Garden Grove.--Pisgah.--Severe sickness.--Death of Elder
Huntington.--Lorenzo called to preside.--Condition of the Saints.--A
dilemma.--Lorenzo's policy.--How he succeeded.--A ludicrous and
enjoyable entertainment.--Births.--Death.--Life incidents.--President
Young's call.--Appointments.--Another wife.--Arrives in the
Valley.--Ordained into the Quorum of the Twelve.--Builds a log house.
We moved slowly forward. As this was the breaking up of winter, travel
with teams was exceedingly difficult, especially as our teams were not
suitably provided for; the animals lived mostly on browse (buds and
twigs of trees, which were felled for this purpose), and, consequently,
were weak and poor.
At a locality which we named Garden Grove, we made a halt, and
commenced an improvement by building a few log huts, etc. This was
done, more especially, for the benefit of those who would follow--a few
remaining to cultivate the ground and prepare a resting place for the
weary Saints, while the main body of the camp moved forward to another
halting place, which we named Pisgah.
Now to my brother's journal: At this place I was taken seriously and
dangerously ill with a burning fever, which so affected my brain that
I was delirious many days, lying at the point of death. While in
this condition, Elder Phineas Richards, the father of Apostle F. D.
Richards, assisted by other kind brethren, took me from my bed, wrapped
in a sheet--placed me in a carriage, drove to a stream of water,
and baptized me in the name of the Lord, for my recovery. The fever
immediately abated, and through kind, unwearied nursing and attention,
by my faithful, loving wives, and my dear sister, E. R. S. Smith, aided
and sanctified through the power and blessing of God, I was delivered
from suffering and restored to health. The sickness was the result of
extreme hardships and exposures consequent on the journey.
Elder William Huntington was called to preside over the settlement
in Pisgah, which position he filled until, as many others in that
location, he was removed by death, and his mortal remains consigned to
the silent grave. After his death, Elder Charles C. Rich was appointed
to fill the vacancy. In the following Spring, 1847, Elder Rich left for
the Bluffs, to join the main body of emigrants, and I succeeded him as
president of Pisgah.
By this time the Saints in Pisgah were in a very destitute condition,
not only for food and clothing, but also for teams and wagons to
proceed on their journey. Several families were entirely out of
provision, and dependent on the charity of their neighbors, who, in
most cases, were illy prepared to exercise that virtue. But, above all
this, a sweeping sickness had visited the settlement, when there were
not sufficient well ones to nurse the sick; and death followed in the
wake, and fathers, mothers, children, brothers, sisters and dearest
friends fell victims to the destroyer, and were buried with little
ceremony, and some destitute of proper burial clothes. Thus were sorrow
and mourning added to destitution. (Here the journal closes for the
present.)
What a dilemma! And who better calculated to cope with it than Lorenzo
Snow? With an indomitable energy--a mind fruitful in expedients,
and a firmness of purpose that never yielded to discouragement, he
proved himself equal to an emergency which would have terrified men of
ordinary abilities.
In the first place he moved to arouse and combine the energies of the
people--organized the brethren in companies, making selections of
suitable men, some to proceed to the Gentile settlements to obtain work
for provisions and clothing, others to put in crops at home and look
after the families of those who were called away--to repair wagons,
making new ones out of old, and to manufacture chairs, barrels, tubs,
churns, baskets and such other articles as could be disposed of to
advantage in the neighboring settlements.
In creating the desirable and necessary union and perfecting these
arrangements, he met with much opposition from some who professed to be
Latter-day Saints, in consequence of their ignorance and selfishness;
but through the blessings of the Lord, he succeeded in having his plans
successfully executed.
He sent Elders Dana and Cambell, two intelligent and judicious
brethren, to the State of Ohio and other parts of the country, to
solicit aid, to invite rich Gentiles to contribute to the wants of
the Saints and assist them in their journey westward. They succeeded
in gathering funds amounting to about six hundred dollars. The
arrangements entered into resulted in supplying the people with
abundance of food and clothing, besides facilitating the exodus of
those who wished to proceed on the journey as early as practicable.
Now the journal speaks: I had the pleasure of taking a wagon load of
provisions up to the Bluffs, and in behalf of the Saints of Pisgah,
presenting it to President Brigham Young as a New Year's gift,
who manifested a warm feeling of gratitude for this kind token of
remembrance.
During the long winter months, I sought to keep up the spirits and
courage of the Saints in Pisgah, not only by inaugurating meetings
for religious worship and exercises, in different parts of the
settlement, but also by making provisions for, and encouraging proper
amusements of various kinds. These entertainments corresponded with
our circumstances, and, of course, were of a very unpretentious and
primitive character; their novel simplicity and unlikeness to anything
before witnessed, added greatly to the enjoyment. They were truly
exhibitions of ingenuity.
As a sample, I will attempt a description of one, which I improvised
for the entertainment of as many as I could reasonably crowd together
in my humble family mansion, which was a one-story edifice, about
fifteen by thirty, constructed of logs, with a dirt roof and ground
floor, displaying at one end a chimney of modest height, made of turf
cut from the bosom of Mother Earth. Expressly for the occasion we
carpeted the floor with a thin coating of clean straw, and draped the
walls with white sheets drawn from our featherless beds.
How to light our hall suitably for the coming event was a consideration
of no small moment, and one which levied a generous contribution on
our ingenuity. But we succeeded. From the pit where they were buried,
we selected the largest and fairest turnips--scooped out the interior,
and fixed short candles in them, placing them at intervals around
the walls, suspending others to the ceiling above, which was formed
of earth and cane. Those lights imparted a very peaceable, quiet,
Quakerlike influence, and the light reflected through those turnip
rinds imparted a very picturesque appearance.
During the evening exercises, several of my friends, in the warmest
expressions possible, complimented me and my family for the peculiar
taste and ingenuity displayed in those unique and inexpensive
arrangements.
The hours were enlivened, and happily passed, as we served up a dish
of succotash, composed of short speeches, full of life and sentiment,
spiced with enthusiasm, appropriate songs, recitations, toasts,
conundrums, exhortations, etc., etc. At the close, all seemed perfectly
satisfied, and withdrew, feeling as happy as though they were not
homeless.
In Pisgah, my family was composed of the following individuals: Mary
Adaline (my eldest wife); Hyrum, Orville and Jacob, her sons by a
former husband; Charlotte, Sarah Ann, Harriet Amelia. Porter and John
Squires continued as members of my family until we arrived in Salt Lake
Valley, and, in fact, till I returned from my Italian mission.
All of the women above mentioned were sealed to me as my wives in the
Temple at Nauvoo, where we all received our second anointings.
In Pisgah, Charlotte gave birth to a daughter (my firstborn), which we
named Leonora, after my eldest sister. Also Adaline gave birth to a
daughter, named Rosetta, after my mother.
Little Leonora was taken sick and died, and with deep sorrow we bore
her remains to their silent resting place, to be left alone, far from
her father and the mother who gave her birth. Sarah Ann also gave birth
to a daughter, named after my sister and her mother, Eliza Sarah.
Before the spring opened and grass grew sufficient to sustain our
stock, we were under the necessity of felling trees, to feed our
animals upon the buds and twigs, to keep them alive.
In the latter part of winter, my only cow sickened and died, a loss
which we seriously felt. She had been a great help to us on our
journey, by supplying us with milk--was remarkably domesticated, kind
and gentle. She was a present from Sister Hinckley, of Portage County,
Ohio. People familiar with the circumstances of the Saints at that
time would readily pardon my family for shedding a few tears on the
occasion. Incidents which in after years would seem of very little or
no consequence were at that time subjects of grave consideration.
One night, when our animals were driven into the corral, after having
browsed among the tree tops through the day, it was discovered that
one steer was missing. Early the next morning, with great anxiety, we
went in search of it. About a mile from home we came to the river,
along the bank of which our stock had been feeding. The stream was much
swollen in consequence of the melting snow and ice. For a long time
our search was fruitless; at last, when about to give up the pursuit,
I discovered, on the opposite side of the river, the head and horns of
my drowned ox protruding out between some large cakes of ice. I must
confess a feeling of sadness stole over me at the unwelcome sight.
It broke up one of my teams which it really seemed impossible for me
either to spare or replace.
Early in the spring of 1848, Lorenzo was counseled by President
Young to join him and his company, and proceed to the valleys of
the mountains. Prompt to the instructions, he organized a company
comprising about twenty-five families and started westward.
On arrival at the "Horn," he was appointed captain over one of the
"hundreds," embracing one hundred wagons. He selected Elder Leman Hyde
captain over one "fifty," and Elder John Stoker captain of the other
"fifty."
On the day his company left their encampment at the "Horn," another
wife, Eleanor, was sealed to him by President Brigham Young. The
journal says: I managed to discharge my obligations as captain of my
"hundred" very satisfactorily, for which I felt truly grateful to the
Lord.
He arrived in the valley with his family without further serious
accident--all in good health and rejoicing in the blessings of
prospective peace. Soon after arrival, he was successful in obtaining
what at that time was considered a fashionable log house, very similar
in size, style and finish to that heretofore described which he left in
Pisgah.
On the 12th of February, 1849, he was cited to put in an appearance at
a meeting of the Twelve, then in session. Why or wherefore he could not
imagine; but, with his characteristic promptitude, he went forthwith,
ruminating in his mind whether he was called to answer some unsuspected
charge or other; but a consciousness of faithful integrity to the
duties assigned him predominated over every apprehension. To his great
surprise, on arrival he was informed of his appointment to the Quorum
of the Twelve, and was then ordained a member of that quorum. Elders C.
C. Rich, Erastus Snow and F. D. Richards were also ordained into that
quorum at the same time, under the hands of Brigham Young, Heber C.
Kimball, Willard Richards, Parley P. Pratt and John Taylor.
In the spring and summer, with the assistance of Porter and John
Squires, he built a log house on his lot in Salt Lake City, which,
although a little more ample in dimensions and a little improved in
appearance, bore a striking resemblance to those he occupied in Pisgah,
and in Salt Lake City on his first entrance.