John E. Page
In January 1838, "John E. Page of 2nd Quorum of Seventy... was chosen to fill the place of Luke Johnson, one of the Twelve... by the nomination of the High Council and vote of the Church." About six months later, Joseph Smith formalized this appointment by way of revelation, placing Page, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, and Willard Richards into apostleships. [Journal History, 19, 23 January 1838, 6 February 1838; Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Salt Lake City: Published by the Church, 1977), sec. 118].
John left Canada, where he had converted 600 to the church, on 14 May 1838. He led a company of Mormons who were traveling to Missouri to join the main body of the church at its new headquarter's city at Far West. Page and his family stopped at DeWitt and was among church members forced from that place. After arriving in Far West, Page's wife, Lorain, and two children died during the siege of the city. Page blamed their deaths on the effects of a "furious mob." "My wife Lorain, of twenty-four years, and her two little once blooming sons -- Ephraim and George -- lying in one grave! and others whose blood has recorded their death as martyrs to their holy religion on Missouri's soil." [The Morning Chronicle, Vol. 1. - No. 262, Pittsburgh, PA, Thursday, June 16, 1842].
[http://www.lavazone2.com/dbroadhu/PA/penn1840.htm#061342]
Shortly afterwards, Page covenanted with his brother Ebenezer, "We two share alike: we have buried each a wife in this place [Far West, Missouri], and if we follow them, our trials will be over; if you are shot I will avenge your blood." Ebenezer was one of those arrested following the surrender of Far West. Ebenezer's eventual release from jail also freed John from their mutual obligation. By December, Page was beginning to recover from his grief and proposed marriage to Mary Judd, a resident of Far West. She was nineteen years his junior.
Governor Lilburn Boggs issued his "Extermination Order" on 27 October. Throughout the fall and winter of 1838-1839, church members began to to leave Missouri. Ater leaving Missouri, the Pages relocated near Warsaw, Illinois. [Millennial Star 27 (18 Feb. 1865): 103-104; Stephen C. LeSueur, The 1838 Mormon War in Missouri (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1987), 235; Zion's Reveille 2 (15 Apr. 1847): 55; John E. Page to Dear Sister in the Lord, 8 Dec. 1838, Archives and Manuscripts, Lee Library].
[See Mormon Mavericks: Mormon
Essays on Dissenters, http://www.signaturebooks.com/excerpts/mavericks.htm#chap2]
Mrs. Mary [Judd] [Page] Eaton, of lawful age, being produced, sworn, and examined on the part of the Plaintiff, testified as follows:—
I live on the corner of Temple and Walnut streets in the city of Independence, Missouri; have lived here fifteen years about.
Prior to coming here I lived in DeKalb county, Illinois. I think I lived in Caldwell county one time. I lived at DeWitt, in Caldwell county [Carroll County]; I staid there for awhile, then I was in Far West, lived there some time, I think that was in 1838.
The occasion of going to Far West: It was designed to settle there; we went there with the design of settling and residing there permanently. We did not live right in the town at Far West in 1838; we lived about five miles from there I think. I think we came there in April, 1838, and located the place; but I think we moved there in November. I was twenty-one years old at that time I think.
We left the place where we lived, five miles from Far West, because a party of men came to our house on horseback; they came along-side of our yard, told us we must leave there, or we would smell thunder and lightning. Then they asked for a drink of water, and my mother got them a drink, and they said they wanted to drive us into Far West. And they said they would give us hell, and we waited until it was a little dark, and then we started for Far West.
They did not attempt anything else while we were there, only they inquired if we had any arms in the house, and we told them that we did not; and they made some remark that Mormons were liars, or something like that,- and not to be believed; and my father said for them to go in and search the house and see if there were any arms there.
Some of these men were dressed in what seemed to be a coat made of a white blanket; it was the style of the country at that time to have coats made of white blankets, for the country was a new country, and that kind of material was the easiest obtained. It was a custom at that time to wear a leather belt, and when you saw a man at that time the chances were that you would see his bowie knife stuck in it, attached to the belt with a scabbard. I think some of these men had these knives. They went away as they came imitating the barking of a dog as nearly as they could do so.
We went to Far West as they ordered us to do; After we got to Far West they surrounded us. There were men all around, riding over the prairies about Far West, —the country was literally black with them, and they demanded that the Latter Day Saints surrender, and that they stack their arms; and they did it.
After that we left Far West, and went back to the place about five miles south of Far West. It must have been three or four days before we returned to Far West. They took away what they termed "the authorities" of the church.' They took them away from the city, and then they gave us permission to go back to our homes again. [page 269]
The conditions attached to that permission to return home, were, to leave the country in the spring, and never attempt to put a plow in the ground again, but to leave in the spring; and that is what we agreed to do, and that is what we did. The orders were to leave the country in the spring, and that is what we did. It was the order of General Clarke or the generals that were there, that we should leave the country in the spring, and not to return to it any more.[Abstract of Testimony Temple Lot Suit, 268-269].