THE FAMILY OF JOSEPH SMITH, SENIOR, REMOVE TO WATERLOO.
Samuel returned from Canandaigua the same day that my husband was
liberated from the cell. After relating to us the success he had met
with at Canandaigua, he gave us an account of his third mission to
Livonia:--
When I arrived at Mr. Green's, said he, Mrs. Green informed me that
her husband was absent from home, that there was no prospect of
selling my books, and even the one which I had left with them, she
expected I would have to take away, as Mr. Green had no disposition
to purchase it, although she had read it herself, and was much
pleased with it. I then talked with her a short time, and, binding
my knapsack upon my shoulders, rose to depart; but, as I bade her
farewell, it was impressed upon my mind to leave the book with her.
I made her a present of it, and told her that the Spirit forbade me
taking it away. She burst into tears, and requested me to pray with
her. I did so, and afterwards explained to her the most profitable
manner of reading the book which I had left with her; which was,
to ask God, when she read it, for a testimony of the truth of what
she had read, and she would receive the Spirit of God, which would
enable her to discern the things of God. I then left her, and
returned home.
I shall now turn aside from my narrative, and give a history of the
above book. When Mr. Green returned home, his wife requested him to
read it, informing him very particularly with regard to what Samuel
had said to her, relative to obtaining a testimony of the truth of
it. This, he, for a while, refused to do, but finally yielded to her
persuasions, and took the book, and commenced perusing the same,
calling upon God for the testimony of his Spirit. The result of which
was, that he and Mrs. Green were in a short time baptized. They gave
the book to Phineas Young, Mrs. Green's brother, who read it, and
commenced preaching it forthwith. It was next handed to Brigham Young,
and from him to Mrs. Murray, his sister, who is also the mother of
Heber C. Kimball's wife. They all received the work without hesitancy,
and rejoiced in the truth thereof. Joseph Young was at this time in
Canada, preaching the Methodist doctrine; but, as soon as Brigham
became convinced of the truth of the Gospel, as contained in the Book
of Mormon, he went straightway to his brother Joseph, and persuaded him
to cease preaching Methodism, and embrace the truth, as set forth in
the Book of Mormon, which he carried with him.
Thus was this book the means of convincing this whole family, and
bringing them into the Church, where they have continued faithful
members from the commencement of their career until now. And, through
their faithfulness and zeal, some of them have become as great and
honorable men as ever stood upon the earth.
I shall now resume my subject. The first business which Samuel set
himself about after he returned home, was preparing to move the family
to Waterloo, according to the revelation given to Joseph. And after
much fatigue and perplexities of various kinds, he succeeded in getting
us there. We moved into a house belonging to an individual by the
name of Kellog. Shortly after arriving there, we were made to realize
that the hearts of the people were in the hands of the Lord; for we
had scarcely unpacked our goods, when one of our new neighbors, a Mr.
Osgood, came in and invited us to drive' our stock and teams to his
barn-yard, and feed them from his barn, free of cost, until we could
make further arrangements. Many of our neighbors came in, and welcomed
us to Waterloo. Among whom was Mr. Hooper, a tavernkeeper, whose wife
came with him, and brought us a present of some delicate eatables. Such
manifestations of kindness as these were shown us from day to day,
during our continuance in the place. And they were duly appreciated,
for we had experienced the opposite so severely, that the least show of
good feeling gave rise to the liveliest sensations of gratitude.
Having settled ourselves in this place, we established the practice of
spending the evenings in singing and praying. The neighbors soon became
aware of this, and it caused our house to become a place of evening
resort, for some dozen or twenty persons. One evening, soon after we
commenced singing, a couple of little boys came in, and one of them,
stepping softly up to Samuel, whispered, "Mr. Smith, won't you pray
pretty soon? Our mother said, we must be home by eight o'clock, and we
would like to hear you pray before we go."
Samuel told them that prayer should be attended to immediately.
Accordingly, when we had finished the hymn, which we were then singing,
we closed the evening services with prayer, in order that the little
boys might be gratified. After this, they were never absent during our
evening devotions while we remained in the neighborhood.