Heber C. Kimball was ordained an apostle at Kirtland in 1835. Between 1837 and 1838 he performed a mission to England. He returned to northwest Missouri in 1838. Kimball's biographer, Stanley Kimball writes, "By the time Heber came to Far West that July, 1838, it had more than 5,000 inhabitants, 150 houses, 2 hotels, and at least 14 business establishments—and many must have been living in wagons and tents. Heber had a happy reunion with the Prophet Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, and others, and temporarily moved in with the David Patten family. The church gave him a building lot and timber for a home, and a friend gave him forty acres of land, presumably for a farm. How Heber supported himself and his family in Missouri is not recorded; his own efforts were probably supplemented from general church funds." [Stanley B. Kimball, Heber C. Kimball, 56].
    Kimball provides these details, "Bishop Partridge gave me a lot, and sufficient timber to build a house. While it was erecting, my family lived in a place I built for my cow, about [page 712] eleven feet square, in which I could hardly stand upright. The brethren were remarkably kind, and contributed to my necessities. Charles Hubbard made me a present of forty acres of timbered land, another brother gave me a cow. [http://www.saintswithouthalos.com/b/kimball_hch5.phtml].
    According to Orson F. Whitney's biography, Heber C. Kimball says he is given "sufficient lumber to build a house" not "timber" as quoted above. That would mean the difference between him having a log vs. a frame house in Far West. Whitney also did not include "timber land" in reference to the 40 acres he received from Hubbard. Charles W. Hubbard had two properties entered in the land record index and both were for 80 acre tracts in Mirabile Township, so it is hard to tell which 40 acres Kimball received. [-Mike Riggs].
    During the Far West period, Kimball visited church leaders being held prisoners at Liberty Jail and helped with the removal of church members from the state. He also returned to Far West on 26 April 1839 to assist with laying a temple cornerstone, and was present when Wilford Woodruff and George A. Smith were ordaining apostles. After that, he traveled to Washington, D.C., to join in petitioning the President for redress for the Saint's Missouri losses.

    [page 249] ...Meanwhile, the mob, not content with the ruin they had wrought, continued to threaten the few Saints who remained in Far West, evidently determined to carry out the order of their chief. Governor Boggs, to "exterminate the Mormons, or drive them from the state." The main body of the Church, numbering from ten to twelve thousand souls, had already left the state, and were beyond the reach of Missourian mobs, encamped upon the hospitable shores of Illinois. "On the 14th of April, 1839," continues Heber, "the committee who had been left to look after the wants of the poor, removed thirty-six of the helpless families into Tenney's [Tinney's] grove, about twenty-five miles from Far West. I was obliged to secrete myself in the cornfields and woods during the day and only venture out in the evening, to counsel the committee and brethren in private houses.
    "On the morning of the 18th, as I was going to the committee room to tell the brethren to wind up their [page 260] affairs and be off, or their lives would be taken, I was met on the public square by several of the mob. One of them asked, with an oath, if I was a Mormon. "I replied, 'I am a Mormon.'
    "With a series of blasphemous expressions, they then threatened to blow my brains out, and also tried to ride over me with their horses, in the presence of Elias Smith, Theodore Turley and others of the committee.
    "It was but a few minutes after I had notified the committee to leave, before the mob gathered at the tithing house, and began breaking clocks, chairs, windows, looking-glasses and furniture, and making a complete wreck of everything they could move, while Captain Bogart, the county judge, looked on and laughed. A mobber named Whittaker threw an iron pot at the head of Theodore Turley and hurt him considerably, when Whittaker jumped about and laughed like a madman; and all this at the time when we were using our utmost endeavors to get the Saints away from Far West. The brethren gathered up what they could, and fled from Far West in one hour. The mob stayed until the committee left, and then plundered thousands of dollars worth of property which had been left by the brethren and sisters to assist the poor to remove.
    "One mobber rode up, and, finding no convenient place to fasten his horse to, shot a cow that was standing near, while a girl was milking her, and while the poor animal was struggling in death, he cut a strip of her hide from the nose to her tail, to which he fastened his halter.
    "During the commotion of this day, a great portion of the records of the committee, accounts, history, etc., were destroyed or stolen.
    "Hearing that Joseph and the brethren had escaped from their guard while they were on their way from [page 251] Daviess to Boone County, to which place they had obtained a change of venue, I called upon Shadrach Roundy, with whom I started immediately towards Quincy.

    "On reaching Keetsville, I stopped at the house of Col. Price. The Colonel, hearing of my arrival, came directly into the house, and discovering who I was, said, 'Joseph and Hyrum Smith and the other prisoners have escaped.' I enquired what he knew about them. He answered, 'Their guard took breakfast here this morning; they have turned back, saying they were going to Richmond, by way of Tenney's Grove. I know that the guard has been bribed, or they would evince more interest by pursuing them.' After we had partaken of refreshment, Brother Roundy and I pursued our course towards Quincy about fourteen or fifteen miles.
    "Being thoroughly satisfied that the prisoners had escaped, we turned back towards Far West. When we arrived at Tenney's Grove a man came to me and presented an order drawn on me by Joseph Smith for $500, saying it was for horses furnished him. I immediately raised $400, which I paid him, when he proceeded to Richmond, Ray County, where he paid out some of the money to secure lands that we had been driven from.
    "Brother Roundy and myself started a few hours after for Richmond, being on our way to Far West, for the purpose of visiting Parley P. Pratt and others, in jail. On our arrival at Richmond, I went directly to the prison to see Parley, but was prohibited by the guard, who said they would blow my brains out if I attempted to go near him. In a few minutes Sister Morris Phelps came to me in great agitation, and advised me to leave forthwith, as Parley P. Pratt had told her that a large body of men had assembled with tar, feathers and a rail, who swore they would tar and feather me, and ride me on a rail, [page 252] suspecting I was the one who assisted Joseph and the other prisoners to escape. I immediately informed Brother Roundy, we jumped on our horses and fled towards Far West, which was distant; we rode all night, and reached Far West about the break of day, expecting Brother Brigham Young and the Twelve to arrive there that day."
    April 26, 1839, was the day appointed by revelation for the Apostles to take leave of Far West on the building spot of the Lord's House. As usual, when times and seasons are given—for foreknowledge is power, with evil spirits as well as good—Satan had diligently sought to make the word of God of no effect. The mob, with their apostate allies who had betrayed to them the secrets of the kingdom, had sworn that this revelation should not be fulfilled, and having driven the Saints from their homes, leaving only a few scattered families in and around Far West, and imprisoned the Church leaders, they flattered themselves that their wicked oath had been verified.
    Little knew they the men they were dealing with, still less that God whose word they had vainly sought to falsify; Him who hath said: "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away." Heber continues: "I kept myself concealed in the woods, and passed round the country, notifying the brethren and sisters to be on hand at the appointed time for the laying of the cornerstone.
    "April 25th. This night, which was a beautiful, clear moonlight, Elders Brigham Young, Orson Pratt, John E. Page, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, George A. Smith, and Alpheus Cutler, arrived from Quincy, Illinois, and rode into the public square early on the morning of the 26th. All seemed still as death.
    "April 26th, we held a conference at the house of Brother Samuel dark, cut off 31 persons from the [page 253] Church, and then proceeded to the building spot of the Lord's house, where, after singing, we recommended laying the foundation, agreeably to the revelation given July 8th, 1838, by rolling a stone, upwards of a ton weight, upon or near the southeast corner.
    "In company with Brother Brigham Young, we ordained Wilford Woodruff and George A. Smith (who had been previously nominated by the First Presidency, accepted by the Twelve, and acknowledged by the Church at Quincy) members of the quorum of the Twelve Apostles; and Darwin Chase and Norman Shearer (who were liberated from Richmond prison on the 24th inst., where they had been confined about six months for the cause of Christ), Seventies. They sat on the southeast comer-stone while we ordained them.
    "The Twelve then individually called upon the Lord in prayer, kneeling on the cornerstone; after which 'Adam-ondi-Ahman' was sung. "The brethren wandered among our deserted houses, many of which were in ruins, and saw the streets in many places grown over with weeds and grass.
    "We went to Father dark's, breakfasted, and before sunrise departed. I accompanied my brethren, riding thirty miles that day. We continued our journey to Quincy, where I found my family well and in good spirits, on the 2nd of May. [Orson F. Whitney, The Life of Heber C. Kimball, 249-253].