Chapter Second
1831
On February the third, 1831 I was married to Caroline Farzine Skeen, daughter of Jesse and Keziah Skeen. Her mother's maiden name was Taylor. Caroline was the seventh child; she had six sisters and three brothers, Nancy was the first born. She was born on the first of January, 1801; she married William Macglothling; they had eight children that we know of. Sarah was next, born in 1802; she married John Groves; they had five children. Elizabeth, she was deaf and dumb, was born in 1804; she was never married. Rachiel was next, she was born in 1806; she married Archibald Meadows, they had six children. Charity was born in 1808; she was deaf and dumb.

Kenyon Taylor was born in 1810; he married Permelia Low, daughter of John and Mary Low; they had six children, all boys. Caroline Farzine, born in 1812, married to John Lowe Butler, had 12 children, seven girls and five boys. Alexander David was born in 1814; he married Mary; they had six children. John Gilbert was born in 1816, he married Malinda; whether they had any children or not is not known. Mary who was the youngest, was born in 1818; she was deaf and dumb; she was never married. Robert Taylor was father to Keziah Taylor.

In 1832, I prayed and searched the word of God diligently and could find no relief to my mind. I still went to meeting, but my mind was greatly troubled, so that I did not care to work but little for I thought if I should gain the whole world and lose my own soul it would be no advantage to me whatever. So one day I rode out to see a brother Baptist and made known to him all my troubles. He began as usual and answered me and said that the Lord would continue to chastise until I would preach their faith. This had great weight upon my mind, so I started for home and while on my way a rebellious spirit took hold of me and I made up my mind that I would stop going to meeting for it was all contention and nothing to be depended upon and if I read the word of God I could not comprehend it, and when I prayed I could get no answer and finally I concluded that I would be as independent as God himself. If he would not answer me when I pray, I would quit praying to Him, and as he would not give me an understanding of the scriptures I would quit searching them and lay all aside.

When I got home I told my wife what I intended to do and when I had told her it hurt her feelings very much indeed. I then went to put up my horse; my barn was up by my orchard. When I got there I found that a wind storm had passed over when I was away and had destroyed several of my fruit trees by blowing them down, and had blown off a great deal of fruit from the other trees. When I saw what had happened I began to feel very angry to think that the Lord should send such a storm to do me so much damage, and still feeling the same independent spirit, I stood up, looking toward the heavens saying I would not preach such stuff as my Baptist brethren told me I would have to preach and if he thought he would make me to try it and I would quit praying to him for he would not answer me and I would be as independent as he.

While in this exercise of mind there were several streaks of lightning passed before me in the heavens. I said I know you can strike me dead with lightning but pop away if you wish for I will neither preach, pray, go to meeting, nor read the scriptures any more. I felt as though I was seven or eight feet high. I then got some corn tops for my horse and started to feed him and when in the act of stepping in and putting the fodder into the rack, there was a voice spoke to me saying, "I will set on you a refiner's fire." I turned about to see who it was that spoke to me, but I saw no person. I then looked around the barn but saw no person. I certainly thought that someone spoke to me for the voice was so audible, but yet, I still heard no one, neither saw I anyone. This set me to thinking of what I had been doing. I had been defying God and so forth. As I went down to the house I concluded to read one more time old Malachi; it speaks of refiner's fire, etc. and when I got into the house I told my wife what had happened when putting up my horse. I then sat down to read for the last time old Malachi. I read it through twice and closed the book with a determination never to open it again, but made up my mind to go once more and pray and it for the last time.

I started to a place in the field where I often went to pray. I got about fifty steps from the house. My whole mental powers seemed to be drawn out to God to know the truth, and the true order of his kingdom, and if I could only know what, I would do anything, even to the laying down of my life if necessary. While in the exercise of mind, there was a voice that spoke to me saying, "Stand still and see the salvation of God and that will be truth." That instant a light shone round me. I was filled with the Spirit of the Lord and saw clearly that God would save all the workmanship of his hands and truth would stand or be set up in our midst and it will not need propping up as the sects of the day had continued to do.

From this time I began to look for something to come forth different to what we then had in any church. I often told my brethren that the truth would stand alone and might be told by an illiterate man. It could not be put down. Things passed on tolerable well those times. I went to meeting and they would call upon me to speak, and sometimes I would be so filled with the spirit that I did not know what I did say, but those that heard me said that it was a warning to repent, etc.

In 1831, on the 17th of November, my wife bore unto me a son. I was keeping school at that time, for I was unable to do much hard work, being very sickly from my boyhood, suffering very much from the rheumatics. I still attended the meetings, but gained nothing by it, for the Spirit of the Lord was not there and where the Spirit of the Lord is not, there is little to be learned. In 1833 on the 20th of April, another son was born unto us. He only lived about four months. We named him William Alexander; the other boy was named Kenyon Taylor. In 1834 on June 13, a daughter was born unto us; we called her Charity Artemesia. On the following March, the first day, 1835, when at a Baptist meeting, a word came that two Mormon elders would preach on that evening at my Uncle John Lowe's. I said I would go and hear them. My Baptist brethren opposed me, but I told them I was going to hear them for myself. They then appointed two brethren to go with me, and when we got to meeting seated together one on each side of me, the elder rose up to speak.

I expected they would speak from their Golden Bible, but they did not and to my astonishment, they commenced preaching the first principals as set down in the New Testament. This astonished me. I knew every word they said to be truth for I had the testimony of it. I asked them a few questions and they kindly answered them. I then told them that my house was a home for them as long as they wished while they were preaching. My Baptist brethren sat on either side of me and said to one another how John is taken up with them. See his mouth is wide open to swallow it all. This doctrine will just suit him for it is what he has been seeking after; he will leave us now and join these Mormons; he never was satisfied with the Methodist, so he left them and joined us, and he did not believe in our doctrine. Now he will join these Mormons and believe everything that they preach.

I invited the elders to come to my house and hold meetings there if they wished. I then started for home thinking and weighing over in my mind the doctrine and principals that had been held forth that evening by the elders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. My mind was lit up more than it had ever been before and I could begin to see clearly the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. I arrived home and my mother was then staying with us. I told them of the principals of the gospel. My mother said, "Well, John, what do you think of these Mormons?" I told her that I thought that they preached the true and everlasting gospel or they were the greatest imposters that I had ever seen or heard. "Yes," said the old lady, "that is just like you; you were not content with the Methodists, then you joined the Baptists, and they do not suit you. Now you will join these Mormons." I suppose I told her the Lord said try all things and hold fast to that which is good. The next morning I started to work in my clearing, but I had not gotten more than one hundred yards from the house when the same rebelliousness came over me. I then turned right around and went back to the house, took up my Bible and began to search the scriptures and pray to the Lord to hear and answer my prayer and to bless me with an understanding heart, so that I could see and know for myself. I knew it was the nearest right of anything I had heard yet, and I believed that it was this that the Lord had said to me to stand still and wait for the truth.

I continued to call upon the Lord and to read the scriptures. I was determined to find out more about these Mormons so I went to hear the elder's preach again on the next Thursday. They preached about the order of the kingdom and I had never heard anything so plain in all my life before; a child could understand it all. It was just the thing that I had been hankering after and now I felt to rejoice and was perfectly satisfied they were sent of God as the saints of old. I went home, thanking my Heavenly Father for the blessings that he had bestowed upon me from time to time and I felt to go forth and obey his commandments. I asked my wife what she thought of the Mormon elders. She said she thought they were men of God, and that it was the only true church of God and the only way to be saved.

On Friday, the next day, I was lying on my bed reading and resting my mind. I traveled back over my past history and was thinking from the first time that I had serious reflections up until the time that the voice spoke to me and told me to stand still and see the salvation of God and that would be truth. And the voice of the same spirit said, "This is truth that you have been hearing, now choose or refuse." Now I was at a standstill to know what I should do. I saw the sacrifice I had to make in losing my good name and also what little property I had that it would go to if I joined these Mormons, but then it was the truth that we had heard and the elders were sent of God to preach the true and everlasting gospel. What could I do? I had promised the Lord that I would serve and obey him and even lay down my life for the gospel's sake if necessary. And what was my property against my life, why nothing at all, and if I lost my good name it would be to gain a better one. So while I lay on my bed, I covenanted with my Eternal Father to obey the first choice. I then felt better and to rejoice that I was so blessed of God. I then felt the spirit of God to rest down upon me with this testimony that it was right. So on the next Monday, the 9th day of March, 1835, about 2 o'clock in the afternoon, I was led into the waters of baptism by Elder James Emmett and baptized for the remission of my sins. There were some six or eight baptized the same day, my wife being one of the number. There were more baptized after that. The elders appointed a confirmation meeting to be held at my home on the 12th, Thursday evening. There were nine confirmed and the Holy Ghost was poured out upon us; five spoke in new tongues, myself being one of the number. The elders continued to preach and baptize until 22 were baptized and they then organized a branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, ordained Benjamin Lewis an elder and myself a teacher.

After the little branch was organized by Elders James Emmett and Peter Dustan, persecution raged so that we had to run the elders off and had to do the best we could, but the Lord was with us and watched over his little flock, and built us up in the kingdom of God. My mother, when hearing that the elders had gone, began to cry and say that they should come back for she had not been baptized yet. And when we told her that they had gone and we knew not whither, she said, "O, what a fool have I been to have heard the gospel for two weeks and then to let the elders go and leave me unbaptized." She went on finely about it; but it so happened that they took a notion to come back again for something, they could not tell what, but they knew that they had something to do.

Now my wife's sister, Charity was deaf and dumb and hearing the fuss that was made about the Mormons, she came to my wife and asked her the meaning of it all, and my wife told her as well as she could by signs. She then asked my wife how it was that the Methodists and the Baptists and all other denominations could preach and no one would say anything to them, while if the Mormons preached, they were hooted at, laughed at, and fun made of them by everybody and threatened to be murdered by some and persecuted by all. She could not understand how it was, so my wife told her that it was the true and everlasting gospel that they preached and that they were sent of God and also that she had been baptized for remission of her sins. The Lord then opened her understanding and she told my wife that she would be baptized too, by the man sent of God, but my wife told her that she had better not as her father was very much opposed to Mormonism and that he would lay all the blame upon her, but Charity persisted in being baptized. This all took place just after the elders had departed, so when the elders turned back again, they knew the Lord wanted them for some wise purpose and when they came into the house, there were two sisters waiting to be baptized; so they baptized them, blessed them and departed on their journey, rejoicing in the Lord their God.

We met together and enjoyed ourselves worshipping the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and during the rest of the year I was selling off my farm, houses and everything that I could not take with us (to go to Zion) and while we remained there it so happened that a store belonging to John Finn in a small town called Franklin about five miles from where we lived caught fire by some means or other. Well, they blamed it on me and said that I had set fire to it to turn it down, and several other accidents that occurred about that time were all laid upon the back of John L. Butler.

My wife's father was bitterly opposed to Mormonism; he came to our house and stayed overnight when Brothers Emmett and Dustand were staying with us and went and told it all about to whoever we met that my wife and I and my sister Lucy Ann and the Mormon elders all slept together in one bed on the floor, and everybody believed that it was true because my father-in-law was or always had been a very truthful man. Now Mr. John Lowe, my mother's brother was justice of the peace and he heard all about it so he felt it his duty to look into the matter. So with his own hand, and a little while after they were gone, there were a lot of rowdies that came and filled up the road; there was a road between two fields and logs rolled up together on either side, so they dragged them down into the road and piled them up so that no one could pass except on foot. Mr. John Lowe heard of it and came down to see whether it was so or not and when he got there, he found that he had been informed rightly. He had to get off his horse and come the rest of the way on foot. He told us to say nothing about it at all and those who did it would tell of themselves.

There was a public meeting some two weeks later, and there were some there that commenced talking about how nicely they had stopped the Mormon road so Mr. Lowe happened to hear them. So he said, "Now you had better go back and replace every log where you got them from and if you do not, I shall take care to put a heavy fine upon you." So there were about ten or a dozen men who came the next day and cleared the road again, and it took them a great deal longer to put them back than it took them to place them there; they were at it nearly all day.

The judge was a first-rate, good man. He did not believe in Mormonism, but he believed in folks having their rights. He was a good republican. One night as I and another brother were talking over matters together, a half a dozen rocks came whizzing by our heads. So we thought we had better take care of our heads. We then stooped down under the logs, and the rocks went over us. Well, we never said anything about it until a few days after. One John Mitchel told some of his neighbors that he and some more liked to have killed the Mormons the other night, throwing rocks at them; he knew they must have hurt them very bad for he heard the rocks bounce off of them.

Mr. Lowe heard of the affair and got on his horse and rode down to John's and says he, "John, I have heard a bad tale about you and I have come down to see you about it. I heard that you and some more of your companions threw rocks at the Mormons. Now tell me, did you do it, or was you telling a lie? Now tell me." John hung down his head and said that he did, but he knew that it was wrong and he hoped that he would forgive him and he would do so no more.

"Now, John," said the judge, "I am glad that you have owned up to it, for the Mormons have got the rocks and I should have fined you very heavy had you not been sorry for what you had done."

Well, all this time I was preparing to move my family which consisted of myself and wife and three children, my mother, sisters and three brothers. My father-in-law still held bitter feelings against us and tried to do us all the harm he could. About a month before we started, he said that if I offered to go he would shoot me and three times he sent me that message. I sent word back to him that I had a good rifle and could shoot as good as he could and if he came to my house when I was going to start, or before, I would shoot him first if I could.

On February 25, 1836, my wife bore me another daughter. We called her Kiziah Jane. She was about a month and eight days of age when we started. A day or two before we started, I was out and my Uncle John Lowe came down to our house and called my wife and said to her, "Caroline, bring me John's rifle quick, there is a flock of turkeys and I want to kill one," and he said he would bring it back directly, and when I returned home I missed my rifle, and said, "Where is my rifle?" My wife said that my Uncle John Lowe had come and gotten it to go and shoot some turkeys but would be back directly with it. "Now," said I, "suppose the old man should come to kill me, I should have no weapon to defend myself with at all and that will be a good go." "But," said my wife, "do you think that he will come?" I said that I could not tell. Well, we started, and we had to go by my Uncle John's. He came out to bid us goodbye, and in his hand brought my rifle. It was still loaded; he only wanted to get it out of my possession into his own, "For," said he, "John, I should not like to see you kill the old man."