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Show Tho Saints had been driven out of, 1.Tisaouri and did not have MY p Lac e to, gather. :My fa'ther was induced to settle here and wad t the issue of events. ,A. si te WUG selected at' what they cB.lled Tt':elge Uile Grove, about' twelve miles from Joliet, where the comcany Ieee. ted and ccmaenoed to build. They purchased Land ,in a time hort for them. and. , had. some houses el"'ected. This was an excellent The country was thinly inhabited. plac Wild game was found in abundane e The eoil was fertile and. soon supplied 'them with vegetables, etc., while the groves, prairies, and strenme loaded their ts. les wi th game and fish. fuile they resided here my father was baptized in ::)eptembor, 1839, and here, as I .have stated, 'I commenced roy pilgrimo.ge.' , ' In Septembe,r, 1840. my pa.rents moved to lauvoo, purchased a lot in the· east part of the 01 ty, bllil t a house and made other il.!1proVements. But the Saints had ,been driven, .and despoiled of, their goods lmtil they had 11 ttle left. 1'hey were d'eeti tute and without provisions; all'ware poor and worked pard. Nevertheless, they often felt ihe 'pangs of hunger and the Ice en iros t aa it crept through their scanty clothing. ]} father 'farmed a piece of land for Bishop Edward Hunter He Rpent much of his time at •. work on the temple, while that building was being erectod, and ,after it was completed he received his 'endowmen t s in it. Here in this oi ty 'of the Sa.ints I the first six years spent of my life." I was four yea.rs old when the Prophet and his brother were nlartyre,d in Ca.rtha.ge jail, and 'old. enough to re-met""bel"' us my firot imlll"esoion, of this pilgrimage -that of being mobbed ,. driven t e..nd persecuted. , , \" " I " v' " \ sister, l,ry youngest Amla lJ;.ria,. waa born here in l£D.y, 1.842, and my second 'sister, .sarah, waa lllarried just previous to our 'departure to -Iohn Calvin Lazelle Smi t'h. The Saints, ti red of" the pez-secutd on whch hs d been heaped Up011 them commenced their exodus early in' the year 1846, acme cro'SGiYlg the 1dssiasippi lUver in ll'lebruary 'on th ice. Vle czo saed the river on 1",1'ay 23. of the same year.. My father had made a wagon and hired a team to ':pull it to the river. 'When we la.nded on the opposi te, side .wa had .no means ot Our going any further .. oi ty p:ropertjt' ha,d not been sold, and the six yenrs· of peraec:ution 'that we had. endur-ed vrith tho .:rest of the Saints had not ad (led nything to our househo.Id. goods. Here upon the' banks of the " , \ ' river Yle f'olU3(1',omrselves lithou.t teanl, friel1de, or JJrovisions. A tea,rn wa s soon hired" v/hioh n;ove(l OUI' wagon a few' l!iles on :from the river. Here VIe had to z-emaf n u.ntil a team could be obtain.ed to ,take us further west. While'we were enoeml'ed here the last effort of the mob was made to drie the remnant of the Saints from Nauvoo. I could' distinctly hear the cannon .. and will long remember those dl"ead.-,' ful da.ys when me n VIera shot down under the fla,g they' had helped to raise for 'no crime but, that of belie,l"il'lg t'he, Scriptures EUd olaiming the right ,,:to' worhip, God as they pleased. The exodue of" the Saints from lrau'V'oo is long -to be remembered. The able-bodied men had gone west, and five hundred of them had enlisted in the Battalion to lrlal·ch across the continent to fight 'the ,battles of the United States against Mexico. The remno.ri t of the' 8ain ts, mainly the aged and inti 1'111, were driven from the 01 ty. ,They crossed the Missiasipl')i FjvcT, and here on the west banks and vio.ini,ty, they labored until able to' go further ' ' ' , . I, |
