Martha Rogers

Daughter of Ebenezer Collins and Ann Stowe Collins

"When the elders arrived at the Rogers home the following afternoon, David's wife, Martha, answered the door and saw two men: "One was large and dark, with a pleasant, intelligent countenance [Parley P. Pratt], while the other was a small man, but very earnest [Elijah Fordham]." The elders asked for her husband, but she informed them that David was not there. They promised to return in the evening, telling her that they had a very important message for him. This visit from the elders startled Martha because she had dreamed earlier about this very event. 

A few years before the missionaries' visit, David, like Martha, had had a dream. In the dream, David was "taken by a guide to a point where he was shown a terrible, swift destruction which seemed to embrace the whole face of the land. He was told by his guide that he would learn more about the terrible event when he was fifty years of age." 

David was in his fiftieth year when the missionaries sat with the Rogers family and explained the gospel to them. Martha immediately accepted their message, but David needed more time. He retired to his room for four days, reading the Book of Mormon, praying, and fasting. When he read about the terrible destruction that had taken place in the Americas after the Savior's crucifixion, he recognized it as the destruction he had witnessed in the dream. David's seclusion ended with his receiving a testimony by revelation. He later stated that "the room was a blaze of light as the noon day sun. I saw Joseph Smith sitting at a stand in the corner of the room with a Book of Mormon in his hand." Soon after this spiritual confirmation, Parley P. Pratt baptized the Rogers family in New York City's East River on December 19, 1837."

By Naida R. Williamson

• Updated from Find A Grave Memorial via daughter Susannah Mehetable Keate (born Rogers) by SmartCopy: Aug 18 2015, 17:44:42 UTC