Governor Daniel Dunklin and Lt. Governor Lilburn Boggs

    "The governor's command was repeated, that the Saints should leave Jackson county, and that Clay county should be a place of safety for them.

Colonel David Atchison

    Colonel Atchison was, to all appearances, a friend of the Mormon church, and through his counsel and advice the Saint's agreed on the conditions that, if Jackson county people would buy their improvements and farms with the produce, then, for the sake of peace, they would leave the county. The counsel of Colonel Atchison was, that the Mormons would act more wisely to move directly, as cold weather would set in before they could possibly get arrangements made comfortable for their [page 72] families. "In view of this, I will see that you all have your rights," said the Colonel. "You come and get your produce, and your farms can be sold at your own time; but get your families in comfortable quarters and then look after your property, is my advice," he said. His advice was not very pleasing to the Latter Day Saints. However, if there was a "must" in the case, there remained no alternative, and we gathered up what little we could take in wagons and crossed the Missouri river and pitched our tents in Clay county, on the banks of the river. Many were taken with chills and fever, and altogether the Mormons presented a pitiable spectacle.
    At this distressing period, every man who was able to work went to the farmers for employment, in order to maintain their families. I will say for the praise of Clay county that a more free and generous people I never saw in any country. The Colesville church, together with twenty or thirty other branches of the Mormon church, had already arrived at this point, and more were on the way, and many were camped on the river below, and some above us. We lived in tents until winter set in, and did our cooking out in the wind and storms. Log heaps were our parlor stoves, and the cold, [page 73] wet ground our velvet carpets, and the crying of little children our piano forte; while the shivering, sick people hovered over the burning log piles here and there, some begging for cold water and others for hot coffee or tea. We found it convenient to have near neighbors; if we wished to borrow we had not far to go after it; and the hottest log heap was hunted out by those whose chill was just coming on. The snow covered our sleeping tents, and the scene reminded one of the gathering of the house of Israel. Every tent was covered with snow six or eight inches deep. It now looked more like a city than before the snow fall. In our tent my husband had obtained boards and made a floor, and then spreading the large buffalo robe over the boards, made our sleeping tent look comfortable, and our pride was to keep it tidy.
    In the latter part of the winter the Mormons built cabins, and made them convenient and comfortable also. The floors were made of puncheons and the roofing made of oak shingles, which served wondrously well in the place of a better material. As people, although we did not enjoy the legal rights of civilized citizens, yet we maintained the right of freedom of conscience; neither could we be deprived of the [page 74] liberty of serving God according to our views. We also had the liberty of thought, and according to the constitution the liberty of speech also. Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon had long since left Missouri and gone to Kirtland, where the Saints were gathering, and where the former was president of the Kirtland banking house, and Sidney Rigdon vice-president; therefore, their attention and interest were unmistakably requisite. Not only this, but the fact that the Mormon church was building a temple; this also called them to that place to oversee the work.
    Now a new joy sprang up in our cottage home. A little daughter had come to brighten our hopes, to cheer and strengthen our efforts along life's rugged pathway. Then came beautiful spring, with its birds and flowers, and the river running not far form our little cottage door. All was quietude and harmony; no railing, threatening mob to disturb us then, for we had the promise of a peaceful and safe posses [page 75] sion. Here let me pause for one moment and ask one question: Dear reader, how would you enjoy this? Think you, the notes of birds, or the beautiful tinted flowers, or the flowing river would soothe your aching, injured heart and spirit; driven from your hard earned homes, and compelled to wander without home or shelter; being buffeted and smitten, until the blood ran down the clothes of those who tried to obtain their grain and other produce in Jackson county; after being bruised with sled stakes, they were brought home by those of the company who were fortunate enough to escape their blood-stained hands. This was done without provocation. I beg leave to say that my faith in Mormonism never was firmly established, by any means, and I never could see the consistency of this mysterious faith; but give me the true gospel of Christ, and then I feel that my feet are firmly fixed upon the rock. . . . [page 79]
    We are still living in our cabins. Our church, or rather the building in which we worshipped, was built very large and commodious, suitable to accommodate eight families; and on the Sabbath and one evening in every week the church assembled for worship in the building. There were two large fire-places, the chimneys of which were built of sticks and mortar; built very particular and straight. The logs of this building were hewed, and the entire building elegantly whitewashed outwardly, and papered on the inside; all of which was very creditably done. It was, in fact, a parsonage, as no other than [page 80] the elders of the church lived in that building. It was called the White House, from the fact that there was no other cabin whitewashed, except this, in our settlement. Some of our Gentile neighbors would attend meeting on the Sabbath, probably through curiosity, as it is my opinion they never entered a place of worship in all their life before. The voice of prayer and singing averted their attention from the hunting ground of the dense forest, and they seemed to enjoy sitting with us in meeting. . . . [poem]

    "The proud willows seemed to waive over our humble cottage," said my husband, as we were enjoying the cool evening breeze from the river; "and their proud tops whisper defiance to our rising above our present condition," he continued, "yet my darling, we are young, and our means to procure another home is not by any means exhausted, so you need not weep over our misfortune. Our little Nellie will be provided for, God being my helper. Another thing I have to comfort me, that is there is not a spot upon God's throne that will appear [page 81] against me in any respect, which has brought this calamity upon us, I have wronged no one, and if you remember, my dear, he continued, they told us if we would renounce Mormonism, we could remain there and be respectable citizens among them." "Yes," I replied hesitatingly, "I remember one Sabbath as they met us as we were going home from church." "Yes, that is the time; and about the respectability, what did you think of that," asked my husband, laughingly. "I was just going to say the mantle would fall upon us in that respect."
    We found it not in our nature to settle down in poverty and denigration, and resolved to put forth our best energies to acquire a better position. However, it was not the order of the Mormon church for any of the members to separate from the main body, and the Colesville church remained together. Therefore our experience in many respects differed from that of any other branches of the church.
    Some of the Jackson county persecutors visited our side of the river, in companies of four or five in number; what their mission was we did not learn; however, in one instance they came with a flat boat, and after drawing the boat upon the land, they shouldered their rifles and went over the bluffs in pursuit of game. [page 82] While they tarried, some of the Mormons finding the boat, took off a plank and bored several places in the bottom of the boat and placed the plank back as before. The men came, and finding the boat all right, as they supposed, started over, and before they reached the middle of the river the boat sank, and two of the men were drowned. One of the men who were drowned was Mr. E. Campbell, the one who threatened extermination to our men, women and children in Jackson county. The other unfortunate man was one of Campbell's own accomplices.
    The time had now arrived to commence farming, and we rented a farm two miles from the river. This farm was ample for two or three families. According to this consideration, my husband and two of his brothers, also his mother and sister, Mrs. Rogers, removed to this more convenient place for each family. We now enjoyed a peaceable habitation; although our Gentile neighbors were slaveholders, yet they were warm-hearted, friendly and obliging. The second year we were afflicted with chills and fever, which continued through the entire season, and not one escaped this dreadful malady. There were none on whom we could depend for even a drink of water. [page 83] have visited hospitals, but never witnessed any sickness as distressing as this. Newell Knight, my brother-in-law, lived among the bluffs, a mile and a half from the river. A thick forest surrounded their wigwam; for it was truly an Indian camp, or wigwam. I think I never saw a more broken piece of land, the bluffs running up to a point, the top of which was so sharp it would be impossible for a man to stand with both feet on the summit.

    Away down amidst those massive mountains my sister and her infant child are sleeping in one casket. They are folded together in that mansion where the lambs of Christ are gathered; there is Sarah [Sally Knight] and her infant. . . . [poem]
    After Sister Sarah's departure I sent my parents the sad intelligence of our loss. The answer was undelayed, and they uniformly partook with me in our bereavement; not as those who have no hope, for we were not separated forever; only a few short days and we will meet again in a more congenial clime, where sorrow and death will not disturb our peace.
    The chills and fever continued with us. It seemed to have an attraction which was hard to shake off. I took my sister's sick child, a little boy two years old, and now I had two sick babies, besides being sick myself with the chills and fever, and also a paralytic stroke came upon me, from rinsing clothes in cold water. My husband was so ill until winter, and in fact until after the holidays. This gigantic disease we found more difficult to contend with than it was for Israel to contend with the Canaanites; and as we began to recover, the demand for food would have tempted us to become parasitical in order to obtain a good rich meal of victuals. In fact, so exorbitant was our demand [page 85] that a quarter of beef, in the eyes of those three families, looked like a small pittance.
    The winter was a severe one, and as a matter of course we endured very many hardships, and in those terrible chastisements we were remembered in mercy; and although in a country of wicked practices, in some measure, yet forbearance on our part was a harbinger of safety, and prudence our maxim. At all events we were blessed with a better retreat than horseracing, gambling, drinking and profanity, even to a Mormon meeting on the Sabbath, where prayer was wont to be made, and where the voice of singing made the forest ring with melody, and rejoice at a sound it never had heard.
    A year had now passed since my sister's death. Newell [sic] Knight had been Kirtland, and returning with a wife they took little Samuel to their own home. Having now been freed from the care of this interesting little boy, another precious treasure filled our hearts with joy. It was another beautiful little girl had come to cheer us, amid the toil and care of our pilgrim life, and enrich our ideas of the usefulness of our existence, and the importance of a well refined example. The church now assembled to make arrangements for purchasing [page 86] farms," in northern Ray County, Missouri.