Chapter Four
1839
We arrived at Quincy, Illinois and I went and stayed with an old man there and kept school and Brother Louis [Lewis] kept school too. I taught the old man's children and his grandchildren and some few neighbor's children, some twenty or more, and I kept school until January and in February my wife started for Quincy with the rest of the Saints and Brother O. A. Smoot [Abraham O. Smoot], having no team said to my wife that he would drive her team for her if she would let him put his traps in the wagon, so she let him do it, and we had no boy big enough to drive a team, Taylor being only seven or eight years of age. Well, they started, but it was bitter cold and they suffered fearfully, but by the help of God they were enabled to stand and bear it. My wife, after she had started had very sore eyes and Sister Smoot had to lead her along for five or six days. I had but two horses and a very light wagon, so they could not ride.

They were walking one day and they called at a house and asked to go and warm the children. The man of the house said yes, go in and warm. They went to the door and his wife was there. They told her that they had come to warm themselves and the children. She said that she could not think of such a thing as to let them in for they might have some disease about them and she had a house full of small children and they might catch it. "I am afraid," said she, "that you Mormons are diseased and I don't want it to get into my family." Sister Smoot made answer and said, "you will have it soon enough, if we do not bring it to you." So they went on again.

One day as they were going along, Sister Smoot was sitting in the front end of the wagon and had my daughter Kiziah on her lap. They had a horse that would kick once in a while, and he began to kick and struck Sister Smoot on the knees and my daughter on the eyebrow. They both screamed loudly and my wife went running back to see what was the matter. She found them both bleeding most fearfully. There was a woman who came out of her house for they happened to be passing by a house at this time to see what was the matter. She soon saw and she ran into the house and got her camphor bottle, some brown paper and a pan of warm water and brought it to them and helped them all she could. She said she was right sorry to see the Mormons suffer so much and be driven about from place to place. They were close to the mouth of Chariton River and there were lots of Saints camped there and my wife went and got some elder to go and lay hands upon Sister Smoot and my daughter, Kiziah. They got some better. The cork of the horseshoe was pretty sharp and the kick was a heavy one.

On another day as they were going along, they got so very cold that they did now know what to do; the children were all crying with the cold. They went up to a house and asked the woman within if they might come in and get warm. She said nothing. They asked her again; and she made no answer so they said, let us go in and get warm. So in they went, and the woman went off into the next room and never spoke to them at all. But they sat there and warmed themselves and children good and started on their journey again, but it was a hard trial for women and children to pass through, the severity of the weather and the hard-heartedness of the people. But they will have to suffer for the ill treatment of the Saints, and indeed they are suffering at this time. God will cause the prophecies of his servants to come to pass to the very letter; they need not think that they will escape for the Lord is just and he will punish those that have ill treated his children and shed the blood of his servants the prophets.

Woe unto the nations of the earth for there shall be wars and rumors of wars and bloodshed and murder through the world, for they have not hearkened to the voice of the Lord, and have killed his chosen servants and driven his children into the wilderness and have made them to suffer and pass through the most bitter trials and their blood has long since cried unto the Lord for vengeance upon their enemies, and his punishments are bound to be fulfilled. He will not let his servants go unavenged.

Well, it still kept bitter cold, and my wife and children suffered very much indeed. There was an old lady who got one of her feet wet, and she liked to have frozen it, but Sister Smoot gave her a dry stocking and that saved her from freezing, but they had to lead her to camp. There the brethren had a large fire built so that they couldn't get within six feet of it. They still traveled on until they came to the river; there was plenty of timber there and Brother Smoot cut down a dry tree and piled up the branches and set fire to it. It made a very large fire. By and by the owner of the land came along and said to the folks, "you burn wood as if it was your own." "Well, there is plenty of it," said Brother Smoot, "and I don't think that you will miss one old dry tree; besides, it would lay here and rot." "You think," replied the stranger, "that I can find no use for such wood, but I can tell you that I can, so I want you to cut no more," and he then went off and left them to their own meditations.

I had heard of the Saints coming from Far West and had been over the river to inquire for my wife. I heard that she was coming, and would be there in a day or two, so I went back again. All this time there were men all around watching and hunting for me up and down as if I were some wild beast of prey, but they were not sharp enough to catch me, for the Lord was with me and that to bless me and guard me from all evil, designing men. They were taking the brethren, those that they thought had any influence wherever they could lay their hands upon them and drag them up to prison there to answer for what they had never done, and most of these men were Christian men, those that believed in Jesus Christ and the Bible and were as religious as they could well be. These were the men that were dragging off the servants of God, men that were innocent of the crimes they said they were guilty of, and some of them, but very few, thought they were doing God service by taking these brethren and throwing them into prison. They were like the folks in olden times when Jesus Christ was upon the earth and the apostles.

My family arrived on the other side of the river. I then took the canoe for the river was blocked with ice so that the boats could not run and went across to fetch them over, but I could not get our wagon over, so I stayed there that night and myself and Brother Smoot went back into Quincy and left our family with the wagon. The ferry boat made a passage through the ice in a day or two afterwards and fetched our families over. We then had no place to go and it was bitter cold, yet it was about the 12th of March.

There was an old man, I forget his name just now, who kept a large butcher shop down by the river and a large wholesale store down by the boat landing. He also had ten or twelve small houses that he had built on purpose to rent. He told some of his tenants that they had to seek other apartments for the Mormons were coming and they had no place to go to, and he was going to let his apartments to them. So the old gentleman came to me and told me to bring my family up to one of his houses and we could live in it until we had been there a little while, so that we should have a little time to look about us and get a place. He also told us to go down to the butcher's store and get some meat when we wanted some. He never charged us anything for what we had. There were three or four other families living close to us that were Mormons; they were living in his houses that were joining ours. He treated them all with kindness. It seemed a new thing to us to be treated with so much kindness. The Lord opened their hearts so that his Saints could not suffer so much as they had done in the forepart of the winter. The folks generally were kind to our brethren all over the place.

In the summer of 1839, if I mistake not, I was ordained to the office of seventy under the hands of Joseph Young and others. This ordination took place at a conference held east of Quincy, Illinois. We lived in Quincy about three or four weeks and then moved out about ten miles from Quincy and rented a farm and put a crop in. I then was called to go on a mission to preach the gospel in Illinois, so I had to leave my crop in the hands of my brothers until I returned, which was not until the next January. We preached the gospel to the people and they behaved to us like gentlemen, but we could not induce any of them to join us or to believe in the principles of eternal life and salvation.

While I was on this mission, Brother Joseph and Hyrum were released from prison. They came over to Quincy and the governor told them that they might go and build a settlement in Commerce, that was up the river from Quincy, but it was the most sickly place in the state, so Brother Joseph concluded to move in the forepart of the year forty four. My wife bore me a daughter on December 29, 1839. We named her Caroline Elizabeth. About March, Joseph and Hyrum moved up to Commerce, and I went up just after them to look at the place and see how I should like it. Brother Joseph asked me if I was coming to live there. I told him that I wanted to live where he did. "Well," said he, "you have not got your family here yet, have you?" I told him no, I had not moved them up yet, but that I had come up just to look at the place. Brother Joseph then said, "You will come over to my house and stay while you are here, and until you move your family up." I thanked him for his kind offer, and when I got over to the house, I found a whole lot of folks sick. It was a very sickly place indeed. I asked Brother Joseph what kind of a place it was. He said it was a low, marshy, wet, damp and nasty place, but that if we went to work and improve it, it would become more healthy and the Lord would bless it for our sakes.

I went to work after I had been there some three weeks to pay for my board and helped Brother Joseph to fix up his fence and to plow his lot and do up his garden for him; then my family was moved up and I built a house and fenced my lot upon the hill. We were all Mormons but one, and his name was Daniel H. Wells. He was squire of Hancock County. At that time everyone was building and you could look over the little settlement and see the hand of industry in every corner of the town. Things prospered with everybody and the Saints began to look for better times than they had seen lately. It began to be a more healthy country and folks began to be strong again. It was a serious time when nearly every family was down sick and the sufferings we had to encounter are beyond the knowledge of any man except he pass through it, but thanks be to God, our Heavenly Father, he heard and answered our prayers when we called upon him. He blessed us and the land for our sake and it yielded and brought forth in abundance, so much so that the folks did not know what to do with their stuff.

They built ward houses and granaries and they were filled to overflowing by the blessings of God and the industry of the Saints, for they had to labor to get things around them. But they prayed unto the Lord to bless the labors of their hands and he did so and they built a large city and made every improvement that could be made. Down in the bottom it was all swamp and low, wet places. The Saints went to work and drained it all off so that it became dry and a great deal more healthy. The wharf was also improved, and the boats used to run regularly down to St. Louis, Missouri. The city council met and changed the name of the place; the name hereafter was Nauvoo. Brother Joseph built him a nice large house. They called it the Nauvoo Mansion. It was a splendid building.

In 1842 we commenced to build the temple of the Lord; the cornerstones were laid and dedicated by Brothers Joseph and Hyrum and some other brethren. Things were still in a flourishing condition and the Saints were still industrious and they were happy for the Lord had blessed them in all their undertakings.

In 1842, I started on a mission to the Sioux Indians; myself and Brother Emmett, and Brother Joseph said, "You are not going to take your family along with you, are you?" "That is what I have understood," I replied. "Well," said he, "you will be back in less than six months." However, we started now. It was as beautiful a country as ever a man would wish to set his eyes upon. If any of my readers have ever seen the western world before it was trod upon by civilized nations, you will know what kind of a country it was. It was bordered around by sloping hills and a chain of fresh water lakes in the center of the valley. Game abounded there and the birds sang forth their notes to their mates; the fawn played by their dams and the whippoorwill chanted forth his notes in the evening when the sun had sunk to rest behind the western hills.

We had but little success among the Indians this time; they did not like us at all. They stole our horses and shot our cattle and came very near shooting us. We started our folks toward home, my family numbering my wife and five children. Well, as I say, we started them from home and Brother Emmett and myself were to stay and find our horses. We stayed and found them, but the Indians took them from us again; then we had to fly for our lives. Now we started to go right between two lakes and the Indians tried to head us to waylay us and kill us. We had then not tasted one bit for eight or nine days. I prayed to the Lord to look down in mercy upon us and strengthen us and enable us to endure the trials and sufferings of hunger that we had to pass through. We got to the point between the lakes and headed them without interruption from the Indians. I could not tell the reason only that the Lord was our friend and changed the mind of the Indians so that they turned from their bloody design for they meant to kill us if they only could catch us. Whether they got to the point before us and got tired of waiting or whether they did not get there until afterwards, I cannot tell, but one thing I know that they were so bloodthirsty that they would have devoured us if they could only have seen us.

After we had passed the point of the lakes, there was a stream of water running into the lake, running on our right hand and the spirit of the Lord told me that if I will turn aside and go down to the river I should find something to eat. I told Brother Emmett and we turned aside and went down to the stream. We had our rifles with us, but we had not seen any game at all; everything seemed to be far away when we wanted them close. Well, as we were going down, I had several thoughts come into my head; I could fancy seeing a fat deer standing on the bank of the stream, cooling his thirsty tongue. Then I thought I could see a good fat elk grazing on the bank of the stream, but we had gotten there and I could see no deer nor any elk. My mind was darkened, and I felt to murmur and called upon God and asked him why he had caused us to come so far out of our road and then not find anything to eat. I cast my eyes upon the stream, not knowing which way to go or what to do for we were weak and could hardly walk. I had not my eyes long in that direction when all of a sudden I saw thousands of fish in the water and fine large ones they were, too. I looked with wonder and astonishment and I thanked the Lord for his mercy and loving kindness unto us and I asked his forgiveness for doubting him and prayed for his holy spirit to enable me to put my trust in him more than I had hitherto done. We then caught fish and fed our hungry appetites, and then starting on our journey, thanked God for his watchfulness over us and his blessings unto us, and the Lord did continue to pour down his blessings upon us, so that he did deliver us from the bloodthirsty savages and enabled us to arrive home safely without any harm to ourselves.

We arrived about twelve miles from Nauvoo on the night of the fifth of October [1842?]. I wanted to get to conference, it being the next day, so I got up the next morning and got on a horse and went to Nauvoo to conference, and I got there just as it commenced. I then went back after my family and brought them home, and Brother Joseph asked me if we all got back safe and well. I told him that we had gotten home safe, but it was by the blessing of God. He said that he was glad that we had gotten home safe, and he said, "Now go and try it without your family and you shall not be hurt," so I left my family in Nauvoo; they were all pretty well at that time, although they had seen much hardship. They had to live on crabapples and honey for nine weeks and nothing else to eat only what game we could kill once in a while. Well, I started back again with Brother Emmett to the Sioux nation but we had but little success for they did or could not understand the principles of the gospel, so we had to return home again on the fourteenth of February and my wife bore me a daughter and we named her Sarah Adaline, on the 15th of February, the next day after my return. I stayed a little while and then left for Kentucky.