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Show Page 217 where a bright new sandstone capitol had been erected. Here, Orson had arranged his most unusual match yet - with the sixteen-year-old daughter of an Indiana widow, who was given to him in a private ceremony at her 16 home. Juliaet (Juliet) Ann Phelps became number eight on December 14, 1855. The town that Orson had laid out three years before had been settled by a handful of stalwarts willing to face the black rock and dusty winds. Now, under the serenity of the snow, another storm was about to begin - the peace of Utah Territory was going to be ruffled from this day on. On December 11, Orson met with the Prophet and others to consecrate the new statehouse, but were afterwards assailed by a melodramatic and "insulting" speech by the new territorial secretary. Almon Babbitt, now the highest federal appointee in Utah, other than Young himself, happened to be a disgruntled Mormon apostate who had left the Church with a vengeance on the Iowa trek eight years before. Everyone was indignant, of course, but also fearful; Babbitt's reports to Washington if distorted as in the case of earlier federal officials, could mean serious trouble for the Mormons, isolated and misunderstood as they were. The brethren met to mumble over the situation, but realized that they must xwrk with Babbitt or risk disturbing their peaceful relationship with the Pierce Administration. No one was happy to see Babbitt, a former Kirtland stake president, and their fears were eventually justified - partly on the strength of Babbitt's representations, the first federal legislation which could be described as aimed at Mormon practices passed Congress the following summer. These discouraging developments compounded a difficult year for Orson. With his families now scattered from Salt Lake to Fillmore and his trustworthiness seriously questioned by the Prophet, he was disoriented and further oppressed by the news of Orson Spencer's death from cholera while on a mission among the Cherokees. This man, who had shared not only Orson's |
