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Chapter 2
The church, though expecting Joseph would be called of God to come to them and preside at no distant day, nevertheless had no thought of his coming until the scattered Saints, including the Utah Mormons, would be notified of the promises given through prophecy concerning him. But the very first of February, 1860, I received a letter dated at Blanchardville, Wisconsin). January 29, 1860, from Elder Z. H. Gurley, Sr., from which I now copy as follows:
[28]
"I rejoice in God that the work goes on so finely, and I know that if we are united and do what the Lord commands us, the year 1860 will not pass before the prophet is among us. This the Lord has revealed to us ... Last evening in our prayer-meeting we asked the Lord to instruct us and we were told that some years ago he called and ordained seven men apostles,' to take the oversight of this work, telling us that it was his will that the senior should preside, but the church appointed another, and inasmuch as he was upheld by faith he acknowledged him. ... Brother Blair, I have got good news to tell you and you may get ready to praise the Lord ... The Lord told us the night we got the commandment [to organize], that many would fall, but some would remain and they should be a means of restoring, &c.... As to Edmund [Briggs], I do not think that it is the mind of the Spirit that he come to the conference. You recollect that the testimony of the Spirit one year ago last June in your house, through Samuel [Gurley] was, that when he comes back he should come with the prophet. I am satisfied that he will do it. I have written to him as our counsel that from this time he visit the churches and let his labor be with them and preach organization to them. That is what this work is for, and I would not recommend the addition of any more old members before we organize. We have got enough to do that work, and we have but little time to instruct. We must interdict all controversy on doctrinal points by outsiders at our conference. When we get there we will go right
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ahead with it. I have laid awake hours thinking of it. The Lord has told us that many are preparing for deliverance, and he says, 'Organize, that deliverance may come.'
"Well, brother, preach organization; pray organization; talk organization. Our time is limited to do this work in; and if we do not do it within the time, the Lord has told us that we shall perish; but inasmuch as we hearken to his counsel and do as he bids us, we will do it and just escape, and that is all.
"I think it would be well to have as many come from Iowa to conference as possible, and otherwheres.
"It would be well for the brethren in Brother [Israel] Rogers' settlement to make arrangements to help feed those who will come to conference. Let them furnish as much as you think necessary and it shall be accounted to them as tithing. Call on all that are able to furnish and see that it is done. We must have all together that we can get, for we must organize; and we must stop together until we get all things right. We will select beforehand all we can, as Bro. Marks suggests, to expedite.
"How is it about another Herald? The Spirit has commanded that we give a general invitation to all in our churches to come together on the 6th [of April] to organize. Is there money enough to publish another? Please write on receipt.
"I think you would do well to write to each president of the church west that you are acquainted with. We must keep this before the church continually until done."
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Not long after receiving the above letter, perhaps the first days of March, it was revealed through the Spirit in an evening prayer-meeting at Brother Royal Stone's, near Amboy, Illinois, that young Joseph Smith would come to our conference, April 6, in Amboy, to take the presidency of the church. This was unlooked for and startling information to us all. On the evening of March 19, Brother I. L. Rogers called on me at my home near Amboy, saying that Brother William Marks had just received a letter from young Joseph Smith, Nauvoo, Illinois, in which he said he intended to come to the Amboy conference; also that he desired to counsel with Brother Marks and others of the elders and therefore he requested him (Brother Marks) to visit him at once at Nauvoo and bring with him such elders as he might select. Brother Marks, in view of this, had selected Brother Rogers and myself to accompany him.
I at once arranged and went with Brother Rogers, joining Brother Marks at Mendota, from whence we went via Burlington to Nauvoo where we had interviews with Joseph and his mother in respect to the doctrinal views of the Reorganized Church, the work of Joseph the Seer and the relationship of the Doctrine and Covenants and the Book of Mormon to that work. To their inquiries we replied that the church held that the doctrines, principles, and rules for church government set forth in them were supreme; that the ministry and membership were bound to honor and observe them, and that these two, with the Bible, constituted the
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written basis upon which the church must ever be builded, and be the authority by which it should be governed. With this they seemed much pleased, and Joseph then said that he and his mother would meet with us in conference on the sixth day of April.
Returning to our homes, letters were written to different branches abroad, informing them of the fact that Joseph had determined to attend the coming conference and unite with the Reorganization.
A council was held on the fourth day of April, over which Elder William Marks presided, to consider and prepare conference business.
Joseph and his mother came on the 5th and attended the prayer-meeting in the evening at Brother Royal Stone's, where a very spiritual and interesting season was enjoyed.
In the afternoon of the 6th, conference having been organized in the city of Amboy, Joseph set forth his call and claims to the presidency of the church, stating in his address, which was delivered most of the time in tears, that he had come to the conference upon the call and by a higher power than that of man, and that without such divine call he would not come. Upon the close of his address he was, upon motion, received as the president of the church and was ordained under the hands of President William Marks and Apostles Z. H. Gurley, Samuel Powers, and W. W. Blair.
On the evening of the 8th Brother Joseph Smith and Sr. Emma Bidamon, his mother, with Brother and Sister I. L. Rogers, Brother E. C. Briggs, Sr. Helen Pomeroy, and Sister E. Whitcomb, spent
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the evening at my house on the farm, two miles west of Amboy. During the evening Sister Emma related many incidents in respect to church affairs which were both interesting and instructive. She said Joseph, her former husband, very reluctantly consented to allow his name placed in nomination for the Presidency of the United States, a matter urged upon him by two or more consecutive councils in Nauvoo, prominent in which were Brigham Young and some others of the Twelve. She stated that in those times his attention was so taken up with persistent appeals from ambitious, aspiring men, that good men like Father Marks did not have much chance to be heard by him. Joseph at first pronounced the scheme unwise and uncalled for. In this Sister Emma concurred, but their judgment was overruled and Joseph yielded on the claims set forth by his blind political advisers, that in permitting his name to go prominently before the nation and the world in a political way, it would give popularity and impetus to the work of the church.
This statement is due the memory of both Joseph and Emma, and is essential to a correct understanding of the causes that led Joseph into such unfavorable notice politically and which eventuated largely in causing his assassination.
Receiving an appointment at this conference to labor in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Michigan, I soon began preaching near Sandwich, also in Piano, Mission, and other points in Illinois, meeting with fair success, the Lord adding numbers to the church and confirming the work with signs following.
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June 3 and 4, I attended a district conference and a two-day meeting held near Sandwich in the large hay barn of Brother I. L. Rogers. The gift of prophecy, tongues and interpretations, with other manifestations, were bestowed upon the Saints in a very large measure. A goodly number were baptized during and at the close of this session. Just after dark the evening of the 4th a tornado swept from west to east about four miles north of where we were then holding meeting. We were not disturbed by it, though some of us saw the storm passing by; but the next day the newspapers were full of details concerning its ravages in Eastern Iowa and portions of Illinois. We afterward learned that Elder Jason W. Briggs, who with Elders William Marks and Z. H. Gurley was holding- a conference at Council Bluffs, Iowa, preached the same afternoon, and about the same hour the tornado started in Central Iowa, from this text in Jeremiah, 23: 19, 20: "Behold, a whirlwind of the Lord is gone forth in fury, even a grievous whirlwind: it shall fall grievously upon the head of the wicked. The anger of the Lord shall not return, until he have executed, and till he have performed the thoughts of his heart: in the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly."
At our conference it was told Elder James Blakeslee and myself that in our mission to the East we would be greatly blessed of God in our labors, and that power would be given us of the Lord to cast out devils. We labored some among the branches on Fox River, also at Mission and Batavia. At the
[34]
latter place it was foretold that great destructions were at hand.
On the nineteenth day of June, Mr. Isaac Groover, residing near Newark, Illinois, related to us that he heard Elder William 0. Clark, in 1844, when preaching to a large congregation soon after the martyrdom of Joseph the Seer, prophesy that the time was near at hand when "the great arm of power in the United States" would be broken and a fearful, terrible war would follow.
Brother Blakeslee and I now turned our steps toward the East to prosecute the mission received at the April conference, and so proceeded on by the way of Mission Branch to Ottawa, and thence to Long Point, twenty-five miles distant, where we stopped with a Brother and Sister William Eaton, preaching the word as opportunity offered. We then went to Bloomington, met with some Hedrickites, held two meetings, and on the second day of July proceeded on to Cincinnati, Ohio, where we tarried a few days preaching the word and baptizing a few persons. From this point Brother Blakeslee went on to Cardington, Cleveland, and Kirtland, and I to Wheeling, and to Pittsburg and its vicinity. At all these points we preached the word, some were added to the church and many left investigating.
In Wheeling and in Pittsburg and vicinity I met with a band of Saints called Bickertonites, under the leadership of one William Bickerton. They usually treated me with marked kindness, though but few of them received our testimony and united with us. Some of the Bickertonites claimed that the Spirit
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of God had revealed to them that their church was "like the church of Philadelphia" mentioned in the revelations of John. One of them claimed that in their new meeting-house at West Elizabeth she, in vision, saw a woman, clothed in white, walk into the church and up to and into the pulpit, with a crown of gold in her hand which she presented to the people, but which, none receiving it, she went down from the pulpit, walked out of the church, bearing the crown away. We presented to them the claims of the Reorganized Church with Joseph Smith as its president, but none of them there received us. I found them professing to believe the Bible and Book of Mormon, also believing revelations and doctrinal teachings delivered by Mr. William Bickerton and others, but quite heedless, and ignorant in a measure, of the Doctrine and Covenants.
In Pittsburg and Alleghany cities I formed the acquaintance of Brethren and Sisters Josiah Ells, Richard Savory, James McDowell, Joseph Parsons, Matthew Smith, and a few others, all of whom received me kindly, many of them receiving with gladness the tidings we bore. .
After planning the work in these two cities I proceeded on to Kirtland, Ohio, where I joined Brother James Blakeslee who had reached there a few days before and had been visiting the people and preaching the word, arousing no little interest. Here I met Brethren James Twist and family, Martin Harris, Leonard Rich, and others, all professing deep interest in the latter-day work. The
[36]
town had a sorry look, and the condition of the Temple was pitiful. Its walls inside and out, also its trimmings and decorations, were badly defaced. It appeared that Z. Brooks, Russel Huntley, and others had effected a small organization and proposed to refit and refurnish the Temple. These parties offered us some opposition and we found it best to preach a series of sermons in the Academy Hall instead of in the Temple.
On Sunday, the nineteenth day of August, after our service in the afternoon in the hall, Brother Blakeslee and I attended a meeting in the Temple where Simeon Atwood, of Erie, Pennsylvania, and Leonard Rich, of Kirtland, were the speakers. By their request Elder Blakeslee and myself took seats in the stand with them and Martin Harris.
Elder Atwood was a member of the Brighamite church. He undertook to preach a discourse on the new covenant, taking his text from Hebrews, but failing of success he in a few moments sat down.
Upon this a tall, long-haired, blue-eyed, ashy-com-plexioned, but well dressed man who had attended our last meeting in the hall, and who claimed to have been moved to come from New York City to learn what the Mormons proposed to do at Kirtland, arose and asked what practical thing they proposed doing.
Leonard Rich rose up and replied with stentorian voice, and sought to set forth his views of what should be done. At this juncture the long-haired stranger sprang to his feet, uttered an unearthly yell, hissed, stamped his feet, shook his head, and looked like the embodiment of evil.
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Mr. Rich at once dropped into his seat, and the stranger sprang upon the partition between the seats, came to the front, facing the stand, stamping, hissing, and making other violent demonstrations. Martin Harris, who sat on my left, whispered to me, saying, "I guess he has got the devil in him."
Feeling assured that the man would leap upon the stand, and the Spirit admonishing me that the meeting was not mine, I slipped out on the right side of the stand, Brother Blakeslee moving out from the east end at the same moment, and immediately, at one bound, the stranger sprang squarely upon the speaker's desk, Harris, Rich, and Atwood leaving it with haste; and with another spring he reached the second stand, with another the third stand, and with still another the fourth and highest stand, this being on the Melchisedec priesthood side of the temple. On reaching this highest point, he turned and faced the frightened, fleeing congregation, and stripping off his broadcloth coat, tearing it in strings and shreds, he again stamped and hissed and shook his head, swinging his torn coat and shouting to the people repeatedly. "Now is come the time of your trial!"
He then sprang down from one stand to the other and last, and then onto the partition between the seats in the body of the Temple, on which he ran across the Aaronic priesthood side, and with a bound sprang up to the first, second, third, and fourth stands on that side, where he repeated the same performance he did upon the opposite stands, and then jumping down from one stand to another and again
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onto the partition, ran half way across, turned to the right, running on the back of one of the pews to near its end, and then, with a hiss, he thrust forward his right hand toward some ladies who were seeking exit at the door into the vestibule. Upon this a young lady, Miss Whitley, a school-teacher, who we learned had been a spiritual medium, fell prostrate and apparently lifeless upon the floor. Her mother, Mrs. Atwood, and perhaps other ladies, seized her in their arms and bore her out to the threshold of the outer door of the Temple, where she was seized with spasms and cramping, powerless to speak or move; and having followed up closely, Brother Blakeslee and I, moved by the constraint of the Holy Spirit, laid hands upon her, rebuked the spirit that bound her, lifted her straightway to her feet and gave her into the care of her mother and friends, who led her away to her home.
Looking out upon the people, a large number of them were in tears and all seemed filled with astonishment and consternation. Stepping down upon the street, we turned and saw the before mentioned stranger, his ragged coat rolled up and tucked under his arm, striding down the steps and then down the. street in an excited way, after which we saw him no more. Upon inquiry we learned that he was a prominent spiritual medium, resided in New York, and that his name was -- Van Deusen. In this transaction we saw the fulfillment of the promise made us in June at the two-day meeting in Brother Rogers' barn.
Leaving Kirtland the twentieth day of August
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we went via Detroit to Brother G. A. Blakeslee's, Galien, Michigan, reaching there the twenty-fourth. Here we held a series of meetings and baptized a number, one of whom was Ezra Thayre, whose name is mentioned in the early revelations in the Doctrine and Covenants. He had been wandering for many years without church associations,' but upon attending our meetings he at once recognized the voice of the good Shepherd and readily united with the church. From him we learned much in regard to Joseph the Seer, his early life and his father's family. Brother Thayre had been a bridge, dam, and mill builder in that section of country where Joseph and his father's family had resided in his boyhood, and Father Smith and his sons, including Joseph, had been in Brother Thayre's employ. He told me that, though in humble circumstances in life, the Smith family was an upright and worthy one.
He further said that when Joseph, after translating the Book of Mormon, returned into his region of country with Father Smith, Hyrum Smith, and Oliver Cowdery, he (Brother Thayre) was persuaded by his brother residing in Auburn, New York, to go and hear them set forth their religious views in a meeting near his residence on a Sunday. He said that on reaching the double log house where the meeting was held, he pressed his way through the congregation and took his seat immediately in front of these new preachers, listened to broken remarks by the three others, and then Joseph, taking the Book of Mormon in his hand, proceeded, in
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his unlearned manner, to tell the history of its coming forth, and explained how he received the golden plates at the hands of the angel, how he translated the book by the gift of God, with other marvelous matters connected with its coming forth; and he said that immediately upon Joseph's beginning these statements, a new and heavenly power fell upon him, filling his entire being with unspeakable assurance of the truth of the statements, melting him to tears. When Joseph concluded his recital, he said he eagerly stretched forth his hand and said, "Let me have that book." It was handed to him and Brother Thayre kept it, esteeming it a heavenly treasure indeed. He said that afterward he aided them at different times, when he could, in spreading the knowledge of the work to others, but that his family became prejudiced, and they opposed him bitterly.
From Galien we went homeward on the thirtieth day of August, reaching there the second day of September.
During this mission Brother Blakeslee and myself realized the goodness and guidance and power of the Lord in many ways, and proved him to be a present helper in everything of need.
The semiannual conference, October 6 to 9, was held at Brother I. L. Rogers' and was a profitable season. Brother Isaac Sheen, the secretary, in concluding his report of it had this to say:
"There were twenty-two persons baptized and confirmed during the conference, some of them for a renewal of their faith; nine members of the old
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organization united with the church without rebaptism. Prayer-meetings were held every evening during conference and the Spirit of God- was poured out upon the Saints in an extraordinary degree. The gifts of tongues, interpretation of tongues, the gift of prophecy, and other gifts were graciously bestowed 'by the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will,' as in ancient times.
"Thousands more of the old Saints would attend these conferences if they could only realize what unspeakable joy and what inestimable blessings the Lord does there pour out upon his Saints. The world at large would abandon their follies and wickedness and obey the gospel if they could realize the facts concerning the bliss of the Saints when they worship God in spirit and in truth."
At this conference Elder E. C. Briggs and myself were appointed to labor in Western Iowa on missions; and on the sixth day of November, taking with me Brother J. Harvey Blakeslee, we started for the West, going by railway to Ottumwa, Iowa, from whence we proceeded on foot and otherwise to the Franklin Branch, near Garden Grove, reaching there late the night of the 9th. We at once proceeded to hold meetings, and on the afternoon of the 12th baptized and confirmed Mr. Riley Moss and his wife, Mary Ann. Four days prior to this I was warned in a dream that I would have trouble in baptizing. In it I was requested to catch some fish, one of which had baffled the efforts of some who had sought to catch it. Proceeding I at once caught the first one, but knew it was not the one
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that had given so much trouble; but with my second effort I found the second one on my line, and immediately a tall, black personage stepped directly in front of me and resisted me, upon which I sought with all my powers to put him out of the way, and in doing so awoke to consciousness.
When going to the water near by to baptize, the people came excitedly from all quarters; and seeing this, my peculiar dream was recalled to mind, and I remarked to a brother (Elijah Hale) that I feared we would have trouble in baptizing, and related to him my strange dream. Noting the peculiar expression of his countenance and his answer, I asked him why he thought -I might have trouble, and he replied, "The Dunkards tried to baptize Mrs. Moss, but could not; then the Campbellites tried at two different times and they could not; and after that George M. Hinkle undertook to baptize her, but failed, remarking that he had seen the time when he could have accomplished it."
Inquiring as to why these parties had failed in their efforts, Brother Hale stated that when they sought to immerse her she seemed to be seized with a supernatural power and would break away from them and rush out of the water. Upon this I was impressed that she at those times was under Satanic control, and being extremely desirous she should be baptized if it was the will of God, I stepped aside, out of sight, into the hazelbrush, laid the matter before the Lord in humble prayer, pleading with him that if it were his will that she should receive baptism he would interpose his power and overrule
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that she might receive that ordinance; and while engaged in prayer the Holy Spirit witnessed to me that all was well, to go forward and fear not.
On reaching the place of baptism both sides of the little creek were crowded with an excited, wondering, and expectant people. After prayer and singing I proceeded to baptize Mr. Moss. Then, requesting him to accompany his wife into the water, I thereupon repeated the usual baptismal form of words and was just about to immerse her, when she, seized with trembling and uttering a fearful scream seemed just ready to spring away, and I at once dropped my right hand upon her head and in the name of Jesus Christ rebuked the evil spirit. Upon this she straightened up in her place, I repeated anew the form of words and then immersed her as effectively and as orderly as could be desired. On rising from the water she sprang to the shore, grasped the hands of friends and exclaimed, "Thank God, I now shall have my little children!"
The people seemed dumbfounded and disappointed, for they had evidently expected a reenactment of the scenes attendant upon efforts made to baptize her on former occasions.
We continued to hold meetings here until the 20th, baptized a few more, when the spirit of mobocracy began to manifest itself in many ways, and on that day we went on to Brother George Morey's, near Pleasanton, and found the branch there in a somewhat distracted condition, owing mainly to opposing and dividing efforts made by some of the Rig-
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donites, chief among whom, it was said, was Ebenezer Robinson and Austin Cowles.
On the 22d we proceeded on by horse and buggy kindly furnished us by Brethren David Hall, Elijah Hale, and others, to use during the winter, reaching Mt. Ayr where we were storm bound until the 24th. While here we discussed, among other things, the political condition of our nation, with our zealous and rather intelligent host of the American Hotel, and told him the time was at our doors for the breaking out of a rebellion in the Southern States that would be the most appalling in results of anything known to history. He derided the idea and said if it was attempted the President, with an army of seventy-five thousand, would soon compel submission to the Government. His views were those generally held throughout the Northern States at that time. But many of the Saints in the Reorganized Church had learned by the revelations and teachings given through the Seer that a fearful rebellion would occur, and some of these had learned by prophecy and vision since 1853 that that event was nigh at hand.
On the 24th we visited a Cutlerite branch on Platte River, and went thence to Bedford and Manti, reaching the latter place on the evening of the 25th, where we were the guests of Brother Edwin Fisher, who earnestly hoped the Cutlerite and Reorganized churches would soon be one.
When at Brother Calvin Beebe's, the 30th, we found the newspapers full of exciting news in respect to the prospective secession of the Southern
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States, and yet the masses did not seem to seriously believe it would take place, but the Saints did.
December 3, we went to the Nephi Branch, ten miles southwest of Glenwood, and found that Orson Pratt, of Utah, had fired the minds of some of its members with fears of the approaching rebellion, and polluted the minds of others with the heresy of polygamy, and in this manner caused a division resulting in a few selling out their possessions cheaply and emigrating to Utah soon thereafter.
By constraint of the Spirit we proceeded on to Council Bluffs, Crescent City, and to the North Star Branch, preaching, visiting inquirers, and seeking in every proper way to seek and save the erring ones. Preaching services were well attended, and our prayer- and social-meetings were blessed with a large measure of the gifts and blessings of the Holy Spirit.
Met Brother E. C. Briggs on the 9th, and we labored together in word and ordinance at the aforementioned places and their vicinities till the 20th, when we held an investigation of the requests of one John N. Burton for membership and ordination, at Union Grove. After patient examination of the case, we decided that he desired to unite with and labor in the church for the purpose of building up a badly damaged reputation more than for the glory of God, and so rejected him.
January 10, 1861, when preaching in the hall in Crescent City, I was opposed by ---- Brown, who was in sympathy with Brighamism, and I received testimony by the Spirit that some of the
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Utah "Danites" would become mountain robbers. I continued preaching here and at various points on North Pigeon and Mosquito Creeks, also in Council Bluffs and Galland's Grove, and on Boyer River, assisted by Brethren C. G. Mclntosh, J. H. Blakeslee, and J. A. Mclntosh, having full and attentive congregations, was blessed very greatly, and the Lord added to the church many we hope to meet in the world to come.
In the latter part of January met for the first time some of Elder Lyman Wight's company who had been with him in Texas, and from them I learned that he always taught them "young Joseph" would be called of God to lead the church, also that about 1858 he said to them that the time was near for the coming of Joseph, that a great work in that connection would be done in Western Iowa, and that it was time to leave Texas for that region. These brethren and sisters were zealous, humble and worthy, and at an early time many of them and their children united with the Reorganization.
February 8 found us at Brother J. M. Adams' near Magnolia, and on Sunday, the 10th, we held two interesting meetings near Brother Hosea Pierce's in . Raglan Township. The next day we went to Little Sioux and at once began a series of meetings, all of which, as well as those at Raglan, were attended chiefly by former Latter Day Saints and their children, the most of whom received us very cordially and in time united with the church.
During a prayer-meeting the evening of the 14th, at Brother Skinner's, near Crescent City, the Spirit
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testified that the Lord would ere long feed the oppressing leaders of the Utah Saints with judgment.
On the 15th met Brother E. C. Briggs in Council Bluffs, and we continued together preaching the word there, at Crescent City, and in their vicinities, also visiting the scattered Saints and others where we could find or make opportunities, baptized a goodly number, and rejoiced greatly in the cheering and comforting power of the Holy Spirit.
March 1 found us at Brother Jairus M. Putney's, ten miles east of Council Bluffs, where we held meetings, and where for the first time we met Brother Charles Derry. My diary note made then reads as follows: "At this place found Charles Derry, formerly a Brighamite, but who until of late had abandoned all religions. He seems to be a good man and claims to be seeking after truth." From him we learned that the errors and evils of Brighamism as he found them in Utah, saddened and disappointed him to such a degree that he lost faith in all forms of religion and continued in that condition until he received some of the publications of the Reorganized Church, when it pleased God to give him the Spirit in power, testifying to the truth of the work being done by the church, and he thereupon left his home near Columbus, on foot, and came to Iowa to find Brother Briggs and myself, he hearing that we were at or near Council Bluffs. Brother Briggs baptized three at this place, and having an appointment for Farm Creek on the 2d, we proceeded there, accompanied
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by our inquiring friend, whom we persuaded to accompany us.
On Sunday, the 3d, we held preaching services, and I baptized Brother Charles Derry, and in the evening prayer-meeting at Brother Calvin Beebe's, Brethren Briggs, Beebe, and I ordained him to the office of elder. We continued here and at Wheeler's Grove and Mud Creek, preaching, for five days, and then Brother Briggs and self went on by buggy to the Nephi Branch, below Glenwood, Iowa.
On our way there I told Brother Briggs he would not return with me to Illinois, as he then intended, for the night before I saw myself returning alone in the buggy. To this he replied, tartly, "Well, I will." I assured him he would not return; and he with much persistence declared he would. On the 9th he was taken suddenly sick. We remained over Sunday, the 10th, holding services, Brother Briggs so ill as not to render any aid. On the 11th I parted with Brother Briggs, he becoming satisfied that it was the will of God that he should remain in Western Iowa for the present to prosecute his missionary labors, the wisdom of which was fully confirmed to us by subsequent events with which John N. Burton and some others were connected.
Passing on to Fisher's Grove, I continued my journey alone to Brother George Morey's, the evening of the 14th, and preached in the neighborhood till the 19th, baptized four and received in fellowship three on their former membership. Among the number baptized was Miss Amanda Perdun,
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who had been healed of a chronic disease a few days before, under the administration of Elder George Morey, through anointing and the prayer of faith.
The 19th found me at Franklin, between Leon and Garden Grove, where I tarried and preached till the 21st, many believing. My diary for that date reads: "There are now between twenty and thirty who are sufficiently convinced of the doctrine we preach to be baptized, but the threatenings of some old Missouri mobbers and others intimidate them. I look however to see a large number of the people here and in this vicinity eventually join the church." This impression was fully justified after-ward, for, altogether, nearly one hundred from there and that vicinity embraced the faith, the most of them after moving to the western border counties of Iowa and to California.
When at LaGrange, the night of the 21st, we found the papers teeming with threatening war news, though it was the general hope that an open rebellion would be averted and the peace and unity of our nation be maintained. But the Saints in Wisconsin and Northern Illinois had been warned from 1856, or before, through the Spirit, in prophecy and vision, that a great rebellion was very near at hand, and I felt conscious that now it would soon occur. This view was here confirmed by a remarkable night vision in which was presented to me a time of extreme gloominess and evil forebodings: I saw and heard uniformed men playing martial music to a great body of waters like the sea, and I saw a man in citizen's dress, whom I
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perceived was President Abraham Lincoln, step forth upon the waters, bearing a long, large staff in his right hand, balancing it equally and with great care, seemingly aware that therein lay his security and success; and as he went forth to the south and west the winds and the waves beat about him with increasing fury, he walking triumphantly till he reached a point near the southern shore when I discovered he had dropped the staff and was rapidly sinking, and immediately I saw him drawn into a terrible whirlpool and go down into its depths with his hands lifted imploringly and calling for help-but in vain. The war that began the twelfth day of April following, verified, sadly, what was thus portrayed in outline by "the inspiration of the Almighty."
The evening of the 23d found me at Brother William Hall's at String Prairie, near Montrose. Here I remained and assisted Elder John Snippy in preaching the word and administering the ordinances; a few were baptized and we organized the String Prairie Branch. After this we labored some in Montrose and Nashville, and then I proceeded home, to Amboy, reaching there the 30th, after an absence of nearly five months.
The annual conference, April 6 to 8, 1861, convened in Amboy; attendance fair; much important business was transacted; a goodly number were added to the church, and much of the Holy Spirit was given the Saints during the session. Of this Brother Isaac Sheen, clerk, had this to say in the published minutes: "The prayer-meetings afforded
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the Saints an opportunity to 'sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus,' and by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit they received much instruction, edification, and joy unspeakable. By the enjoyment of the diversity of the gifts of the Holy Ghost we know that these blessings are for 'all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call,' as Peter declared on the day of Pentecost. We thereby know that we are building on the same foundation."
On the ninth day of April, started out on a mission to Dekalb, Kendall, and Lasalle Counties, Illinois, preaching the word as we could find or make opportunities. The afternoon of the 15th, by request, I reached the bedside of Charles Lewis, in Mission, Lasalle County, who was dying with quick consumption; prayed with him and administered to him, hoping the Lord would raise him up to health, but» in this was disappointed, for a few nights before, in a night vision, I was called to rescue a drowning man, and in an instant I was standing on the brink of a broad, dark, deep-flowing river, in which, and near me, I saw a flaxen-haired man floating by, helpless, just underneath the surface, when hastily I reached and touched his head, and, immediately I looked across the river and saw the same person, clothed in a white robe, walking up its beautiful green bank toward a gentle eminence on which was a company of people dressed in white robes, singing, and playing upon instruments of music, welcoming his coming. The scene was most enchanting. Not long after this I preached his funeral-
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sermon, and from his friends learned he had been baptized when near ten years of age into the church. He, in "the cloudy and dark day" had grown neglectful of his covenant duties, but in his hour of need his heart turned to the Lord and he honored his ordinances, for he sent for the elders of the church as commanded in Doctrine and Covenants 42:12 and James 5: 14, and he received the promise of the Lord, "and if they die, they shall die unto me."
My misunderstanding of this instructive manifestation, as with some others, caused me to appreciate keenly the wise instruction of Joseph the Seer where he says, "When you see a vision, pray for the interpretation; if you get not this, shut it up; there must be certainty in this matter."- Millennial Star, volume 17, page 312.
On the 20th, Brethren George Rarick, Asa Manchester, and "my self went from Newark to Norway, Lasalle County, held meetings for two days and nights, and baptized four. Here a Methodist minister, Ole Oleson, and a Baptist minister (once a talented Latter Day Saint elder), Ole Hayer, attacked me and my work with all the craft and cunning and force they could master, and continued it from nine p. m., till two o'clock the next morning, at the house of Brother Hans Hayer. But the Lord gave victory to his cause and his servants and turned the attack to the furtherance of his work and the confirmation of his Saints. From about this time the opposing apostate elder began a downward course that terminated in disgrace and ruin.
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The rebellion predicted by Joseph the Seer in 1832, and of which the Saints of the Reorganized Church had been warned by vision and prophecy, had now begun its terrible work; for on the twelfth of this month (April) the rebels attacked Fort Sumter. The nation was filled with excitement, north and south, and mischief was afoot in all the land. Nor were all the Saints free from these conditions, though most of them, being forewarned, were fairly prepared to await the final issue, confident that the Union would be maintained.
Continued in ministerial work in Lasalle, De-kalb, Kendall and Lee Counties, with fair success till May 14, when I started for Iowa and Nebraska, going via Burlington, Montrose, and String Prairie. At the latter place, on the 18th, I baptized and ordained to the eldership two aged, noble men, Duty Griffith-and Thomas Dungan. Remained over Sunday, preached twice, and on the 20th proceeded by train and stage to Chariton, and the 21st walked, carrying satchel, to Franklin, between Garden Grove and Leon, in Decatur County.
The 24th found me at Brother George Morey's near Pleasanton, where I learned that many citizens were being mobbed and robbed and driven out of Missouri, and that these things were occurring where the Saints in 1833 to 1839 had suffered similar treatment. "I will repay saith the Lord."
Continued preaching here and at Franklin until the 30th, baptized a goodly number, among them a worthy man-a Disciple minister-named Jesse Copeland.
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June 1, the company with whom I was traveling passed through Icaria, a small colony of Communists being chief citizens of the place. These were a part of that colony that settled in Nauvoo in 1850, after the expulsion of the Saints. Reached Council Bluffs the 3d, and at once entered upon mission work there and at Crescent City and the regions adjacent, Brethren E. C. Briggs, C. Derry, and others assisting with hearty good will. On the 7th, 8th, and 9th we held a very interesting and profitable conference in the suburbs of Council Bluffs. Here we found it proper to define the position the Saints should take and maintain in respect to national affairs, and we were gratified to find that all our membership, with but slight exceptions, were thoroughly loyal to the Government and had abiding confidence that God would bring the nation through its perils to the high destiny to which it was divinely ordained before it was founded. The elders in talking and preaching on these matters quoted freely from the writings of Joseph the Seer, including the Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants. The session was a great success, the Saints were united and hopeful, and the citizens, generally, were well satisfied as to their loyalty. Two-day meetings were appointed at many available points, and the elders went to their work diligently and with fervent zeal. During the summer and fall a large number were added to the church, and the Lord gave the Saints much favor with their neighbors and the people generally.
This year the Brighamites gathered-chiefly
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from Europe-between four thousand and five thousand persons to Utah, making use of our nation's troubles to alarm and mislead them. In these times the cunning craftiness and the boastful pretensions and promises of Brighamism were shown forth with but little disguise, for their priests and people, many of them, were openly and offensively exultant over present and impending evils in our nation.
Thursday, August 8, at the house of Brother Joseph Wild, above Crescent City, we received testimony by the Spirit at evening prayers, that the Lord would preserve the life of Brother Joseph and inspire his mind with wisdom to lead the Saints so they would escape the judgments coming on the earth. This was most encouraging in view of the fact that everything in our land was in commotion, and men's hearts failing them with fear.
August 30, .we held conference in Little Sioux, Elders George Morey, E. C. Briggs, Charles Derry, George Medlock, Jehiel Savage, Rowland Cobbs, Samuel Scott, and others being in attendance and aiding in the services. It was an important and profitable session.
September 6 to 11 found me laboring in word. and ordinance near Pleasanton, Iowa, on my way to my home at Amboy, Illinois. Here I baptized a number, confirming them at the water's edge, assisted by Brother George Morey. It was a spiritual season, and good results followed. A Mr. Joseph Gold, a German Catholic, with his wife, attended our preaching, baptismal and confirmation services, and
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as we were bidding the Saints and friends good bye, preparatory to starting at once with Brother George Morey, by his carriage, for Montrose, when I shook hands with Mr. Gold the Spirit constrained me to bless him, saying, "God bless you, Mr. Gold; and he will bless you." Upon this the Holy Spirit fell upon him, and he wept for joy under its power and light. Not long after this both he and his wife united with the church, and were ever consistent and faithful members.
The fall conference, at Amboy, Illinois, was largely attended, and proved very spiritual and important. Brother Joseph Smith was fully equal to the occasion and acquitted himself as its president with much acceptance to all.
On request of the Saints and friends in Iowa, and by appointment of conference, I returned to Western Iowa, taking my wife and our three children with me, going by carriage furnished by the western Saints and friends; and after journeying eighteen days we reached Galland's Grove, November 3.
Soon after we had crossed the Mississippi River I lost my Book of Mormon, which I had been reading at intervals as opportunity offered, and I felt keenly my loss, because I had prepared in it a copious index of subjects and made many marginal notes and references also. All the way across the state of Iowa, a distance of nearly three hundred miles, I had mourned my book as lost for ever. But on Sunday, at our meeting in Galland's Grove, Father Holcomb came to me and said, "Is this your book, Brother Blair?" "Yes," said I, "that is my
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Book of Mormon. Where did you get it?" "My son, Zach, found it in the road between here and Harlan," he replied. Here was a mystery, indeed; for we had searched every nook and corner in and about our carriage, time and time again; but all in vain. At the close of the meeting Father William Jordan came forward and urgently requested me to visit his neighborhood and preach, for a family from Illinois had just settled there, and the man, an infidel, had found a Book of Mormon soon after crossing the Mississippi at Davenport, had read it by the way coming across the State, and said he found it the best religious book he ever read, one he could give his family without fear of their being hurt by its contents, but that he had lost it after leaving Harlan, and he now desired to learn more about it and the people who believed in and taught it.
Now the mystery was solved. My Book of Mormon, by* the providence of heaven, had been doing mission work when and where I least suspected; and good work it did, for this gentleman and his family were no little profited by it, the Saints finding in him and his family good friends and neighbors, some of them uniting with the church, I believe.
Brother John A. Mclntosh went with me, November 7, to Boyer Valley, near where is now Dow City, and we held meetings and baptized some. The evening of the 9th we held services in Mason's Grove, distant nearly twenty miles. We continued our labors there until the 11th, preaching at times,
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both in the daytime and evenings of week days as well as of Sundays. Indeed, this was somewhat common with all the traveling ministry in Iowa and Illinois in those times. And when not preaching or holding business-meetings in the daytime, they were visiting and teaching from house to house as they could find opportunity, so great was the demand and the need of ministerial labor. At Mason's Grove we planted the work and added some to the church. We preached also in Denison court-house, had full and interested congregations, and by urgent request administered to a Mrs. Coburn, with anointing and prayers, for chronic and painf'ul female disease, from which she soon recovered, but, like the ungrateful nine of Luke 17: 11-18, she failed "to give glory to God."
The 18th found myself and family located on the Ellisdale farm midway between Crescent and Council Bluffs, and I at once arranged to systemize and extend the labors of all the ministry in the mission, as far east as Adel and Des Moines, south as far as the Missouri State line, also over in Eastern Nebraska, in all of which we were cordially sustained by the ministry. In various parts of this field were many Brighamites and their sympathizers whom our national troubles made bold and aggressive, and who loudly proclaimed that only in Utah would there be found safety and deliverance for the Saints, for there were "the secret chambers of the Lord," where he would "hide" them while his wrath swept through the nations. Many were troubled and deceived by these alarming state-
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ments and not a few fled to Utah the ensuing spring through fear. The winter was spent in preaching throughout Western Iowa, and the Lord added a goodly number to the church through the joint labors of the ministry, prominent among whom were Elders Charles Derry, J. A. Mclntosh, and Silas W. Condit. The Spirit of the Lord abounded among the Saints, unity and love prevailed, and though times were hard and trials many, the church as a whole were a happy, prosperous people. The gifts of the Spirit were richly enjoyed and the power of God at times was very notably manifest.
During this winter Thomas E. Jenkins, Daniel Williams, William Williams, and some others, recently returned from Utah in sorrow and disgust, who had united with the Reorganized Church, proved active and efficient helpers in gospel work, and were very happy therein.
February 9, at Galland's Grove, I intended to preach at ten a. m., on the necessity for and the operations of unchangeable law. But when the moment came for beginning service my mind was an utter blank on that subject, and in almost despair I turned to the Bible and without aforethought read the sixteenth chapter of Revelation. This done, I was led to preach on verses thirteen and fourteen, the grace and power of the Spirit being given me in power from the first. The packed and deeply interested congregation listened patiently for near two hours, and at the close I was assured by Brethren J. A. Mclntosh, Alexander McCord, and others, that the sermon was just what was needed, for a
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spiritualist lecturer, in disguise, was then giving lessons, at five dollars a scholar, on "mental alchemy," etc. In this sermon we held that Satan was "the prince of the power of the air," and that that power was and is electro-magnetism, and that Satan and his fellows could and did use that force for evil purposes, even as skillful, bad men use many things, in themselves good, for bad purposes. "Mental alchemy" and its like were soon at a great discount in and about Galland's Grove.
About the first of March I saw myself and others, among them Brother E. C. Briggs, engaged in threshing and putting wheat into granaries, and also putting some that was scattered in piles on the threshing-floor. Presently a fire swept by, and wherever there was chaff or straw among the wheat, the fire went, and that wheat suffered from the fire, more or less. From this I learned the importance of having iniquity and evil persons purged from among the Saints; and experience has fully approved this.
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