At Nauvoo I found Sidney Rigdon busy among the Saints, trying to
establish his claim to the presidency of the Church. He was first
Counselor to the Prophet Joseph at the time of the latter's death. The
Church was fourteen years old, and he claimed that it was its privilege
and duty to appoint a guardian; and he wished the people to sanction
his guardianship.
I was much dissatisfied with the course he was taking, and as I could
not sustain him, I felt to leave Nauvoo for a season. I went into the
country, where I had left my wife and two children with my sister
Melissa. When I met my sister, she threw her arms around my neck and
thanked the Lord that I had returned. She had seen an account of a man
being drowned in the Ohio River, and, from the description, thought
that it might have been me.
On the 8th of August, 1844, I attended a general meeting of the Saints.
Elder Rigdon was there, urging his claims to the presidency of the
Church. His voice did not sound like the voice of the true shepherd.
When he was about to call a vote of the congregation to sustain him
as President of the Church, Elders Brigham Young, Parley P. Pratt and
Heber C. Kimball stepped into the stand.
Brigham Young remarked to the congregation: "I will manage this voting
for Elder Rigdon. He does not preside here. This child" (meaning
himself) "will manage this flock for a season." The voice and gestures
of the man were those of the Prophet Joseph.
The people, with few exceptions, visibly saw that the mantle of the
Prophet Joseph Smith had fallen upon Brigham Young. To some it seemed
as though Joseph again stood before them.
I arose to my feet and said to a man sitting by me, "That is the voice
of the true shepherd--the chief of the Apostles."
Our enemies, finding that the death of the Prophet did not break up
"Mormonism," as they had expected, began their persecutions again, by
burning the houses of the brethren in the outlying settlements.
I joined a company of minute men to assist in protecting the Saints.
In one of our scouts we visited Carthage. I examined the jail in which
Joseph and Hyrum were assassinated. I noticed that the latches on the
two doors that the mob broke in, when they killed the Prophets, had
been rendered useless by bending down the catches, so that the latches
would clear them. All the entrances to the prison yard appeared to me
to have been prepared beforehand for the easy admittance of the mob.
The blood on the floor where the Patriarch fell, had left a black spot
about the size and shape of the body. The ball holes in the plastering
about the window out of which Joseph leaped, and those in the door and
in the wall above where Hyrum had lain, and also where John Taylor had
been shot at, denoted that the assailants were desperadoes and well
prepared for their work.
When the District Court sat in Hancock County, the judge allowed one
of the leaders of the mob to act as an official. He also professed to
try to have the murderers indicted, but as several of them were on the
grand jury, there were no indictments found against them.
The following winter I assisted in guarding the Saints in and around
the city of Nauvoo. My brother Obed lived about thirty miles out in the
country. He was taken sick, and sent for me to come and see him.
On arriving at his house, I found that he had been sick nearly three
months, and that doubts were entertained of his recovery. I anointed
him with holy oil in the name of the Lord Jesus, laid on hands, and
prayed for him, and told him that he should recover, which he did
immediately.
This occurrence had much influence on my parents. They both attended
the following April conference. At its close, my father asked me if I
did not wish to baptize him and my mother. As they were both desirous
that I should do so, I baptized them in the Mississippi river, on April
11th, 1845.
My father told me that it was not any man's preaching that had
convinced him of the truth of the gospel, but the Lord had shown it to
him in night visions. Said he, "It is your privilege to baptize your
parents, for you have prayed for them in secret and in public; you
never gave them up; you will be a Joseph to your father's house."
In 1845, I labored on the Nauvoo temple, doing any work that was
required of me. In the autumn, the enemies of the Saints commenced to
plunder in the country settlements. Teams were sent from Nauvoo to save
and bring in what grain they could. It was necessary to send guards
with the teams.
These afflictions, heaped upon the Saints by their enemies when they
were struggling to complete the temple, in compliance with the word of
the Lord, greatly added to their difficulties.
When winter came, they were instructed to unite their efforts to
manufacture wagons, and make preparations for a long journey. I
assisted in getting out timber for wagons.
The house of the Lord being far enough completed to give endowments
and do other necessary work, I received my blessings in it just before
crossing the Mississippi river, in February, 1846.
I labored with the company of pioneers to prepare the way for the
Saints through Iowa, after which I had the privilege of returning to
Nauvoo for my family, which consisted of my wife and three children. I
moved them out into Iowa, 200 miles, where I left them, and returned
100 miles to settlements, in order to obtain food and other necessaries.
I was taken sick, and sent for my family to return to me. My wife and
two children were taken sick the day after their arrival. We found
shelter in a miserable hut, some distance from water.
One day I made an effort to get some water for my suffering family, but
failed through weakness. Night came on and my family were burning with
fever and calling for water.
These very trying circumstances called up some bitter feelings within
me. It seemed as though in this, my terrible extremity, the Lord
permitted the devil to try me, for just then a Methodist class leader
came along, and remarked that I was in a very bad situation. He assured
me that he had a comfortable house that I could move into, and that
he had plenty of everything, and would assist me if I would renounce
"Mormonism." I refused and he passed on.
I afterwards knelt down and asked the Lord to pity us in our miserable
condition, and to soften the heart of some one to administer to us in
our affliction.
About an hour after this, a man by the name of William Johnson came
with a three gallon jug full of water, set it down and said: "I came
home this evening, weary, having been working with a threshing machine
during the day, but, when I lay down I could not sleep; something told
me that you were suffering for water. I took this jug, went over to
Custer's well and got this for you. I feel now as though I could go
home and sleep. I have plenty of chickens and other things at my house,
that are good for sick people. When you need anything I will let you
have it." I knew this was from the Lord in answer to my prayer.
The following day the quails came out of the thickets, and were so
easily caught that I picked up what I needed without difficulty. I
afterwards learned that the camps of the Saints had been supplied with
food in the same way.
The spring following these events my eldest brother came from
Pottawatomie Co., Iowa, with a team to take me home with him. While
preparing to leave, the team became frightened, ran along a steep side
hill, capsized the wagon, and I was thrown down the hill and the load
came on top of me.
The same Mr. Johnson who had before administered to my wants, took me
into his house. This was in the morning, and I knew nothing until ten
o'clock in the evening.
When I became conscious, I was lying on a mattress covered with blood.
I looked around the room, and asked what it all meant. The lady of the
house informed me what had happened, and told me that Mr. Johnson did
not expect me to live. She further stated that he had called in some of
the neighbors, that the doctor had been to see me and wished to bleed
me, but I would not let him; that I told them that if they knew where
there were any of the Elders of Israel, I wanted them sent for. She
informed me that I said other things which displeased the doctor and
the neighbors, and they went away.
I assured the family that I was not responsible for what I had said
or done, for I knew nothing about it. Mrs. Johnson said that she did
not hear or see anything wrong, but the neighbors believed that I was
trying to palm off some great "Mormon" miracle on them. I denied trying
to deceive any one, but all to no purpose.
The owner of the house I had rented hurried me out of it, saying I
could not live in his house any longer. In the month of March I moved
into the wagon, with my wife and four children, the youngest not two
weeks old.
On the 11th of the following April, 1847, I arrived at my father's
house, in Western Iowa. I had previously baptized four of my brothers,
and all my father's family had embraced the gospel.
My mother had sunk under hardships, and died on the road from Nauvoo,
yet I was thankful to find all my relatives rejoicing in the truth.
In the spring of 1850 I felt like making an effort to gather with the
Saints in the mountains. This at first appeared impossible, as my
animals had all strayed off, and I could not learn of their whereabouts.
I had concluded to remain another year, when I dreamed, for three
nights in succession, where my oxen were, and went and got them. I
found my other lost animals in the same manner.
These kind providences, with strict economy, enabled me to make a start
for Utah with the company of Aaron Johnson, in the spring of 1850, as I
had desired.
I joined the camp, to travel over a thousand miles of desert, with nine
in family, one small wagon, one yoke of oxen and two cows.
While crossing the ferry over the Missouri river, with a boat load of
cattle, they crowded to one side of the boat and capsized it. Some of
the people on board saved themselves by getting on to the bottom of the
boat, others by holding on to planks.
I made an effort to swim to the landing, below which was some three
miles of perpendicular river bank, and the water along the bank was
full of whirlpools and eddies. Despite my efforts, the current took me
past the landing. As I was almost carried under by a strong eddy, I
began to despair of saving myself. Fortunately, I discovered where a
path had been cut through the bank to the water's edge. I succeeded in
getting so near the top of the bank, that a woman who was near, and had
discovered my situation, managed to get hold of my hand, and, with a
great effort, I was saved from the surging waters.
In traveling up the Platte river on our way to the mountains, we found
the road side, in places, strewn with human bones. The discovery of
gold in California and the excitement it had created, had induced many
of the Missouri mobocrats, the year previous, to leave their homes in
search of the god of this world.
The cholera had raged among them to such an extent, that the dead were
buried without coffins, and with but a slight covering of earth. The
wolves had dug up and feasted upon their carcasses, and their bones
lay bleaching on the desert. There were days of travel in which human
skeletons were usually in sight.
We saw the literal fulfillment of the predictions of Joseph the
Prophet, during the persecutions of the Saints in Missouri. He said
that those who took an active part in driving them from their homes,
should themselves die away from home without a decent burial; that
their flesh should be devoured by wild beasts, and their bones should
bleach on the plains. Boards had usually been placed at the heads of
the graves, on which were the names of those who had been buried in
them. Many of these names were those of well-known Missouri mobocrats.
The destroyer came into our company, and several persons died. I told
my family that it was a plague from the Lord, that nothing but His
power could save them from it, and that it would attack some of the
family. My wife thought that I had done wrong in asserting that it
would attack our family, as the children would be afraid and be more
likely to have it. I told her that it would come, but when it did we
must depend entirely upon the Lord and all would be right.
One evening, as I returned to my wagon from assisting to bury a Sister
Hunt, Sister Hamblin was taken violently with the cholera, and she
exclaimed, "O Lord, help, or I die!" I anointed her with consecrated
oil in the name of the Lord Jesus, and she was instantly healed. The
next day the cholera attacked me and I was healed under the hands of my
father.
I was advised to get into the wagon and ride the remainder of the day.
As my eldest son, a small lad, took the whip to drive the team, he fell
forward to the ground and both wheels on the left side of the wagon ran
over his body. It appeared to me that he never could breathe again. My
father took him out of the road, administered to him, and he arose to
his feet and said that he was not hurt.
My youngest son, Lyman, was taken with the cholera, and my father in
administering to him, rebuked the destroyer, and commanded it to depart
from him, from the family and from the company. To my knowledge no more
cases of the cholera occurred after that in the company.
We arrived in Salt Lake Valley on the 1st of September, 1850.