REMOVAL TO NAUVOO--SICKNESS--MIRACULOUSLY HEALED--ACQUIRE
CONSIDERABLE PROPERTY--ACQUAINTANCE WITH JOSEPH SMITH--MISSIONS
TO ALBANY, AND THE EASTERN STATES; ALSO, WITH ELDER J. W. CROSBY,
TO NOVA SCOTIA--PREACH IN JEFFERSON CO., N. Y., AND ORGANIZE
SIX BRANCHES OF THE CHURCH--TRAVEL TO NEW BRUNSWICK--INVITED TO
PREACH--BAPTISMS--PERSECUTION--THE AUTHOR WAYLAID BY A MOB, BEATEN, AND
LEFT FOR DEAD--ATTACK ON THE HOUSE WHERE HE AND ELDER CROSBY WERE IN
BED--THE MOB DISPERSED BY MRS. SHELTON--THEY RETURN AND RE-ATTACK THE
HOUSE--ARE DISPERSED BY MR. SHELTON--TWO BRANCHES ORGANIZED.
The doctrine of the gathering had been taught the Saints, at Pomphret,
and, in common with the others, I felt a great desire to gather up
and live with the body of the Church. With this idea I endeavored to
dispose of my farm, but failure in my efforts to do this was the only
thing that saved me from a share in the Missouri persecutions.
The winter previous to the poisoning case I sold my farm, and the time
for me to vacate expired just before this took place.
For several months I was preparing to remove, getting teams, wagons,
etc. When the time arrived, with my wife and children, and part of the
branch, including the woman who had been poisoned and her husband, I
started to find the Church, thinking it was still in Missouri, though
we had heard that it had been mobbed and broken up.
We journeyed until we came to Springfield, about a hundred miles from
Nauvoo, where we met with some brethren who had been driven out of
Missouri, and who told us that the Church was collecting in Nauvoo,
then called Commerce. We turned our course in that direction, and
arrived there in June, the weather being very warm at the time.
We found brothers Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon there, with a few
others. The rest were coming in daily, in a most distressed condition.
Many of them were sick, and they had no house to enter when they
arrived. The nature of the climate, combined with the hardships they
had endured, soon made those ill who were not so previously.
Numbers of the sick and dying had to lie on the ground, with only a
blanket over them. No springs or wells were handy, and the Mississippi
water was unfit to drink, so that many had to go miles for water to
give to the afflicted. Sometimes one would go on horseback with a
jug, and fetch a little for the sick, and take it round to them. It
was frequently declared that the persecutions in Missouri were small
matters compared to the miseries endured at this period in Nauvoo.
My family, with myself, were also taken sick, and I laid so for two
or three weeks. I was so far gone that I was quite senseless, and all
thought I was dying. Doubtless I should have died, but one day Joseph
Smith was passing by my door (for I had managed to procure a house)
and was called in, and, as I was afterwards informed, laid his hands
upon me, and commanded me to arise and walk, in the name of the Lord.
The first thing I knew was that I found myself walking on the floor,
perfectly well, and within ten minutes afterwards I was out of the
house visiting my daughter, whom I had not seen for nearly a month. I
felt so full of joy and happiness, that I was greatly surprised that
every one else was not as full of praise as myself.
This was the second time that I had been healed instantly by the power
of God, through His servants.
Attempts had been made to build a city on the site of Nauvoo, previous
to the entrance of the Saints, but all the inhabitants, with the
exception of three or four families, had died, and the Saints used the
deserted houses as far as they would go.
It was a common saying among the inhabitants of the surrounding country
that, if the "Mormons" could live here, they could live anywhere. It
truly was a most unhealthy spot, filled with ponds and stagnant water,
left by the overflowing of the Mississippi river, afflicting all the
neighborhood with fever and ague.
From this condition I saw the city become, through the industry of the
Saints, a healthy and prosperous place, being drained of these swamps,
etc.
I lived there until I had accumulated considerable property. During
this time, about seven years, I had frequent opportunities of
continuing my acquaintance with Joseph Smith, seeing him nearly every
day.
From my actual knowledge, I can testify to the purity and uprightness
of his life, and I know that he was a man of God. I had every
opportunity to acquire this information, for, when escaping from his
enemies, he has lived sometimes for a week at a time at my residence.
During this period several missions were appointed me, one to the north
of Albany, where I succeeded in baptizing a goodly number; another to
the Eastern States.
About a year previous to the death of Joseph, with Jesse W. Crosby, who
had friends in that part, I was assigned a mission to Nova Scotia.
Our route lay through Chicago, a distance of two hundred miles, which
we walked. We then, by steamer, passed down the northern lakes to
Buffalo, a journey of at least a thousand miles, and again took steamer
on Lake Ontario, about four hundred miles further, and arrived at
Sackett's Harbor.
As we were destitute of means to prosecute our journey further, and, as
I had some relatives living at hand, we concluded to stop and preach
awhile, until we could procure means to go on, but the weather coming
on very cold, the rivers froze over, and we were compelled to spend the
winter in this place.
This brought me into the region of country where I had lived for ten
years when a young man. The first place we commenced at was in the town
of Lime, Jefferson Co., New York.
Here we procured a school-house. Two ministers, who usually occupied
the room, greatly opposed us at the close of our preaching, and
endeavored to set the people against us, but they displayed such a
weak, mean spirit, that their congregation left them. One minister, who
had a regular salary with a small farm, for his preaching, had them
taken from him, and many of his followers became members of the Church.
We confined our labors chiefly to Jefferson Co., where we found a
few scattered members, and managed to raise up some six branches,
consisting of about two hundred members. These were abundantly blessed
with the gifts of tongues, prophecy, healings, etc., and the branches
became very strong in the faith.
While we were here, I felt very anxious to know of the position of
affairs at head quarters, and besought the Lord to enlighten me on the
subject. He did so, revealing unto me, through the gift of tongues, the
interpretation of which was given to myself, many things concerning the
Church, the temple ordinances at Nauvoo, and several other things, that
I found, on my return to that place, to be strictly true.
Just at this time the spring was coming on, and the St. Lawrence river
began to clear from ice, so that we were able to continue our journey
to Nova Scotia.
Previous to our departure we had a farewell meeting with the Saints. It
was a delightful meeting, and they rejoiced much, for the Spirit of the
Lord was greatly poured out. During the meeting, a little boy stood up
and spoke in tongues, the tears rolling down his face all the time. The
interpretation stated that, after leaving that place, I should go to
another, where I should be mobbed and left for dead, and that the blood
should run down from my head on my clothes and on the ground.
I took this for a timely warning, and thought that, by prudence, I
might escape. Accordingly, by great caution, I kept clear of much that
I might have suffered.
We passed down the St. Lawrence river, and, after preaching a few times
at Montreal, passed on to Quebec, where we distributed a few books, but
the priests would not allow us to preach.
At this place we wished to take the steamboat to Nova Scotia, but our
means were inadequate, and the captain refused to lower the fare. Again
we were frustrated in our purpose to proceed on our mission.
This was our position when, one day, as Elder Crosby and I were walking
about Quebec, wondering what we should do to accomplish our purpose,
we came in contact with a gentleman who told us a plan by which we
might fulfill our mission--going on a sailing vessel to the mouth of
the river Delieu, then by land to the head waters of St. Johns river,
New Brunswick; then to buy a canoe, and paddle down that river to the
mouth, where we could, for a small sum, take ship any day for Nova
Scotia.
This advice we concluded to act upon, but before we left Quebec, as our
journey seemed to be diverted from its original purpose, I prayed the
Lord to show us, in vision, those people among whom he wished us to
stop and confine our efforts, for our mission to Nova Scotia had been
assigned to us at the request of Brother Crosby, whose friends lived in
that part, and was more to comply with his desire than from any prior
intention the Presidency had with regard to the place.
Descending St. John's river in the canoe, we overtook a man on a raft,
who asked us several questions, and finally we told him that we were
preachers of the gospel.
After hearing this he invited us to stop at his house, about twenty
miles farther down the river, and preach there on the Sunday. This we
did. We had a large congregation, and found a fine opening for the
spread of the truth.
At the close of the meeting, at which I preached and Elder Crosby bore
testimony, we were invited to dine with a family residing there.
The wife of our host told us that, about two or three months before,
the minister that had preached in that part of the country had left,
and they were without any religious instructor, when she prayed the
Lord to send some faithful person to supply his place.
Thus engaged, she was shown in a vision two men, the elder of whom was
preaching, but the other delivered an exhortation of a different kind.
The doctrine, she said, was new to her, but it seemed true.
She also recollected distinctly the clothes and appearance of these
men, and, to her great surprise and pleasure, recognized them in the
persons of Elder Crosby and myself, directly we entered the room. Of
course our hearts were cheered at hearing this, and we felt assured
that the Lord was working in the vineyard with His servants.
We commenced to baptize soon afterwards, and the Spirit of the Lord
was mightily poured out, in proportion to which the powers of darkness
began to manifest themselves through the unbelievers.
But that which enraged our opponents most was the baptism of some of
the greatest men in the place. All manner of lies began to circulate
about our conduct and intentions. Among other things, it was stated
that we were in the habit of interrupting public meetings, and many
such statements were privately forwarded to the governor of New
Brunswick by the religious ministers and others of our enemies.
This led him to send down an order to three justices of the peace to
convene a meeting, and produce whatever kind of evidence could be
procured, either for or against, and report accordingly.
Before this meeting was held we ascertained that these justices,
who were our most bitter enemies, had been searching law books for
something to lay hold of us with, and had found an old statute,
applying to the whole of the province, forbidding all dissenters to
hold public religious services without a written license from the
governor. But the spirit of their purpose was shown by the fact that
they had never put this law in force against the numerous dissenters
that had flourished there--in fact, two of these justices were
dissenters themselves.
The day of the meeting arrived, and all manner of witnesses that could
be raked together were produced--among others a negro's evidence was
taken, who had previously been convicted of taking a false oath. But
for the purpose of this holy tribunal this testimony was good enough!
What mattered? He was not for the defense--upon which side of the
question it did not occur to the justices, as a necessary thing, to
call for any witnesses whatever.
I quickly discovered that it was high time to stir in the matter, or
possibly the next discovery would be that we were inmates of a jail;
so, taking the advice of Squire Shelton, a gentleman whom we had
baptized, I waited with him on Judge Bardsley, the judge of the county,
who had frequently attended our meetings, and I procured a certificate
from him that he had done so, and had heard nothing injurious to the
people or the government.
With this and a similar certificate from Mr. Shelton, who was also
a justice of the peace, Brother Crosby and I went to the governor's
residence, and obtained an interview; but we found him most terribly
prejudiced against us, and very ignorant of law and gospel.
He broke down, however, before the arguments of his aid-de-camp and
counsel, who pleaded on our behalf, after battling with him for about
two hours. The result was, that all law proceedings against us were
stopped.
This enraged our enemies so much that our lives became endangered, and,
to escape their violence, we had to sleep in the woods, and do our
baptizing in the night, as their determination was to mob us the first
opportunity.
Unfortunately, one of them overheard me promise to visit one of the
brethren after I had been preaching one day. This mobber, with a party
of about ten others, waylaid me. Some of them held me while the rest
beat me about the head with their fists; but not being able to bruise
me sufficiently in this manner, one of them took off one of my boots,
and belabored me about the head with the heel of it until I was covered
with blood, which ran down on to my clothes and the ground.
Some of them then threw me down, and jumped upon me with their knees
until they broke several of my ribs. All this while I had been calling
out loudly, whenever they did not stop my mouth.
But it suddenly occurred to me that, if I were to pretend to be dead
they would leave me, thinking their murderous work accomplished; so
I groaned loudly as if dying, and resigned myself into their hands,
holding my breath as much as possible. This succeeded, the darkness of
the night favoring my purpose, and they left me, and ran off as fast as
they could.
Directly they were gone I arose, though with great difficulty, and went
into a house not far distant, where I washed the blood off my person,
and Elder Crosby, who also came there, laid hands upon me.
The mob, however, by some means discovering that I was not yet dead,
and that Elder Crosby was with me, met, and resolved to attack the
house that night, and, if possible, get possession of both of us, after
which they purposed to cut off Elder Crosby's ears, tar and feather
us, carry us out into the middle of St. Johns river, and, after tying
stones to our feet, sink us both.
The first intimation that we received of this determination was by a
wooden rail being hurled against the window. The rail broke through the
window, came in upon the bed where we were sleeping, and awoke us both.
We immediately sprang up, and Elder Crosby rushed to the door where
they were hammering to get in. He held it as well as he could, but in
another moment they would have succeeded, had not Mrs. Shelton, who had
been alarmed by the noise, come upon them unexpectedly with a lighted
candle, and surprised them in the act.
This frightened them, and, alarmed lest they should be known, they fled
with the rest that had been posted at the other parts of the house.
We were quiet after this for about an hour, and Justice Shelton, at
whose house we were stopping, went to alarm the neighbors and his son,
who lived some distance off, so that we might have assistance in case
of the mob returning.
The mob returned while he was gone, having recruited their spirits with
whisky. They made a second attack upon the house, trying another door
this time.
But Elder Crosby held the door with an iron grasp and the resolution
of a lion, so they were again unsuccessful. After drinking round they
tried a third time, and one of them managed to get his arm through the
door opening, but while doing so he was caught round the waist in the
arms of Mr. Shelton's son, who, with several others entered the place
at the moment. And thus the Lord delivered us out of their hands, for
they were not long dispersing themselves after this.
Several of them were recognized by our friends. These Mr. Shelton
put under bonds, but they threatened to burn his house and barn if
he attempted to prosecute; and fearing that the government, from its
dislike to the Saints, would refuse to back him up, he was compelled to
let these mobbers go, and we remained without redress.
In the foregoing recital, the reader will perceive how fully the word
of the Lord, spoken in tongues by the youth before we left Jefferson
County, was fulfilled.
The next day, by the blessing of God, I recovered sufficiently to
walk seventeen miles and preach, but my face was discolored, and I
could only see with one eye. I took for my text, Paul's words, "thrice
have I been beaten with stripes, etc." and, as may be supposed, my
personal appearance furnished a very favorable evidence, on behalf of
my argument, that the same effects--violence and death, followed the
preaching of the gospel in these days, as did anciently.
Notwithstanding our persecutions we did not leave the country, but
continued to preach, fearless of opposition, until we had baptized
about fifty, and organized two branches. These were also visited
abundantly with the signs following, and the Saints rejoiced greatly in
the work. The persecution was a failure in Satan's calculation; it only
excited curiosity and awakened attention to our principles.