Ca. 1844, Courtesy Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah

Brigham Young

    About three weeks after the arrival of the Joseph Smith at Far West, [March 1838], Thomas B. Marsh was appointed president of the Church in Missouri, with David W. Patten and Brigham Young as counselors or assistant presidents. [Jenson, The Historical Record, 7 & 8: 436]. There is evidence of Brigham's function in this role. When Church leaders assumed control over the printing press, Brigham Young asked Newel Knight for the use of his home to house the press. As a consequence, Newel donated his house and moved his family into a new home. [Hartley, "They Are My Friends," 121]. Also, Brigham Young presided over the third Quarterly Conference of the Church in Caldwell county was held at Far West. "As there was not a sufficient number of members present to form a quorum for business, after singing and prayer, conference adjourned till 2 p.m., when they met and opened as usual, Presidents Marsh and Young presiding. There was not a sufficient number of the members of the High Council or any other quorum to do business as a quarterly Conference. They voted to ordain a few Elders, appointed a few missions, and adjourned..." [LDS History of the Church, Vol. 3, 152].
    Young procured land on Mill Creek, a small settlement about eight miles northeast of Far West. Brigham noted, "I purchased a small improvement on Mill Creek, located my family and proceeded to fence in a farm. I bought several pieces of land and obtained deeds for these." [http://www.boap.org/LDS/Early-Saints/MSHBY.html].
    Brigham's name is not among the list of original purchasers of government land. This reference confirms that he bought deeded land through a secondary land transaction from someone else. A fire at the courthouse later destroyed all Caldwell County land records, so no information is available about secondary land sales.
    He fenced his land, got in a crop and built a small cabin. Through revelation, Joseph directed Brigham to provide for his family. Joseph wrote, 17 April 1838, I also received the following: "Verily thus saith the Lord, let my servant Brigham young go unto the place he has bought on Mill Creek and there provide for his family until an effectual door is opened for the support of his family, until I shall command him to go hence, and not leave his family until they are provided for."

    With farm and cabin prepared, Brigham sent for his wife Mary Ann and family. She had been too ill to accompany Brigham when he left Kirtland in December. She was now recuperating, but still very weak. Mary Ann closed out the family's business affairs in Kirtland as best she could and set out with the children for the journey to Missouri. They traveled by wagon to Wellsville on the Ohio River and from there by river steamboat to Richmond Missouri. Brigham barely recognized his wife when he met them at the dock. Shocked by her appearance, he could not help saying, "You look as though you were almost in your grave." Mary Ann suffered a relapse as soon as they arrived at their new home, remaining quite ill during the summer and fall before beginning to recover. [S. Dilworth Young, Here is Brigham: Brigham Young the Years to 1844, (Salt Lake City, UT: Bookcraft), 185].
    Brigham did not need to be in Northern Missouri before he realized, that as a consequence of the continuing opposition to Mormons from Missouri residents, "I saw upon natural principles, that we would be driven from there [Missouri], but when, I did not know; but still it was plain to me that we would have to leave the State, and that when we did leave it we would not go south, north or west, but east, back to the other states.

    "The Mormons continued to experience difficulty with their Missouri neighbors. Local settlers were apprehensive about their bloc voting, the possibility that they might "take over," and in general their strong group behavior. When the Mormons attempted to vote a Gallatin, Missouri, on August 6 1838, a mob of local citizens sought to prevent it." [Leonard J. Arrington, Brigham Young: American Moses (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1985), 64]. Violence followed throughout the region. By early winter, the Mormons had lost the struggle and were beginning to flee the state.

    Missouri State Representative David R. Atchison presented two letters to the Missouri legislature and helped move a bill to send a small sum of money for the relief of Daviess and Caldwell county residents, Mormon or not, but especially for the suffering condition of the Mormons in Caldwell County. The legislature reluctantly approved $2,000 for relief. But most of this did not reach or did little for the Saints. The Twelve began to plan for church self-assistance. As one of the Twelve, Brigham asked Bishop Edward Partridge, barely released from prison himself, to supervise the removal of the poor Saints. Due to his own pressing personal problems, Partridge had to decline. The remaining Twelve organized a public meeting to discuss compliance with the need to remove from the state. The meeting appointed a research committee of seven to draft an appeal to Missourians for assistance, search out families "actually destitute," and solicit the Saints themselves for help. A Committee on Removal, chaired by William Huntington was the next development. Brigham recommended a members' covenant, committing each signer to "stand by and assist one another, to the utmost" of their ability. Signers donated nonessential properties to help move the "worthy" poor. More than 380 Saints signed the covenant. Committee members surveyed settlements to find out who needed help. John Taylor went to Log and Upper Goose creeks, Charles Bird into "the several parts of Caldwell County, " Huntington within Far West itself, and Brigham to the northwest part of the county. Acting on applications from the needy, the Committee initiated an organized exodus. [William G. Hartley, "Almost Too Intolerable a Burthen": The Winter Exodus from Missouri, 1838-1839," Journal of Mormon History, 18 (Fall 1992): 16-17].
    All worked together for the next month, allowing many families to get away from Caldwell County. Two general routes were followed east toward Quincy, Illinois.
    Because of threats on his life, Brigham Young and some of his family left for Quincy on 14 February 1839. Brigham wrote, "February 14, 1839-- I left Missouri with my family, leaving my landed property and nearly all my household goods, and went to Illinois..." [http://www.boap.org/LDS/Early-Saints/MSHBY.html].

    Other Committee members were left behind to complete the removal. Young advanced with one part of the camp and then, due to a shortage of teams and wagons, returned part way to move others up. Young became stranded at Huntsville, having too may goods for the wagon. Newel Knight put some of Young's goods into his wagon and they traveled on. A few days later, Newel's horses ran away. The oxen they had left could not haul all the load, so Newel unloaded part of his and Brigham's goods and left them in the care of resident. When Newel reached the Mississippi, the wagon returned for the remaining goods. [Hartley, "Almost Too Intolerable a Burthen," 17, 29].
    David Rogers went to Jackson County and sold some church lands. He returned to Far West and furnished the Committee with the money from the sales on April 11. Rogers then headed east, taking with him Parley P. Pratt's family, Brigham Young's wife, Mary Ann Angel's mother, and two other females.... On April 14, the committee removed thirty-six families to Tinney's Grove. The committee arranged for men to chop wood for these families and Theodore Turley provided meal and meat. On 15 April. the Committee removed the last remaining families from Far West. [William G. Hartley, "Missouri's1838 Extermination Order and the Mormons' Forced Removal to Illinois," Black and Bennett, Quincy, Illinois: A City of Refuge (Salt Lake City, UT: Millennial Press, 2000), 21-23].