Histories

CHAPTER XIV

Labors in clay county:--conference:--Appointment to a tedious journey
A Case of Healing:--Arrive at Kirtland:--Revelation:--Travel Eastward,
in Company with President Joseph Smith:--Conference in Geneseo:--
Pleasing Reminiscence:--President Smith and Others Return Home:--Visit
Sackett's Harbor:--Crowded Meeting:--Requested to Visit the Sick:--A
Little Boy Healed:--Baptisms, etc.:--Miraculous Gifts:--Lying Priests
and Rabble:--Visit my Parents in Canaan, N. Y.:--Return to Kirtland.


As the history of this horrible persecution of the church
was interwoven with my own, I have traced it for a
few years in connection; in which I have of necessity digressed
from the main thread of my own personal narrative,
to which I must return.
After making our escape into the county of Clay--being
reduced to the lowest poverty--I made a living by day
labor, jobbing, building, or wood cutting, till some time in
the winter of 1834, when a general Conference was held at
my house, in which it was decided that two of the Elders
should be sent to Ohio, in order to counsel with President
Smith and the Church at Kirtland, and take some measures
for the relief or restoration of the people thus plundered
and driven from their homes. The question was put
to the Conference: "Who would volunteer to perform so
great a journey?"
The poverty of all, and the inclement season of the year
made all hesitate. At length Lyman Wight and myself
offered our services, which were readily accepted. I was at
this time entirely destitute of proper clothing for the journey;
and I had neither horse, saddle, bridle, money nor


AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF PARLEY P PRATT 115


provisions to take with me; or to leave with my wife, who
lay sick and helpless most of the time.
Under these circumstances I knew not what to do. Nearly
all had been robbed and plundered, and all were poor. As
we had to start without delay, I almost trembled at the
undertaking; it seemed to be all but an impossibility;
but "to him that believeth all things are possible." I
started out of my house to do something towards making
preparation; I hardly knew which way to go, but I found
myself in the house of brother John Lowry, and was intending
to ask him for money; but as I entered his miserable
cottage in the swamp, amid the low, timbered bottoms
of the Missouri River, I found him sick in bed with
a heavy fever, and two or three others of his family down
with the same complaint, on different beds in the same
room. He was vomiting severely, and was hardly sensible
of my presence. I thought to myself, "well, this is a poor
place to come for money, and yet I must have it; I know
of no one else that has got it; what shall I do?" I sat
a little while confounded and amazed. At length another
Elder happened in; at that instant faith sprung up in my
heart; the Spirit whispered to me, "is there anything too
hard for the Lord?" I said to the Elder that came in:
"Brother, I am glad you have come; these people must
be healed, for I want some money of them, and must have
it."
We laid hands on them and rebuked the disease;
brother Lowry rose up well; I did my errand, and readily
obtained all I asked. This provided in part for my family's
sustenance while I should leave them. I went a little
further into the woods of the Missouri bottoms, and came
to a camp of some brethren, by the name of Higbee, who
owned some horses; they saw me coming, and moved by
the Spirit, one of them said to the other, "there comes
brother Parley; he's in want of a horse for his journey--I
must let him have old Dick;" this being the name of the


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best horse he had. "Yes," said I, "brother, you have
guessed right; but what will I do for a saddle?" "Well,"
says the other, "I believe I'll have to let you have mine."
I blessed them and went on my way rejoicing.
I next called on Sidney A. Gilbert, a merchant, then
sojourning in the village of Liberty--his store in Jackson
County having been broken up, and his goods plundered
and destroyed by the mob. "Well," says he, "brother
Parley, you certainly look too shabby to start a journey;
you must have a new suit; I have got some remnants
left that will make you a coat," etc. A neighboring tailoress
and two or three other sisters happened to be present
on a visit, and hearing the conversation, exclaimed,
"Yes, brother Gilbert, you find the stuff and we'll make it
up for him." This arranged, I now lacked only a cloak;
this was also furnished by brother Gilbert.
Brother Wight was also prospered in a similar manner
in his preparations. Thus faith and the blessings of God
had cleared up our way to accomplish what seemed impossible.
We were soon ready, and on the first of February
we mounted our horses, and started in good cheer to
ride one thousand or fifteen hundred miles through a wilderness
country. We had not one cent of money in our
pockets on starting.
We travelled every day, whether through storm or sunshine,
mud, rain, or snow; except when our public duties
called us to tarry. We arrived in Kirtland early in the
spring, all safe and sound; we had lacked for nothing on
the road, and now had plenty of funds in hand. President
Joseph Smith and the Church in Kirtland received us with
a hospitality and joy unknown except among the Saints;
and much interest was felt there, as well as elsewhere, on
the subject of our persecution.
The President inquired of the Lord concerning the matter,
and a further mission was appointed us.* in fulfillment

*see revelation book of doctrine and covenants section 101


AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF PARLEY P PRATT 7


of which we continued our journey eastward, in connection
with President Joseph Smith, S. Rigdon, Hyrum
Smith, Frederick G. Williams, Orson Hyde and Orson
Pratt.
We journeyed two and two in different routes, visiting
the churches and instructing the people as we travelled.
President Joseph Smith and myself journeyed together.
We had a pleasant and prosperous mission among the
churches, and some very interesting times in preaching
to the public. We visited Freedom, Catteraugus County,
N.Y.; tarried over Sunday, and preached several discourses,
to which the people listened with great interest;
we were kindly and hospitably entertained among them.
We baptized a young man named Heman Hyde; his
parents were Presbyterians, and his mother, on account of
the strength of her traditions, thought that we were
wrong, and told me afterwards that she would much rather
have followed him to an earthly grave than to have seen
him baptized.
Soon afterwards, however, herself, her husband, and the
rest of the family, with some thirty or forty others, were
all baptized and organized into a branch of the Church--
called the Freedom branch--from which nucleus the light
spread and souls were gathered into the fold in all the
regions round. Thus mightily grew the word of God, or
the seed sown by that extraordinary personage, the Prophet
and Seer of the nineteenth century.
As we journeyed day after day, and generally lodged
together, we had much sweet communion concerning the
things of God and the mysteries of His kingdom, and I
received many admonitions and instructions which I shall
never forget.
Arriving in Geneseo, we met with the other Elders
who had started from Kirtland on the same mission and
with others who were local, and held a general Conference.
Among those whose hospitality we shared in that vicinity


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was old father Beeman and his amiable and interesting
family. He was a good singer, and so were his three
daughters; we were much edified and comforted in their
society, and were deeply interested in hearing the old
gentleman and brother Joseph converse on their early
acquaintance and history. He had been intimate with
Joseph long before the first organization of the Church;
had assisted him to preserve the plates of the Book of
Mormon from the enemy, and had at one time had them
concealed under his own hearth.
At this Conference we had an interesting time; public
meetings were convened; multitudes assembled to hear, and
Presidents Joseph Smith and S. Rigdon addressed the
crowds in great plainness of speech with mighty power.
At the close of this Conference we again parted company,
President Smith and most of the Elders returned home to
Kirtland.
I then journeyed in connection with a young Elder,
named H. Brown, as far as Henderson County, in northern
New York, where lived Elder Brown's father, and where
there was quite a branch of the Church. I visited with
them for a few days, resting from my toils and ministering
among them. Taking leave of these friends, I went to
Sackett's Harbor, where all were yet strangers to the
fullness of the gospel. Leaving an appointment at a
hotel that I would return in a few days thence, and
address the people wherever they saw fit to assemble, I
crossed over the bay to a country neighborhood, called
Pillar Point. In this neighborhood there had been some
preaching by our Elders; but no branch of the Church
organized, though there had been one or two instances of
healing, and some few were believing. Here I appointed
a meeting for evening in a school house; it was crowded
full of people; indeed, all could not get in.
As the meeting closed a man named William Cory
stepped forward, and earnestly begged of me to go home


AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF PARLEY P PRATT 119


with him and minister to his wife, as she was lying at
the point of death in consequence of a lingering sickness,
not having risen up in her bed for six days without
swooning or going into fits. He further said that he was
worn out by being up with her every night, and that his
neighbors were weary with watching, and it was doubted
whether she could survive through the night without
relief.
The Spirit would not suffer me to go with him that
night, but I promised to call in the morning. At this
many voices were heard, saying, "Yes, yes, there's a case
in hand; let him heal her and we'll all believe." Others
exclaimed: "I wonder if she'll be at his meeting
tomorrow! We shall see, and if so, we'll all believe." Expressions
like these, joined with my own weakness, only tended
to dampen my courage and confidence in the case.
I went home with a friend who invited me to partake
of his hospitality for the night. As we entered his house,
we found one of his children very sick with a violent pain
in the head, to which it had been subject from its birth,
and which came at regular periods, and was never relieved
till it gathered and broke at his ear--so saild his
parents. The little fellow was rolling from side to side
in his bed, and screeching and screaming with pain. I
stepped to the bedside, and laid my hands upon his head
in the name of Jesus Christ; he was instantly made
whole and went to sleep. Next morning he got up well,
and continued so; he said that the pain all left him as
soon as my hands touched his head.
In the morning, before I arose, I had a vision as follows:
I saw a log house, and entered it through a door
at the northwest corner; in the northeast corner lay a
woman sick in bed; in the southeast corner was a small
door opening into an adjoining room, and near it a stairway,
where stood a ladder; the fireplace being in the
south end. As I entered the house and laid my hands


120 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF PARLEY P PREATT


on the woman, she rose up and was made whole; the
house being crowded, she took her seat near the fire and
under the ladder, or near by it, and she praised God with a
shout of glory, clapping her hands for joy, and exclaimed:
"Thank God, I'm every whit whole." I awoke from my
vision and related the same to the family where I staid.
The man harnessed his horses and with seven or eight
persons in the wagon, includingel myself, we started for
meeting, intending to call and see Mrs. Cory on our way,
as I had appointed the previous evening. On alighting at
her house I saw it was the same that I had seen in the
vision; there were the doors, the stairway, ladder, fireplace,
bed, and sick woman, just as I had seen and described.
I laid my hands upon the woman, and said: "In the
name of Jesus Christ be thou made whole this instant."
I then commanded her to arise and walk. Her husband
burst into tears; the people looked surprised; but the
woman arose and walked to the fire, and happened to
take her seat near the ladder, as I had related in the
vision before I saw her. She then clapped her hands for
joy, gave a shout of "Glory to God in the highest," and
testified that she was every whit whole. We invited her
to accompany us to the meeting; she immediately made
ready, walked out, helped herself into the wagon, and
rode some two miles over a very rough road. She then
got out of the wagon, and walked with a strong and
quick step into the meeting, where she sat till the discourse
was over; when she arose and testified what the
Lord had done for her. She then rode home, and was
baptized in connection with several others, who came forward
and obeyed the fullness of the gospel. We afterwards
laid our hands on them for the gift of the Holy
Ghost, when it fell upon them in great power, insomuch
that all in the room felt its power and influence and
glorified God; some spake in tongues, others prophesied
and bore testimony to the truth.


AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF PARLEY P PRATT 121


The next evening I went over to Sackett's Harbor in
order to preach; many of the people from Pillar Point,
who had witnessed these things, went with me, and,
among others, Mr. Cory with his wife, who had been so
miraculously healed. A great rabble came out to hear,
or rather to disturb the meeting; and among others, some
half dozen clergymen of different orders, who were loud in
their challenges and calls for miracles; "give us a miracle
--we want a miracle--heal the sick--raise the dead, and
then we'll believe." The lying, rage, and confusion excited
by these wicked spirits, broke up the meeting, and I
had much ado to get out of the crowd without being
stoned or torn to pieces.
After tarrying a few days in this region, I took leave
and continued my journey as far as Columbia County,
east of the Hudson. I arrived at my Aunt Van Cott's,
and found them all well; paid a visit to my father and
mother; gave them money sufficient to enable them to
remove to Kirtland, Ohio, and then commenced my return.
I had started from the frontiers of Missouri and
ridden on horseback fifteen hundred miles.
As I returned towards the West, I came to the town
of Freedom, Catteraugus County, N.Y., where President
Joseph Smith and myself had preached on our outward
journey, a few weeks previously, and where we had baptized
a young man by the name of Heman Hyde, as the
first fruits in that place. As I called for the night, I
found that a large Church had been gathered during my
absence, consisting of some forty members or more, principally
through the labors of my brother Orson. The
new members, and the people in general, rejoiced to see
me, and aided me on my journey; and Heman Hyde
accompanied me to Kirtland, where we arrived the latter
part of April, and were kindly and hospitably entertained
by President Joseph Smith.


CHAPTER XV


An Army:--A Long March:--Recruits:--A Voice:--Camp Arrives in
Missourri:--Delegation to the Governor:--Interview:--Return to Camp:--
Council:--Great Storm and Flood:--Battle Providentially Prevented:--
Cholera:--Army Disbanded:--Sudden Destruction:--Labor with my Hands:--
Journey to Ohio:--Labor and Ministry:--Accusations:--Repair to Kirtland:--
Interview with the President:--His Action on the Matter:--Calling
and Ordination of a Quorum of Twelve Apostles:--My Ordination,
Blessing and Charge:--Charge to the Quorum.

IT was now the first of May, 1834, and our mission had
resulted in the assembling of about two hundred men
at Kirtland, with teams, baggage, provisions, arms, etc.,
for a march of one thousand miles, for the purpose of
carrying some supplies to the afflicted and persecuted Saints
in Missouri, and to reinforce and strengthen them; and,
if possible, to influence the Governor of the State to call
out sufficient additional force to cooperate in restoring them
to their rights. This little army was led by President
Joseph Smith in person. It commenced its march about
the first of May; passing through Ohio, Indiana and
Illinois, it entered Missouri some time in June.
I was chiefly engaged as a recruiting officer, and, not
being much with the camp, can give but little of its history.
I visited branches of the Church in Ohio, Indiana,
Illinois and Missouri, and obtaining what men and means
I could, fell in with the camp from time to time with
additional men, arms, stores and money. On one occasion,
I had travelled all night to overtake the camp with
some men and means, and having breakfasted with them
and changed horses, I again started ahead on express to ...