James A. Holt

Find a Grave

Birth: Feb. 10, 1804

Death: Jan. 25, 1894

Family links:

Children:

• William Alma Holt (1842 - 1920)*
• Rachel Overton Holt Cottam (1865 - 1942)*

Burial: Holt Cemetery Enterprise (Washington County) Washington County Utah, USA

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Deseret News April 18, 1894 page 3, JAMES HOLT: Teasdale, Wayne County, Utah, April 9, 1894 - Not having seen a notice of the death of my father in your paper, I take the liberty of sending you, a short sketch of his life. James Holt was born Februaru 10, 1804, in North Carolina. He was the son of James and Elizabeth Holt. His parents moved to Tennessee when he was six months old where they made a permanent home. My father received the gospel in the year 1839 and was baptized. In 1840 he emigrated to Nauvoo, where he became intimately acquainted with the Prophet Joseph. He was sent on a mission in the spring of 1844 to Tennessee, and was preaching on the day the Prophet was killed. He was filled with prophecy at the time and said: "Now they have murdered the prophet of God, he has sealed his testimony with his blood and my mission is ended for this time." He immediately started home and on his way learned it was all too true.

He left Nauvoo in the fall and suffered all the hardships of that trip. He stopped in Iowa until 1852, where he came to the valley and settled at North Ogden. He was counselor to Bishop Thomas Dunn for a number of years. He was one of the first to settle Ogden Valley, in 1862 he moved south and settled at Washington, and from there he went to Long Valley, and finely when the settlers were all run by the Indians, he went to the Mountain Meadows, finely settling at the mouth of the Meadow canyon, where he resided until his death. Which occurred on the 27 of January, 1894, he lacked a few days of being 90 years old.

He was honest as the day is long, and a staunch believer in the Gospel, and was always on hand to respond to every call made upon him. He was the father of nineteen children, some having gone before. He leaves a wife, nine children, many grandchildren, and great grandchildren, and a host of friends to mourning his loss. He had a great deal of work done in the St. George Temple for his dead.

W. A. Holt

Other children:

(1) Hyrum Holt Born and Died 1831 or 1832, LDS Ancestral File has this child as Jesse Hyrum Holt 1831, Near Lebonon, Sumner Co, Tenn. Died 1834. LDS Temple Records for St. George has this child as Hyrum Holt, Birth and death 1831 in Sumner Co. Tenn. A History of the Holt Family by William Alma Holt birth 27 Jul 1832, Wislon Co, Tennessee, Death 27 July 1832.

(2) Jesse Washington Holt birth 15 July 1833, Johnson County, Illinois, Death Nov 1833 Johnson County, Illinois

(3) Sarah Ann Elizabeth Holt Birth 27 Nov 1835, Johnson County Illinois, Death Jul 1835, Johnson County, Illinois

(4) Leander Holt Birth 6 Dec 1836,Johnson County, Illinois, Death Nov 1844, 5 Miles North of Kitchen's settlement Iowa

John James Holt Birth 22 Aug 1844, Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois, Death 10 Feb 1845, Iowa

Parents:

Jesse A Holt (1783 - 1844)

Elizabeth Davis Holt (1780 - 1818)

Spouses:

Mary Payne Holt (1814 - 1844)

Parthenia Overton Holt (1821 - 1906)

Children:

Hyrum Holt (1832 - 1832)

Jesse Washington Holt (1833 - 1833)

Sarah Ann Elizabeth Holt (1835 - 1835)

Leander Holt (1836 - 1844)

LeRoy Holt (1838 - 1910)

Mary Ann Holt Barker (1840 - 1916)

William Alma Holt (1842 - 1920)

John James Payne Holt (1844 - 1845)

Dandridge Overton Holt (1846 - 1847)

Joseph James Overton Holt (1848 - 1853)

Nancy Cathrine Holt Slade (1850 - 1931)

Franklin Overton Holt (1852 - 1929)

Clarissa Jane Overton Holt (1853 - 1854)

Calista Overton Holt (1855 - 1855)

Rachel Overton Holt Cottam (1856 - 1942)

George Albert Holt (1858 - 1935)

Parthenia Overton Holt (1861 - 1863)

Henry Davis Holt (1864 - 1959)

Inscription: In Memory Of James Holt Born Feb 10, 1804, in North Carolina, Died Jan 25, 1894. An Amiable Father here lies at rest As ever God with his image blest the friend of man the friend of truth the friend of age the guide of youth.

Burial: Holt Cemetery, Enterprise (Washington County), Washington County, Utah, USA, Plot: B4

Maintained by: JJH

Originally Created by: Karen Todora

Record added: Mar 05, 2008

Find A Grave Memorial# 25076561

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GEDCOM Note

Copied from Billiongraves.com: Epitaph & Description:An amiable father here lies at rest, as ever God with His image blest, the friend of man, the friend of truth, the friend of age, the guide of youth.

James Holt was born February 10, 1804 in Halifax County, North Carolina to Jesse Holt and Elizabeth Davis. He was married January 22, 1830 in Wilson County, Tennessee to Mary Payne. She died in October of 1844 in Iowa. He then married Parthenia Overton on February 11, 1845 at Albion, Marshall, Iowa. James died January 25, 1894 in Washington County, Utah.

• *************************************** AutoBiography: JAMES HOLT (1804-1894) (Autobiography - by himself)

AutoBiography: I, James Holt, was born February 10, 1804, in Halifax County, North Car­olina,. When I was five or six months old, my father started with a colony of his kindred, and others, and traveled to Tennessee, and settled in Wilson County, near Lebannon. My grandfather, Icona Davis, was also of the Colony. My memory, in regard to my relatives at that time, is very imperfect, but I will write a sketch of those I do remember, that perhaps it may help those who are in search of a genealogy of any of those named.

AutoBiography: My grandfather Davis and my father settled together. Grandfather, James Holt, settled in Montgomery County, Mosses Read; My grandmother Holt's father settled in Discon County. When I was about twelve years old, my great grand­father Read held a dinner for his children and grand-children. I sat at the head of the table, being the oldest of his great-grandchildren. There were about eighty present of his descendants; the Holts, Reads, Harveys, Silivents, and Davis's were all relatives. My grandfather, James Holt, had two sons: Jesse and Laban, and six daughters: Mary, Sarah, Lydia, Anna, Elizabeth, and Patsy. Mary married Burges Wall; Sarah married Balum Bull; Lydia married Le­vitt Morris. Anna married Ona Harvey; and Elizabeth married Ona Silivents. I never knew of Patsy's marriage. Laban went to West Tennessee and married, but I never learned of his wife's name.

AutoBiography: My father, Jesse, married Elizabeth Davis, daughter of Icona Davis. She was the widow of Joshyah Crosland, and had three children by her former hus­band: Joshuay, Sarah, and Lucretra. By my father she had six children: James, Nancy, Icom, Jesse Washington, Laban, and Elizah.

AutoBiography: After the death of my mother, my father married Lucretra Crosland after­which my father took a religious turn of mind, and joined the Baptists with my mother, He also joined the army, and was in the was of 1812. During that time he had his family moved near grandfather Davis, about eight miles north­west of Lebanon. After the war he bought a mill site called "Barton's Creek", where he erected a grist and saw mill. There he resided - doing a flourishing business until his death October 15, 1844.

AutoBiography: When I was about eight years old, there was quite an exciting time in religion. Father used to take me to church on horseback behind him, and as young as I was, my mind was greatly impressed in regard to religious matters. About this time I had a very remarkable dream; I dreamed that my father sent me, in company with one of my brothers, to a neighbor's place, about three miles distant, on some errand, It appeared that in going, we had to travel through a dark and gloomy cave where there was neither light of the sun, moon, or stars. It appeared that all people traveled through this gloomy cave. After we had traveled in this awful gloom for some length of time, we immerg­ed into the light of day, and great was the contrast. Upon the left I beheld a large building, and when we came opposite this building I saw a man coming to the door, whom I thought was the keeper. lie called to me saying, "James Holt, you must come in here and be tried for your faith." There were two or three steps to the building, where I beheld the hook, somewhat similar to a steelyards suspended to a beam overhead. He said I was to be hanged by that hook and if I had enough faith in God, I would not fall. But if I did not have faith in God I would fall down in that dismal "Hell", pointing to a trap­door in a floor, where there was weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. I looked where he had pointed and I beheld a deep, dark pit, and as far around as I could see, I beheld people in the greatest confusion; some groaning, some shouting, and all was in a are at turmoil. One person stood up in their midst, saying, "All is well with us"; We need no more revelation The Canon of Scripture is full, and we will all be saved, we need not fear." After I beheld this, the keeper took me and hung me on the hook by the back of my vest. It soon began to rip, but I began to call upon the Lord to strengthen me and increase my faith. Suddenly my vest ceased to tear, and I hung only by the seam of my collar. The keeper now took me down, saying, "Well done, you have got just faith enough to save you, and that is all any man will have, no matter how great they may be,. They will only have faith enough to be saved, so you can go on your way rejoicing."

AutoBiography: When I was about sixteen years old, I had a heavy spell of sickness, which laid me up for about five months. I was brought nigh unto death, but the Lord preserved my life for a wise purpose in him. My fever caused all my hair to fall out, and when it again grew, it was mixed with gray.

AutoBiography: I continued to labor with my father, helping him on the farm; helping him in the mills, and occasionally chopping and boating cord wood, logs and lum­ber. Nothing further worthy of note occurred until I was about twenty-six years old, in the year 1829. I became acquainted with a young woman by the name of Mary Paine , the daughter of John and Elizabeth Paine, and on the 22nd of January, 1830, we were married. She was born July 16, 1814.

AutoBiography: In the year 1831 I moved to Summer County and took charge of my brother­n-law's farm and business. His name was Theodrick-Amannel Patten, my sister Nancy's husband. I managed all his affairs and raised him a crop, and moved back to Wilson County in 1832. In this same year I went in partnership with my father-in-law and built a boat expecting to go down the Mississippi River to Azoo County to live. In the spring of 1833 we loaded up our boat with our families, provisions, and furniture. My brother-in-law was still carrying in a few sacks of corn meal and stowing them away, the table was spread, and every­thing was about ready for us to sit down to supper, preparatory to starting our voyage, when the alarm was raised that we were sinking. The gang planks were not yet removed, and we got our families out safe, but the boat sank with everything else on board. There had been a check in one of the gunnels boards, but we had not anticipated its being laden heavy enough for the water to come that high, but we knew it, the water was pouring through this check, which was the cause of its sinking. However, we procured help the next day and succeeded in raising our boat. We repaired it by putting in a new gunnels. We saved some of our lading, but a great deal was damaged. We launched forth in a few days, and floated down the river as far as the Ohio, where we encounter­ed a great wind storm, which continued to rage for several days, and caused our women and children to become seasick, We could go no farther.

AutoBiography: We landed about twenty miles above the mouth of the Ohio River on a strip of country called the "Grand Chain". We landed on the Illinois side of the river in Johnson County. There we took up farms and went to work building and improving them. We stayed here for several years, but the place was very unhealthy; here, I lost two children.

AutoBiography: In the month of October there came a man to our section of the country to preach, who claimed to belong to a church called "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints". A new sect lately sprung up. This man's name was Jackeriah Wilson. Previous to this, I had never believed in any denomination, for I could not see where they got their authority; they all preached about a God, whom no one could comprehend; they believed not in revelation, nor the gift of healing by the laying on of hands according to the scriptures. I want­ed a church that was built upon the foundation laid down in the scriptures; with Prophets and Apostles to lead, and I had talked a great deal with my brother- in-law, Andrew A. Temmons, who believed as I did. I had tried to persuade him to preach for he was a well educated man, but he said if he was to attempt to teach as he believed, the people would kill him.

AutoBiography: Now this "Mormon" elder (as this new sect was called by all the world) preached in our place, and I went to hear him. He preached the gospel accord­ing to the scriptures; faith in the Lord, Jesus Christ, and Baptism for the remission of sins; the laying on of hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost by them who were called of God; also, the administering to the sick, by the laying on of hands, and a great many other things which he proved by the Scripture. He then went on to show how the Lord appeared to the boy Joseph Smith; how he was instructed of angels from time to time, and at last when he had grown to manhood, how he had been ordained to be a Prophet, Seer, and Revelator in this last dispensation; also, how he had been led by God to or­ganize the Church of Jesus Christ, with Apostles, and all the appendages of the Holy Priesthood; with all the gifts following those who believed and were baptized according to the promises given in the scriptures.

AutoBiography: Now I believed and rejoiced to hear the Gospel again preached on earth as it was in the days of Christ. I sent for my brother-in-law to come and hear a man who preached according to our mind. He came to hear him, and after the preacher got through, he gave anyone present the privilege to ask any question which was fair, and would try to answer it. My brother-in-law asked him if he had a foundation for what he preached. He said yes. My brother-in-law then said that was all he wished to know at that present. After the meeting, I invited the preacher home with me. He said that if anyone would open their doors to him, he would preach again to them. One man said he was welcome to preach in his house, so he did, on Thursday. When he got through, a Methodist preacher asked permission to say a few words, and being granted the privilege, he arose and said, "There is no need for any more revelations; the canon of Scripture is full, and we need no more additions to the Bible because it is perfect, and he could prove it by the bucket. (He pointed to an old bucket close by which had but one ear and no bail.) Said he, "That is a perfect bucket, is i-t not? Yes, it is well, as that bucket is perfect, so is the Bible. I told you I could prove it." I failed to see the point of his proof, but perhaps it satisfied him. He further went on and said the very words that the man said in the pit, which I saw in my dream. I had not thought anything about my dream for some time until now, when it flashed to my mind with great force.

AutoBiography: The next Sunday, Elder Wilson held a meeting at my house, at which time I was baptized and ordained to the office of a teacher. My brother-in-law did not join the Church at that time. He said I was like the sow that jumped at the well as soon as it was put in the pen. He joined the Church the follow­ing spring and went on to Nauvoo where I heard he apostatized through some false doctrine, introduced by a few individuals who belonged to the Church, but did not understand the doctrine correctly. In about three weeks from my baptism, my wife was baptized. As soon as I was baptized, persecution began, all manner of reviling of those who belonged to the Church, but it only in­creased my faith; for so persecuted they, the Church, in the days of our Sav­ior. Soon after I was baptized I went and preached to my brother-in-law, Hogges, and his family. In quoting a passage in the Bible, his mother said it was not there. I told her it was surely there. She denied it, so I had her get her Bible, and her son read it to her. She still denied it, saying it was a made-up thing between us. I preached to her every chance I got, and she was so afraid she would believe and join that she sent quite a distance for a Baptist minister to come and baptize her. My father-in-law would never hear a Mormon preacher.

AutoBiography: I now wished to sell my place, and gather with the saints, but I could get scarily anything for it. I finally sold it to a man for $175 dollars although the same man had offered me $1000 dollars for it before I joined the Church. I gave Elder Wilson the most of it to help him home and for his family, as they had been driven and persecuted a area deal since he belonged to the Church.

AutoBiography: In the spring of 1840, I started with my family to Nauvoo, "The City of the Saints." I got as far as Pleasant Vale Stake, in Pike County, where one of my horses died. I was now without a team, only having two horses and a light wagon to start with. I stayed here the next winter and summer. I rented a farm and raised a crop. The following fall I hired a horse to put by the side of mine, and started again for Nauvoo, where I finally arrived. After I had been there a short time, I turned over my wagon to the Committee of the Nauvoo House, and took a share in the same.

AutoBiography: Soon after my arrival in Nauvoo, my only horse took sick, and hearing of a horse doctor close by, I went to see him. He said if I would give him half of what the horse was worth, after he was cured, and if I would get the med­icine prescribed he would undertake to cure him. I asked how much medicine it would take. He said it would take about ten dollar's worth. I asked how much he would give me for the horse, now, as he was. He said he would not give me one dollar. "Well", said I, "I would surely be a fool to spend ten dollars for a horse that is not worth one dollar." The next night I asked the Lord to cure the horse and if he would do so, I would sell it and give half the proceeds to the Church for the building up of his Zion on the earth. Next morning my horse was well, and I went forth and sold him for two hundred bush­els of corn and I gave one hundred bushels to the Church. I now went to work on the Quarry, cutting out rock for the Temple and the Nauvoo House. I also boated a great deal of rock from the quarry and rafted lumber. I continued in this employment until the spring of 1844.

AutoBiography: At the April Conference of the Church, I was ordained to the office of a Seventy, and set apart to serve a mission to Tennessee, in company with Jack­son Smith, to preach the gospel. We also were given a copy of Joseph's views on politics, to have more printed and distributed throughout our travels. We traveled as the people of old - without purse or script. It was a very wet spring, and we had to travel many days through mud and slush, shoe-top deep, and wade through much tribulation, but we put ourselves in the-hands of God and ceased not to call on his name. When we not to the Ohio River, the ferry­man refused to take us over, because we had no money to pay him. We went below four miles to another ferry, and told the ferry-man our situation. He was very kind and kept us over night and took us in the morning, telling us we could recommend him as the one we had taken as being the most accommodat­ing. We traveled on and came to a town that was peopled with Methodists. We tried there to get lodgings, but were refused on account of our religion.

AutoBiography: We traveled on and late in the night we spied a light that issued from a house in the field on one side of the road. We were led by the spirit to the house. When we knocked at the door and it was opened, we apologized to the man for disturbing them so late at night, but we told them we were preachers of the gospel, as revealed to Joseph Smith, and had been refused admittance back at the town on account of our belief. "Well well," said he, "Come in. We would not turn away even a dog in such weather as this." They gave us food and lodgings and treated us well. The next morning, after asking God to bless them we bid them good-day and proceeded on our way.

AutoBiography: We continued on our journey without much more of importance transpiring until we arrived at my father's home in Wilson County, Tennessee. After shak­ing hands with him, I gave him an introduction to my traveling companion, Bro­ther Smith, but he refused to shake hands with him. He said he had heard enough about the Smiths, and he did not want to see any of them, although this Smith was no kin to the Prophet Joseph. The name seemed to displease him, for there had been a great deal of false reports circulated about the Smith family which my father believed. I told my father that I had always been obedient to him when I was living at home, but if he could not entertain my fellow traveler and treat him as a gentleman, I should be under the necessity of go­ing somewhere else for accommodations, and turned my back on my father's house. This cut my father to the quick and with tears in his eyes he said, "James, take your friend in and make yourselves welcome."

AutoBiography: As it had been several years since I had seen my relatives, I spent sev­eral days visiting with them, and teaching them the principles of the Gospel when they gave me an opportunity. My brother, Jesse Washington, being class leader of the Baptist Church in this place gave us the privilege of preaching in the meeting house. The first meeting we held attracted very few, but after that the meeting house was always filled.

AutoBiography: A few days after we arrived here I went to Lebanon, (it being six miles) with a copy of "Gospel views of Politics", to have some printed. I found an editor and made a contract to have five hundred copies printed. He agreed to have them done on the 27th of June. I then returned and spent the time with my relatives and the people of their neighborhood.

AutoBiography: When the day arrived, I left Brother Smith at my brother's, Jesse Wash­ington, and started again to Lebanon to see about the printing. When I got there the editor told me that so many had borrowed the copy to read it that he had lost track of it and could not find it; consequently he had not been able to print it. When the people found I was there, several ministers of different denominations fathered around me and wanted to hear me preach. I told them that I was sent to preach the Gospel, and if they would get me a place to preach, I would accommodate them to the best of my ability. They pro­cured for me the courthouse and had the bell rung. It was soon crowded to over-flowing for the word had flown throughout the town that a "Mormon", who was reared in that neighborhood, was going to preach a sermon. They were all curious to hear me. There were also a number of ministers who were acquainted with me, and knowing my education was limited, came to have sport at my expense. I arose to my feet, on the 27th day of June, 1844 about two hours by the sun, address this large congregation. The Spirit of the Lord was upon me. I began by preaching the first principles of the Gospel; faith in the Lord, Jesus Christ; repentance and baptism for the remission of sins: the laying on of hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost; how the primitive church had fallen away and the world had lain in sin and darkness for many ages; and how people had been led away by self-appointed ministers who preached for hire. I portrayed to them the calling of Joseph Smith; how the Lord had revealed to him the plan of salvation and endowed him with the Holy Priesthood with power to ordain men to the ministry and send them forth to preach without purse or script, depending upon the Lord to help them with his spirit. I also told them how he had been maligned by his enemies; had been driven and persecuted in a Christian country, a land of freedom, for the Gospel sake: In quoting the scriptures, I was guided by the spirit, and I always opened at once to the passage I quoted. In winding up my sermon, I had the spirit of revelation come upon me and I told them that the enemies of the Church had taken the Prophet of God this day and put him to death, as they had all the prophets of God in all dispensations of the world. "Now," said I, "You may have this for a testimony of the gospel, for that is true Mormonism." After I had said this, I looked through the window, and the sun was just setting. I told them that I had spoken to them longer than I had anticipated, but if anyone wished to ask questions, I would answer them if they were fair. No one had anything to say, but all seemed struck with amazement, and their eyes were, filled with tears.

AutoBiography: After I dismissed and went to the door a man stepped up to me and said he would like to hear more of doctrine and wished me to make an appointment in his place. I asked him where he lived, and he said he lived near Jackson School House, about twenty or thirty miles from there. I told him to give out an appointment for Saturday at four in the afternoon and eleven on Sunday morning, and I would be there and fill them.

AutoBiography: The next day I went back to father's and I told him that the Prophet was slain, and the church was in difficulty, and that I was going home. He said he did not believe anyone could know anything for a certainty at such a dis­tance. I told him that the spirit of God could reveal anything to man that was going on in any part of the world, and I knew that God had revealed the truth to me, and that I should start for home right away. I went to my bro­ther's to see Brother Smith and told him what the Lord had revealed to me; but he could not believe me. He said that my brother was believing, and he wished to baptize him, but my brother wished to see the prophet before he join­ed the Church. He was thinking of going shortly to Nauvoo and Brother Smith thought he would wait and go with him. So I bid them all farewell and start­ed home. This was the last time I ever saw my father and have never seen any of the others down to the present time, which is the first month of 1881.

AutoBiography: I went on to Jackson School House which was on the road home and filled my two appointments. At Nashville I planned to take a steamer for Smithland at the mouth of the Cumberland River, but when I arrived there was no boat going up the Mississippi River to Nauvoo. I crossed the river on a ferry, thinking of going to my former home about twenty miles down river where I first heard the Gospel. After I crossed the river, and had gone a few hund­red yards, I saw a house off to the left, and a man sitting on the steps reading. The house was a few yards from the gate, and I felt impressed by the Spirit to enter. I did so, asking for a drink of water for an excuse. The man told me there was a cup and bucket; to help myself. He never took his eyes off the paper he was reading. After I had drunk a few swallows of water, I spoke to him, saying, "You seem to be quite interested in what you are reading. Is it anything very special?" He said he did not know, it was concerning the death of the Mormon Prophet. I asked him where the Mormon Prophet lived. He said they lived at Nauvoo, and were taken to Carthage and killed. I asked him if there was any truth in the report. He said it must be true, for the Governor's signature was on it. This confirmed my impression of the Spirit at Lebanon, even though I had not doubted since it was first revealed to me. But instead of its weakening my faith, it only strengthened it. For I knew that Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God.

AutoBiography: I then went to the Grand Chain, got on board a steamboat for Nauvoo and arrived safely home. There I found the church in a great uproar. The Prophet Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum, were slain by a merciless mob, and there was great mourning and lamentations among the Saints. The Church was divided in fragraments; some were following one, and some another, thinking they were following the right one. It seemed difficult to determine which was the right one until Brigham Young, the President of the Twelve, came and took his place at the head of the Church., the Twelve being next in authority to the first presidency. Lyman Wight declared that he was the right one to lead the Church, and led a small portion of it. Then came Sidney Rigdon, who had been a coun­selor to Joseph, but had been dropped from the Quroum. He came and prophesied to be the one to lead the Church until the son of Joseph was old enough to take the lead. Several other men led a portion of the Church, but the main part of them adhered to the Council of the Twelve.

AutoBiography: James Emmett came after me to go with him. He said he had been appointed before Joseph's death to chose a few families and travel among the Indians; to go on to the Rocky Mountains; to preach to the Indians along the way, and pre­pare them to receive the Saints in the valleys of the mountains.

AutoBiography: Brother Miller, then bishop, testified to me that Emmett had been appoint­ed by Joseph, and said that he had the privilege of choosing who he pleased to accompany him. So I decided to go with him. He also chose John Butler to go. He wished us not to reveal it to anyone, not even to our wives, where we were going, for everything was in such an uproar that we were afraid a great many would follow and it would cause suffering.

AutoBiography: John Butler had a friend by the name of Edwards whom he told and this Edwards told others. Emmett was to go by boat and I was to travel by land and meet him at a certain place up the Iowa River, but before we met, it not rumored around to such an extent, that a whole settlement on Bare Creek joined us. We traveled up the Iowa River, and all met five miles above Kitchens Settlement, which was the largest settlement at that time on the Iowa River. There my wife died in October and was buried. The doctors gave her a dose of Covelia when her stomach was too weak to take it, and it caused her death; and I must say that I have ever since been opposed to anyone administering drugs. My wife left a child about 2 months old, which William Coachner's wife took to nurse. I soon learned that they had the "itch" and had given it to the child. I then took it and put it in the care of a Miss Parthenia Overton, who kept it about two months, and as she had to go into another family, she had to give up the child, I then put it in the care of James Nelson's wife, with which family we messed, and she starved it to death. It died on the 10th of February, 1845. I lost another child at this camp, above Kitchens Settle­ment, where my wife died. It was my oldest son, Leander. He died about a mon­th after my wife, in the month of November. I must here state that I cannot give dates and particulars as I would wish, for in my moves I lost my journal and have to tax my memory to a great extent to remember one hundredth part of all which I would like to relate.

AutoBiography: We here organized the company which had increased to upward of twenty-five or thirty families. Emmett was appointed trustee-in trust for the company, and I was appointed Bishop, with Brothers Henry Heneyman and Jackson Steward as my two counselors, and we all came under a covenant to divide up everything equal. We sold everything which we did not need, and bought corn and teams, and everything was divided out equal. The provisions were rationed out daily, and each person received only half a pint of corn a day.

AutoBiography: On the first of January, 1846, we started again, and still traveled up the Iowa River. We went somewhere between fifty and one hundred miles before we stopped to stay awhile. Here we made a good deal of sorghum. It was also a good place for our cattle to brose and rest. Here we also had a visit from Brother Fuller Lyman, who was sent by Brigham Young to stop us from going any further at present. He invited us to come back, as he thought there were too many following us, which would bring much suffering. Emmett agreed to go back and consult with the Twelve when he got his company in a place where he was certain they would be safe.

AutoBiography: I here married Parthenia Overton, on the 11th of February, 1845. We had been messing with the merciless Nelson family and his wife, who nearly starved my children to death. As I before stated, my youngest child died in her care through neglect and an improper allowance of food. As I had to be away most of the time hunting and digging roots to live upon, I could not properly guard the welfare of my children as I wished, and this woman took advantage of my absence to glut herself, and the children nearly starved to death before I found out what was the matter. After I married Parthenia, my children fared much better.

AutoBiography: Great was the suffering of all the camp. The men hunted as much as possible and when they killed anything, it was divided among them, even a squirrel. When an ox died with fatigue or starvation, it was divided out to the people. All were greedy for it as it was the best beef. No one can have any idea of the suffering of this company, except those who experienced the same. Women and children suffered great starvation and fear not knowing when they would be massacred by the savages or unprincipled whites.

AutoBiography: In the month of March we again started on our journey and went to Ver­million, which was a French trading post. Before we arrived at this place we were spied by the French and Indians, who came out to meet us and find out our intentions. After they found out, they escorted us to the fort, where we arrived the 7th of June. The next day Emmett went about fifteen miles to see the Indian Chiefs who were drying buffalo meat for their winter provisions. They were of the Sioux Nations. When he told them his business, being able to converse with them in their own tongue, he returned accompanied by seven of their chiefs. Now there was one of their chiefs, by the name of Henry, who had been to Petersburg to college, had a good education, and had settled down in this place. Emmett and those seven chiefs went to Henry's house to hold council, but I must here state that the chiefs brought us several bales of dried buffalo meat for a present; which was very acceptable.

AutoBiography: We made a feast for them, giving them the best we had. Emmett handed Chief Henry the "Book of Mormon" to read, and after he had read the preface & explained it to his comrades, they all gave a great shout for joy. They danced, sang, shouted, and had a joyful time. Emmett asked them why they were so happy. They told him that their great Chief, who had died twenty years ago, had told them that the whites would bring them in this very year, the record of their forefathers. They had almost forgotten it until Emmett had presented them with this book. They felt to rejoice, because the words of their Prophet had come to pass. Emmett told them that he was traveling through their country to preach them the Gospel that was found in that book, and that his intentions were to travel on to the Rocky Mountains where his people wished to go and settle. They told him that it was a lone way to the mountains, that he would have great waters to cross, and great plains where there was no water and when he got there he would find no buffalo, and that his women and children would starve. They wished him and his people to stop with them and teach them to farm. Anyway, we could not go any further this season, for it was late and Emmett was welcome to take his men and hunt, and kill all the buffalo they wished. They could help him and we should not be molested in any manner. We went out in a few days and killed two or three loads of buffalo which great­ly helped us in our provisions. After Emmett had been promised protection by the Indians, he took John Butler and went back to Nauvoo, to have a council with the Twelve, as he had promised.

AutoBiography: We had peace while he was gone. The Indians treated us very kindly. When he returned, he told me that he had made everything right with the Twelve; that he had been baptized again, and Brigham had blessed him with all the bless­ings that had before been conferred upon him, and had also conferred upon him greater blessings than he had hither to held. There were a couple of breth­ren who came back with him Brother Sherwood and another brother. They both confirmed his words and we were all re-baptized by them. John Butler did not come back at this time, but came the following spring.

AutoBiography: The brethren that came back with Emmett, concluded to go back by water if we would fit them up a boat and they could sell their .horses, which be longed to the church. There was no one to buy their horses, but a Frenchman who kept a station nearby for a fur company. He offered them $30 for one and $35 for the other, but Emmett thought the sum too small and he concluded to buy them for the company, giving $50 for one and $60 for the other, taking the means to pay for them out of the company treasury. He told the brethren, when he met the church, that it could have the horses back if it so wished, by returning the same account to him. After these two brethren had gone, the Frenchman who wished to get the horses, got very offended, because we had bought the horses and he couldn't get them. So he got the Indians together, got them drunk and hired them to come against us and kill us all off, (by giving them ammunition and a few trinkets.) The station, where they gathered was about a half mile from our camp. The Indians started toward us to execute the bloody orders of the Frenchman, but the head chief came ahead to have a council with Chief Henry at his cabin. They asked him if it was right to kill us. "Yes", said Henry, "Go and kill them who brought us the record of our forefathers; kill all the women and little children who have never done us any harm." Said they, "Are you making fun of us?" "Yes", said Henry, "Go and stop your warriors and don’t let them hurt a hair of the whites, at your peril." This sobered the chiefs and they in company with Henry came on a run to intercept the Indians and met them at our camp in the act of raising their guns right and left, and shouted at them to stop. They nearly had a war be­tween themselves before the chiefs were able to stop them, for the Indians were so drunk that they were hard to control. By their own chiefs however, they were brought under subjection before the shedding of our blood. Our people were greatly frightened, especially our women and children, who cried and screamed, thinking we were all going to be massacred. But the hand of God seemed to be over us, and we escaped by almost a miracle. During the skirmish between chiefs and Indians, there were a great many guns discharged and the bullets whistles among our wagons, some over and some under, and several very close to the personnel of our camp.

AutoBiography: The Indians now all swore vengeance on the Frenchman, whom they now call­ed a murderer, and went to kill him, but he kept forted up, and dared not go without the walls, for some time. They got a chance by fall to shoot him but they only wounded him, and he was taken by his friends down to the chiefs to a doctor where he recovered. He then started to return, but when he got to Little Zion, he was again shot by them, and this time killed. So he fell into' the trap that he had set for us.

AutoBiography: When spring opened we put in garden seeds and were preparing to put in corn to raise a crop, but John Butler now returned from Nauvoo, with James Coming, bringing word from the Twelve for us to meet the Church at the Bluffs, so we broke up camp and met the Church as requested. We went about 25 or 30 miles beyond and camped on Keg Creek, and we of the brethren who were able, went down the Missouri, and worked around to obtain corn for our families to eat. We got a load or two and were about ready to start with it to our families when word came for us to hurry up and join George Miller's company, which was waiting for us, ready to precede to the Rocky Mountains.

AutoBiography: We came back, got our families, and crossed the Missouri River in July joining with the Miller company, and we were making for the Ravens, which was a trading station. But the men of the station had been driven out by the In­dians previously and had started to return. When they fell in with our company, Brother Miller promised to haul their effects. The day before we were to ar­rive there, the trading station men went on ahead to arrange things at the fort for our reception.

AutoBiography: About noon Emmett came to me and said he was impressed that something would happen to those men, and he wished to get my horse to go and overtake them. I let him have the horse and he went on to the Fort. He found that the Indians had collected to kill them. He told the men to make a feast for the Indians and treat them well, and they would not be harmed until he could go back to camp and return with help. He got back to our camp about one o'clock at night and called for a few men to go back to the fort with him immediately. About twenty-five or thirty men responded to the call, including himself. It was about fifteen miles to the fort and we were in a wild Indian country. Now nearly all our ambled body men were called on to leave their wives and children, the aged and infirmed, to the mercies of the savages. It was quite a peerless time, women were clinging to their husbands, and trying to prevail upon them not to go and leave them in their present dangerous position, but we commended them unto the Lord and departed on foot in the dead of the night.

AutoBiography: We arrived at the fort just in the first glimmer of dawn. We found the Indians all asleep in a circle around the dying embers of their camp fire. We carefully approached, surrounded them, pointed our guns at them ready to fire at the given signal. Emmett spoke to the chief in their own tongue. The chief arose to his feet, with the well known "Ugh", at which the Indians all arose. They found themselves in such a trap, they shook hands with us all around led by the chief, and silently took their departure and thus we saved the Fort without the shedding of blood.

AutoBiography: We went back and met our teams, which had been hitched up by the other men and the women of the company, and started on our way to the Fort. We took charge of our teams and reached the fort during the day. The station men were not afraid to stop at the station any longer, for they knew when we were there that the Indians would not come upon them again, and massacre them. So they gave Brother Miller all the corn and grain they had to take with them back to the Bluffs. We stopped here about two weeks and harvested their grain, loaded up, and were ready to start again on the journey when a dispute arose as to the leadership.

AutoBiography: By this time we had been increased by two companies, one, was led by Kim­ball, and the other was called the Brigham Company. Although they were all under the direction of Brigham, Miller wished to have honor of being chief because he had started first. Some of the brethren wrote to Brigham at the Bluff's to settle the dispute and know what to do. He wrote for us not to go any further this season as it was too late, but to find a suitable place and winter and he would advise us further in the spring.

AutoBiography: We turned off on the Missouri Bottoms, and camped at the mouth of Puncaw River, and went to work building shanties for winter. The grain we brought with us from Bonnie Port was now all divided up by Brother Miller among the company. Six bushels of corn, forty ponds of flour, and a few oats fell to my share. We made the oats into meal and tried to eat them, but it was very poor stuff now, the way we had to get our grain pulverized. Most of the time in our travels we pounded in a mortar, and made it into soup, seasoning it with squirrel's legs, or a small piece of any other meat we might happen to obtain. We tried many experiments with different things to see what was ed­ible. We searched out everything we could to sustain life. We even tried to make biscuits with elm bark, but it was a poor substitute. At one time we were poisoned by eating some gar eggs and we concluded it was not food for man. There were a great many roots that we obtained that were good for food, such as the lion root, artichoke, and hog potatoes. The rations which I received at Pun caw were very small for my family. At the time I had five in the fam­ily, including myself, but going down the river to work, and getting a few jobs around home, and straining all my energy we managed to live through the winter. Many things turned up for our sustenance which would look like a miracle to some. There was one time during the winter that the Lord opened the way for a few pounds of flour without much exertion on my part. It was a small amount, but the Lord opened the way for me to obtain it. It was as thankfully received at that time as fifty times the amount would be at times since.

AutoBiography: There was a man by the name of Dalton who had lost a cow and had been hunting for it for two or three days. He came to me one evening and offered me 16 lbs. of flour if I would get the cow for him, so I arose early the next morning preparatory to starting on the hunt for the cow. I looked out, and it seemed like a dismal day to take a tramp in the snow. While I was looking out I heard a cow bellow close to my shanty, and I saw Dalton's cow close by. She seemed to be waiting for me to drive her home. I soon did, and obtained twelve pounds of flour. He thought I shouldn't have the full amount, as I had not been to any trouble hunting her; however, I was very thankful for the small amount.

AutoBiography: The next spring Brigham sent or us to all come back to the Bluffs. We were now all without provisions, and Emmett took a horse and started on ahead to obtain means for us to get provisions. He agreed to meet us at a certain place, but he did not meet us until we got to Mosquito Creek, which was near our journey's end. We had suffered greatly for the want of food, but due to much labor and effort in hunting wild animals and fowls, we were spared from starving. When we got to the Bluffs our company was broken up. Emmett and a few of us went down on the Waupause Creek in Fremont Co., Iowa and took up farms. We sowed some buckwheat and planted some potatoes, and raised a crop. There was a settlement close by where we obtained employment enough to buy provisions to keep us from starving until our crops matured.

AutoBiography: My first child by my wife Parthenia, died here, on the 15th of August,1847.

AutoBiography: After our crops were raised, we did very well. I stayed here for several years, and began to accumulate means until I became very comfortably situated. One great drawback with this place was that it was very unhealthy. We had a great deal of sickness in our family, but otherwise it was a rich place. There was all manner of wild fruit, such as grapes, raspberries, blackberries, mul­berries, strawberries, and nuts of every kind that would grow in a cold cli­mate. There also was an abundance of wild game such as deer, elk, coon, tur­key, and 11 kinds of fowls and fish and the honey bee. The land was very productive for everything but wheat, which didn't grow very well. I generally raised other kinds of grain and bought what flour I wished by the barrel, which was brought up the river from other places.

AutoBiography: The Church went on to the Rocky Mountains. The first company arrived in Salt Lake Valley on the 24th of July 1847 led by Brigham Young who was now in­stalled as President of the Church, with Willard Richards and Heber C. Kimball as his counselors. Others were chosen to fill their places on the Quorum of the Twelve. The Church was again organized according to the original pattern and installed in the hearts of the Rocky Mountains or the valleys thereof in the midst of the savates of the forest, in a desert place among alkali and sage brush over one thousand miles from any town or village. It was a bar­ren waste land which looked as if nothing would ever grow. But years later, the ways of the mountains were filled with the most beautiful vegetation and all manner of grain and fruit.

AutoBiography: In 1849 Brother Emmett started for California. He had some difficulty with his family and he declared that he would go where they would never hear of him again. He left all his family but one daughter. He stopped a few days in Salt Lake Valley and Brigham had a long conversation with him, trying to get him to stay there with the saints, but for some cause unknown to me, he had rebelled and would no longer follow the Church. He went on to California, where he died in 1854 or 1855. His family never heard a word from him until his death, although his daughter had written over twenty letters to them, this fulfilling his famous prediction.

AutoBiography: In 1850, Simpson Emmett, the son of Brother Emmett, started to Salt Lake Valley, taking with him his father's family. Simpson Emmett had married Catherine Overton, sister to my wife. I took his farm, gave him $200 for it with the understanding if I could sell it in the future for a larger price, I was to give him the remainder when I met him in the Valley, as I contemplated going there as soon as I could conveniently.

AutoBiography: In the spring of 1852, I made plans to go to Salt Lake Valley where the Saints were gathering. I tried to sell my place but could only get $350 for it, including the farm I had obtained from Emmett. I sold to William Holloway, but he was to pay me extra for everything else that I left and couldn't sell, but when I got ready to start he would not pay me another cent, and I had to leave 300 bushels of corn in the crib, a stack of oats, a smoke house full of meat, seven stands of bees, and several other thins. But he never received much benefit from it. He bought a band of horses and started with them to California a year or two after thinking to get quite a sum for them, but when he got on the Humboldt, a little over half way, he was killed by the Indians.

AutoBiography: Iowa was a very unhealthy place, my family was sick a great deal, and I was greatly afflicted with the ague. I don't think that I could have survived much longer had I continued to stay there, but the Lord saw fit to bring upon me those afflictions in order that I might be gathered with the Saints. We started about the middle of July and went on about eight miles to Keg Creek. I left some of my stock, including a yoke of steers and my three oldest child­ren, who were to stay and see to things until the next morning. I planned to go back after them, but somehow I felt a presentiment that something would happen to them and I couldn't rest, so I took my team and started back about dark. I got to the children just before daybreak, and learned that William Alma, the youngest of the three, had broken his arm. Those steers, before mentioned, were yoked together and left in the corral, and while his sister was milking the cows, William got to climbing upon their backs,(they being of very gentle disposition). He was thrown off and his arm was broken between the wrist and elbow. His wrist and elbow were both put out of joint. The joints had both been set and the arm splintered by those who had bought the place.

AutoBiography: I now started back to Keg Creek taking my children and all my effects which I could take and we arrived before night. The next day I got an old lady to attend to my son's arm. In a day or two I started again, and got as far as Mosquito where I stopped about one week waiting for Dr. William Smith to get ready to accompany me. This Smith was not a Mormon. He was going to California and wished to cross the plains with as small a company as possible on account of sickness. It was a very bad year for cholera. We were also joined by a brother, Levi, who was going to the Salt Lake Valley. We now, being all ready, started on our long and tedious journey of over one thousand miles across the great plains where there was no civilization, in a country that was infested by savages. There were only three families of us nearly the whole journey.

AutoBiography: We crossed the Missouri River on the 27th of July. We got to Ash Hallow in two days having traveled all night the second night, as there was a camp of Indians on the South Fork. The doctor thought it wiser to travel in the night in order to get as far from them as possible. The next day we traveled only seven miles, and on the next morning which was the 31st, my son Franklin 0. was born. On the next day, August 1st, we continued our journey. Most of the traveling this year was on the North side of the Platte, so we took the South, thinking it would be the most healthful as there was a great deal of cholera on the North Route. We had no sickness amounting to anything during the whole trip, although a great many of those ahead and behind us were dying of cholera. Neither did we lave any trouble with the Indians.

AutoBiography: One morning after we had gotten under way, there was an alarm of Indians. When we arrived opposite them, they came down ahead of us blocking the road. There were about 500 of them, and many of the people began to fear that this was their last days, and I expect the doctor began to see, in imagination, his scalp dangling in the belt of some dusty savage, for he was a natural born coward. But his scalp was safe for the present, because the Indians seeing our small number, thought we were brave and they have always had a great respect for a brave person. Therefore, they spread down their blankets and we gave them a little flour, sugar, and coffee, and a little of such things as we could spare. They then opened the road for us to pass. Some of them went with us for a day or two and helped us drive our cattle, and treated us with great respect.

AutoBiography: There was another alarm of Indians when we were in a very unsafe place, as the Indians in that part of the country were a very blood-thirsty set. It occurred one evening after we had camped. In the distance we saw a lone hor­seman making his way toward us. We soon detected it to be an Indian so the doctor thought he would start a little strategy to frighten him away for he had no doubt but what he was sent as a spy. There was a boy in the camp, one of Brother Lewis's sons, who had a very freckled face. The doctor had him get in the wagon as quickly as possible. He put a little flour on the boy's face, and put him in bed between two sheets. He looked almost like a corpse. The Indian came up and the doctor told him we had small pox in that wagon. The Indian took one look at the boy and struck for the plain for dear life, he thought for sure the boy had small pox, and they were afraid to death of the disease. The doctor gained his point, and we never saw the Indians after that for two or three weeks. We never had trouble with Indians while we were upon our journey. We had nothing serious occur, but it was a very serous ,journey. Many times we had to travel way into the night and sometimes all night to reach water.

AutoBiography: We finally arrived in Salt Lake Valley and went about 45 miles north of Salt Lake City to the bend of the Weber River in Weber county, where Simpson Emmett lived. We arrived there on the 27th of October, 1852 being, just three months on the way. I built a house close to the Emmetts when we stayed during the winter.

AutoBiography: We had not been here long when my wife took sick with the mountain fever, and continued to be sick most of the winter. She was so low that her child could not nurse and had to be raised by hand. My eldest daughter Mary Ann, was also taken sick with the same complaint and the rest of us had our hands full. It kept me busy tending the sick. My son, Leroy did the housework, and William tended the smaller children. My wife's sister, Simpson Emmett's wife, did what she could for us, but she had small children and she didn't have much spare time. My wife hung between life and death for several days, but the Lord again' blessed us with health when the spring returned.

Before spring I went up to North Ogden and bought a farm from Aaiff Rice, for $350 dollars, selling some cattle to make the first payment. The place was about ten miles from where I wintered and six miles from Ogden city, which at that time consisted of only a few farms, with people living upon their own farms. I raised a very good crop. In the fall the people living in different parts of Utah, (which was the name of Salt Lake County) were counseled by Bro­ther Brigham to build forts, in order to protect themselves aginst Indians. The people of North Ogden selected a place which was north and joining upon my farm so it didn't put me to the trouble of moving. This place was presided over by Bishop Thomas Dunn. The people began to gather, and it was not long before we had a settlement, but the wall around it was never built because the Indians around here were not considered very troublesome. The settlement was laid out in the form of a town, with building lots and streets at right angels.

AutoBiography: Along sometime in the fall of the same year, which was 1853 my children took the whooping cough, and Joseph succumbed to the disease and died in Nov­ember after much suffering. He was a very bright boy for his age and we missed him greatly. A week after his death our youngest child also died from the same disease. She was a girl of two months. During the winter, I was ordained to the office of High Priest, under the hand of Bishop Dunn, and appointed as one of his counselors.

AutoBiography: In February 1854 we had another girl which only lived a week. During the summer of 1855 I built a more comfortable home. In October the same year, my oldest daughter Mary Ann was married to William Barker. During the summer there was little grain raised, and great deal of the wheat being smut, and a great amount destroyed by crickets and grass hoppers. Many people suffered greatly for want of food before the next harvest. During the winter the snow fell quite deep, causing thousands of cattle to die. I lost all of mine but one yoke of oxen, one heifer and a horse. That winter has been known as the Hard Winter, and it surely deserved the name, for it was hard for both man and beast.

AutoBiography: In the fall of 1857 the government sent an army to destroy the Saints. Our President, at that time governor of Utah, Brigham Young, called out an army to prevent them from coming into the valley. They were not to go again­st them in battle, but to act as skirmishes to prevent the soldiers from com­ing in. My two eldest sons were out in most of those skirmishes,. Finally, Brigham gained his point, and kept our enemies from interfering until spring. When the difficulty was amicably settled by the peace commission sent to him by the government, and Brigham agreed to let them enter if they would not stop within forty miles of Salt Lake City. But as we had been betrayed many times by the government, Brigham couldn't trust them, so he issued a proclamation to the Saints in the North to move South. They were all required to move sixty miles south of Salt Lake City. A group of men was left in each settlement to set fire to everything at the command from our headquarters, which would be given if our enemies should break their promise. But for once, they kept faith with us and passed through deserted Salt Lake City and went west forty-five miles. I moved my family to Springville which was about fifty-five or sixty miles south of Salt Lake City. Here my son, George A. was born on the 28th day of May.

AutoBiography: After the Army passed through, we were permitted to return to our homes. I found a very good crop of volunteer wheat growing upon my farm. Although not having much rain, the Lord did permit me to reap a good harvest. During the previous winter, my eldest son, Leroy married Ellen Lowe, daughter of John and Ann Lowe. In July, 1859 my son William Alma married Sarah Wardle daughter of John and Sarah Wardle. During this summer I resigned as the Bishop's coun­selor, I will state here that I responded to every call in the line of my duty while I was acting in that office and many times I have neglected my own work to attend to tithing matters and also to the Bishop's individual work, while he was neglecting his duties and spending his time in pleasure. My house was also a home for the poor, having kept at my house and provided for many people. There was never a winter I did not have from one to one-half dozen people to provide for besides my own family.

AutoBiography: In the fall of 1860 I concluded to sell out, as it was getting very hard to get wood, I only had a yoke of young steers. With a few other things taken into consideration, I concluded to sell my place and the following spring I went in Ogden Valley, eastward about fifteen or twenty miles and took up a farm. I put in a crop, but was very late. I soon sold this place and bought another in the North end of the Valley. I cut a few tons of hay, but during the winter it rained very severely for several days and spoiled almost all the hay in the Valley. The snow also fell quite deep, and the cattle suffered greatly. This Valley was very cold, and the grain all frosted before it was ripe, so I thought this is no place for me, and there having been a call for volunteers to go south 350 miles where the climate was warm enough to raise cotton, I concluded to go. So I sold my place, and started in the summer of 1862. My son, William, took his family and went with me.

AutoBiography: I bought a farm and settled in Washington, but I only farmed here two seasons, having very poor land. I also had to haul our cotton and molasses fif­ty or a hundred miles north, to exchange for grain, as this was a very poor grain country. Here I also lost another child, a girl of about two years of age. We had another son here on the 26th of October which we called Henry D.

AutoBiography: Having heard a great deal about Long Valley which was situated east about eighty miles, I went to take a look at it, and it seemed to be a very good place where people were just settling. I sold out in Washington and moved to Long Valley in February 1865. I cleaned off a few acres of land, built a house, and put in a crop. In the summer there was quite an excitement about the Indians, and we were required to fort up, so I moved to the fort which was about two miles from my place. I lived there two months, then as the Indians seemed to be more peaceable, I moved back upon my farm. During my spare time I built a house in the fort. I harvested a good crop and in February 1866 I moved back to the fort. I rented a farm and put it in also, as my own land did not have much area cleared, having no help but my son, Franklin, who was only fourteen years.

AutoBiography: In June, we got a letter from Erastus Snow, who was one of the Twelve and the President of the Southern part of Utah, to move out where we would be safe from the Indians. They were again at the point of breaking out, so we all mov­ed out. I moved to Virgin City, and camped on the River under a cottonwood tree for eight weeks. During that time I built a house in Virgin city. Now we wished to go back and harvest our grain. I hauled one load out and went back after another, and to gather the rest of my crop such as squash and other pro­duce. My son, Franklin, was with me and in company with the others, we start­ed out with another load. We went about twenty-five miles and camped on the river at the foot of a big hill. The nest morning we were taking the wagons up and down and up the next hill, when the Indians came upon us. There were three wagons going down with three span of horses to each wagon. The teamsters only had time to get out three horses before they ran away. The Indians then unhitched the rest of the horses and took them, but while they were unhitching, the men went toward them and fired and shot one man, giving him a flesh wound, which caused them to return to camp.

AutoBiography: Along about noon Indian Mose, (who preferred to be friendly) was back there fighting the Navajos, which we then believed to be the Indians that were creating all the disturbances, and he wished some of us to go back and help him. Six men started back, and when they were about half way they stop­ped to listen. All was still, and fearing they were being led into a trap they returned to camp. About dusk, Mose came again and told us we would be killed if we stopped here during the night, for there was a heap of Navajos coming, and we had better take the trail. So John Berry, being captain, adwhen we spied a fire on the mountain to our right. William Berry asked Indian Moses what it meant. He said it was where the Indians had camped and had left a stick burning. When we got opposite the light, we heard a don give a yelp as if it was struck, and we had not gone far until an oppressive feeling came over me. I asked Brother Smith how he felt and he said about the same as I did. I then asked William Berry who was ahead of me how he felt, and he said he did not feel everything was all right. I told him to tell John Berry, who was ahead, to stop. He did so. I then told them if we went much farther on this route we would all be massacred. I then told them that if we would only go back to the fort there would be help sent to assist us before another day passed. Berry did not want to go back to the fort, but he conclud­ed to turn back, take another trail and go by Kolon. We did so and arrived home safe, after traveling all night and three days.

AutoBiography: But as I had predicted, if we had gone on any further down the creek, we would have been massacred, for Mose, the Indian was a traitor. Also, as I predicted, a company came to our assistance at the fort the next day, but not finding us there, they went to where we had left our wagons, emptied our wheat on the around, hitched up our teams and took everything to the settlement. They seemed to think our goods were public property, for I never received any­thing but my team and wagon. I felt that the hand of the Lord was over us, and I felt to thank him for preserving our lives.

AutoBiography: In the month of February, 1867, I moved to the Mountain Meadows, which was north of Washington about forty miles. I rented a farm from Simpson Emmett who had moved from the north some years previous and lived here.

AutoBiography: James Holt died January 25, 1894 just one month short of his ninetieth birthday in Meadows Canyon, Utah.

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Note: This history was submitted by Francis C. Gill

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF JAMES HOLT 1804-1894

(The father of Nancy Catherine Holt Slade, who was the mother of Nancy Alice Slade Miller, who was the mother of Maud Miller Fullmer, who was the mother of Vonna Fullmer Polad, who is the mother of Deanna Lou Polad Gill, who is the mother of Amanda Emily Gill.)

I, James Holt, was born February 10th, 1804 in Halifax County, North Carolina. When I was five or six months old, my father started with a colony of his kindred, and others, and traveled to Tennessee and settled in Wilson County, near Lebanon. My grandfather, Isom Davis, was also of the colony. My memory, in regard to my relatives at that time, is very imperfect, but I will write a sketch of those I do remember, that perhaps it may help to give a clue for those who are in search of genealogy of any of those here named.

My grandfather Davis and my father settled together. My grandfather, James Holt, settled in Montgomery County, (Tennessee). Moses Read, my grandmother Holt's father, settled in Dixon (Dickson) County, (Tennessee).

When I was about twelve years old, my great grandfather Read got up a dinner for his children and grandchildren. I sat at the head of the table, being the oldest of his great grandchildren. There were about 80 persons of his descendants present. The Holts, Reads, Harveys, Sillivants and Davises were all relatives.

My grandfather, James Holt, had two sons, Jesse and Laban, and six daughters, Mary, Sarah, Lydia, Anna, Elizabeth, and Patsey. Mary married Burgess Wall;

Sarah married Balum Bull; Lydia married Levitt Morris; Anna married one Harvey and Elizabeth married one Sillivant. I never knew of Patsey's marriage.

Laban went to the western part of Tennessee and married, but I never learned his wife's name. My father, Jesse, married Elizabeth Davis, daughter of Isom Davis. She was the widow of Joshua Crossland and had three children by her former husband, viz: Joshua, Sarah, and Lucretia. She had six children by my father, viz: James, Nancy, Isom, Jesse Washington, Laban and Elijah. After my mother's death, my father married her daughter, Lucretia Crossland.

My father was of a religious turn of mind and joined the Baptists, with my mother. He also joined the army and was in the War of 1812. During that time he and his family moved near Grandfather Davis's about 8 miles northwest of Lebanon. After the war, he bought a millsite, near by what was called Barton's Creek, where he erected a grist mill and a saw mill. There he resided, doing a flourishing business until his death, which occurred October 15, 1844.

When I was about 8 years old, there was quite an exciting time in religion. Father used to take me to church on horseback behind him, and young as I was, my mind was greatly impressed in regard to religious matters. About this time I had a very remarkable dream. I dreamed that my father sent me, in company with one of my brothers, to a neighbor's about three miles distant, on some errand. It appeared that in going we had to travel through a dark and gloomy cave where there was neither light of sun, moon or stars. It appeared that all people traveled through this gloomy cave. After we had traveled in this awful gloom for some length of time, we emerged into the light of day, and great was the contrast. Upon the left I beheld a large building. When we came opposite this building, I saw a man come to the door who I thought was the keeper. He called to me saying "James Holt, you must come in here and be tried for your faith." There was two or three steps to the building and I thought he took hold of my hand and led me up and into the building where I beheld a hook, somewhat similar to steelyards, suspended to a beam overhead. He said I was to be hanged upon that hook and if I had enough faith in God, I would not fall. But if I did not have faith in God, I would fall down in the dismal hall (pointing to a trap door in the floor) where there was weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. I looked where he pointed and I beheld people in the greatest confusion, some groaning, some shouting, and all in a great turmoil. One person stood up in their midst, saying, "All is well with us. We are all right. We need no more revelation. The canon of scripture is full. We will all be saved. We need not fear."

After I beheld this, the keeper took me and hung me upon the hook by the back of my vest. It soon began to rip and I began to sink towards the pit, but I began to call upon the Lord to strengthen me and increase my faith. Suddenly, my vest ceased to tear and I hung by the seam of my collar. The keeper now took me down, saying, "Well done. You have got most faith enough to save you and that is all any man will have, no matter how great he may be. They will only have faith enough to be saved, so you can go your way rejoicing."

When I was about sixteen years old, I had a heavy spell of sickness which laid me up for about five months. I was brought nigh unto death, but the Lord preserved my life for a wise purpose in Him. My fever caused all my hair to fall out, and when it again grew it was mixed with grey.

In the year 1829, I became acquainted with a young woman, by the name of Mary Pain, the daughter of John and Elizabeth Pain, and on the 22nd of January, 1830, we were married. She was born July 16, 1814.

John and Elizabeth Paine had six children, viz: Mary, Nancy, Susan, John, Elizabeth, and William. Nancy married Andrew A. Timmons; Susan married one Hogges.

In the year 1831, I moved to Sumner County and took charge of my brother-in-law's farm and business. His name was Theoderick Emanual Patton. My sister, Nancy's husband, and I managed all his affairs and raised a crop and moved back to Wilson County in 1832.

In this same year, I went into partnership with my father-in-law and built a boat expecting to go down the Mississippi River to the Azoo (Yazoo) Country to live. In 1833, in the spring, we loaded up our boat with our families, provisions, furniture and etc. My brother-in-law was still carrying a few sacks of cornmeal and stowing them away, the table was spread and all things were about ready for us to sit down to supper preparatory to starting on our voyage, when the alarm was raised that we were sinking. The gang planks were not yet removed and we got our families out all safe, but the boat sank with everything else on board. There had been a check in one of the gunnel boards, but we had not anticipated its being laden heavy enough for the water to come above. But before we knew it, the water was pouring through this check, which was the cause of its sinking. However, we procured help the next day and succeeded in raising our boat. We repaired it by putting a new gunnel in. We saved some of our lading, but a great deal was damaged. However, we launched forth in a few days and floated down the river as far as the Ohio, where we encountered a great storm of wind which continued to rage for several days and caused our women and children to become seasick and we could go no farther. We landed about twenty miles above the mouth of the Ohio River on a strip of country called the Grand Chain. We landed on the Illinois side of the river in Johnson County. There we stayed for several years, but the place was very unhealthy. Here I lost two children.

In the month of October, there came a man to our section of the country to preach who claimed to belong to a church calling itself the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a new sect lately sprung up. This man's name was Zachariah Wilson. Previous to this I had never believed in any denomination, for I could not see where they got their authority. They all preached about a God whom no one could comprehend. They believed not in revelation nor the gift of healing by the laying on of hands, according to the scriptures. Now I looked for a church that was built upon the foundation that was laid down in the scriptures, with prophets and apostles to lead, and I had talked a great deal with my brother-in-law, Andrew A. Timmons, who believed as I did. I had tried to persuade him to preach, for he was a well educated man, but he said if he were to attempt to preach as he believed, the people would kill him.

Now this "Mormon" Elder (as this new sect was called by the world) preached in our place and I went to hear him. He preached the Gospel according to the scriptures; faith on the Lord Jesus Christ and baptism for the remission sins, the laying on of hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost by those who were called of God; also the administering to the sick by the laying on of hands, and a great many other things which he proved by the scriptures. He then went on to show how the Lord had appeared to the boy Joseph Smith, how he was instructed of Angels form time to time and at last, when he had grown to manhood, how he had been led by the same heavenly messengers to obtain the sacred plates; how he had been inspired to give the translation thereof, and how he had been ordained to be a prophet, seer and revelator in this last dispensation; also how he had been led by God to organize the Church of Jesus Christ with apostles and all the appendages of the Holy Priesthood, with all the gifts following those who believed and were baptized according to the promises given in the scriptures.

Now I believed and rejoiced to hear the Gospel again preached on Earth as it was in the days of Christ. I went for my brother-in-law to come and hear a man who preached according to our mind. He came to hear him and after the preacher got through, he gave any one present the privilege to ask any questions, which was fair, and he would try to answer them. My brother-in-law asked him if he had a foundation for what he preached. He said yes. My brother-in-law said that was all he wished to know at present. After meeting I invited the preacher home with me. He said if anyone would open their doors to him he would preach again to them. One man said he could have his house to preach in, and I told him he was welcome to preach in mine, so he appointed to preach in this other man's house on Thursday and at my house on Sunday. He went home with me. On Thursday he held meeting at this other man's house. When he got through, a Methodist preacher asked permission to say a few words, and being granted the privilege, he arose and said there was no need of any more revelation, the canon of scripture was full and we needed no more addition to the Bible for it was perfect and he could prove it by that bucket (pointing to an old bucket close by, which had but one ear and no bail). Said he "That is a perfect bucket, is it not?" "Yes it is." "Well as that bucket is perfect so is the Bible. I told you I could prove it." I failed to see the point of his proof, but perhaps it satisfied him. He further went on and said the very words that the man said in the pit which I saw in my dream. I had not thought anything more about my dream for some time until now it flashed to my mind with great force. The next Sunday, Elder Wilson held a meeting at my house, at which time I was baptized and ordained to the office of Teacher. My brother-in-law did not join the Church at that time. He said I was like the sow that jumped at the swill as soon as it was put in the pen. He joined the Church the following spring and went on to Nauvoo, where I heard he apostatized through some false doctrine introduced by a few individuals who belonged to the Church, but did not understand the doctrine right.

In about three weeks from my baptism, my wife was baptized. As soon as I was baptized, persecution began. All manner of lying and reviling went on about those who belonged to the Church, but it only increased my faith, for so persecuted the Church in the days of our Savior. Soon after I was baptized I went and preached to my brother-in-law Hogges and his family. In quoting a passage in the Bible, his mother said it was not there. I told her it was surely there. She denied it, so I had her get her Bible and her son read it to her. She still denied saying it was made up between us. I preached to her every chance I got but she was so afraid she would believe and join that she sent quite a distance for a Baptist minister to come and baptize her. My father-in-law would never hear a Mormon preacher.

I now wished to sell my place and gather with the Saints, but I could get nothing scarcely for it. I finally sold to a man for two hundred and seventy-five dollars, although the same man had offered me one thousand dollars for it before I joined the Church. I gave Elder Wilson the most of it to help him home and for his family, as they had been driven and persecuted a great deal since he belonged to the Church.

In the spring of 1840, I started with my family for Nauvoo, the City of the Saints. I got as far as Pleasant Vale Stake, in Pike County, where one of my horses died. I was now left with a team, only having two horses and a light wagon to start with. Here I stayed the next winter and summer. I rented a farm and raised a crop. The following fall I hired a horse to put with mine and started again for Nauvoo, where I arrived all right. After I had been there a short time, I turned over my wagon to the committee of Nauvoo House and took a share in the same.

Soon after my arrival in Nauvoo, my only horse took sick, and hearing of a horse doctor close by, I went to see him. He said if I would give him half what the horse was worth after he was cured, and if I would get the medicine, he would undertake to cure him. I asked him how much medicine it would take and he said it would take about ten dollars worth. I asked him how much he would give me for the horse now, as he was. He said he would not give me one dollar. Well, said I, "I would surely be a fool to spend ten dollars for a horse that is not worth one dollar." That night I asked the Lord to cure my horse, and if he would do so I would sell it and give half the proceeds to the Church for the building up of His Zion upon the earth. Next morning the horse was well, I went forth and sold him for two hundred bushels of corn and gave one hundred bushels to the Church.

I now went to work in the quarry, getting out rock for the temple and the Nauvoo House. I continued this employment pretty much all the time until the spring of 1844.

At the April Conference of the Church, I was ordained to the office of Seventy and set apart to take a mission to Tennessee, in the company with Jackson Smith, to preach the Gospel and also with a copy of Joseph's views on politics, to have more printed and distribute them through our travels.

We traveled as the people of old, without purse or script. When we got to the Ohio River, the ferryman refused to set us over because we had no money to pay him. We went below four miles to another ferry and told the ferryman our situation. He was very kind and kept us over night and set us across in the morning, telling him we could recompense him more by speaking a good word for his ferry. We had not gone far beyond the forks of the road when we met a large train of wagons. The captain asked us about the ferry and we recommended him to the one we had taken as the most accommodating and he took the road leading to it.

We traveled on and came to a town peopled with Methodists. We tried to get lodgings but were refused on account of our religion. Late in the night, we spied a light that issued from a house in a field on one side of the road. We were led by the Spirit to the house. When we knocked at the door and it was opened, we apologized to the man for disturbing them so late at night, but we told him we were preachers of the Gospel as revealed to Joseph Smith and had been refused admittance back at the town on account of our belief. "Well, well," said he, "Come in. We would not turn away even a dog in such weather as this." They gave us food and lodgings and treated us well. The next morning after asking God to bless them, we bid them good-day and proceeded on our way. We continued on our way without much more of importance transpiring until we arrived at my father's in Wilson County, Tennessee. After shaking hands with him, I gave him an introduction to my traveling companion, Brother Smith, but he refused to shake hands with him. He said he did not want to see any of the (Smiths). Although this Smith was no kin to the Prophet Joseph, the name seemed to displease him, for there had been a great deal of lying reports circulated about the Smith family which my father believed. I told my father that I had always been obedient to him when I was living at home with him, but if he could not entertain my fellow traveler and treat him as a gentleman, I should be under the necessity of going somewhere else for accommodation, and turning my back on my father's house. This cut my father to the quick and, with tears in his eyes, he said, "James, take your friend in and make yourselves welcome."

As it had been several years since I had seen my relations, I spent several days visiting them and teaching them the principles of the Gospel when they gave me the opportunity. My brother, Jesse Washington (Holt), being a class leader of the Baptist Church, in this place, gave us the privilege of preaching in the meetinghouse. The first meeting we held there were but few present, but after that the house was always filled.

A few days after we arrived there, I went to Lebanon (it being six miles away) with a copy of Joseph's "Gospel Views of Politics," to have some printed. I found an editor with whom I made a contract to have five hundred copies printed. He agreed to have them done on the 27th of June. I then returned and spent the time with my relations and the people of their neighborhood. When the day arrived, I left Brother Smith at my brother Jesse Washington's and started again to Lebanon to see about the printing. When I got here, the editor told me that so many had borrowed the copy to read it that he had lost track of it, consequently he had not been able to print it.

When the people found I was there, several ministers of different denominations gathered around me and wanted to hear me preach. I told them that was the mission I was sent upon, to preach the Gospel, and if they would get me a place to preach in, I would accommodate them to the best of my ability. They procured me the Court House and had the bell rung. It was soon crowded to overflowing, for the word had flown throughout the town that a "Mormon" who was raised in the neighborhood was going to preach a sermon and they all felt a curiosity to hear him. There were also a great many ministers that were acquainted with me and who knew that my education was very limited, thinking to have some sport at my expense, came to hear me.

It was about two hours by the sun in the afternoon on the 27th day of June, 1844, and that I arose to address this large congregation and the Spirit of the Lord was upon me. I began preaching the first principles of the Gospel, faith on the Lord Jesus Christ, repentance and baptism for the remission of sins and laying on of hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost, etc. In winding up my sermon I had the spirit of revelation come upon me, and I told that the enemies of the Church had taken the Prophet of God this day and put him to death as they had all the prophets of God in all dispensations of the world. "Now," said I. "You may have this for a testimony of the Gospel, for if that is not true, Mormonism is not true." After I said this, I looked through the window and the sun was just setting. I told them I had spoken to them longer than I had anticipated but if anyone wished to ask questions, I would answer them if they were fair. No one had anything to say, but all seemed struck with amazement, and their eyes were filled with tears. After I dismissed and went to the door, a man stepped up to me and said he would like to make an appointment in his place. (When) I asked him where he lived, he said near Jackson School House about 25 ore 30 miles from here. I told him to give out an appointment for Saturday at four in the afternoon and eleven o'clock on Sunday morning and I would be there and fill them.

Next day I went back to father's and I told him that the prophet was slain and the Church was in difficulty, and I was going home. He said he did not believe anyone could know anything for a certainty at such a distance. I told him the Spirit of the Lord could reveal anything to man that was going on in any part of the world, and I knew that God had revealed the truth to me and I should start for home right away. I went to my brother's to see Brother Smith, and I told him what the Lord had revealed to me, but he could not believe me. He said that my brother was leaving and he wished to stop and baptize him, but my brother wished to see the prophet before he joined the Church, and was thinking of going shortly to Nauvoo and Brother Smith thought to stop and go with him. So I bid them all farewell and started home. This was the last time I ever saw my father, and I have never seen any of the others down to the present time which is the first month in 1881.

I now went on to Jackson School House, which was on my way home, and filled my two appointments, and at Nashville I took a steamer for Smithland at the mouth of the Cumberland River. When I got there, there was no boat going up the Mississippi River to Nauvoo. I crossed the river on a ferry boat thinking to go to my former home about twenty miles below where I first heard the Gospel. After I crossed the river and had gone a few hundred yards, I saw a house off to the left and a man sitting on the steps reading. The house was a few yards from the gate and I felt impressed by the Spirit to enter. I did so, asking for a drink of water for an excuse. The man told me there was a cup and a bucket, to help myself. He never took his eyes off the paper he was reading. After I had drank a few swallows of water, I spoke to him saying, "You seem to be quite interested in what you are reading. Is it anything very special?" He said he did not know, it was concerning the death of the Mormon prophet. I asked him where the Mormon prophet lived. He said they lived at Nauvoo and were taken to Carthage and killed. I asked him if there was any truth in the report. He said it must be true for the Governor's signature was to it. This confirmed my impression or the inspiration I had by the Spirit at Lebanon and I know had no cause to doubt if I had felt so disposed, but I had not doubted since it was the first revealed to me, but instead of weakening my faith, it only strengthened it, for I now knew that Joseph Smith was a prophet of the Most High God. I now went on to the Grand Chain and there I got aboard a steamboat for Nauvoo and arrived home safe. I found the Church in a great uproar. The Prophets, Joseph and Hyrum Smith, were slain by a merciless mob and there was a great mourning and lamentations among the Saints. Some were following one and some another, thinking they were following the right one, and it seemed difficult to determine which was the right one until Brigham Young, the President of the Twelve, came and took his place at the head of the Church; the Twelve being the next in authority to the First Presidency. One Lyman Wight declared he was the right one to lead the Church and led off a small portion of the people. Then came Sidney Rigdon, who had been counselor to Joseph but had been dropped from the Quorum. He came and professed to be the one to lead the Church until the son of Joseph was old enough to take the lead and several other men led off a portion but the main body of the Church adhered to the Council of the Twelve.

James Emmett came after me to go with him. He said he had been appointed before Joseph's death to choose a few families and travel among the Indians, and to the Rocky Mountains. Bishop Miller testified to me that Emmett had been appointed by Joseph as he said, and that he had the privilege of choosing who he pleased to accompany him, so I concluded to go. He also chose John Butler to go and he wished us to reveal it to no one, no even to our wives, where we were going, for everything was in such an uproar that he was afraid a great many would follow, and it might cause suffering.

John Butler had a friend by the name of (Billy) Edwards, whom he told, and this Edwards told others. Emmett was to go by boat and I was to travel by land and meet him at a certain place up the Iowa River, but before we met, it got rumored around to such an extent that a whole settlement on Bare Creek joined us. We traveled up the Iowa River and all met five miles above Kitchen's Settlement, which was the highest settlement at that time on the Iowa River. There my wife died, in October, and was buried. The doctors gave her a dose of lobelia when her stomach was too weak to take it, and it caused her death; and I must say I have ever since been opposed to anyone administering drugs. She left a child about two months old, which William Kartchner's wife took to nurse. She died on the 10th of February 1845. I lost another child at this camp at Kitchen's Settlement. It was my oldest son, Leander. He died about a month after my wife in November. I must here state that I cannot give dates and particulars as I would wish, for in my moves I lost my journal and I have to tax my memory to a great extent, to remember even one hundredth part of all which I would like to relate.

We here organized a company which had increased to upward of 25 or 30 families. Emmett was appointed trustee in trust for the company, and I was appointed bishop with Henry Hinman and Jackson Steward as my two counselors, and we all came under a covenant to divide up everything equal. We sold everything which we did not need, and bought corn and teams, and everything was divided out equal. The provisions were rationed out daily, and each person received only half a pint of corn a day. On the first of January 1845, we started again, still traveling up the Iowa River, about fifty or one hundred miles, where we rested and made sorghum. It was a good place for our cattle to browse and rest. Here we were visited by Brothers Fullmer and Lyman who were sent by Brigham Young to stop us from going any farther at present, and have us go back, as he thought there were too many following us which would bring great suffering. Emmett agreed to go back and consult with the Twelve when he got his company in a place where he was certain they would be safe, as he didn't feel they were safe here traveling in Indian country. Here, on the 11th day of February 1845, I married Parthenia Overton.

Great was the suffering of all the camp. The men hunted as much as possible and when they killed anything, it was divided among them, even a squirrel. When an ox died from fatigue or starvation, it was divided out to the people. They were greedy for it as if it was the best of beef. No one can have any idea of the suffering of this company, except those who experienced the same. Women and children suffered great starvation and fear, not knowing when they would be massacred by savages or unprincipled whites.

We resumed our journey in March and went to Vermillion, a French trading post, and before arriving, the French and Indians saw us and came to meet us to learn our intentions. After being informed, they escorted us to the fort where we arrived June 17th. Emmett went about fifteen miles to see the Indian chiefs who were drying their Buffalo meat for their winter's provisions. They were of the Sioux Nation. After he told them his business (being able to converse with them in their own tongue), he returned with seven of their chiefs. One of the chiefs was named Henry, who had been to Petersburg College and had quite a good education and had settled down at this place. Emmett and those seven chiefs went to Henry's house to hold council. They brought several bales of dried Buffalo meat as a present, which was very acceptable and we made a feast for them of the best we had. Emmett gave Chief Henry the Book of Mormon to read and after he had read the preface and explained it to his comrades, they all gave a great shout for joy. They danced, sang, shouted and had a joyful time. Emmett asked them why they were so happy. They told him that their great chief, who had died twenty years before, had told them that the whites would bring them, this very year, the record of their forefathers, and they had almost forgotten it until he presented them with this book, and they felt to rejoice. Emmett told them he was traveling through their country to preach the Gospel that was found in that book, and that it was his intentions to travel to the Rocky Mountains where his people wished to go and settle. They told him that it was a long way to the mountains; that he would have great waters to cross and great plains where there were no waters and when he got to the Rocky Mountains, he would find no buffalo; and his women and children would starve. They wished him and his people to stop with them and teach them to farm; anyway he must not go any farther this season, for it was late and he was perfectly welcome to take his men and hunt and kill all of the buffalo they wished. They could help him and they should not be molested in any manner.

We went out in a few days and killed two or three loads of Buffalo which helped us in our provisions greatly. After Emmett had been promised protection by the Indians, he took John Butler and went back to Nauvoo to have a council with the Twelve as he had promised.

We had peace while he was gone; the Indians treated us very kindly. When he returned, he told me that he had made everything right with the Twelve, that he had been rebaptized and Brigham had blessed him with all the blessings he had before and also greater blessings than he hitherto held. Brother Sherwood and another brother came with him and confirmed his words and we were all rebaptized by them. John Butler did not come back with them but came back the following spring. These brethren wished to go back by water if we could fit them up with a boat and they could sell their horses, which belonged to the Church. There was a Frenchman who kept a station near by for a fur company. He offered them thirty dollars for one and thirty-five for the other but Emmett thought the sum too small and bought them, giving fifty dollars for one and sixty dollars for the other, taking the means out of the company's treasury. The Frenchman became very much offended because he could not get the horses, so he got the Indians drunk and incited them to attack us and gathered about half a mile from our camp and started towards us to kill us. One of their chiefs came on ahead to have a counsel with Chief Henry, who dissuaded him from the purpose and he returned with Henry and met the Indians near our camp in time to prevent them from attacking us, although they were in the act of raising their guns to fire at us, and some did fire and bullets whistled about our wagons, but no blood was shed. Our women and children were very much frightened.

The Indians were very angry at the Frenchman whom they now called a murderer and wished to kill him, but he kept forted up and dared not go out of the walls for some time. But they got a chance by fall to shoot him. They only wounded him at that time and he was taken by his friends to a doctor and he recovered. He then started to return and when he got to the little Zion, he was again shot by them and this time killed. So he fell into the trap that he had set for us.

In the spring we put in garden seeds and were preparing to plant corn and raise a crop, when John Butler returned from Nauvoo with James Cummings, bringing word from the Twelve for us to meet the Church at the Bluffs (Council Bluffs, Iowa). So, we broke camp and met the Church at that place. We went about twenty-five miles beyond and camped at Keg Creek. Some of the brethren went down the Missouri to work for corn. We obtained a load or two and were about ready to return with it to our families when word came for us to hurry up and join George Miller's company which was waiting for us, ready to proceed to the Rocky Mountains. We got our families and crossed the Missouri River, joining Miller's company, and were making for Pawnee, a trading station, but learned that the men had all been driven out by the Indians. We started to return when the men fell in with our company. Brother miller promised to haul their effects. The day before we were to arrive at the station, the men went on ahead to arrange things at the fort for our reception. About noon, Emmett came to me and said he was impressed that something would happen to those men and wished to get my horse to go and overtake them. He went on to the fort and found the Indians collected to kill them. He told the men to make a feast for the Indians and treat them well and they would not harm them until he could go back to camp and return with help. He reached camp about one o'clock at night and called for a few men to go with him to the fort immediately. About twenty-five or thirty responded including myself. It was about fifteen miles to the fort. It was a perilous time. Women were clinging to their husbands and trying to prevail upon them not to leave them in their dangerous position, but we commended them to the Lord and departed on foot in the dead of night and arrived at the fort by the first glimmer of dawn.

We found the Indians asleep in a circle around their campfire. We surrounded them and pointed our guns at them ready to fire at a given signal. Emmett spoke to the chief and he arose with the well known "ugh", at which the Indians all arose. Finding themselves in a trap, they shook hands all around, led by their chief, and silently took their departure. We now went back and met our teams which had been hitched up by the men and women of the company and arrived at the fort during the day.

We stayed there about two weeks, harvested grain and were ready to start, when a dispute arose as to the leadership. We had been increased by two companies, one led by

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GEDCOM Note

(Research):Birth: «tab»Feb. 10, 1804
Halifax County
North Carolina, USA
Death: «tab»Jan. 25, 1894
Washington County
Utah,