Elisha Averett, Member of the Far West Band?

    "About April 1836 Elisha and Elijah with their sister and brother-in-law S. A. P. Kelsey, their sister Eliza Averett, in company with a number of their neighbors, immigrated to the Caldwell County, Missouri and settled on Steve (or Steer) [Shoal] Creek some two miles from Far West. The spring following 1837 his father and mother and sister Pyrenia and brothers John and Murray Averett all emigrated to Caldwell County, Missouri, and settled on Shoal Creek about one and a half miles from Far West, Missouri on a fertile spot of land. They rejoiced that they could help build up Zion. They cleared off some land and fenced and sowed to turnips some of the same. This country seemed to teem with all of the blessings that mortals had or to wish for. Convenient range one thousand of acres of grass and the fertile prairie suitable for mowing for hay and easy to be brought into cultivation, the country seeming to teem with all the blessings that their hearts could desire; honey, deer, turkeys, hens, quails, and the streams teeming with their furry tribes by the thousands and easy to obtain may beautiful groves of beautiful timber and convenient wild fruit and nuts too numerous to mention...
    His father rented some corn that had been planted before he arrived at Far West, raising some of the best corn and sod that they had ever beheld on sod land. Everything seemed to grow and prosper in this land that was put into the ground and cultivated. Another blessing that this country offered was the very best of spring water in abundance. This land seemed to be a choice land in every deed and to the Averetts the land seemed to be a heaven in every deed...
    In the summer of 1837 Elisha Averett was married to a widow of the name of Dorcas De Witt, (she was a cousin of Joshua T. Willis) the widow of Robert De Witt who was killed in an affray or fight in McLeansboro, Hamilton County, Illinois..." [Excerpts from A Biographical Sketch of the Life and Adventures of Elisha Averett; http://www.mormonbattalion.com/gallery/bios/eaverett/eaverett.htm].

    Samuel Miles, as a young boy remembered the following incident on the way to the Fourth of July celebration in 1837. "I stepped on a scythe taken along to cut prairie grass for the team, and being bare-foot, was partly severed in two. Father took me to the house of David Whitmer, where my foot was attended to. A crutch was improvised so that I went out and heard the Martial band, [and] attended the services at the Temple foundation. . ." [Samuel Miles, MS 5096, LDS Church Historical Department Archives.]

    John Rigdon recalled seeing and hearing the band perform. "On the fourth of July 1838, "Colonel Hinkle had one company of uniformed militia. We had a martial band with a bass drum and two small drums, and so a procession was formed to march, the uniform company of militia coming first and then the procession followed. We made quite a showing for a small town. After marching around the square, the militia came to the cellar and halted. There was erected a stand to speak from. Joseph Smith, Hyrum Smith, Sidney Rigdon, and several others took their places."

    The band also played during David Patten's funeral procession. John Rigdon further recalled, "The next day [October 27th 1838] we buried both David Patten and Gideon Carter in military order. Joseph Smith and Hyrum Smith and Sidney Rigdon rode at the head of the procession on horseback. Then came the martial band and after that the bodies of David Patten and Gideon Carter and then quite a little procession followed. After, we took them out to a little burying ground just outside of the village and there we buried them." ["The Life and Testimony of Sidney Rigdon," John Wickliffe Rigdon, Dialogue, 1, No. 4: 30-34].