John Lowe Butler

John Lowe Butler and Caroline Farozine Skeen.

Keziah Jane Butler's parents were John Lowe Butler and Caroline Farozine Skeen. We are fortunate that John Butler left some of his writings for us to examine.

John Lowe Butler was born April 8, 1808, in Simpson County, Kentucky. He was the son of James Butler and Charity Lowe, their fourth child. Simpson County was at that time on the frontier of America, way out west among the Indians. We know nothing of John Butler's early childhood except what can be imagined from our knowledge of the primitive conditions that existed in that part of the country at that time.

John did write about some of his early experiences:

When about seven years of age I was taken sick with the inflammatory rheumatics; it passed from my feet to my finger ends in every joint. It left me in very poor health, and shortly after I was taken with what the doctor called an imposten on my leg, and after it began to mend I took the dropsy in my left eye. It was swollen for thirteen days so that the sight could not be seen, and when I could open it they said it looked like a hog's eye after it had been, scalded, and the doctor said it would be difficult to save.

From that time until I was in my twentieth year, I had twelve hard attacks of the rheumatics, it taking me at least once a year and sometimes twice, in the spring and in the fall. During this time I came near being killed three different times by being thrown from horses and once by a large

frame cart falling on me, which caused the rheu­matics to return on me.

When in my nineteenth year pain fell in my left side, and my left arm and thigh and leg began to shrink and fail me, so that I began to think that I should lose the use of that side altogether. I was so reduced that my mother could carry me from one room to another with ease in her arms, but through the means used, the Lord began to restore my limbs again so that when I was twenty two years of age I was getting better than I ever expected to be.

I was able to labor at light work. During

the last attack I began to have serious reflections at times about my future existence, and I often thought what the Lord wanted of such a being as me upon the earth, and I desired either to have my health restored and become like other boys at my age, for I did not like to live in that way. Notwithstanding the sickness and trials I had to pass through, I grew very fast. I stood six feet at the age of twenty two.

With that type of incentive, John Lowe Butler began to think more about religions with deeper concern and more about his own future existence than he had before. During the years of his sickness he read much in the Bible, that being about the only book available to him.

There was a great wave of revivals in John's neighbor-hood when he was twenty. He reports that he went with his comrades to get religion but couldn't accept any of the preaching he heard. He was disappointed and heartsick. He prayed about it and searched the scriptures, but he still didn't get religion. In his search of the scriptures he learned that baptism by immersion was the right way, but he couldn't accept the doctrine of predestination which was taught by the baptists. Nothing seemed quite right to John Butler, or at least when he found "right" it was an isolated instance and was surrounded by things he regarded as false. He watched his friends embrace various religions, but he couldn't find one which satisfied him even though he con­stantly went to revival meetings and up to the mourner's bench.

He wrote:

I stopped going to the mourner's bench, but continued to go to meetings. I felt with all my

soul to call upon the Lord God to forgive a sinner, and all of an instant the burden left me and I felt to rejoice for a minute or two. Then I stopped to think what such a change meant. I thought, 'Is this religion?' There was a voice whispered to me and said, 'You have yet to preach the gospel to the world.' That struck a damper on my feelings and my enjoyment stopped, though I did not feel the same heavy burden that I felt before.

The Methodists did not like for me to leave them, said I had got a hope amongst them. My parents desiring much for me to stay with them in the same church, it looked well for all the same family to go to the same church, but baptism by immersion seemed right to me though I had been christened when a child, and the Methodists would not baptize the second time.

The revival stopped and they contended about dividing the converts. The best read and the best orator could whip out the rest, and then someone else would come along and put him down, and so it went on, all in confusion.

My mind was still troubled about preaching the gospel. I said and covenanted in my heart, when I could come to know the true order I would stand up for it, and even lay down my life if necessary for the truth as it existed in Heaven, or the true order of His Kingdom. About this time there was singular solemn feelings came to me -- my spirits would be troubled so that I could not labor and could not get rid of it without talking about religion.

It felt to me there was something in the east that I was looking for. I thought of the Jews who looked for the Son of Man coming from the East.

My father being anxious for me to stop with him in the Methodist church, he went fifteen or twenty miles to get a Methodist priest who would immerse some five or six that desired it, and when it was attended to, the Methodists came to see it and made all manner of fun and game of us as pos­sible; that hurt my feelings to see those profes­sing to be saints make light of the commandments of God, and I finally concluded that I would not live with a people that would do so, and went to the baptists and was baptized again, telling them at the same time I did not believe one word

of their predestination doctrine. I still felt no better in spirits.

At about this same time the Skeen family was living in the same neighborhood as the Butlers. Both families lived on Drake's Creek, although the Skeens lived in Tennessee and the Butlers lived in Kentucky. A friendship developed be­tween John Butler and the Skeens' daughter, Caroline Farozine. The friendship ripened into love.

On February 3, 1831, John Lowe Butler married Caroline Farozine Skeen, the daughter of Jesse and Keziah Taylor Skeen, the daughter of Robert Taylor and Ann or Nancy Herring. Caroline Skeen was born April 15, 1812, in Sumner County, Tennessee. She was reared as a lady, and she had a slave at her bidding all the time. Caroline was a beautiful woman with an abundance of dark hair which she wore in braids around her head; she never combed her hair herself until after she was married because she always had a slave woman there to do it for her. In order that she might continue to be served in this manner, her father gave her a couple of Negroes for a wedding present, one of whom was the woman who had served Caroline all her life.

But John Lowe Butler's family had never had slaves; they did not believe in slavery, and neither did John. Caroline sided with her new husband, and she gave her slaves their freedom on the very day of her wedding. From that day forward she took over all those duties her slaves had for­merly performed, and she measured up one hundred percent. She not only took care of her own requirements but cared for her family and others, too.

In 1832 John Butler was still searching for a religious point of view which he could accept. He wrote:

I prayed and searched the word of God dili­gently and could find no relief to my mind. When I prayed I could get no answer and finally I con­cluded that I would be as independent as God him-self. If He would not answer me when I pray, I would quit praying to Him, and as He would not give me an understanding of the scriptures, I would quit searching them and lay all aside. When I got home and told my wife what I intended to do it hurt her feelings very much indeed.

My whole mental powers seemed to be drawn out to God to know the truth, and the true order of His Kingdom, and if I could only know that, I would do anything even to laying down my life if necessary.

Caroline Farozine Skeen Butler 1812-1875

This is the only photo we have of this generation. One was found which was reported to be of John L. Butler. It was taken to the Historical Society and they said John L. died before a photographer ever came to Utah. So this was also true of John H. Redd and Elizabeth, his wife.

While in this exercise of mind there was a voice spoke to me saying, 'I will set on you a refiner's fire.' I turned but saw no person. It continued, 'Stand still and see the salvation of God and that will be truth.' That instant a light shone around me. I was filled with the spirit of the Lord and I saw clearly that God would save all the workman-ship of His hands and truth would stand or be set up in our midst, and it will not need propping up as the sects of the day had continued to do. From this time I began to look for something to come forth different to what we then had in any church. I often told my brethren that the truth would stand alone and might be told by an illiterate man. it could not be put down.

On the 17 Nov. 1831 my wife bare me a son. I was keeping school at the time, for I was unable to do much hard work, being very sickly from boy-hood, suffering very much from the rheumatics.

I still attended the meetings, but gained nothing by it, for the spirit of the Lord was not there, and where the spirit of the Lord is not, there is little to be learned. The 23 Apr. 1833 another son was born unto us. He only lived about four months. We named him William Alexander; the other boy was named Kenyon Taylor. On the 13 June 1834 a daughter was born unto us; we called her Charity Artamecia.

On Mar. 1st 1835 when at a Baptist meeting a word came that two Mormon Elders would preach on that evening at my uncle John Lowe's. I said I would go and hear them. My Baptist brethren op-posed me but I told them I was going to hear them for myself. They then appointed two brethren to go with me, and when we got to meeting seated to­gether one on each side of me. The Elder rose up to speak. I expected they would speak from their golden Bible, but they did not, and to my astonish­ment they commenced preaching the first principles as set down in the New Testament. This astonished me. I knew every word they said to be truth for I had the testimony of it. I asked them a few ques­tions and they kindly answered them. Then I told them that my house was a home for them as long as they wished while they were preaching.

I then started for home thinking and weighing over in my mind the doctrine and principles that had been held forth that evening by the Elders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. My mind was lit up more than it had ever been be-fore, and I could begin to see clearly the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.

I arrived home and my mother was then staying with us. I told them of the principles of the gospel. My mother said, 'Well, John, what do you think of these Mormons?' I told her that I thought that they preached the true and everlasting Gospel or they were the greatest imposter's that I had ever seen or heard. 'Yes,' said the old lady, 'That is just like you. You was not content with the Metho­dists, then you joined the Baptists, and they do not suit you. Now you will join these Mormons.' I suppose I told her the Lord said, 'Try all things and hold fast that which is good.'

When Caroline, his wife, heard the message of the Mormon elders from her husband, she believed and accepted it just as he did. They continued to investigate the gospel. John wrote:

I continued to call upon the Lord and to read the scriptures. I was determined to find out more about these Mormons, so I went to hear the Elders preach again on the next Thursday; they preached about the order of the Kingdom, and I never heard anything so plain in all my life before. A child could understand it all. It was just the thing I had been hankering after, and now I felt to rejoice and was perfectly satisfied they were sent of God as the saints of old.

I went home thanking my Heavenly Father for the blessings he had bestowed upon me from time to time, and I felt to go forth and obey His command­ments. I asked my wife what she thought of the Mormon Elders. She said she thought they were men of God, and that it was the only true church of God and the only way to be saved.

On Friday the next day, I was lying on my bed reading and resting my mind. I traveled back over my past history thinking for the first time that I had serious reflections up till the time that the voice spoke to me and told me to stand still and see the Salvation of God and that would be the truth. And the voice of the same spirit said, 'This is the truth that you have been hearing now. Choose or refuse.'

Now I was at a stand still to know what I should do. I saw the sacrifice I had to make in losing my good name, and also what little property I had, that it would go too if I joined these Mor­mons, but then it was the truth that we had heard, and the Elders were sent of God to preach the true and everlasting Gospel. What could I do? I had promised the Lord that I would serve and obey Him and even lay down my life for the Gospel's sake if necessary, and what was my property against my life? Why, nothing at all. And if I lost my good name it would be to gain a better one, so while I lay on my bed, I covenanted with my Eternal Father to obey the first chance.

I then felt better and to rejoice that I was so blessed of God. I then felt the spirit of God to rest down upon me with this testimony that it was right, so on the next Monday, the ninth day of March, eighteen hundred and thirty five about two o'clock in the afternoon, I was led into the waters of baptism by Elder James Emmett and baptized for the remission of my sins. There were some six or eight baptized the same day, my wife being one of the number.

There were more baptized after that. The Elders appointed a confirmation meeting at my

house on the twelfth, Thursday evening. There were nine confirmed and the Holy Ghost was poured out on us; five spoke in new tongues, myself being one of the number. The Elders continued to preach and bap­tize till twenty two were baptized and they organ­ized a branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, ordained Benjamin Lewis an Elder and myself a teacher.

After the little branch was organized by Elders James Emmett and Peter Dustan, persecution raged so that we had to run the Elders off and had to do the best we could, but the Lord was with us and watched over His little flock, and built us up in the kingdom of God. My mother, when hearing that the Elders had gone, began to cry and say that they should come back for she had not been baptized yet, and when we told her that they were gone and we knew not whither, she said, '0, what a fool have I been to have heard the gospel for two weeks and then let the Elders go and leave me unbaptized.' And she went on finely about it; but it so happened that they took a notion to come back again for something they could not tell what, but they knew that they had something to do.

Now my wife's sister Charity was deaf and dumb, and hearing the fuss that was made about the Mor­mons, she came to my wife and asked her the meaning of it all, and my wife told her as well as she could by signs. She then asked my wife how it was that the Methodists and the Baptists and all other denom­inations could preach and no one would say anything to them, while if the Mormons preached they were hooted at, laughed at and made fun of them by every-body, and threatened to be murdered by some and per­secuted by all. She could not understand how it was, so my wife told her it was the true and ever-lasting gospel that they preached and that they were sent of God, and also that she had been baptized for the remission of her sins.

The Lord then opened her understanding and she told my wife that she would be baptized too, by the men sent of God, but my wife told her that she had better not as her father was very much opposed to Mormonism and that he would lay all the blame upon her, but Charity persisted in being baptized. This all took place just after the Elders had departed, so when the Elders turned back again they knew that the Lord wanted them for some wise purpose and when they came into the house there were two sis­ters waiting to be baptized; so they baptized them, blessed them and departed on their journey, re­joicing in the Lord their God.

We met together and enjoyed ourselves worship-ping the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and during the rest of the year I was selling off my farm, houses and everything that I could not take with us (to the land of Zion).

My wife's father was bitterly opposed to Mor­monism. He came to our house and stayed overnight when Brothers Emmett and Dustan was staying with us, and went and told it all about to whoever he met that me and my wife and my sister Lucy Ann and the Mormon Elders all slept together in one bed on the floor, and everybody believed that it was true because my father-in-law was or always had been a very truthful nan.

Now Mr. John Lowe, my mother's brother, was Justice of the peace,, and he heard all about it so he felt it his duty to look into the matter. He went to see my father-in-law and made him sign a liebill (libel, I guess) with his own hand.

A little while after the Elders was gone there was a lot of rowdies came and filled up the rode. There was a rode between two fiends and logs rolled up together on either side, so they just dragged them down into the rode and piled them up so that no one could pass except on foot.

Mr. John Lowe heard of it and came down to see whether it was so or not, and when he got there he found that he had been informed rightly. He had to get off his horse and come the rest of the way on foot. He told us to say nothing about it at all and them that done it would tell of themselves. There was a public meeting some two weeks after, and there were some there that commenced talking about how nicely they had stop the Mormon rode, so Mr. Lowe happened to hear them, so he said, 'Now you better go back and replace every log where you got them from and if you do not I shall take care to put a heavy fine upon you.' So there was about ten or a dozen men came the next day and cleared the rode again, and it took them a great deal longer to put them back than it took them to place them there; they were at it nearly all day.

The judge was a first rate good man. He did not believe in Mormonism, but he believed in folks having their rights. He was a good republican.

During this time, John Lowe and Caroline visited her father's home one night. While they were there a group of men came. John went away to a meeting, and Caroline heard loud talking and her husband's name. She listened through the keyhole and found that they were planning to waylay John on the way home and kill him in a lonely place where no one would know about it. Her father sanctioned the whole plan. She knew she must warn John, but she couldn't go through the woods in her long skirts, so she dressed in men's clothing and went alone into the woods at night. She found her hus­band and warned him of the danger he was in so he could avoid the ambush.

John was aware of his father-in-law's dislike for him, and he prepared to move his family away:

Well, all this time I was preparing to move my family which consisted of myself and wife and three children, my mother, sisters and three brothers. My father-in-law still held bitter feelings against us and tried to do us all the harm he could.

About a month before we started west he said that if I offered to go he would shoot me, and three times he sent me that message. I sent word back to him that I had a good rifle and could shoot as good as he could and if he came to my house when I was going to start, or before, I would shoot him first if I could.

On February 25, 1836, my wife bore me another daughter. We called her Keziah Jane. She was about a month and eight days old when we started.

A day or two before we started I was out and my uncle John Lowe came down to our house and called my wife and said to her, 'Caroline, bring me John's rifle, quick, there is a flock of turkeys and I want to kill one.' He said he would bring it back directly, and when I returned home I missed my rifle and said, 'Where is my rifle?' My wife said that my uncle John Lowe had come and got it to go and shoot some turkeys, but would be back directly with it. 'Now,' said I, 'suppose the old man should come to kill me. I should have no weapon to defend myself with at all, and that will be a good go.' But my wife said, 'Do you think he will come?' I said that I could not tell. Well we started, and we had to go by my uncle John's. He came out to bid us good bye, and in his hand brought my rifle. It was still loaded; he only wanted to get it out of my possession into his own, for, said he, 'John, I should not like to see you kill the old man.' (Another story is that uncle John borrowed both guns when he heard of the menace, and he of course knew the caliber of the two men and that these were no idle threats.)

We bid our friends goodbye and started on our journey. It was about the first of April 1836. We had three hundred miles to go before we reached Missouri. We traveled with ox teams. We had one yoke of cattle give out, and we had to get another yoke. We had pretty good traveling considering.

Caroline had a tiny baby and two other small children at this time, so the journey was no picnic for her. It was about five or six hundred miles. John Lowe Butler says it took them six weeks, but the dates he gives makes it more like ten weeks. We arrived at father James Allred's in Ray County on the sixteenth of June and found many saints rejoicing in the new covenant, and I realized myself too that what I had embraced was the truth from God. The saints there were much persecuted, and they went and laid out a county and called it Caldwell County.

The saints all moved there and called it Far West. I moved there myself and assisted in making the first settlements; but first we moved into Clay County and stayed there a little while, and from there into Caldwell County. We moved there in the fall and stayed there two winters, and from there we moved to Davis County.

It then came to my mind that they might be fighting the brethren. As I went over I saw that they had attacked the brethren with sticks, clap-boards, shakes and anything they could use to fight with. They were all in a muss together, every one of the Missourians trying to get a lick at the Mor­mons. It made me feel indignant to see from four to a dozen mobbers on a man. I saw they were all well armed with clubs or some other weapon to fight with. I was about the last one and the brother that was on ahead got knocked down. Then brother Riley Stewart interfered for him and one of the mob rushed at him with a knife. Riley turned and ran when he saw the man draw his knife.

I then ran after the ruffian and as it happened I saw an oak stick lying in the road. It was the heart of the oak which I thought I could handle with ease, one of those sticks they have to build chimneys with. Thinking when hefting my stick that I must temper my lick just so as not to kill. Furthermore a power rested upon me such as I never felt before and the Lord did strengthen my body far beyond the strength of man. Just after I joined the church I took a second growth and grew two and a half inches and grew very stout (strong?) indeed and my health became strong, and I felt like as if I could handle any two men on earth.

Just as the fellow struck Stewart I struck him, and as I struck him there had been another fellow running after me with a loaded horse whip and struck me right between the shoulders, but it did not seem to hurt me much, only I felt that I could take them all on if they would come along. Just as the fellow struck me I turned around and struck an underhanded lick and just fetched it under his chin and broke his jaw in two places, and down he came and we had no more trouble with him.

I commenced to call loud for peace, and at the same time making my stick move to my utter astonishment, tapping them as I thought lightly but they fell as dead men, their heads often strik­ing the ground first. I took great care to strike none except those who were fighting the brethren. When I first commenced there were some six or eight men on old Mr. Durphy. He had been knocked down and it angered me to see that old man on his back on the ground with a big foot on his white whiskers on his chest. The man was groaning and I went after them. A few steps farther on ten or a dozen men were on brothers Olmstead and Nelson. I con­tinued to knock down every man I could reach.

Brother Olmstead, previous to the affray, had purchased half a dozen earthen bowls and as many teacups and saucers, which he had teyd up in a new cotton handkerchief and swung to his wrist. One of the mobbers struck at him when he raised his arm, and the blow struck the dishes and broke them. He then commenced breaking the rest over their heads, and when the fight was over I saw him empty out his broken earthenware on the ground in pieces, none of which were larger than a dollar. He had knocked them right and left and his handkerchief covered with blood looked like it had been chewed by a cow. I have thought ever since that time that they had fun picking the pieces of earthen ware from their heads, for they certainly were pretty well filled.

There was one fellow commenced bawling when he saw one of his companions lye motionless on the sod. He said that they had killed poor Bill -(Dick Wilding), and a brother hearing the poor fellow wailing for his companion thought that he would give him something else to cry for. It was Wash­ington Vorus (Voris). He up with a rock and threw it at him and struck him right in the mouth.

The whole scene was soon over. I think it lasted two or three minutes from the first to the last blow. I believe there were as many as thirty men with bloody heads and some were badly hurt. I knocked down six or eight myself. I never struck a man the second time and while knocking them down I really felt that they would sometime embrace the gospel.

I felt the spirit rest upon me with power. I felt like I was seven or eight feet high, and my arms three or four feet long, for certainly I ran faster than I ever did before and could reach farther and hit a man, and they could not reach me to harm me.

After the fight was over we gathered our men on some hewn house logs and told the mob that we would fight them as long as blood ran warm in our veins if they still persisted. I said to the breth­ren, 'We are American citizens; our fathers fought for their liberty in the American Revolution, and we will maintain the same principles.

(Note: A few years ago my nephew, Harold Redd, in Los Angeles, California, was asked to give a talk on genealogy. In the talk he said it was good to tell incidents in the lives of our ancestors and not simply stick to statistics. We can feel closer to them if we can know a little bit about the kind of people they were. Then he told of this fight of his great great grandfather. When he had finished, a man in the audience stood up and said, "I am not a member of your church, but my wife is. I can verify what this young man has just said, because my grand pappy was one of the men who got hit.")

The officer then came up to me and said that we could come and vote. I said I would if they would clear the road to the polls, which they did immediately. Then I told him I did not care if I voted or not, but he said that I had better come and put in my vote, so I started on behind. I had not yet put down my stick and he saw it and said, 'For God's sake put down your stick; there is no use for it now.' But I told him I had no weapon and I did not care about leaving it for it had been a good freynd to me. 'Don't come here then.' So I turned back and he went on. I could see that if I went in the poll box they would be all around me and thus take me a prisoner. I told them I was a law abiding citizen and that I did not intend to be tried by a mob.

There is a partial account of this affair by Joseph Smith in the History of the Church, Volume III, pages 56-59.

John L. Butler was blessed of the Lord, but the mobbers hated him, and after that he always had to hide from them and be on guard against them. Olive Butler Smith, his grand-daughter, told me several incidents that happened after this affair. At one time the mobbers chased John Lowe Butler with a bull whip. He knew that if they caught him they'd kill him with it. He ran as he had never run before. He felt himself shoved ahead just out of reach of the whip at each swing of it. He came to a bit of woods where the man couldn't get a good swing with his whip, and then he came to a clearing. A horse was grazing in the clearing, and John L. was impressed to use the horse. He sprang onto its back, and the horse raised its head and dashed swiftly across the clearing. There it stopped, and John slid off and into the woods and out of sight before his pursuers could do anything about it.

There were others in "bad" with the mobbers, too. At one time four of them who were in hiding met in the woods. They knew they shouldn't all go together because so many of them would certainly be found, so they stood in a circle facing one another, offered a prayer, shook hands, and turned to walk away toward the four points of the compass.

At this same time that the saints were being driven from Missouri, a number of families decided on their own initia­tive not to go with the main body. Instead, they decided to cross the Mississippi and look for a safer place farther west in Indian territory. That part of the country was unsettled and wild, and word of the party's whereabouts and welfare rarely came back to the prophet. Roads were not kept up, and travel and all kinds of communications were often upset. The group traveled slowly; for many days they followed a stream of water. Occasionally, the prophet heard about them from others traveling out into that part of the country, but when word ceased to come about them or from them, he became greatly concerned.

Joseph Smith talked the situation over with John L. Butler and asked him if he would go find the group and see if he could persuade them to return to the main body of the saints. The prophet was filled with the spirit of gathering, and he wanted to keep them all together.

John L. Butler, always willing to heed a call from the prophet, took his wife and traveled out into the wilds of the west. The prophet had them load their wagon with provisions and tie their cow behind it. This meant slow traveling. They were probably alone, as there is no mention in the story that there were any children with them. During their days of travel, John looked after the ox team and drove them along, and Caroline milked the cow and prepared the meals. After they had wandered for many days, they camped in some willows beside a stream of water. The cow was tethered in a small opening, and Caroline took her pail and a cup out to milk the cow. It was a quiet, sunny morning with only the sound of the running, trickling water of the stream and the breeze fluttering the leaves of the willows as it passed through them.

Caroline milked into a large tin cup, and when it was full she carefully emptied it into the pail. Evidently, the cow was not very dependable. As Caroline began to milk, the stream resounded in the cup, but as the cup filled it became quieter. When the cup was almost full and the milk was foamy, there was no sound at all, and in the quiet she heard a man's voice. They had prayed all along the way that the Lord would guide them to the group for which they were searching, and now Caroline thought it may be a messenger from heaven come to help them. Then the sound of the stream and the breeze in the willows drowned out the voice, and she went on with her milking. Again when the cup was full and it was quiet she heard the voice. She raised up with the filled cup in her hand and walked toward the sound of the voice. She walked slowly so that her long skirts would make no noise on the grass and the willows.

Suddenly she came upon a man with a long white beard and hair. He was kneeling, looking up into heaven, with tears rolling down his face. She heard him pleading with God to take him, that he was ready to die so his children could go on living. He had refused food for weeks so his children could survive and go on to have a useful life. He was thin and his voice trembled. When he finished his prayer he broke into sobs. Caroline moved close to him and placed the cup of warm milk up to his lips.

She said, "My dear brother, your prayers have been an­swered. Drink."

There is nothing better than warm milk for the first meal of a starving man, and of course the man was grateful. He led John and Caroline to his party, and it was the one they were looking for. It was not far away. Thus, they located the starving saints and saved them, all in obedience to the prophet of the Lord.

In another incident, the saints were suffering from an epidemic of sickness, and the prophet gave John Lowe Butler a cloak which he had blessed for healing purposes. Many were healed who had faith in the Lord and in his prophet. This cloak remained in the Butler family for many years. When children or grandchildren didn't feel well they were covered with this cloak, and it was always a comfort to them and made them feel much better. The cloak passed to John Lowe Butler, Jr., the father of Olive Butler Smith, and when his children all wanted it, they cut it up into pieces so every child could have a piece. Olive showed me her piece of the cloak a number of years ago when I was down there.

Brigham H. Roberts wrote of the fight over voting rights in "Missouri Persecutions," pages 196-197:

Among those who fought hardest for his rights as an American Citizen and in the defense of his brethren was John L. Butler; and as soon as they (the mob) left (to get more arms) Butler called the brethren together and said, 'We are American citi­zens, and our fathers fought for their liberty and we will maintain the same principles' -- As the brethren were unarmed they retired to their homes,

collected their families and concealed them in the hazel thickets. The rain fell in torrents through the night; the women and children were lying on the ground while the men guarded them.

That was on August 16, 1838. John Lowe Butler continued his story of events surrounding that election day:

Brother Samuel H. Smith came up to me and said, 'Let us go home,' but when I got to where I had left my wagon I found it was gone, so brother Smith said, 'Come and go home with me,' which was about three miles from my house.

Brother Gee had started home with the team, and my wife going out of doors saw the team and started to meet it. There was but one man in the wagon, and he was standing up and had the whip in his hand laying it on the horses, and they were going at full speed. My wife had got some dis­tance from the house when she met him. 'Why, brother Gee, what in the world is the matter? Where is Mr. Butler?' 'Why,' said he, 'isn't John Butler come home? I thought he would have been home by this time. Why he has killed five or six men at the election.' And he drove past my wife and stopped at the house and got out and started for home leaving the horses all hitched up for my wife to take care of. She took them off the wagon and fed them and waited anxiously for my return, but I returned not until next morning after breakfast from brother Smith's.

I concluded to ride over to Far West, some fourteen miles from where we lived, and I saw brother Joseph Smith. He resided there. He asked me if I had moved my family. I told him I had not. 'Then,' says he, 'go and move them directly and do not sleep another night there.' 'But,' said I, 'I don't like to be a coward.' 'Go and do as I tell you,' said he. So I started back again and got home about two hours after dark.

I then said to my wife, 'We must pack up our things and leave here directly, for Brother Joseph has told me to.' My wife was very glad for she had been wanting to move for a long time.

So we loaded up one wagon load and I took it down to brother Taylor's about a mile and a half, and my wife and Malinda Porter, a young woman that was boarding with us, she was keeping school, packed up another wagon load by the time I got back, and we all got started off just about the break of day. (Before they were out of sight of the home, they saw it go up in flames.)

Now about sunrise or a little after, brother Gee saw at the distance a large body of men. He said he thought there were about thirty odd. He watched them come toward the house and surround it. He then ran down to Taylors to tell them we were all killed, I suppose, and when he saw us, he said, 'Oh, I am so glad that you are here, for there are about thirty men around your house to kill you all.'

I then saw the hand of the Lord in guiding brother Joseph Smith to direct me to move my family away, for if he had not, why in all probability we should all have been murdered, and I felt to thank God with all my heart and soul. I then started on to Far West and my wife followed me the next day. We stopped on the west side of Far West and went into Follet's farm to live.

Soon after this event Caroline had another baby, and they named her Phoebe Malinda. Now they had to be on guard all the time, as the mob was after him continually. Of course, the Butlers were not the only ones persecuted. All of the Mormons were under great pressure, especially the leaders. As John Lowe Butler wrote:

The saints were still persecuted in every corner and while I was in Far West Joseph and Hyrum were taken prisoners. The mob came back the next day and surrounded the city and was going to take all the males prisoners, and through the day we had to hide anywhere we could. I had my horse hitched inside the field, and as I went to get my horse I took my bridle off the pickets, and was going to get him, and my wife came and snatched the bridle off me and went and hung it back on the pickets. She told me that there had been six men watching my horse for to get me for the last three or four hours. As it happened while this transpired they were reading a piece of paper, so they saw nothing and suspected nothing.

I went then to go through the guards which was not a very pleasant job, but however I got started and got along first rate with the help of God, but I had never felt to murmur till this time.

I had to cross the creek and take off my clothes and had them on my head and wade through. The banks on either side were almost straight up and down, and the water was bitter cold, and when the water came to my breast it chilled me through and then I felt to murmur by the time I got out, but I prayed the Lord to bless me and give me His Holy Spirit to en-able me to hold fast to the principles of Eternal Salvation.

I got through the guard and went to brother Hubbard's and stayed with him for four days, in which time I had to keep pretty close. I went from there to brother Head's and stayed with him a little over two weeks, and when I was there I used to tell the folks that my name was John Lowe, and some knew no difference, so I got along very well. They still kept guard about the place, and they took a great many prisoners, some forty or fifty, and they were hunting pretty close after me, but I kept my-self from being known by them.

Father Smith gave out that there would be a prayer and fast meeting for brothers Joseph and Hy-rum while they were in prison for the Lord to bless them and enable them to bear the cruelties that they had to suffer and pass through. When Caroline and her mother arrived for this meeting, apostates had locked the door to break up the meeting. But they met in another house and had a very wonderful meeting, and the Lord was with them to bless and answer their prayers.

During this time of persecution, many of the sisters were left alone much of the time, and they learned to love and help and comfort one another. Caroline Butler and some others came in to comfort Emma Smith while her husband was in prison. It was in the dead of winter. While Caroline was there word came from Joseph that they had no fire in the pri­son and were very cold. He asked Emma to send them some bedding. Emma cried and said that an apostate named McClellin had come into the house one day and had taken all their bedding except one blanket and one quilt. Caroline told Emma to send the blanket and quilt and she would go home and get other bedding for the prophet's wife and children. This is an example of how they all shared whatever they had with each other.

John Lowe Butler continued his account of the times:

The night after the mob took brother Joseph and Hyrum to prison, I asked brother Isaac Morley to ordain me to the office of a priest and I would join some Elder and help to roll forth the Kingdom of God. He laid his hands upon me and ordained me to the office of an elder.

Myself and brethren stopped at a place one night and asked a man we saw if he could give us something to eat and a night's lodging. He asked where we were from. I told him that we were from Clinton county. 'Oh,' said he, 'you are from the other side of the damn Mormons, and what are they doing at this time? They are getting rubbed out, aren't they?' I answered that I did not know much about them. He said we could stay all night and welcome. He knew we must be tired. He told his wife to go to work and get a good supper for these men for they were tired and hungry. So she bustled about and got us a good supper. And then we had a little conversation, but I avoided Mormonism as much as possible and answering questions about it.

We got up in the morning about daybreak, and I can tell you we was not long in getting away. We saddled our horses and got ready and the old man said that we must stay for breakfast, but I told him we were in somewhat of a hurry, and that we would not stop. He said that he was very sorry, but that we must have our own way. The old lady said that we must take some biscuits in our pocket to eat on the road, so we took them and started on our journey wishing them good morning.

We arrived in Quincy, Ill. and I went and stayed with an old man there and kept school, and brother Louis kept school, too. I taught the old man's children and his grand children and some few neighbor's children, some twenty or more. I kept school till January, and in February my wife started for Quincy with the rest of the saints, along with Brother and Sister A. O. Smoot. 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 and guard me from all evil designing men. They were taking the brethren, them 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 time 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 families with the wagon. The ferry boat made the 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 twelfth of March.

There was an old man, I forget his name just now, 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, 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 till 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 store and get some meat when we wanted some. He never charged us for 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 be treated with so much kindness.

The Lord opened their hearts so that his saints should not suffer so much as they had done in the fore part of the winter. In the summer of thirty nine, 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, Ill. We lived in Quincy about three or four weeks and then moved out about ten miles 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 till I returned, which was not till the next January in 1840. 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 believe in the principles of Eternal life and Salvation. While I was on this mission brothers 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.

My wife bore me a daughter Dec. 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 I wanted to live where he did. 'Well,' said he, 'You have not got your family up 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 till you move your family up.

I thanked him for his kind offer, and when I got to the house I found a whole lot of folks very sick. It was a very sickly place indeed. He said it was a low, marshy, damp and nasty place but that if we went to work and improved 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 time 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.

At that time every one was building, and you could look over the little settlement and see the hand of industry in every corner of the town. We were all Mormons but one, Danial H. Wells. He was the squire of Hancock County. Things prospered with the saints when they came to Commerce but in 1842 they changed the name to Nauvoo and the Lord blessed them.

John L. Butler had grown tall and strong since joining the church. He stood six feet four inches tall, and as the prophet's friend and bodyguard he often wrestled and boxed and jumped with the prophet. In 1842 the saints began to build the temple in Nauvoo, and that same year John L. went on a mission to the Sioux Indians. He went with Brother Emmett, the man who had baptized him, and he took his family along. It consisted of his wife and five children. They had no success with the Indians; these Indians did not like them at all. They stole their horses and shot their cattle. John L. Butler and Brother Emmett started their families toward home and then went to look for their horses and stock. They found the animals, but the Indians took them again, then tried to waylay the missionaries and kill them.

The two were without food for days. They finally came to a stream abounding in fine large fish, for which they thanked the Lord sincerely. John Butler arrived home in time for conference, and brother Joseph, on learning that they had returned safely, told them to go again, this time without their families. He said that they would not be hurt. The two men left once again to preach to the Indians, but they still did not respond and were not ready to accept the gospel.

When John L. Butler went on his mission, he was not very well fixed, financially, but so great was his faith that he accepted the call. After their mission was completed, John and his companion had to pass through hostile Indian country. They had been three days without food when they came to a fork in the road. They knelt down and prayed for guidance to know which road to take, and they were inspired to take the left hand road. They traveled down the road a long way through barren country and were becoming discouraged, when suddenly they came to a stream of water literally filled with trout. The fish were so thick that they could catch them with their hands, so their prayers for food and protection were answered. They knew that their Father in Heaven was watching over them.

John was gone a long time on his mission, and when he returned home his clothes were full of lice and nits from living among the Indians. His wife had to get him a whole set of clean clothes. The Indians told him to put his old clothes on an ant hill and the ants would eat the lice and nits. His clothes were white with nits, but the ants cleaned them all up.

While the men were gone, the families did not have much for their support and comfort. They lived on crab apples and honey for nine weeks. On February 15, 1842, Caroline

gave birth to another daughter. They named her Sarah Adaline.

At this time they were living on a farm on the outskirts of Nauvoo, and Caroline was left alone much of the time with the children. They had an old mother pig with many little ones. When the little pigs grew to be fairly good sized, they were stolen, one at a time, leaving only the sow. Caroline told her oldest boy, Taylor, that they had better kill the old pig to make sure of a little meat for the family. With that, Caroline and her 12-year-old boy killed the pig, dressed it, and put it away for the winter.

At one time during this same period, Caroline became ill with malaria. She wanted the prophet to come and administer to her, but he was too busy because there were many others who were sick at the same time. However, he did send a hand-kerchief to Caroline so she could put it over her face, and so great was her faith in his power that she was made well.

In the fall of 1842 John Lowe Butler went down to Ken­tucky to see all his friends there. But some of his rela­tives were bitterly opposed to the gospel. Jesse Skeen was dead by that time, but he had filled his sons' hearts with hatred of the Mormons. John L. went into Tennessee to see the folks there, also, and they too were bitter opponents of the gospel. The only one who treated him with any kindness was his uncle John Lowe. But he bore his testimony to the people in that area, anyway, trying to impress upon them the sincerity of his belief so they would have something to think about. He found his wife's sister, Charity, still clinging to the gospel. She wanted to go to Nauvoo with him, but her brothers opposed this move. Charity was deaf and dumb, and she had two sisters who were also deaf and dumb. John said he would take Charity back with him, but her two sisters cried bitterly about it. Her brothers collected a mob to prevent him from taking her, and they even threatened to shoot him if he did so.

Despite the danger, John and Charity arose early one morning and started out. At the time, her brothers had al-ready gone to collect their helpers, and her sisters cried mournfully. The two traveled for a short distance and reached a fork in the road. They took the left fork. Shortly after, Charity's brothers and their friends, now fully armed, came after them. When this small band reached the fork in the road, they took the right fork. They rode hard for several hours but could not overtake John and Charity, so they returned home. The sisters were happy to see their brothers return, for they did not want them to

catch John and Charity. They had been terribly frightened because they thought their brothers would kill John and maybe their sister.

Of course, Caroline was very glad to see her sister again.

John went on another mission to Illinois with a brother Louis. They found a few honest in heart, but most of the folks were bitter toward the Mormons. This mission lasted almost a year, from July of 1843 to the spring of 1844. While they were gone, Caroline bore John another son on February 28, 1844. They named him after his father, John Lowe.

Some time in 1842 John L. Butler was ordained as one of the Prophet Joseph Smith's body guards, and his duties in that capacity caused him to be away much of the time, either with the prophet himself or avoiding the mobs which contin­ually searched for him. Caroline was left with much of the household cares. One day a mob of men with blackened faces came hunting for John Lowe Butler. After a fruitless search they demanded that Caroline give them some supper. She didn't have much to cook, so they made her kill a mutton and cook some of it for them. When they sat down to eat, one of them demanded a fried egg. She broke it into the frying pan and was just beginning to cook it when he said, "Bring it to me; that is done enough:"

She took the egg to the man and suddenly realized he was her brother. She said, "Oh, Alex: Why would you bring trouble to your sister like this?"

He said, "I've come to take you away from this damned outfit."

She told him she was better off than he was and that she didn't want any of his help.

The saints worked diligently to complete their temple in Nauvoo, and everyone worked as hard as they could and donated as much as they could. The women of the city were asked to contribute their dimes and pennies for the temple fund. One day a committee called for Caroline's donation and she had nothing to give. She felt badly about this, as she wanted to give. A few days later she and her children were going into the city in a wagon when they came upon two newly killed buffaloes. To her thirfty hands this was a boon. She and her children pulled the long hair from the manes, heads, and necks of the dead animals. Caroline took the hair home, washed and carded and spun it into coarse yarn, and knit eight pair of heavy mittens from it. These she gave to the rock cutters who were working on the temple in the dead of winter. She had used this kind of hair before for her family needs. Many times she was able to get hair from buffalo which had died for one reason or another, and she made it into such items as quilts, pillows, beds, socks, and so on to help provide for her family. She knew just how warm the buffalo mittens could be.

During the building of the temple the Latter-day Saint women were able to raise the sum of $2,000, which was suffi­cient to buy all the nails and all the windows used in the temple. This all took place in the days of great poverty among the people, when they scarcely had enough to feed and clothe their little ones; yet, they found the time and the money to build a magnificent temple to their God.

The prophet Joseph Smith was arrested many times during these years. On his last arrest he was taken to Carthage city jail. John L. wrote of the arrests:

They treyd him over and over again, but could not prove anything that was against the laws of the constitution of the United States against him, and they would have to deliver him up again. The mob issued a writ for brother Joseph and Hyrum again and they were taken to Carthage. I and some more of his life guards went with him. We were all willing to live or diewith them.

Brother Joseph spoke to us all and told us that he was like a lamb led to the slaughter. He also spoke to Brother Hyrum and wished him to re-turn home with us. We begged him to let us stay with him and die with him if necessary, but he said no, we were to return to our homes, and Brother Hyrum said that he would stay with Brother Joseph.

For my part, I felt that something great was going to transpire. He blessed us all and told us to go. We bade him farewell and started. We had twenty miles to ride, and we went the whole distance without uttering one word. All were dumb and still and all felt the spirit as I did myself. I cannot express my feelings at that time for they over-powered me. I felt like the prophets of the Lord were about to be taken from us and that they were going to await their doom, the same as the Lord His when He was here upon the earth. We went to our homes like so many sheep that had lost their shep­herd, knowing not what to do.

The governor sent troops there to protect the prisoners from the mobs that came there to take the lives of the brethren; they did go and guard the jail, but it was very poorly done. The mob came and demanded the prisoners and if they would not give them up they would tare down the jail and take them anyway. They were all blackened up so that folks would not know them; but they were known, every one of them. There were ministers of the gospel, there were lawyers and the pious men of the day there, but woe to them.

On June 27, 1844, Joseph Smith was martyred. His death left the saints without their prophet. The council of the twelve took over the leadership of the church, with Brigham Young as head of the council. Brigham called the faithful saints together and told them that they were going west, but before they left they were to finish the temple and take care of their ordinances and endowments therein. This task, Brig-ham said, would take everything they possessed, and so the brethren gave cash -- every bit they had -- and work, work, hard work. The women did the same. They worked and donated every cent they could rake up.

Some of the saints wanted to leave for the mountains early. Among them was John's friend, Emmett. He tried to get John L. to go with him, because he wanted as large a company as possible, but John would not go. Emmett argued that when the prophet was killed there was no more priesthood in the church, but John would not listen. He argued with Emmett, and he did such a good job of it that even Emmett's wife would not go with him; she preferred to stay with the saints in Nauvoo.

John L. wrote of the event:

Emmett started in September to go the mountains, and he wanted me to go with him in his company, but I told him that I would not go, for I was going to stop and go with Brother Brigham. He returned and wanted me to go with him again. But again I refused to go with him. . . . and the news came to Brother Brigham, and he told me to go and get ready to start to Emmett's company, and said he, 'There is some good people in that company, and I hate to see him carrying them to destruction, and it must not be, for you must go and save them.'

Brother Brigham sent me up the river late in 1844. We started about Christmas time and wintered on the Iowa river in Emmett's company. Brother Brigham sent me up to attend to affairs up there in this company, for they were stealing and carrying on.

They had got pretty well along in the art of taking what did not belong to them and applying it to their own use. They would pick up a yoke and put it in their own wagons and say that it would come in handy if they wanted to yoke up any more teams.

One of the men reported to the officers of the law that the stealing was going on, and he said they had stolen his coat. The officers came and arrested several men, including John L. Butler. A group of about seventy-five men accom­panied the officers and their prisoners back to court. On the way the men talked openly about their crimes, and some of the men even suggested going back to steal some cattle to sell on the way. With this open talk, the officers soon knew who the culprits were and that some of the men they had arrested were innocent. Nevertheless, John L. Butler in­sisted on having a trial to clear his name, and he and some of the others were acquitted. He returned to Emmett's camp to talk with the group, but they would not listen to him.

There were many Indians in that area, and one day John L. made a "medicine dinner" for some Of them. A chief and a young half breed by the name of Henri came to the dinner, and they all swore to be friends.

Some time later, John L. traded for a horse with some member of the camp. A mountaineer came into camp and claimed that the horse was his. John L. wouldn't give it back to him, so the mountaineer went to the Indian chief and told him that he and his tribe should kill off all the men, women and children in the camp, and that if he did so the moun­taineer would reward him generously. The chief said he would do it, but young Henri protested. He said, "Yes, go and kill all of them that have taught you to spin and to make cloth and to raise corn, to make sugar and live com­fortably. Yes, go and kill them all off and then you will always be left Indian, for no more will come, for they will be afraid that you will kill them all off, too."

John L. reported: "Well, the old chief said that if they would tell him the ones that had offended them he would have them put out of the way. . . . and the old chief came to me and told me that he did not want to kill me, but if I would give him a mare and colt that I had he would make a treaty with me. So I did. He thanked me and told me he would give me a horse and saddle. He done so and they were worth all I gave him."

Once again, John L. had reason to praise the Lord, for he felt the Lord had blessed him always for doing what was right. In all his journeys he felt his Father in Heaven was near him to help guard him from all evil and designing men.

He was unsuccessful in trying to dissuade the Emmett party from their course of action, so he left there to return to Nauvoo. They traveled in a canoe piloted by two Frenchmen. There were three Mormons in the group. John wrote:

Just before we got to St. Jo there was a feeling came over me that I must not go by way of St. Jo for some purpose or other, I could not tell. So I told the brethren that they could take a steamboat and go down to St. Louis and from there to Nauvoo, and I would go across the country. I left them and started. I was thirteen days in going across to the Mississippi River, and I had some trials to pass through. For four days I never tasted a bite of food, but the Lord was near to bless and comfort me on my journey.

(These brethren later told him:) . . . that they kept on down the river, and when they got near to St. Joseph there were five men armed with re­volvers and bowey knives, and they asked them if that was the canoe from Fort Vermillion. They told them that it was. The men then said that they wanted them to show them John L. Butler.

Brother Fullmer told them that he was not there. Well, said they, we know that he is here. They then told them that he was not there. Well, they said, that that fellow had lied to them, for he said that there was a canoe coming down the river and there was John L.. Butler in the canoe with two more Mor­mons. They then began to curse and swear, that if he was there they would damn soon put an end to him. They were men that had been in the general election in Davis County, and they thought that they would put an end to me when they had a chance. They said the fellow had only told them that to fool them.

be fulfilled; be satisfied with every good thing and inherit eternal life; this is thy blessing sealed upon thee by the authority of the priesthood and cannot be broken only through disobedience. Amen.

Patriarchal blessing of Caroline Butler --Nauvoo, Dec. 21st, 1844.

A blessing by John Smith, Patriarch, upon the head of Caroline Butler, daughter of Jesse and Keziah Skeene, born, April 15th, A.D. 1812, Sumner County, Tennessee.

Sister Caroline, I lay my hands upon thy head in the name of Jesus Christ and seal upon thee a Father's blessing, because thou hast forsaken thy friends and good name among the gentiles for the Gospel's sake to dwell with the Saints; Thou art entitled to all the blessings of the new and ever-lasting covenant, with the power and benefits of the Holy Priesthood in common with thy companion, with faith to heal the sick in thy house, to have all power over the destroyer that thy family may be preserved unto thee in the midst of the desola­tions which are sweeping the earth.

I seal upon thee every blessing which has been promised to thy companion; thou shalt go with him considerably in his journeyings; thou shalt comfort him in his afflictions, thou shalt have the minister­ing of angels to comfort thee; all this because thou art a lawful heir having descended from Ephraim. Thy name shall be known as a mother among the Laman­ites forever; thy posterity shall be numerous and shall be mighty men of war; their enemies shall flee before them; thou shalt have plenty of riches and shall live until thou art satisfied with life and every good thing; Thou shalt come up in the first resurrection with thy companion and all thy friends and you shall be sealed and reign together for all eternity; this is thy blessing and it is sure if thy faith fails not. Sealed upon thee by the authority of the Holy Priesthood. Amen.

Brigham Young was still not willing to give up on Emmett's company, and he sent John L. out to try once more:

That spring, 1845, Brother Brigham wanted me to return to Emmett's company and take charge of it and bring it back. I returned with Brother James Cummings and arrived about April. I found the camp in poor condition. My wife had been very sick; in-deed, they did not think that she would live for six months. My family had been living on a half pint of corn per day, and the sufferings that they had to pass through was very bitter, indeed.

When my wife was sick, Henri went down with his horse and a small cart to get some provisions. He got two hundred of flour, fifty weight of coffee and some sugar and tea, and when he came back he came and got one of my little girls and took her away, and sister Packet came and said, 'What is he going to do with the child?' My wife rose up in her bed and said, 'What is he going to do with my child?' and told sister Packet to watch and see. He took her to his house and after a while she came out with a pan of flour on her head and a pint of sugar and some tea and told her to give it to her mother for she needed it to make her well. So sister Packet ran and helped the child to bring it in for it was about as much as she could carry. My wife was truly thankful for it, for she could not eat the corn, and if she did it seemed to throw her back again.

An Indian squaw lived near the Butlers, and she became almost like a mother to Caroline. The children called her "Grandma Squaw," and she taught Caroline Skeen Butler the medicinal use of many herbs and wild roots while the family lived in Winter Quarters, Illinois. This knowledge of me­dicinal herbs was carefully remembered and passed on to Caroline's daughters, her grandchildren, and her neighbors. The squaw also taught Caroline about many roots and herbs that could be used as food. She often gathered these things for her family. John L. wrote about one incident:

i

One day two of the brethren were going across the river, and my wife asked if she could go across and gather some roots for her family. They said yes, but they didn't want to be bothered with a lot of women. She and the squaw went over and were left there four days and nights and nothing in the world to eat but roots. The river had risen the day after they had gotten over, and huge logs were floating in the flooded river so that it was dangerous to cross at that time. The two women made a fire and gathered leaves and hollowed out a big furrow for a bed. They filled the furrow with leaves and covered them-selves with leaves so they could keep warm at night. They called across the river for help, and although their cries were heard, no one would chance crossing the dangerous river.

There were the children left by them, several small ones. John was then a baby. My wife laid down on the fourth day, for she was very weak and feeble and she dreamed that I had come back and that I was standing on the other side of the river -- she awoke and looked and sure enough I was standing on the bank of the river with Charity and Phoebe in my hands, now the men had seen me in the distance and had put out of the fort and down to the river and through the brush and got into the¨canoe and went across to my wife and brought her across. Well they got to the shore and I was there to receive them.

Let us return, now, to 1845 when John L. Butler was asked to take over the Emmett company. When John L. arrived at the camp, Emmett was away. John immediately made plans to move the company across the Mississippi. They went up to the Pawnee village and camped for the winter on a river called "The Running Water." There were about one hundred families in the group, and they built a fort for protection. In this fort another son was born to John L. and Caroline on February 5, 1847. They named him James.

There were sugar maples nearby, and they tapped the trees to catch all the syrup they could. Night after night Caroline sat up boiling the precious sugar to help feed her little flock. By her hard labor she filled a small trunk with maple sugar to use on the long journey to the Great Salt Lake. One day Emmett demanded that the Butlers divide their sugar with the rest of the camp. Caroline refused. Emmett went to John L. and insisted that he force his wife to divide the sugar. John said, "Well, on that score Caroline can just suit herself. The rest could have had some if they had worked as she did. Many of this human family want all the work done by someone else, and they want to reap the benefits of the work of these someone else."

Now it was time for the company to abandon the fort and return to Winter Quarters to help the saints prepare for the trek westward. John L. wrote:

We left Running Water about the first of April, as soon as the grass began to come up. We went down to Winter Quarters and we fenced a piece of land, grubbed it and put in about six acres of corn and raised a crop this summer. (Apparently, others had come with him from Emmett's company, or perhaps he had weaned some of the company away from Emmett.)

Now most of the folks looked down upon us as cold apostate Mormons, and they despised us and threw out insinuations about us. Well, Brother Brigham got to hear about it. . . .and told them from the stand that he wanted them to quit their talk, for there was good and honest souls in Emmett's Company, and as for John L. Butler, he had sent him himself from Nauvoo to Emmett's Company, and told him that he wanted him to go and try to bring them back, for if they still went on a as they were going they would all go to destruction. 'Now,' said he, 'I have used John L. Butler for a cane in my hand to bring those people in subjection to the laws and commandments of God, and,' said he, 'Brother John L. Butler I bless you in the name of the Lord, and may you always obey the councils that are given to you from time to time. Now brethren and sisters I want to hear no more of this from this time. Love one another and strive to help one another and do unto others as you would have others do unto you. Union is strength and is from the Lord.'

The first winter, my wife Charity's brother came for her to go and pay a visit home with him, and when he got her home he took her to Tennessee and left her there. This was while we were at Winter Quarters.

Apparently, this incident explains why Charity was unable to come west with the Butlers.

In the spring of 1847 the saints under Brigham Young were making final plans for the journey to the Salt Lake Valley. The Butlers were planning to go along, but they had no provisions and scarcely any clothes. Brigham Young sug­gested that John L. go over to Pottawatomie and earn enough money so he could take his family west in greater comfort. John got a farm there and worked some at his trade, black­smithing. The following winter he took his third wife, Sarah, and moved to Weston, Missouri. There he worked with his team of horses and at the cooper trade.

He returned to Winter Quarters from time to time to be with his family and to help them with planting and other household chores. On February 23, 1849, Caroline gave birth to a daughter, Lucy Ann. That summer Caroline and Taylor, their oldest son, farmed and raised a good crop of corn. John L. returned to Winter Quarters for good in January of 1850; he brought Sarah with him.

About this same time, Emmett came again and asked John to go to California with him to look for gold. Emmett said, "Oh, you need not be afraid of your religion, for the priest-hood was taken from the earth when Joseph was murdered, and Brigham Young has no authority to govern and control his people." He argued that the two of them could get rich in California, and he begged John to go with him. But John L. Butler refused to renounce his religion for gold; he told Emmett he would have to find someone else to go with him.

On May 9, 1851, John and Caroline had another son, whom they named Thomas. Thomas was about one year old when the -family started for Great Salt Lake.

John L. was assigned to Eli B. Kelsey's train as a blacksmith. In the company were two or three hundred head of small stock, three or four hundred head of sheep, ten wagon-loads of Danish people who could not drive oxen, and about fifty other families. John L. was named captain over the Danes. Taylor was now 20 years old, and he was a big help to his father. There was a great deal of difficulty in getting the train organized, but eventually they were on their way.

The cholera raged fearfully that season, but the Kelsey train was better off than most groups. They lost only two persons from cholera, while other companies that season lost many, often burying as many as six or seven in one grave. There were many trains bound for California, too, and members of those groups died by the hundreds. The saints stayed on the north side of the Platte River, a course which seemed to be better to them.

It was a long journey across the plains, and the saints had to resort to many ingenious ways to keep their families fed. The Butlers were indebted to grandmother squaw for her help. She made and brought them a bag of Pemmican. I found a recipe for it up in the museum at Banff, Alberta, a few years ago. It was the Indians' way of taking provisions on a long trip. The recipe is:

A food preparation used in the wilds of northern parts of north America, and made by cut­ting the meat into thin slices, drying them in the sun or over the smoke of a slow fire. After dry­ing, it was pounded fine between stones and then mixed with about one third part of melted fat. To this mixture, dried fruit such as choke cherries or June berries is sometimes added. The whole is then compressed into skin bags, in which, if kept dry, it will keep for many years. Of the many types of pemmican, the above was the most generally used.

Grandma squaw brought the Butlers pemmican in a cleaned, dried stomach of a cow. A handful of this powdered meat in a kettle of boiling water made a very good, nourishing soup. Many times during their trip this pemmican soup made up the family's complete supper at night. Caroline used her in­genuity in many ways to provide for her family. She gathered what fat she could from animals which died along the way, scraping marrow from the bones or whatever else was necessary. She cooked the fat with water in which she had soaked cot­tonwood ashes. This made a sort of soft soap, and she kept a barrel of this soap in the back of the wagon while they were crossing the plains.

At one point on the journey west they met a wagon train and traded for a sack of flour. One day Caroline made a pan of biscuits, one for each member of the family. Little Adaline cherished her biscuit and kept it a little longer than the others. She accidentally dropped it into the soap barrel, but she was so hungry that she fished it out, wiped it off, and ate it anyway. Biscuits were such a treat for the kiddies:

Some experiences during the trip were not so pleasant. They had a stampede one day, and some of the wagons were broken. John L. had a big job getting the wagons fixed so the journey could continue. Four wagons were very badly damaged, and as he was the blacksmith, it was his duty to repair them.

When the train neared Salt Lake City they were pretty well without food, and a young Frenchman who met them along the trail went into the city ahead of them and told Brigham Young. He had the saints gather up some crackers, bread, and other provisions and sent them out to the incoming train. John L. was appointed to distribute the food among the hungry ones, and he reported that there were some smil­ing faces and jumping for joy among the children when they received this special treat. It was undoubtedly a pleasure for him to see them so delighted with the food.

When the wagon train arrived in Salt Lake City, the Butlers were sent down to Spanish Fork to settle. John L. took Sarah, his third wife, with him and left Caroline in Salt Lake. He seemed to have great confidence in Caroline and could leave her anywhere and at any time to look after herself and her family. She had had a great deal of experience in doing this over the years. Some of her chil­dren had been born while John L. was away on missions or hiding from the mob. She always knew how to do the things necessary for herself and family -- perhaps even better than John could have done had he been home.

She waited until December before she started down to Spanish Fork, and she was caught by a heavy Utah snowstorm. The snow was so heavy that one of the oxen and one of the cows died, so they had to stop at the warm springs for four weeks before they could continue to Spanish Fork. They lived alongside the creek in Spanish Fork until July, then they moved into a little three-sided shanty on the back of some-one else's house for a while.

That summer John L. staked out a little farm, and the next spring, March 26, 1854, Caroline had another daughter, Alvarette Farozine. John L. went up to Green River to work in the summer of 1854, and once again he left Caroline at home with the family to do the planting and all the farm work. She measured up in every respect. While John was gone, two Indians came in with some of the settler's cattle they had found, including two cows and a yearling which belonged to the Butlers. The Indians asked for two blankets for bringing the livestock in, so Caroline traded off the yearling for two blankets and was very glad to get the cows, but they were dry. They milked one of the cows, but she didn't give much milk, and with thirteen in the family that wasn't enough. Caroline was able to get buttermilk from the Markhams, though, and the children thought it was a blessing.

That summer one of Caroline's babies took sick and cried for some meat he could smell cooking, so she traded a piece of handwork (a shawl) for a piece of meat for her sick child. Many times she walked five miles to milk a cow to get milk for them. When flour was scarce she would parch corn and grind it and put milk over it to feed her family.

When John L. came home that fall, he not only brought his wages for the summer, he also brought fifteen head of cattle, which was a great blessing to the family.

Then they built a fort between Palmyra and the upper settlement, and they all spent the winter in the fort. In the spring, some few moved out and built homes around the fort. John L. went in with John W. Mott and helped him build a threshing machine. John L. did the iron work for it, and Mott did the woodwork.

As soon as spring came in 1855, John L. planned to leave the town again, this time to go to Fort Bridger. He took his wife, Sarah, and his two oldest daughters, Charity and Keziah. Once again, Caroline was left with the major part of the family. By this time, the two oldest children, Taylor and Phoebe, were married. So with a small baby and the rest of the children she proceeded to see to the farm work, too. But it was not a good summer for them. The grasshoppers were so bad that the family had a struggle getting in any crop at all. However, Caroline was so faithful that she felt the Lord had blessed her abundantly. One evening after the day's work in the field with her boys and girls, Caroline had com­pleted her evening meal and was spinning in the firelight. The younger children had retired, but some of the older ones were busy with needed tasks, when a knock came at the door. A father and his son sought food and shelter. Caroline had little to offer these travelers, but she made them a pone of cornmeal, which she cooked in the skillet over the fire in the fireplace, where she did all of her cooking. She divided the pone between the two visitors and gave them each a bowl of milk. They felt the sweet spirit of the home, and when they were preparing to leave, the father said, "Sister Butler, I am prompted to give you a blessing."

The two men placed their hands upon her head, and among other things they promised her, in the name of the Lord, that she and her children would never go hungry. The Lord would provide for them always, the man said.

In later years Caroline testified to the truth of this promise. She said she sometimes scraped the bottom of the meal barrel for the last batch of bread there, mixed it, and baked it. Then, when she couldn't find food anywhere else she went back to the same barrel and scraped up enough meal for another batch of bread. This procedure was repeated many times, she said. The barrel seemed magic. It was almost like the widow's barrel that was blessed by Elijah.

On another night as they were all working there to­gether by the firelight, once again a knock came at the door. Caroline answered, and there stood a man in the dark doorway. Without speaking he turned around and dropped a heavy burden off his back on the doorstep at her feet, then walked away. She called to him, asking who he was and what it was he had left on her doorstep, but she received no answer. Then she went to the hearth and picked up a fire stick so she could investigate. There at her feet the man had dropped a dressed mutton.

Caroline had many faith building experiences, partly because she had a reputation for being able to do so many things. One morning she was out in her shed milking her cow. Her next door neighbor was in his shed on the other side of a willow partition shearing his sheep. She heard a cry and a great deal of excited calling and talking. She left her work and rushed over to find that the ewe the man had been shearing had kicked his hand and the shears had nearly se­vered his thumb from his hand. He was holding it in place with his other hand, and one of the onlookers asked Caroline if she could sew the thumb back on.

Caroline said, "I don't know about these things, but if you'd like me to, I'll try it."

The man said, "Sister Butler, I'd be eternally grateful to you if you would."

She got some thread -- probably homemade by herself --and boiled it. With her little three-cornered buckskin needle she sewed the thumb in place, then doped it with tur­pentine, pine gum, and mutton tallow. She bound the thumb with scorched strips of cotton cloth. After that she cared for the thumb and dressed the wound many times. It grew back and the man did not lose his thumb.

Caroline was, indeed, a clever woman. And with such a good and clever woman as this for a mother, it is no wonder that Keziah Jane turned out to be such a good and gifted woman. Keziah's mother taught her well, and she took ad-vantage of all the wise and useful teachings and admonitions of her mother. The Lord blesses all those whose hearts are right and obedient before him.

When John L. Butler came back from Fort Bridger in 1855 he had not done as well as he did the year before, but his two daughters were very happy with their earnings. Keziah Jane had obtained a nice bit of dotted swiss for her wedding dress, and she had earned enough money so that she could place a ten dollar gold piece in her husband's hand on their wedding day. From that time on she did her full share in all undertakings. She followed her mother's example in every respect.

John L. later wrote about the problems his family had experienced with the crickets that summer:

. . . but they all flew up one morning and darkened the skies and all lit in the great Salt Lake; there the strength of the salt killed them. Fresh water will not drown them; they might be in the water twelve hours, and if they came alongside of a twig they would get out and in an hour they would be as well as ever. When they were gone the wheat and grain sprung up, and the folks watered it, and cut it for hay. If they had not some of their cattle would have starved to death that winter, for the feed was all destroyed by the grass-hoppers. Now folks had but little grain on hand, not enough to do them till the next harvest, so they rationed themselves. It was a hard winter.

John Butler also wrote about how he had been called to be bishop earlier that year:

Brother William Pace had been put in bishop after Stephen Markham, and at April conference he had been called to go to England on a mission. I was then put in his place by the people of Spanish Fork, and after a while I went down to the city and Brigham asked me if I had been ordained to the office of bishop. I told him I had not, neither did I want to be. But he said, 'I want you to be ordained to the office of bishop and go to work and build a city at Spanish Fork, and go right ahead building up the Kingdom of God.' And he ordained me and blessed me and said, 'Brother John, the Lord be with you and comfort you in all your undertakings and give you His Holy Spriit to enable you to govern the people aright that you are placed over.'

He also told me that the people of Palmyra was to leave their places and come and build in Spanish Fork. I returned home and asked the Lord to bless me and enable me to build up His kingdom . . . . Some of the people of Palmyra didn't want to come up and build in Spanish Fork. Some of them had bitter feelings against those of the upper settlement. However, they were willing to obey the counsel given to them by Brigham.

I had the city surveyed and laid off in city blocks and city lots and had a water section brought down from the river up above the upper settlement. We had to put in a dam to get the water on the low­est bench. When the city was laid off it took sev­eral weeks to accomplish it. I then went and made a field company and got them to put up a wall from the river west of the county road and bring it north and then down to the river. Well, they went to work and put up the wall, although some of the men at the time lived on nothing in the world but bran and weeds. Then they built a bridge across the Spanish Fork River. They went to the mountains and got the timber for it. They put in their crops and early vegetables and did pretty well and raised good crops.

John L. Butler did many things for the people and the church in the Spanish Fork area. He fixed up J. W. Mott's house for a tithing office; he got brother Raymond for a clerk; he hired two men to build a tithing corral, which was used for a stray pen, a public corral, and a stack yard for tithing hay and corn. John had no corral of his own, so he stacked his grain in the tithing yard. The people built a bowery in the public square and held a conference there. The leaders told them that Brother Brigham said the church wanted a reformation among the people and they were all to be bap­tized again and live their religion more fully than they had been doing.

John was re baptized, and he had all the people be re baptized, too. They had good meetings after that, according to the reports. Being a bishop, John L. undoubtedly felt that he should set the example by following the instructions of the church presidency. Accordingly, he joined the United Order in August of 1855. He went to Provo and transferred his property to the church.

That winter the children all had measles, nine of them down with it at once. Keziah and her husband, Lemuel Redd, also had the measles in their home on the other side of the fort. Not many escaped from having the disease who had not had it before. It was a bad winter, with much snow and cold weather.

In 1856 there were many late immigrants, and the people in Spanish Fork were asked to send help to them. They were asked to send six wagons with four mules or horses to each wagon. John Lowe Butler's son, Taylor, drove one of the teams and was superintendent of the expedition. They found the immigrating saints out on the plains in awful condition. Many were nearly starved, and some had hands and feet frozen. The rescue group brought all the saints in, however, despite the deep snows which required them to shovel nearly all the way. (My grandfather, Hans Ulrich Bryner and family were with these late immigrants.)

By springtime everything began to look wonderful. The settlers planted crops, and the crops were coming up well for them. The people were happy with the blessings of the Lord. Then the United States sent an army out to Utah to destroy the Mormons from off the earth. The folks in Spanish Fork were just getting in their crops when they received word that they should send out a company of men to meet the army at the border; Brigham Young was determined not to let the army into the territory. Eventually, he changed his mind, but in the meantime Taylor Butler and Lot Smith were among the band of settlers who challenged the U.S. Army. During the fight, many saints vacated Salt Lake City and moved to Spanish Fork. John Butler had to survey many more blocks and city lots and fields for the new settlers.

John L. writes:

Brother Brigham gave orders for the folks to move back again if they wanted to and a great many moved back and a great many stayed. There was a great many came to Spanish Fork City and they covered the bottom and made dugouts under the sides of the benches, and the cattle ranged on the benches and they ate all the feed off so that our own cattle fared very slim that fall. The folks came to me to give them places to build and I had so much to do that I did not know which to begin at first. I did not have time to eat meals I was so busy.

John L. started a saw mill, and Archy Gardner said he would like to join John in the venture. Archy suggested that they build the mill up higher, so they moved it from

the original site. Then Archy wanted to build a grist mill; they built one of the best grist mills in the territory.

In the late 1850's John Lowe Butler's health began to fail. He continued to write just as long as he could:

Now I am getting worse all the time. I fear

I have seen my best days, but I can say that I have done my best to help to roll forth the Kingdom of God. I have seen and been through many trials and close places, and my family have suffered from want, and I have always felt to give God praise for all things which came unto us for our good, and I can bear my testimony to this work. I know that it is the kingdom of God, for the Lord has blessed me with the knowledge thereof. I have seen the sick healed under the power of the priesthood, and I have seen the power of God displayed in many places, and I have always felt to do my best in all things that I have had to do, and my prayer is that all of us who are in the Kingdom of God may be led to do what is right in the sight of God at all times, is the prayer of your humble servant, Amen.

He died April 10, 1860.

After John Lowe Butler died, his 17-year-old son, John Lowe Butler, Jr., took his mother to Paragonah and made a home for her there. She had two daughters living in Pan­guitch. Phoebe had married George W. Sevy, and Sarah Adaline had married Dixon Allen. They both lived in Panguitch. Later, Caroline went to Panguitch and was cared for by these daughters. She died in Panguitch on August 4, 1875, at the home of Sarah A. Allen. She was buried beside her husband in Spanish Fork cemetery. At her funeral it was said of her: "Her faith was strong as the everlasting hills, and all these hardships only seemed to purify her soul until it was pure gold. Her very womanliness rested like a halo on her brow. She is one of the queens of the earth."

A newspaper clipping of Caroline Butler's death was found pinned in John Lowe Butler, Jr.'s diary. It is from an unidentified newspaper:

Caroline Farozine Skeen Butler was born in Sumner County, Tennessee -- and was baptized by Elder James Emmett in Simpson County Kentucky. Her husband was baptized at the same time. They moved from this region in 1836 and traveled to Gray County, Missouri. Moving from there to Clay County and stayed a short time where the saints laid out Caldwell County and commenced to build up Far West, to which place she moved with her family in the fall of 1836. They lived here about two years. Then moved to Davies County where they passed through a series of persecution and violence which the saints endured in Missouri. In February 1837, they moved from Far West to Quincy, Illinois and suffered in the journey having in many instances been denied the privilege of warming herself and her children by the fire in a home and making a fire by the roadside.

Moved to Commerce afterwards called Nauvoo in March 1840. In 1842, with her children accompanied by her Husband on a mission to the Sioux Indians. Endured much hardship and privation having been robbed of teams and oxen by the Indians narrowly escaping with their lives. She returned with her husband and five children to Nauvoo in October of the same year.

In the fall of 1844 she took her family and went with her husband on a second mission to the Sioux and was left with the company at fort Vermilion during the winter of 1845 and 1846 while her husband returned to Nauvoo. During this time she and her children suffered much privation and sickness, living on one half pint of corn a day and such wild game and honey as her fourteen year old son Taylor could procure.

In the Spring of 1846, she was moved to Council Bluffs and met the main body of the church, every member of her family returning safely accord­ing to a promise made her by Brigham Young. In the Spring of 1848, she moved with her family to Pottawatomie, Iowa, where two children were born to her. The family started for Salt Lake City in 1852 and arrived in the fall of that year.

They settled in Spanish Fork and remained in this place until five years after the death of her husband. She then moved to Gunnison changing her residence many times because of Indians. She finally settled in Panguitch.

• Residence: District No 2, Green, Kentucky, United States - 1860
• Residence: District No 2, Green, Kentucky, United States - 1860

Detached Spouses:

The following marriages were attributed as spouses to John Lowe Butler but they have been detached from his profile as not currently having sources to help prove a relationship:

• Joana Butler detached
• Sarah Butler detached
• Prudence Butler detached
• Keziah Phelps detached
• Rebecca Butler detached
• Esther Butler detached
• Mary Butler detached
• Sally Butler detached
• Betsey Butler detached
• Hannah Butler detached
• Elizabeth Butler detached
• Anna Price Butler detached
• Polly Butler detached

  ---

GEDCOM Note

William G. Hartley, My Best for the Kingdom: History and Autobiography of John Lowe Butler, a Mormon Frontiersman (SLC: Aspen Books, 1993). SIGNED. OUT-OF-PRINT. HARDCOVER, first printing, w/ dj. Fine/fine condition. WINNER of the Mormon History Assoc. Best Biography Award for 1993. Originally priced at $24.95. 525 pages, with illustrations and a number of maps that one reviewer praised as a "valuable resource for general Church history." Although published only a few years ago, this award winning book had only one printing before the publisher was sold to a new owner. The book quickly went out of print, and has become difficult to find. Although Butler's name is not as familiar as others from early church history, he participated in many important and well-known events in early church history and left a good record. He joined the church in 1835 and settled in Missouri. He became a Danite and was part of the Nauvoo police force, in company with Hosea Stout, John D, Lee, and Porter Rockwell. He was called on 3 missions by Joseph Smith. Later, he was one of the founders of Spanish Fork, serving as a bishop there with close political and religious ties to Brigham Young. In recent book reviews (both published after book went out-of-print), Max Parkin (JMH 25.2:196) and Lavina Fielding Anderson (JWHAJ 19:135) give the book high praise. Anderson calls it "meticulously researched, intelligently interpreted, and warmly written." Already waiting lists for this one and none listed on the Internet. Get it now before it becomes even harder to find

• ************************************************************ John Lowe Butler 1808 - 1860 presented by Ronald W. Thurber, director of the Mormon Trail Center (my great-great-grandfather) (or my grandmother Caroline Butler Thurber’s grandfather) Note: The following material has been taken from William G. Hartley’s “My Best For The Kingdom”, history and autobiography of John Lowe Butler, a Mormon Frontiersman. It was published by Aspen Books, SLC Utah in 1993 John was born on April 8, 1808 in Warren County, Kentucky. His father James Butler was twentysix years old,, his mother Charity Lowe twenty four. James and Charity were originally from North Carolina. They eventually had fourteen children, John was the fourth child. Assessor’s records show that in 1831, his parents owned 389 acres, he obviously grew up as a farmer. John reached adulthood against severe odds. At age seven, he had rheumatic fever, poor health followed. Then he had a severe infection in one leg, followed by “dropsy” in his left eye which was swollen shut for thirteen days. At age eighteen, the attacks were on his left side and his arm and leg began to shrink and fail him, it was possibly polio. He was so “reduced” that his mother would carry him from room to room. By age twenty, John had suffered twelve hard attacks of the “rheumatics” (probably arthritis), including several accidents. As he approached his twenty-second year, he “was getting better than ever I expected to be. I was able to labor at light work.” By age twenty-two, John stood six feet tall, but took a “second growth” five years later and grew an additional two inches. He grew “very stout” which physical strength, when linked to his independence of mind, religious conversion to Mormonism, and sense of duty, led to his receiving dangerous assignments for his religion. John met Caroline Farzine Skeen, and they were married on Feb. 3, 1831. John married “up”, that is the Skeen family were plantation owners with numerous slaves. As a marriage present from Caroline’s family, they received several slaves–who immediately were given their freedom by John and Caroline. The slave issue, and later the Mormon religion, continued to be a major problem between this newly married couple and the influential Skeen family. John was raised a Methodist. In 1828 when he was twenty