The Durfee family living in Kirtland had escaped the early period of dire persecution in Missouri. But in the Spring of 1837, they decided to join the saints in Missouri.
A revelation concerning a large area of land located in these two counties was given to the Prophet and the name Adam-ondi-Ahman introduced - meaning the place where Adam dwelt... and three years before his death, Adam called his posterity together and gave them his last blessing... and that on Spring Hill is a remnant of the very alter Adam used to offer sacrifices to the Lord at that gathering. (It was also believed that another gathering -- of even greater importance relative to this earth's destiny -- would later take place in that same location.)
In a company of 500-600 saints, Edmund, Lana, and 8 unmarried children set out on the long journey to Caldwell Co. (Oldest daughter Martha had married Lyman Stevens and oldest son Edmund had married Caroline Eliza Clark also took the trip about this time.) Tamma and her husband, Albert Miner, and their children remained in Kirtland until June the next year (1838).
During 1837-1838, Church members from Ohio, and new converts from the eastern States and Canada, joyfully gathered and built new homes for themselves in Caldwell and Davis Counties. (By the Fall of 1838, nearly the whole body of the Church was located in these two Counties.) The Saints hoped eventually to redeem Jackson County.
The Durfee families settled at a place called “Log Creek” six miles south from Far West. Within two years, Far West had a population of 5,000, two hotels, a printing office, blacksmith shops, stores, & 150 houses.
On July 4, 1838, the Mormons in Far West held a celebration in observance of the nation's Independence Day and the freedom which they then enjoyed from mobs. On this same day, they laid the cornerstone for a new temple at Far West. Band music and a parade, followed by a reverent dedication made this day a notable occasion.
But these conditions of peace and progress which they celebrated were to be short lived. Actions from without by nonsympathetic neighbors, noting the ever-increasing population and rapid progress, united by unscrupulous conduct from within the church, produced untold hardships for members.
Journal History records: “The saints assembled at Edmund Durphey's settlement in Caldwell Co., Missouri, agreeable to appointment and rejected Presidents David Whitmer, John Whitmer, and W. W. Phelps by unanimous vote as the Presidency of the Church in Missouri.” (Charged with misappropriations of funds borrowed for the use of the Church; selling possessions in Jackson County, contrary to the revelations of the Lord, which was paramount to denial of the faith. Above named, and Oliver Cowdery excommunicated at a later date for various charges recorded in Church history.) Thomas Marsh and David W. Patten were sustained as presiding officers in Missouri until the coming of Presidents Smith and Rigdon. (After mobs had entered and desecrated the Kirtland Temple, Joseph Smith left there to join the saints in Missouri in the Fall of 1838).
The same hatred and persecutions that had been aroused against the saints in Jackson County came with full force against them again in their new home. The Lord gave instructions to the saints not to retaliate in kind, but to seek redress through the courts. Obeying the law, the saints appealed to county and state officials for protection and redress of losses of property and lives — to no avail.
(It should be remembered that Missouri was then America's western frontier, and the frontier was generally characterized by a spirit of lawlessness and independence that comes of ignorance, suspicion, and jealousy. Intolerance and hatred were comon in this atmosphere.)
To add to the gravity of the situation, an avowed anti-Mormon of Jackson County days, Lilburn W. Boggs, become governor. When a group of peaceful, non-Mormon citizens appealed to the governor, he replied, “The quarrel is between the Mormons and the mob, and they can fight it out”. With such license, trouble spread like a prairie fire before a high wind.
Homes were entered by force and plundered. All weapons were forcibly taken from the Mormons, even to butcher knives, so that they had no means of defense. Men were dragged from their homes and families--brutally beaten, tarred & feathered, and abused in every conceivable way. A mob gathered and killed; drove the remaining Mormons from Diahman to Far West. Tamma saw David Patten die at Log Creek after being wounded at Crooked River. Following violent acts by both sides, the Governor gave creedence to reports that the Mormons were in insurrection, that they refused to submit to law, and that they were preparing to make war on the old settlers. The governor used this as an excuse to issue his ill-famed "Extermination Order". A militia of armed men went against the saints in Far West.
Joseph Smith, Hyrum Smith, Sidney Rigdon, Parley P. Pratt, and Lyman Wight turned themselves over to the militia to save church members from an anticipated bloodbath. After a night court-martial, the prisoners were sentenced to be shot at sunrise on the public square of Far West. General A. W. Doniphan was ordered to carry out the execution to which he replied, “It is cold-blooded murder. I will not obey your order... and if you execute these men, I will hold you responsible before an earthly tribunal, so help me God”. Doniphan was never called to account for this insubordination which saved the Prophet's life. However, the prisoners were removed to Liberty Jail in Clay County, awaiting trial, where they remained for six months before they were able to escape.
Greatly outnumbered and denied any semblance of legal protection, fifteen thousand members fled their Missouri homes and properties (then valued at a million and a half dollars) without hope of ever being paid for their properties taken over by the mobs. Through the winter of 1838-39 they painfully made their way eastward towards Quincy, Illinois, not knowing where else to go.
Many died from exposure (son Wm. Died in Missouri, date unknown). The men who had teams had to help the others (many families were without father or husband to assist them.) Journal History, Jan. 29, 1839, page 3, lists: “Lyman Stevens, Albert Miner, Edmund Durfee”... and 380 others... ”appointed for removing the poor from the State of Missouri”.
After making many trips, the men went back for their families... so the Durfee family did not get away until April 1839. They crossed the Mississippi River near Quincy, Illinois, then followed the River northward to a place called Lima (25 miles due South of Nauvoo) in Adams County (Tamma and Albert Miner stayed there). The rest of the Durfee families continued northeast for another 2 ½ miles where they settled an area called Yelrom which was still part of the Lima township (even though it was over the county line and in Hancock County).
