning the Male arived from the Salt Lake Valley. I recived Letters from my famley in Grantsville. [end of page 32 of manuscript] all well at home. The rest of the month was Spent in Different kind of work, Build Stock Yards, holling Corn fodder, Braking Mules & Horses. It fell to my Lot to work on the Fort Laying adobys which I did from Start to finish being a mason. Fryday 8 a Company arived at the Vagas fron the Valleys. Farther Durfey, Stevon Worthington fron Grantsvlle was in the Company. Sunday the 10th of December we had a good meting as usual. Farther Durfey Spoke to us in the after noon. they ware on their way to California. Monday, Tuesday & Wendsday all worked with a will. Thursday night the Male arived from S.L.City. I recived Letters fromley. good News, all well. One the 23, being Sunday we had a good meting. The wither being Stormy and quite Cold & having a Little Lasure time it was proposed that we have a School to learn the Piute Language. Br Gorge Been being our Indian Interpreter, Was apointed Teacher. Tuesday 25 being Christmas Capt Bringhurst Proposed a Woolf hunt. We got up our wild horses & mules and joind in the hunt. We had Considerable Sport. all ended well no accidents. Tuesday 26 Continued Cold. no publick work dun the rest of the week. The time was Spent at our Indian School, informing our minds. Sunday 30 we had a good meting. Tuesday the 1 of January 1856, the Day was Spent in Divas kinds of Sports. Starts among the rest was a game of Ball. [end of page 33, and end of manuscript]
Footnotes
[a] This record is from Aroet L. Hale, DOVER, NEW HAMPSHIRE, 18 MAY, 1828-GRANTSVILLE, UTAH, 13 DECEMBER, 1911, Jonathan Harriman Hale Family Organization, August 1972. The family organization received a photographic copy of 33 pages of the original handwritten journal of Aroet L. Hale from Elizabeth Cranney of Oakley, Cassia, Idaho, his granddaughter. This present transliteration is based on that original journal.
[b] This begins an excerpt from the journal of Jonathan Harriman Hale, Aroet’s father.
[c] Conferences are now known as Districts.
[d] Located on the Atlantic coast in York County, southern Maine.
[e] Olive Boynton, see Endnote # 5.
[f] William Wines [W. W.] Phelps “undertook a mission to Jackson County, Missouri, where he located as a printer, and published a monthly paper, The Evening and Morning Star, the first number of which appeared in June, 1832.” After fourteen issues are published, a mob of Jackson county citizens demand that the Mormons must immediately leave the county. They present their demands to W. W. Phelps and two other local Church leaders, who ask for time to consult with their leaders in Missouri and Ohio.
The mob attacked his house, which contained the printing equipment, and pulled it partly down, seized the printing materials, destroyed many papers, and threw his family and furniture out of doors. Three days later, on July 23, the mob renewed their depredations, and . . . Phelps and others offered themselves as a ransom for the Saints, being willing to be scourged, or to die, if that would appease the anger of the mob. The mob would not accept this sacrifice, however, but continued to utter threats of violence against the whole Church” (see Letters of W. W. Phelps, excerpts, Church Archives, microfilm copy in Family History Library ).
[g] Clarissa Boynton, born 12 Sep 1807, Bradford, Essex, MA, to Eliphalet Boynton and Susannah Nichols. Married Henry Harriman, 26 April 1827, in Bradford. Died 30 December 1885.
Endnotes
[1] Jonathan Harriman Hale, born 1 Feb 1800, in Groveland (or Bradford), Essex, MA, to Solomon Hale and Martha Harriman; married Olive Boynton 5 Sep 1825, in Rowley, Essex, MA; eight children; died 4 Sep 1846, Council Bluffs, Pottawattamie, IA.
[2] Eliphalet Hale, was actually Aroet’s Great Grandfather, born 23 Sep 1733, in Groveland (or Bradford), Essex, MA, to Samuel Hale and Sarah Hazeltine; married Rachel Johnson 29 Jan 1769, in Rowley, Essex, MA; seven children; died 19 Dec 1802, in Groveland (or Bradford), Essex, MA.
[3] Solomon Hale, was actually Aroet’s Grandfather, born 21 Feb 1768, in Groveland (or Bradford), Essex, MA, to Eliphalet Hale and Rachel Johnson; married Martha Harriman, 12 Nov 1792, in Rowley, Essex, MA; eight children; died 13 Jan 1820, in Groveland (or Bradford), Essex, MA.
[4] Samuel Hale, born 23 Oct 1699, in Groveland (or Bradford), Essex, MA, to Samuel Hale and Martha Palmer; married Sarah Haseltine on 13 Dec 1725, in Newbury, Essex, MA; six children; died 24 May 1770 in Groveland (or Bradford), Essex, MA.
[5] Olive Boynton, born 30 Jul 1805, in Groveland (or Bradford), Essex, MA, to Eliphalet Boynton and Susannah Nichols; married Jonathan Harriman Hale (see endnote #1) on 5 Sep 1825, in Rowley, Essex, MA; eight children; died 8 Sep 1846, in Council Bluffs, Pottawattamie, IA.
[6] Eliphalet Boynton, born 27 Nov 1779, in Groveland (or Bradford), Essex, MA, to Samuel Boynton and Ruth Hardy; married Susannah Nichols on 3 Dec 1801, in Londonderry, Rockingham, NH; four children; died 1859.
[7] Samuel Boynton, born 5 Feb 1743, in Newbury, Essex, MA, to David Boynton and Mary Stickney; married Ruth Hardy on 24 Oct 1765, in Groveland (or Bradford), Essex, MA; six children; died 20 May 1806, in Groveland (or Bradford), Essex, MA.
[8] Susan Nichols, born 6 Dec 1780, in Londonderry, Rockingham, NH, to Jacob Nichols and Sarah George; married Eliphalet Boynton (see endnote #6) on 5 Sep 1825, in Rowley, Essex, MA; eight children; died 10 Sep 1867, in Haverhill, Essex, MA.
[9] Jacob Nichols, born 15 May 1738, in Amesbury, Essex, MA, to Joseph Nichols and Martha; married Sarah George on 24 Apr 1760, in Haverhill, Essex, MA; three children; died (no information).
[10] Francis Gladden Bishop was a member of the Church from 1832-1842. For the most part Bishop supported Joseph Smith and his calling as a prophet, but felt himself divinely called to do a greater work that built on Joseph’s. Bishop’s main conflict with the brethren were his professed visions and visitations by heavenly beings which called him to be the successor to Joseph. Bishop was tried by the High Council for teaching heretical doctrines, his papers examined, condemned and burned, and he was cut off from the Church. He acknowledged the justice of the decision, and said “that he now saw his error, for if the had been governed by the revelations given before, he might have known that no man was to write revelations for the Church, but Joseph Smith,” and begged to be prayed for, and forgiven by the brethren. (See History of the Church, 2:241, 284-85; 4:105, 550; Dean C. Jessee, ed., Journal, 1832-1842, vol. 2 in The Papers of Joseph Smith (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1992), 368-69 n. 1; for a full treatise on Bishop’s life, see Richard L. Saunders, “Francis Gladden Bishop and Gladdenism: A Study in the Culture of a Mormon Dissenter and his Movement,” Master’s thesis, Utah State University, 1989; and (False Spirits in the Church, The Prophet’s Address to the Twelve, Section Four 1839-42, p.215, http://www.math.byu.edu /~smithw/Lds/LDS/Joseph-Smith/Teachings/T4.html).
[11] Patriarchal Blessing - Given by Patriarch Joseph Smith, Sr., April 30, 1835, in Kirtland, Ohio, upon the head of Jonathan H. Hale, born in Bradford, Essex County, Mass., Feb. 1, 1800.
“Brother Hale, in the name of Jesus Christ , I lay my hands upon thy head and I confer upon thee a Father’s blessing, for thou art honest hearted and thou hast been honest from thy youth, for the eye of the Lord has been upon thee and thou art blessed and thou shalt be blessed for they willingness to leave thy family and home and consecrate thy all in the service of thy God, and thou shalt be sustained with corn, wine and oil.
“Thou art of the blood of Israel, and the power of the Melchizedek Priesthood shall come upon thee. Thou shalt see thousands fall at thy side, and ten thousands at thy right hand; but the Lord shall preserve thee from the destroyer, for nothing shall have power over thee to harm thee.
“Thou shalt see the heavens open and view the glories of the upper World. Thou shalt call upon they God and shalt have power to get revelation. Thou shalt speak forth marvelous things, and mountains shall flee before thee, rivers of water shall be turned out of their courses, and waters shall divide at thy word, if necessary. Prison walls shall fall at thy command, and nothing shall speak the words of God in power.
“Thou shalt have power to remain in the flesh and stand when thy Lord unveils His face, and thou shalt receive a crown of Celestial Glory in the Kingdom of thy God.
“All these blessings shall be thine, if thou art faithful in Jesus Christ, our Lord. So let your heart rejoice. Even so- Amen.”
(See Hale, Heber Q., Bishop Jonathan H. Hale of Nauvoo-His Life and Ministry, p. 20, Salt Lake City UT, 1938.)
[12] Joseph Smith, Sr., born July 12th, 1771, in Topsfield, Essex, MA, to Asael Smith and Mary Duty; married Lucy Mack, on 24 Jan 1796 at Tunbridge, Orange, VT; died 14 Sep 1840 at Nauvoo, Hancock, IL.
[13] John Murdock was born in 1792 in New York. When he was seventeen, he cut his wrist severely on a scythe and almost bled to death: “Death stared me in the face, but I covenanted with my Heavenly Father that if he would preserve my life, I would serve him.” He survived, and kept his promise. John began to investigate religions after receiving a vision concerning the ordinances meant to be obeyed by mankind. “I immediately began to look for a society that I might receive the ordinances with.” John went from one church to another - unable to find satisfaction in any of them, and continued to search for the truth.
He married Julia Clapp when he was 31 years old. Her brother introduced him to the Campbellites, and he found their teachings close to his own beliefs. Sidney Rigdon was one of the leaders in the area where he lived. But even there he became restless. Not long after he heard of preachers from New York establishing a church after the ancient order and investigated with some skepticism. Receiving a copy of the Book of Mormon, he stayed up nearly the entire night to read it and received a witness of its veracity by the Spirit. The next day, in early 1831, he presented himself for baptism, and received the ordinance from Parley P. Pratt.
Returning home, he found many of his neighbors would not believe his words; but his wife received his testimony with gladness; she was baptized within a week. John began to preach, and was soon baptizing and confirming neighbors and acquaintances in the area.
Julia, bore six children. The last two, Joseph S. and Julia, were twins, but Julia died six hours after their birth. These were the twins given to Joseph and Emma Smith to raise after Emma lost her own twins.
In June of 1832, he was ordained “to the High Priesthood” by Joseph Smith, and called on a mission to Missouri (D&C 52:8). He went with Hyrum Smith and Lyman Wight, and preached along the way as they traveled. At one point on the journey, John said he “got my feet wet by which I took a violent cold by which I suffered near unto death.” He complained of a “raging fever” and suffered several falls; he said, “I was so very sick that I could not pray vocally, yet my belief was so firm that it could not be moved. I believe[d] that I could not die because my work was not yet done.”
Indeed his work continued for many years. He remarried at least three more times, surviving his wife each time. He served as a bishop in Nauvoo, crossed the plains to Salt Lake in 1847, served as a high councilor and bishop, served a mission to Australia, arriving in Sydney Oct. 30, 1851, but returned a year later due to ill health. John was later ordained a Patriarch. He died in 1871 in Beaver, Utah, leaving an extensive and faithful posterity.
(Sources: John Murdock Journal_, typescript, BYU-A; and _LDS Biographical Encyclopedia_, 2:362-4, http://www.xmission.com/~dkenison/lds/ch_hist/); History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Australia, (http://www.mech.utah.edu/ ~dlinford/mission/information/ausihist.shtml); Deseret News 1995-96 Church Almanac).
[14] Heman Hyde, born 30 Jun 1788, in Manchester, Bennington, VT, to James Hyde and Betty Pennock; married Polly Wyman Tilton on 5 Dec 1810, in Strafford, Orange, VT; six children; married Prudence Bump in 1851, in Salt Lake City UT; married Elizabeth Lane on 6 Dec 1856, in Salt Lake City UT, married Catherine Mary Griffiths on 7 Jun 1859, in Salt Lake City UT; married Susannah Lane on 4 May 1867, in Salt Lake City UT.
[15] William Marks joined the church sometime before May 1835, and was a member of the High Council in 1837. In 1839 he was chosen President of the Nauvoo Stake. During the apostasy after the death of Joseph Smith, Marks went with Sidney Rigdon into his church. He soon left Rigdon’s church and wrote a letter testifying that Brigham Young and the Twelve were the proper persons to lead the church. Yet in 1846 he was counselor in James J. Strang’s church, and served as one of the first presidency in the Strangite Church until about 1850. Marks then joined a faction organized by Charles B. Thompson, and in 1855, he joined a church organized by John E. Page. He left that church and joined the Reorganized Church in 1859.
[16] Thomas Baldwin Marsh was born in Acton, Middlesex, MA, 1 Nov 1799, to James Marsh and Mary Law; married Elizabeth Godkin, on 1 Nov 1820; married Elizabeth Godkin, 1 Nov 1820; then commenced work in the grocery business, in New York.
” . . . I joined the Methodist Church and tried for two years to be a genuine Methodist, but did not succeed any better in getting Methodist religion than I did in the grocery business. I compared Methodism with the Bible, but could not make it correspond. I withdrew from all sects . . .
“I believed the Spirit of God dictated me to make a journey west. I went to Lima, Livingston County, New York, where I staid [stayed] some three months, and then left for home. On leaving [a family at Lyonstown, New York] the next morning the lady enquired if I had heard of the Golden Book found by a youth named Joseph Smith. I informed her I never heard anything about it, and became very anxious to know concerning the matter. On enquiring, she told me I could learn more about it from Martin Harris, in Palmyra. I returned back westward and found Martin Harris at the printing office, in Palmyra . . . .
“[Harris] took me to the house of Joseph Smith, Sen., where Joseph Smith, Jun., resided, who could give me any information I might wish. Here I found Oliver Cowdery, who gave me all the information concerning the book I desired. After staying there two days I started for Charleston, Massachusetts, highly pleased with the information I had obtained concerning the new found book.
“[My wife] was well pleased, believing [the Book of Mormon] to be the work of God. I moved to Palmyra, Ontario County, in September [1830], and landed at the house of Joseph Smith, Sen., with my whole family. During the month I was baptized by David Whitmer, in Cayuga Lake, and in a few days I was ordained an elder by Oliver Cowdery with six elders, at Father Whitmer’s house.
He continued faithful in the Church, moving his family to Kirtland and then to Missouri. While in Kirtland again, in the spring [of 1835], “I learned I had been chosen one of the Twelve Apostles. May 4th, 1835, in company with the Twelve I left Kirtland and preached through the eastern states, holding conferences, regulating and organizing the churches, and returned September 25.” Source: Marsh, Thomas Baldwin, 1799-1866 Autobiography (1799-1838) Source: “History of Thomas Baldwin Marsh [by himself],” The Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star 26 (1864):359-60, 375-76, 390- 92, 406. History of Thomas Baldwin Marsh. (Written by himself in Great Salt Lake City, November, 1857.)
This is the period in time when Jonathan H. Hale assisted Thomas B. marsh and others of the Brethren in the missionary work in the Eastern United States, as recounted in this part of his autobiography.
[17] David W. Patten was born in Vermont around 1800 to Benenio Patten and Edith Cole Patten. Early in his childhood the family moved to Theresa, at Indian River Falls in the southeastern part of New York.
“. . . while still a youth he left his family and made a home for himself in the woods above the little town of Dundee in southeastern Michigan. Here he married Phoebe Ann Babcock in 1828. Friends called her Ann. Family records indicate the couple might have had two children who died in infancy.
“Around age thirty he saw a Book of Mormon for the first time, but only long enough to read the preface and testimony of the Three Witnesses. While praying over what he had read to obtain ‘faith and more perfect knowledge’ he received a letter from is older brother John Patten, informing him the gospel had been restored. David’s joy could not be contained. The next morning he was on his old grey mare riding three hundred miles through virtual wilderness to his brother’s home in Indiana.
“David was baptized June 15, 1832, ordained an elder two days later and immediately called on a mission. Most of the rest of his life was spent serving one mission after another.
“He was ordained a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on February 15, 1835, by David Whitmer. . . .” Patten was second in seniority behind Thomas B. Marsh, and ahead of Brigham Young.
“In 1837 Patten moved his wife, who was in another part of Missouri at the time to Far West to join the body of the Church there.
“On April 17, 1838 Joseph Smith received a revelation, recorded in Doctrine and Covenants 114, concerning Brother Patten. This was probably the time when Patten confided to Joseph Smith that he had asked the Lord to let him die the death of a martyr. Sorrowfully the Prophet answered him with, ‘When a man of your faith asks the Lord for anything, he generally gets it.’
Patten died 25 October 1838, of mortal wounds received in the “Battle of Crooked River” in Missouri, an action designed to rid the area around Far West, Caldwell County, Missouri, of mobocrats. He was buried two days later in Far West. “The first Apostle to be martyred since the restoration of the gospel.”
Source: David W. Patten: The Battle of Crooked River, Lisa Shelley Whiting, http://www.uvol.com/www1st /ldsmag/patten.html, and http://www.uvol.com/www1st/ldsmag/patten2.html; WWW Latter-day On-Line Magazine, 1996. Unlimited Vision On-Line Publishing Group
[18] Martin Harris was born May 18, 1783, in Easton (now Saratoga), Washington County, New York, and died July 10, 1875, in Clarkston, Cache County, Utah. On March 27, 1808, he married his first cousin, Lucy Harris. At least six children were born to the couple. In the War of 1812, Private Harris was a teamster in the Battle of Buffalo. By May 1814, at the Battle of Puttneyville, he was first sergeant in the Thirty-ninth New York Militia. He returned home an honored war veteran. He inherited 150 acres and by 1828 owned a total of 320 acres.
Looking on himself as an unchurched Christian, Harris chose to follow God on his own. As a “restorationist,” he looked for the return of biblical Christianity. He stated that “in the year 1818… I was inspired of the Lord and taught of the Spirit that I should not join any church” (interview by Edward Stevenson, Sept. 4, 1870, Stevenson Microfilm Collection, Vol. 32, HDC).
Martin Harris met Joseph Smith some time after 1816, when the Smith family moved to Palmyra. By 1824, Joseph Smith, Sr., had told him about the angel Moroni’s appearances and the golden plates, and in the fall of 1827, Martin consented to help publish the translation. He helped Joseph Smith protect the plates from thieves and financed the Prophet’s move from Manchester to Harmony, Pennsylvania, when persecution intensified.
In February 1828, Harris visited Joseph Smith in Harmony and obtained a transcription and translation of characters from the plates. He took the two documents to “learned men” in Utica, Albany, and New York City, where Samuel Latham Mitchill and Charles Anthon examined the texts. Harris hoped that the scholars’ comments would help win financial and religious support for the Book of Mormon in the community.
From April 12 to June 14, 1828, Martin Harris served as Joseph Smith’s scribe, producing 116 manuscript pages. To gain family support, he persuaded Joseph to let him take the pages to Palmyra to show his family, and during a three-week period when he visited relatives, attended to business, and served jury duty, the 116 pages were stolen. It is reported that Lucy Harris said that she burned them. Ill and suffering the insecurity of progressive deafness, she reportedly feared that Palmyra’s boycott of the Book of Mormon would lead to her and her husband’s financial ruin. After the loss of the manuscript, Harris ceased his work as scribe.
In June 1829, Martin Harris, along with Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, and David Whitmer, prayed and received no answer. Harris blamed himself for the failure and withdrew. The Prophet, Cowdery, and Whitmer prayed again and were shown the gold plates of the Book of Mormon by the angel Moroni. Subsequently, the angel appeared to Harris and Joseph Smith. In this vision, Harris heard the voice of God say that Joseph’s translation was correct, and Jesus Christ commanded Harris to testify of what he had seen and heard. The testimony of the Three Witnesses is printed in the Book of Mormon.
When translation of the book was completed, Joseph Smith had trouble finding a printer who would undertake publication. A Palmyra printer, Egbert B. Grandin, finally agreed to print the Book of Mormon after Harris agreed to mortgage some of his farm for $3,000 as security. On April 7, 1831, Harris sold part of his farm to pay the printing bill . . . .
Martin Harris was present at the organization of the Church on April 6, 1830, and was baptized that day by Oliver Cowdery. In May 1831 he led fifty converts from Palmyra to Kirtland, Ohio. Lucy and their children remained in Palmyra, resulting in two households and periodic trips for Harris between the two locations.
In the summer of 1831, Harris accompanied Joseph Smith and others to Missouri to purchase property and designate the site for Zion . . .
Returning east in 1832, Harris and his brother Emer served a mission together, baptizing one hundred persons at Chenango Point (now Binghamton), New York. In January 1833, Martin Harris was imprisoned briefly in Springville, Pennsylvania, in an attempt to stop him from preaching.
Returning to Kirtland in January 1834, Harris became a member of the first high council of the Church. Later that year, he volunteered to go to Jackson County, Missouri, with Zion’s Camp to assist persecuted Mormons. On February 14, 1835, in accord with an earlier revelation (D&C 18:37-38), “the three witnesses” selected the first quorum of twelve apostles.
In 1836, Harris attended the dedication of the Kirtland Temple. Later that summer Lucy Harris died. Harris married Caroline Young, Brigham Young’s niece, on November 1, 1836. The couple had seven children.
During 1837, a time of intense conflict within the Church, Harris clashed with Sidney Rigdon and refused to join the Church-sponsored Kirtland Safety Society, which was issuing paper money. Harris was released from the high council on September 3, 1837, and was excommunicated during the last week of December 1837. Although evidence exists that Harris’s excommunication was never official, he accepted the action and subsequently applied for and was baptized on November 7, 1842.
When Brigham Young led the body of Latter-day Saints west, Harris went to England to bear witness of the Book of Mormon. In 1829, Harris had prophesied that the Book of Mormon would be preached in England, and he was eager to preach there himself. Returning to Kirtland, he prospered and acted as a self-appointed guide-caretaker of the deserted Kirtland Temple, listing himself in the 1860 census as “Mormon preacher.”
Prior to 1856, many in the Church invited Martin and Caroline Harris to join the Saints in Utah. In the spring of 1856, Caroline and the children journeyed to Utah, but Harris remained in Kirtland until 1870.
In 1869, efforts were renewed to bring Martin Harris to Utah. William H. Homer, Edward Stevenson, Brigham Young, and many other Latter-day Saints helped him financially to make the journey. Still active and vigorous at age eighty-seven, Martin Harris, accompanied by Edward Stevenson, arrived by train in Salt Lake City on August 30, 1870. He accepted rebaptism as evidence of his reaffirmation of faith on September 17, 1870, and, at Brigham Young’s invitation, publicly testified of the Book of Mormon. He moved to Harrisville, then to Smithfield, Utah (where he saw Caroline and their son Martin Harris, Jr.), and in 1874 to Clarkston, Utah, where he died on July 10, 1875, after once more bearing testimony of the Book of Mormon.
Martin Harris’s witness: “Yes, I did see the plates on which the Book of Mormon was written. I did see the angel, I did hear the voice of God, and I do know that Joseph Smith is a true Prophet of God, holding the keys of the Holy Priesthood” was recorded by William H. Homer in a statement sworn before J. W. Robinson, Apr. 9, 1927, HDC.
[19] Parley Parker Pratt was born April 12, 1807, in Burlington, Otsego County, New York, the third son of Jared and Charity Pratt. He married Thankful Halsey on September 9, 1827, at Canaan, New York, and they made their home in Amherst township, Lorain County, Ohio. In Ohio, Parley became a member of the Reformed Baptist Society (Campbellite) through the preaching of Sidney Rigdon. While traveling on the Erie Canal in western New York, Parley came in contact with a Baptist deacon named Hamblin, who introduced him to a copy of the Book of Mormon. He then investigated the LDS Church and was baptized in Seneca Lake by Oliver Cowdery on September 1, 1830. In turn, he converted his younger brother, Orson Pratt, and baptized him on September 19, 1830. From 1830 to 1857, Parley P. Pratt was constantly engaged in a variety of missionary assignments. Of special note was a 1,500-mile journey from Fayette, New York, to the western boundaries of Missouri with Oliver Cowdery, Peter Whitmer, Jr., and Ziba Peterson (D&C 32:1-2) on a mission to the Lamanites, beginning in October 1830. En route, these missionaries converted some 130 persons in the Kirtland-Mentor area, including Sidney Rigdon and Frederick G. Williams, future members of the First Presidency. Upon reaching Missouri, Pratt was among the first members of the Church to stand upon the land later designated for the City of Zion, Independence, Jackson County (see D&C 57:2-3).
Parley Pratt was ordained an apostle on February 21, 1835, and sustained as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve. The first LDS hymnal (1835) included three hymns he had written. During a mission to the eastern states with the Twelve in the summer of 1835, Parley published eleven more hymns in conjunction with a long narrative poem in six chapters entitled, The Millennium, A Poem. This volume became the first book of LDS poetry. Pratt proselytized extensively in Upper Canada, leading to the conversion of John Taylor and his wife Leonora, Joseph Fielding, and Joseph’s sisters, Mary and Mercy Fielding . In 1838, he suffered persecution with the Saints in Missouri and spent nine months imprisoned in Richmond and Columbia before escaping to Illinois in July 1839.
Parley and Orson Pratt left Nauvoo, Illinois, on August 19, 1839, on an apostolic mission to the British Isles. At a conference in Preston, England, Parley was named editor of the newly created Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star, which became the Church’s longest continuous periodical-1840 to 1970. Upon his return to Nauvoo, Parley was called to preside over the branches of the Church in New England and the Mid-Atlantic states with headquarters in New York City.
February 1846 found Parley and his family crossing the territory of Iowa on a forced move from Illinois. During the summer and autumn of 1847, he traveled with his household to the Salt Lake Valley.
In 1851 the First Presidency called Elder Pratt to preside over a “General Mission to the Pacific” with headquarters in San Francisco. Sensing a duty to the peoples of Latin America, he, with his wife Phebe Soper, and Elder Rufus Allen, sailed to Valparaiso, Chile, in September 1851. Frustrated by language difficulties, poverty, the death of an infant son, and the ecclesiastical and political conditions in Chile, the missionaries returned to San Francisco in March 1852.
In 1856 Elder Pratt was called to another mission to the Eastern states. While returning to the West on May 13, 1857, he was killed by a man who had been seeking to murder him. This occurred about twelve miles northeast of Van Buren, Arkansas. A monument now marks the site of his burial. -Larry C. Porter, http://www.mormons.org/daily/history/people/pratt_parley_eom.htm
[20] Luke Johnson was converted to the Restored Gospel and baptized by Joseph Smith, 10 May 1831 [Luke Johnson autobiography]. Johnson was one of the original twelve apostles but had left the Church during the Kirtland apostasy of 1837-38, and was excommunicated in Far West MO, in 1838. In 1846, he was once again received by baptism into the Church. In that same year, John D. Lee visited Luke Johnson in St. Joseph, Missouri. Not insignificantly, Lee described Johnson as “one of the witnesses to the Book of Mormon” even though he was not one of the eleven.
According to Lee: While there I met Luke Johnson, one of the witnesses to the Book of Mormon. I had a curiosity to talk with him concerning the same. We took a walk down on the river bank. I asked him if the statement he signed about seeing the angel and the plates, was true. If he did see the plates from which the Book of Mormon was printed or translated. He said it was true. I then said, ‘How is it that you have left the Church? If the angel appeared to you, and you saw the plates, how can you now live out of the Church? I understand you were one of the twelve apostles at the first organization of the Church?’ ‘I was one of the twelve,’ said he, ‘I have not denied the truth of the Book of Mormon. But myself and several others were overtaken in a fault at Kirtland, Ohio . . . But I have reflected over the matter much since that time, and I have come to the conclusion that each man is accountable for his own sins, also that the course I have been pursuing injures me alone, and I intend to visit the Saints and again ask to be admitted to the Church. http://www.farmsresearch.com/critic/critic03.htm
Luke Johnson did return to the Church in time to accompany the first Saints west, serving as a Captain of Ten in the original wagon party of 1847. In 1858, Johnson settled in St. John, Tooele County, UT, and later was ordained the bishop of that settlement. “Since his return to the church he has lived up to the truth to the best of his ability,” says the entry which records his death in the History of Brigham Young, Ms., “and he died in the faith.” Johnson died 9 December 1861.
[21] William Smith, younger and only surviving brother of the Prophet Joseph Smith, was born in 1811. He was called as one of the original members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in February 1835. Upon the death of Joseph, William “aspired to leadership of the church”. Still a member of the Quorum at Joseph’s assassination, he was sustained along with the others as the presiding council of the Church. In 1845, William was ordained patriarch to the Church to take the place of his brother, Hyrum. But by October of that year, in a general conference of the Church, he did not receive a sustaining vote as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, nor as Church patriarch. He had come out in opposition to the Twelve, considering himself “not accountable to Brigham nor the Twelve nor any one else.” If Brigham Young feared any claimant to church leadership it was, ironically, the prophet’s own brother, for, he wrote, “There is more danger from William than from any other source, and I fear his course will bring us much trouble.'’ That evening the Quorum of the Twelve discussed at length the “improper course'’ of William Smith. Later that month he was excommunicated due to his outspoken desire to displace the leadership of the Church.
William Smith became associated with James J. Strang and other apostates in an attempt to establish a church in the State of Wisconsin which soon failed. A few years later, Smith visited members in Illinois and Kentucky attempting to convince them that “lineal priesthood” applied to the Presidency of the Church, that is, it was “his right, as the only surviving brother of the former president, and the natural guardian of the “seed” of Joseph, the Prophet, to stand, in the interim, as president pro tem of the church. In the spring of 1850, a loose organization was put together in Covington, KY, but scarcely endured a year.
William “became nominally connected with what is known as the “Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but he was never zealous . . . He died at Osterdock, IA, in 1893.
-Source: B. H. Roberts, Comprehensive History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Brigham Young University Press, Provo, Utah, 1965.
[22] Brigham Young, born 1 June 1801 in Whitingham, Windham, VT, to John and Abigail (Nabby) Young; married Miriam Angeline Works, 5 October 1824, between Auburn and Bucksville (now Port Byron), Cayuga, New York; ordained as one of the original Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in February 1835; upon the death of the Prophet Joseph Smith, being the President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, led the Church through the continuing difficult times of apostasy and persecution; led the members of the Church out of Nauvoo IL, across the plains of IA, to the Missouri River near present-day Omaha NE; on 6 April 1847, ordained as the 2nd President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; led the pioneers across the Rocky Mountains to the Valley of the Great Salt Lake; instituted great homesteading projects throughout the Western parts of the American Continent from what is now Canada, to Mexico; dedicated three temples in the Territory of Utah; died of cholera morbus on the afternoon of 29 August 1877, in his home in Salt Lake City UT. (Sources: Leonard J. Arrington, Brigham Young-American Moses, Alfred A. Knopf, NY, 1985; and B. H. Roberts, Comprehensive History).
[23] Orson Hyde was born 8 January 1805, at Oxford, New Haven, CT, to Nathan and Sally Hyde; his mother died when Orson was seven years old, and he was put in the charge of a man named Nathan Wheeler; Wheeler moved to near Kirtland, Ohio when Orson was fourteen years old; Orson took employment at Gilbert & Whitney, merchants; baptized in Kirtland on 30 October 1831, by Sidney Rigdon; faithful missionary during his first years in the Church; ordained as one of the original members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, February 1835; with Thomas B. Marsh, defected from the Church in Missouri in 1838; forgiven by the Church and was restored to his standing in the Quorum in June, 1839; called to go to Jerusalem in 1840; dedicated the Holy Land from the Mount of Olives, 24 October 1841; edited the Millenium Star in England, and later the Frontier Guardian in Iowa; participated with the Saints in the colonization of the West and in territorial government; died in 1878.
[24] Henry Harriman, ordained an elder by Orson Pratt,8 June 1833; helped lead a wagon company across the plains from Winter Quarters, Indian Territory, to the Valley of the Great Salt Lake, with William Thompson in July 1848.
[25] Rachel Johnson Savory Hale, born 27 August 1829 in Bradford, Essex, MA; married Lucas Hoagland, 24 December 1848, in Royal Oak, Oakland, MI; died 6 May 1854.
[26] Alma Helaman Hale, born 24 April 1836 in Bradford, Essex, MA; married Sarah Elizabeth Walker, 14 April 1856, in Grantsville, Tooele, UT; died 30 March 1908, in Logan, Cache, UT.
[27] Hazen Aldrich, was among 70 high priests chosen, who were called elders, to be under the direction of the Twelve and assist them according to their needs [about the 5th of May, 1835] . . . Out of the first seventy were selected, chosen, and ordained, for presidents, 7 members of Zion’s Camp, namely: Zebedee Coltun [Coltrin]1, Sylvester Smith 2, Leonard Rich 3, Hazen Aldrich 4, JosephYoung 5, Lyman Sherman 6, Levi Hancock 7. (Sources: http://erdos.math.byu.edu/~smithw/Lds/LDS/Early-Saints/whitmer%2Cj, and http://deseretnews.com/confer/97spring/70changes.htm April 1997, LDS General Conference, Changes to Quorums of Seventy reflect flexibility in function)
An apostasy that took place in 1837-38, led by Warren Parrish drew Hazen Aldrich and some thirty other Church leaders into its numbers. (Source: “Divine Origin of ‘Mormonism’-Doings and Sayings of Early Opposers and Apostates”, Remarks by Elder George A. Smith, made in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, January 10, 1858, reported by G. D. Watt; http://www.tlcmanti.org/RefLibraryFolder/JournalOfDiscourses/Vol%2007/refJDvol7-17.html
[28] Joseph Young, born to John Young and Nabby Howe, elder brother to Brigham and Phineas Young; a preacher in the Methodist Church in Canada when approached by Brigham and John P. Greene; rejoiced at the glad tidings of the Restoration proclaimed by Brigham; left for Mendon, Monroe, NY, and was baptized on 6 April 1832; selected to be one of the first seven presidents of the Seventy on 28 February 1835; named as senior president of the first council of seventy, 6 April 1837; privately dedicated the Nauvoo Temple on the evening of 30 April 1846; died 16 July 1881 (Source: Comprehensive History, Roberts, 1:288 note, 1:376, 3:22, and 6:103).
[29] Heber Chase Kimball was perhaps early Mormondom’s most colorful leader, third in stature after Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, a most dedicated though reluctant polygamist, and an uninhibited preacher. Few other Mormon leaders exceeded his total devotion to Mormonism. For more than thirty-six years, in ten states and in England, he faithfully served his God and his people and strove to build both the spiritual and material kingdoms. From his acceptance of the new faith in 1832 until his death in 1868, he was in the forefront of the excitement, drama, and turbulence of Mormon history.
Born in Sheldon Township, Vermont, on 14 June 1801, he moved in 1811 to West Bloomfield, New York, where he eventually became a potter and blacksmith. In 1820 he moved to nearby Mendon, where he carried out his trade, became a Mason, married Vilate Murray on 7 November 1822, met his lifelong friend Brigham Young, and joined the local Baptist congregation in 1831.Later that same year, Kimball first heard Mormon missionaries preach; he was baptized 16 April 1832 and moved his family to Kirtland, Ohio–the headquarters of the new church. He subsequently went on eight missions between 1832 and 1841, including two to England (in 1837 he became the “First Mormon in the Old World”), participated in the Zion’s Camp march of1834, became a member of the First Quorum of Twelve Apostles in 1835, followed Joseph Smith to Missouri in 1838 and to Illinois in 1839, went west with the pioneers in 1846-47, crossing the plains three times. In 1847 he became First Counselor to Brigham Young, who had succeeded Smith as president of the church.Kimball married forty-three wives and had sixty-five children and at least 300 grandchildren. In Utah he amassed land, cattle, and property, and was worth more than $100,000 at the time of his death. From 1848 until the time of his death twenty years later he participated fully in the political, economic, social, and cultural development of Mormondom’s New Zion. He became chief justice of the unofficial State of Deseret in 1849, served in the territorial legislature from 1851 to 1858, generally presided over all temple work, assisted in colonizing the region, and fostered the area’seconomic independence.He died on 21 June 1868 from a subdural hematoma occasioned by being thrown from his wagon by a lunging horse. (Source: Stanley B. Kimball, http://www.inconnect.com/~lorenzok/hckimball.html)
[30] Wilford Woodruff: Born March 1, 1807 at Avon (Farmington, Hartford Co. Connecticut, to Aphek Woodruff and Beulah Thompson. Ordained apostle April 26, 1839 at age 32 by Brigham Young; sustained as president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles Oct. 10, 1880; sustained as president of the Church April 7,1889, at age 82; died Sept. 2,1898, in San Francisco, San Francisco Co., California, at age 91. (http://acs2.byu.edu/tmcbucs/fac/Presidents/Woodruff.html)
[31] John F. Boynton: Born 20 September 1811, in Bradford, Essex, MA, to Eliphalet Boynton and Susan Nichols; baptized into the Church September 1832, by Joseph Smith Jr., in Kirtland OH; ordained an Elder by Sidney Rigdon; served missions to Erie County PA (1832), and to Maine (1834); called to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles 14 February 1835; married to Susan Lowell by Joseph Smith; apostatized and was cut off from the Twelve 3 September 1837; died 20 October 1890 in Syracuse, Onandaga, NY, http://www.saintswithouthalos.com/b/boynton_jh.phtml.
[32] Kirtland Bank: In 1836, Church leaders wanted to organize a bank to provide credit for a growing economy and an outlet to offer liquidity to meet pressing short-term obligations. In December 1836, Orson Hyde was sent to the Ohio legislature to obtain a bank charter. Hyde was a likely choice because he was a Whig, the party which the three local state legislators belonged, even though the Kirtland populace appears to have been overwhelmingly Democractic at the time. Despite their common party affiliation, none of the representatives was eager to help Hyde. This may be because all three of the legislators had close contacts with the rabid Mormon hater, Grandison Newell. National politics also worked against Hyde’s efforts as a national anti-banking campaign swept the country. Even without a charter, the Safety Society founders proceeded to organize an “anti-bank.” A second attempt to obtain a charter was made in February 1837. This time they requested authorization for much less capital stock, and several non-Mormons were added to the petition to give it a nonsectarian flavor. Samuel Medary, a legislator with no immediate connections to Kirtland, sponsered an amendment to charter the Kirtland bank. This attempt also failed. This study concludes that too much time has been spent evaluating the individuals involved in the Kirtland Bank and that these events must be viewed in historical context (http://ldsfaq.byu.edu/view.asp?q=312). (Abstracted from Dale W. Adams, “Chartering the Kirtland Bank,” BYU Studies 23, no. 4 (1983): 467-82.)
[33] Joseph Young: Born 1797, Hopkinton, Middlesex, MA; baptized 1832; ordained Elder 1832; married Jane Adeline Bicknell 1834; later practiced plural marriage; Zion’s Camp 1834; ordained Seventy and called to First Quorum of Seventy 1835; President of the First Quorum 1835; Seventh (senior) President the same year; participated in Kirtland camp 1838; received Endowment 1844; Council of the Fifty 1845; mission to British Isles 1870; died 1881 Salt Lake City, Utah.
[34] Henry Harriman: Born 1804, Rowley (now Georgetown), Essex, MA; married Clarissa Boynton; later practiced plural marriage; nine children of record; baptized 1832; Zion’s Camp 1834; ordained Seventy 1835; set apart as President of First Quorum 1838; received Endowments in Nauvoo Temple; mission to Britain 1857-1858; mission to Dixie Region of Utah 1862-1887; died 1891, Huntington, Emery, UT.
[35] Settled by members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1836, Far West, Missouri became the commercial and ecclesiastical center of the Church, as well as the county seat. As members of the Church continued to gather, local Missourians began to fear the growing population and its influence. Local mobs began harassing outlying Latter-day Saint settlements, forcing the Saints to consolidate into Far West. In October 1838 a Missouri army surrounded Far West, arrested and sentenced Joseph Smith and the others to death by a firing squad. Brigadier General Alexander Doniphan refused the order, stating that it was illegal. Although their lives were saved at this time, Joseph and the other leaders were unjustly incarcerated for five months, suffering horrible conditions.
While the Church leaders were in jail, mobs continued to harass the Saints, eventually driving 5,000 suffering Saints across Missouri into Illinois despite an early winter.
There were good times at Far West as well. While there, Joseph Smith received divine communications, recorded in Doctrine and Covenants section 115, that revealed that the Church’s name should be The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Also revealed was the system for tithing Church members and the instruction that a temple should be built at Far West (http://www.lds.org/placestovisit/location/0,10634,1808-1-1-1,00.html).
[36] Lilburn Williams Boggs — also known as Lilburn W. Boggs — of Jackson County, MO; born in Lexington, Fayette, KY, December 14, 1796; Lieutenant Governor of Missouri, 1832-36; Governor of Missouri, 1836-40; delegate to California state constitutional convention, 1850; member of California State assembly 19th District, 1852-53; died in California, March 14, 1860; interment at Tulocay Cemetery, Napa, Napa, CA.
[37] John Portineus Greene was born on September 3, 1793, in Herkimer, Herkimer, NY, to John C. Greene and Ann Chapman. Married Rhoda Young on February 11, 1813. Served mission to eastern states in 1833. Was called to serve a mission to the Senecas with Amos Orton in May 1835. Member of Kirtland High Council in 1836. Branch president in New York City in 1839. Member of Nauvoo City Council in 1841 and served as city marshal in 1843. Died in Nauvoo on September 10, 1844. [McLellin, s.v. “Green, J. P.”] as found in http://www.jwha.info/mmff/green.htm.
[38] John Cook Bennett, 1840s Renaissance man, was a scientist, a religious leader, and a flimflam man extraordinaire. Tomato promoter (when the crimson orbs were thought dangerous), diploma seller, self-taught military genius, confidant and then intractable detractor of Mormon founder Joseph Smith–his biography bursts with the ingenuity, verbiage, and gall of the man. “A self-taught person who probably never graduated from college or attended a medical school,” his biographer says, “his endeavors to establish educational institutions [are] utterly amazing”; although he remains notorious for selling medical degrees, “Bennett granted diplomas in numerous academic areas.” Seeking out the Mormons in Nauvoo, Illinois, Bennett became the mayor and military commandant; a quartermaster general in the state militia, he then procured equipment for a virtual Mormon army. Eventually he wrote an expose of Joseph Smith, charging him with planning an independent Mormon empire and practicing polygamy (Bennett had been, of course, an enthusiastic polygamist himself). After “two years of anti-Mormon campaigning,” he tried to gain control of the church when Smith was assassinated. Astonishing, but typical of an American entrepreneurial zealot whose dynamic biography is truly stranger than fiction. Mike Tribby (see “The Saintly Scoundrel: The Life and Times of Dr. John Cook Bennett” by Andrew F. Smith).
[39] “Thomas Ford, eighth governor of Illinois, was born in Pennsylvania in 1800 and came to Illinois in 1805, with the aid of his half-brother, George Forquer. He received some advanced education and studied law. He practiced law at Waterloo and, in partnership with Forquer, at Edwardsville. From 1829 to 1835 he served as prosecuting attorney for all of the state west and north of the Illinois River. On January 14, 1835, the state legislature elected Ford judge of the sixth judicial circuit, which then included all counties in the northern quarter of the state. Soon after that date and until he was elected governor, Ford made his residence here in Ogle County. He became judge of the Chicago Municipal Court in 1837. In 1839 he was elected judge of the ninth circuit, comprised of nine counties between the Rock and the Fox and the Illinois Rivers. In 1841 a Democratic-controlled state legislature enlarged the Supreme Court to nine men, who doubled as circuit judges. Ford was named to the court and reassigned to the ninth circuit. He sat on the bench in Oregon during the last days of a band of outlaws called the Banditti of the Prairie. Ford was elected governor as a democrat in August 1842. When he took office in December, he faced a critical state debt and the Mormon troubles. He refused to repudiate the debt and secured adoption of a plan to liquidate it. Both before and after the murder of Joseph Smith, the Mormon prophet, Ford called out the militia to preserve order between Mormons and their foes. At the end of his term Ford resumed the practice of law in Peoria, where he died in 1850. His History of Illinois was published posthumously” (see http://www.historyillinois.org/frames/markers/297.htm).