Indies. Her eldest daughter was my mother. When my mother heard and
received the Gospel in Boston, she hastened home to bear the good
tidings and obtain their permission for her baptism. She found them
bitterly opposed to this, her father reticent, her mother reproachful.
Just at this time Elder John Harriman arrived to hold a three days'
meeting. Preparations had been made for his coming, and on his arrival
my grandmother received him in her best parlor and after the usual
salutations were over, unfolded to him the story of my mother's
conversion, that she had gone insane and wanted to join the Mormons.
He asked, 'Where is Caroline?' adding, reflectively, 'if the Lord has
any more light for the children of men, I for one am willing to receive
it.' His grandchild, overhearing this, was filled with joy. Her mother
came out and told her to put on her bonnet and shawl. Not knowing what
was wanted of her to perform she obeyed, and by the time she was ready,
found her brother, John, waiting with a horse and sleigh, and seating
herself therein was rapidly whirled away to some relatives several
miles distant, to remain there until sent for. Said she, 'I never saw
my grandfather again.' This was a specimen of my grandma's executive
ability; no circumlocution about her.
"I will give her own account of her receiving the Gospel, from a
portion of her manuscripts:
"'In the year 1842, I was living in the city of Boston, State of
Massachusetts. One day I heard that a strange sect were preaching in
Boylston Hall, they professed to believe in the same Gospel as taught
by Jesus Christ and the ancient Apostles. I went to hear them. As we
entered the hall they were singing a new song--the words were:
'The Spirit of God like a fire is burning,
The Latter Day Glory begins to come forth,
The visions and blessings of old are returning,
The angels are coming to visit the earth.' &c.
"After the song a young man [A] arose and taking for his text these
words--'And in the last days it shall come to pass that the Lord's
House shall be established in the tops of the mountains and all
nations shall flow unto it,' said the time for the fulfillment of this
prophecy was near at hand, an angel had appeared unto a man named
Joseph Smith, having the keys of the Everlasting Gospel to be preached
to this generation, that those who obeyed it would gather out from the
wicked, and prepare themselves for the coming of the Son of Man. He
spoke of the great work already commenced in these the last days, and
while I listened, his words were like unto a song heard in my far off
childhood, once forgotten but now returning afresh to my memory, and I
cried for very joy. I went home to tell my father the good news, but my
words returned to my own heart, for both my parents thought me insane,
and talked to each other sadly of my condition and what to do with me.
My heart was filled with sorrow and disappointment. I asked for the
privilege of being baptized but was answered with these words by my
father: 'You must leave home if you join those Mormons.' I went away
and was baptized for the remission of my sins, but still with regret
and an uncertainty as to the _right_ to disobey my parents. Soon after,
my father left the city, and my mother came and took me with her, to
care for me, as she was fearful I would be 'ruined by those deceivers.'
One night I had been to meeting where the Spirit of God seemed to
fill the house, and returned home thankful to my Heavenly Father that
I ever heard the Gospel. I laid down to rest beside my mother who
commenced upbraiding me, and instantly I was filled with remorse that
I was the cause of her unhappiness. I did not know what to say, and
was hesitating, when, just over my head, a _voice_, not a whisper, but
still and low, said these words: 'If you will leave father and mother,
you shall have Eternal Life,' I asked, 'Mother, did you hear that?'
She answered, '_You are bewitched!_' I knew then _she_ had not heard
the voice, but my mind was at rest and I went to sleep. I have heard
the same voice since, not in dreams, but in daylight, when in trouble
and uncertain which way to go; and I _know God lives_ and guides this
people called 'Mormons,' I know also the gifts and blessings are in the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and that same faith once
delivered to the Saints is also ours, if we _live_ for it.
[Footnote A: Elder Erastus Snow. He afterward married her to her
husband, and blessed her children's children.]
"'In the month of February, 1845, I left home, my native land and all
the friends of my youthful days, and sailed in the ship, _Brooklyn_,
for California. Before starting I visited my parents, then living in
New Hampshire. I told them of my determination to follow God's people,
who had already been notified to leave the United States, that our
destination was the Pacific Coast, and we should take materials to
plant a colony.
"'When the hour came for parting, my father could not speak. My mother
asked, 'When shall we see you again, my child?' I answered, '_When
there is a railroad across the continent_.' God grant that prophecy may
be fulfilled and her life be spared to see it. I _knew_ it would be
there, even the 'highway cast up that the eagle's eye had never seen,
nor the lion's foot had ever trod.'
"'I turned my back on all once dear, for the memory of that voice
was in my ears--'If you will leave father and mother, you shall have
eternal life,' and selling my household treasures, wrapped my child
in my cloak (for the weather was bitter cold) and started on my long
journey around the Horn.
"'Of all the unpleasant memories, not one half so bitter as that dreary
six months' voyage in an emigrant ship. We were so closely crowded
that the heat of the Tropics was terrible, but 'mid all our trials the
object of our journey was never forgotten. The living faith was there
and was often manifested. I remember well one dreadful storm during
which we had to be hatched below, as the waves broke over the ship, and
filled our staterooms.
"'While the elements were raging above, and we below were being tossed
about like feathers, the good old captain came down among us wearing a
solemn countenance. We tried to gather around him; he said to us: 'My
friends, there is a time in a man's life when it is fitting to prepare
to die, and that time has come to us; I have done all I _can do_, but,
unless God interposes _we must go down_.' A good sister answered,
'Captain, we _were sent to California and we shall go there_.' He went
up stairs, saying, '_These people have a faith I have not_.' And so
it proved. We outrode the storm, we endured another off Cape Horn; we
stopped and buried one of our dear sisters, a mother of seven children,
(Mrs. Goodwin) at Juan Fernandez, and at last reached our new home,
the last day of July, 1846, to find a country at war with our own
government, a country barren and dreary, so unlike the California of
to-day, but we trusted in God and he heard our prayers; and when I
soaked the mouldy ship bread purchased from the whaleships lying in
the harbor, (returned from a four years' cruise) and fried it in the
tallow taken from the rawhides lying on the beach, God made it sweet to
me and to my child, for on this food I weaned her. I used to think of
Hagar and her babe, and of the God who watched over them, and again I
remembered the voice and the words it spoke unto me--and took courage.
"'From that day to this, I can bear my testimony to all the world that
I have known, and still know, this is the work of God and will exalt us
if we seek to know His will, and knowing it, do it.'
"My mother's testimony, written at my request, was the last work
performed by her hand. After finishing, she accompanied a caller to
the gate, the chill night air penetrated her frame and morning found
her sick with pneumonia. From that bed she was borne seven days later,
from the earthly gaze of children and friends forever. They called it
death, but to her it was the reward promised, and recorded by her own
hand--'Eternal Life.'
"My mother had kept a daily journal on the ship, _Brooklyn_, also the
first five or six years in San Francisco, calling it 'The Early Annals
of California.' This I considered invaluable from the reliability and
the fullness of its historic matter and data, and after her demise I
searched for it but it was gone. This I thought strange indeed, for she
had assured me of its preservation about eighteen months before her
last illness. I have heard her relate many incidents of those times.
Once when nearly famished, (hostilities not yet being concluded between
Mexico and the United States,) two men ventured outside the town to
lasso one of the cattle browsing so near them, but were themselves
caught by cruel Mexicans in ambush, and killed and quartered, their
bodies left lying on the sand in view of the wretched inhabitants.
At another time a Mexican was intercepted and searched. In one boot
was found an order from General Castro, to attack by night and kill
everything above four years old that could speak English. The messenger
was buried in the sand. After awhile the native women became curious,
and some of them ventured past the guard after dark, and being touched
with compassion, returned in the same cautious manner, with bottles of
_leche_ (milk) slung around their waists under their flounced dress
skirts, and _tortillas_ (flour and water cakes) concealed beneath their
_revosas_ (mantles,) for the women and children. Soon after the landing
the brethren strayed around, glad to be on land and looking to see what
they could find. 'Any fruit?' asked one of a returning comrade. 'Yes,'
said he, 'grape, lots of 'em.' There was a rush off in that direction
and a fruitless search. Being sharply questioned, he pulled a handful
of grape shot out of his pocket, which he had picked up from the scene
of a recent engagement. The same day a gentleman passenger, traveling
for pleasure, brought a bouquet of wild flowers to me, saying: 'Little
lady, I herewith present you the first bouquet ever offered by a white
man to a white woman in Yerba Buena.' Yerba Buena was the original name
of San Francisco, and means 'good herb'--from a kind of pennyroyal
growing wild there at that time. My mother kept the flowers many years
and told me the story over their odorless ashes. My father and mother
with many of the Saints, (sixteen families) moved from the ship into
the 'old adobie,' partitioned off with quilts. Soon after he rented a
house, but the largest room was required of him as a hospital for the
wounded soldiers; the next largest for a printing office. The press
was an old Spanish press, and there being no W in that alphabet, they
used to turn the M upside down. My mother used to help decipher the
dispatches, many of them being written on the battlefield with a burnt
stick or coal.
"Her first Christmas dinner in San Francisco consisted of a quart of
beans and a pound of salt pork, which the hospital steward brought
to her; he told her he would be flogged if it became known. In after
days he became her steward. One day Dr. Poet, surgeon of the navy,
brought my mother a slice of ham, a drawing of tea and a lump of butter
about the size of a walnut. Dr. Poet had told my father where he could
purchase half a barrel of flour. After baking some flour and water
cakes between two tin plates in the ashes, my mother brought her dear
friend, Mrs. Robbins, (now in this city,) to share the repast. Said
Mrs. Robbins: 'Mrs. Joyce, isn't this like Boston?' This was just after
living for six months on mouldy shipbread. I have heard her say that
often she was so hungry she would willingly have walked ten miles to
obtain a slice of bread. Soon after this my mother helped to take care
of the 'Donner Party,' who were found partly frozen and so famished
that they were eating their dead companions. The girl she tended, told
her that they grew to like it, and she had helped eat her brother. The
true stories they told are too dreadful to repeat, particularly as
some of them are still living. The Mormon Battallion came; peace was
declared, the gold mines were discovered, and the circumstances of the
Saints were changed from isolation and famine to wealth and grandeur.
My father became very wealthy, but prosperity caused his apostacy. My
grandfather, and uncle, John Perkins, both sea captains, came to see
my mother. I well remember sitting on grandpa's knee and learning my
alphabet from the large family Bible spread before him, he being my
teacher. I often recall also the long evenings when Uncle John held me
on his knee and sang the strange, pathetic, old-fashioned sea songs of
which he knew so many and sang them so sweetly; I used to nestle closer
to him, half frightened, and at last fall asleep. I remember one was,
''Twas down in the lowlands a poor boy did wander,' and I have never
heard it since.
"In Boston my mother was called 'The Mormon nightingale.' Strangers
indifferent to the Gospel would say, 'Let us go to Boylston Hall and
hear the singing.' A gentleman of fortune offered to take her to Italy
and educate her in singing, at the same time that Adelaide Philips
(his protege) went, but her destiny was upon another stage, to sing
the hymns of the newly-restored Gospel; and many have thought that
she sang them as one inspired. Her rendering of Wm. Clayton's hymn,
'The Resurrection Day,' will be remembered by all who ever heard it.
She purchased the first melodeon brought to San Francisco, (by a Mr.
Washington Holbrook,) thereby causing a sensation among the wives of
the ministers of five denominations, who each wanted it for their
church. She went, during the ravages of the cholera, in San Francisco,
and gathered together sixty orphan children, providing for them until
a building spot, material and means were collected by subscription;
and was one of the Board of managers of the Protestant Orphan Asylum
thus originated and founded. I remember going with her and hearing
the children sing, 'The Watcher,' a song of poverty and death. At the
expiration of one year some of the ladies objected to having a Mormon
officer among them, 'not considering Mormonism a religion at all,'
although quite willing to accept the continuance of her contributions.
She however found a larger and more congenial field of labor; brethren
going on their missions, their families left behind in Utah, received
her prompt remembrance. Also seeds, trees, &c., she sent to Utah spring
and fall, through more than twenty years. My only sister was born in
San Francisco, August, 1847, and died in St. George, Mrs. Helen F.
Judd, one of the truest Saints I ever knew. In San Francisco Parley
P. Pratt was a guest at my mother's house. She had loaned the Book of
Mormon to a gentleman belonging to the Custom House; Colonel Alden A.
M. Jackson. He had been in the Mexican War, at the battle of Buena
Vista, and was with General Scott and Zachary Taylor through that
campaign. He had two horses killed under him and received injuries
that lasted throughout his life. When he returned the book he said he
had read it day and night until finished, and wished to know where he
could find a minister of the Mormon Church. She invited him to come
that evening and meet the Apostle, author and poet, Parley P. Pratt.
The gentlemen became so interested in their theme that my mother left
the room without disturbing them, and giving a servant instructions to
attend to Mr. Pratt's room, etc., retired. Descending the stairs next
morning she heard Brother Pratt conversing, the lamp still burning.
'Good morning, gentlemen,' said she; Brother Pratt looked up--'Is
it morning?' Colonel Jackson walked to the window--'Yes,' said he,
'another day has dawned, and another day has dawned for me--a beautiful
one.' Brother Pratt looked out upon the garden and said significantly,
'It only needs water to complete the picture.' Colonel Jackson replied,
'I understand you, I am ready.' Turning to my mother Brother Pratt
asked, 'Sister Joyce, have you renewed your covenants? A number are
going to the North Beach to-morrow, will you go?' and she answered
thoughtfully, 'Ten years ago last night I was baptized in the Atlantic
at midnight; to-morrow I will be baptized in the Pacific.'
"My own parents had been separated since my father's apostacy. A few
months after her baptism she moved to San Bernardino and there began
building a beautiful home. Colonel Jackson, on his way to Utah was
delayed, waiting for a train to cross the deserts, and my mother
being his only acquaintance, he often sought her society, and at last
determined to win her if possible, and some three years after their
first acquaintance they were married. Never was a kinder father than
he. Years added to years drew us all nearer to each other.
"In 1856, at the time of the Utah War, an armed mob of twenty-two men
visited the four remaining Mormon families in San Bernardino, and
calling father out from breakfast, ordered him to leave town with
his family by nine o'clock. He replied he would not do it, prefacing
and concluding the reply in language more forcible than elegant.
They planted an old cannon on the public square, fired it off, rode
around and threatened a great deal. Father's law office fronted the
square; he went as usual to it, and in the afternoon they made a
bonfire outside and coming in to him told him they intended to burn
him alive. He continued writing, only telling them if they disturbed
his papers he would send daylight through them. They left. When we
were all ready to start for Utah, enemies obtained a writ from the
court prohibiting my sister and I from leaving the State before we
were of age. We were among enemies and powerless. My mother said, 'If
we can't go, our property shall,' and with father's consent divided
goods, provisions, arms and ammunition with the poor who could go. In
1864, my mother, sister and I came to Utah on a visit, returned here
in 1867. In 1868 I was appointed Secretary of the Relief Society in
St. George. In 1869 our parents brought us 'to the city' to receive
our endowments, for which our joy and gratitude was beyond expression.
I remained here, they returned to St. George where my sister married.
In 1870 I became the second wife of George W. Crocheron. I believed I
should better please my Heavenly Father by so doing than by marrying
otherwise. Any woman, no matter how selfish, can be a first and only
wife, but it takes a great deal more Christian philosophy and fortitude
and self-discipline to be a wife in this order of marriage; and I
believe those who choose the latter when both are equally possible,
and do right therein, casting out all selfishness, judging self and
not another, have attained a height, a mental power, a spiritual plane
above those who have not. To do this is to overcome that which has its
roots in selfishness, and it can be done if each will do what is right.
In November, 1870, I was appointed Secretary of the Young Ladies Mutual
Improvement Association of the Ninth Ward, which position I filled
till home duties compelled my resignation. At times during thirteen
years I have reported, in the sisters' meetings, chiefly those of the
Fourteenth Ward. In 1876 our father died, and in five weeks after our
mother followed him. Their graves are side by side in the valley of St.
George, as beautiful as we could make them.
"In 1878 I was appointed, and later, set apart and blessed to labor
as Secretary of the Young Ladies Mutual Improvement Association for
the Salt Lake Stake of Zion, which position I strive to honorably
fill. In 1880, by the advice and aid of my friends I published a
volume of poems, 'Wild Flowers of Deseret,' which was kindly received,
the entire edition being sold within two years. The design of the
picture Representative Women of Deseret, appeared to me one night
as I rose from family prayers. I had not thought of it before. This
book of biographical sketches to accompany it was an after thought.
Many suppose that Mormon women are not encouraged in their abilities,
are perhaps repressed. This has not been so in my case, or in my
observations of others. Both encouragement and help have been given me
by friends, by those in authority, and my husband has also encouraged
and assisted me in every way in his power.
"I am the mother of three boys and two girls, born in the New and
Everlasting Covenant, and consecrated to my Creator before I ever held
them in my arms or pressed a mother's kiss upon their little faces.
Myself and all that are mine to give are dedicated to the service of
God, praying that He will help us to be worthy of His acceptance."
HELEN MAR WHITNEY.
Helen Mar Whitney was the third child of Heber Chase Kimball and his
wife, Vilate Murray, and was born in Mendon, Munro County, New York,
August 22, 1828. Their ancestors were among the Pilgrims and her
kindred prided themselves that they were descended from a noble stock.
Though they cared little for nobility and rank, they were proud to know
that their grandsires who would not submit to tyranny and oppression,
helped to gain them independence, and that their descendants were
noble, hard working, self-sacrificing and conscientious people, who
believed in rising by their own merits. Many of her ancestors died
fighting for the liberty which is denied to some of their children,
by men who have usurped authority and become oppressors. She was five
years old when her parents removed to Kirtland, Ohio. In the winter of
1837, she was baptized by Brigham Young, her father cutting the ice for
that purpose.
She inherited a reverence for the Supreme Being and always received the
best teachings from her parents. Her father's time was mostly spent in
the ministry. On his return from a European mission, he heard Joseph
teach the principle of celestial marriage, and was commanded by Joseph
to take a certain lady for his second wife. He felt as though he could
not obey this and live in it, and must be released from the command,
and he expressed the same to Joseph, who went and inquired of the
Lord, and receiving an answer, commanded him the third time before he
obeyed. Her mother bore testimony that she also went to the Lord and
plead with Him to show her the cause of her husband's trouble, which
his haggard face and wretched days and nights betrayed and he dared
not tell her. He told her to go to the Lord and she did so, and He
answered their prayers. She saw a vision and the principle was revealed
to her in all its glory. She saw the woman that he had taken, and she
went to him and told him what the Lord had shown her. She said she
never saw him so happy, and he cried for joy. She took the second wife
to her bosom, and from that time an unkind word never passed between
them. Helen knew nothing of the order till June, 1843, when her father
revealed it to her. She says of this: "Had I not known he loved me too
tenderly to introduce anything that was not strictly pure and exalting
in its tendencies, I could not have believed such a doctrine. I could
have sooner believed that he would slay me, than teach me an impure
principle. I heard the Prophet teach it more fully, and in the presence
of my father and mother.
"On the 3rd of February, 1846, I was married to H. K. Whitney, eldest
son of N. K. Whitney, by Brigham Young. We were the last couple sealed
in the Temple at Nauvoo. We were among the exiles who crossed the
river on the 16th of the same month, intending to go over to the Rocky
Mountains that year. But when the government demanded the strength of
our companies to fight for them, we had to seek a place to quarter
for the winter. I was sick most of the time while there. Some of the
journey we had to walk, and our food being poor and scant, the infant
and the aged, all classes, were swept off by death--the latter by
scurvy and sheer exhaustion. The next year my husband was one of those
chosen to go as a pioneer, and he had to go though the day of trial was
upon me.