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History of Utah, 1540-1886 - Brigham Young University

History of Utah, 1540-1886 - Brigham Young University

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436<br />

MISSIONS AND IMMIGRATION.<br />

Liverpool, 75-6; Deseret News, March 16, 1854, June 23, 30, 1858, Dec. 9,<br />

1874; Richards' Narr., MS., 107-8.<br />

Franklin Dewey Richards, nephew to Willard, was born at Richmond,<br />

Berkshire co., Mass., on April 2, 1821. After receiving a common-school<br />

education, he was employed at farm labor, or at his father's trade—that <strong>of</strong><br />

carpenter. His attention was first called to Mormonism during a visit <strong>of</strong><br />

<strong>Brigham</strong> to the house <strong>of</strong> his grandfather, Joseph Pdchards. On the 3d <strong>of</strong> June,<br />

183S, he relates that after being baptized and anointed with oil, he was cured,<br />

by the efficacy <strong>of</strong> prayer, <strong>of</strong> a severe sickness. In October following, he set<br />

forth for Far West, but finding that Gen. Clark had issued an order requiring all<br />

Mormons to leave the state, he went to St Louis, where he found employment.<br />

In the spring <strong>of</strong> 1840 he attended a conference at Nauvoo, and was soon afterward<br />

sent as a missionary to Indiana, where he established a church. After<br />

some further missionary work in the United States, he repaired to Nauvoo<br />

where he married, and by great self-denial obtained the means <strong>of</strong> building a<br />

brick house in the eastern part <strong>of</strong> the city. This he sold before the expulsion<br />

for two yoke <strong>of</strong> oxen and an old wagon. In the spring <strong>of</strong> 1844 he was ordered<br />

with several others to proceed on a mission to England, but after reaching<br />

New York he heard <strong>of</strong> the assassination <strong>of</strong> the prophet, and returned to<br />

Nauvoo. In 1845 he assisted at the completion <strong>of</strong> the temple, working as a<br />

carpenter and painter. When the first bands <strong>of</strong> the saints crossed the Mississippi<br />

in Feb. 1856, Mr Richards accompanied them as far as their campingground<br />

on Sugar Creek, where he bade adieu to his wife and family, and soon<br />

afterward sailed for Liverpool in company with Parley P. Pratt and others.<br />

Of further incidents in his life, I shall have occasion to speak elsewhere.<br />

Heber Chase Kimball was a native <strong>of</strong> Sheldon, Vt, where he was born in<br />

1801. When ten years <strong>of</strong> age his family removed to West Bloomfield, N. Y.,<br />

in which town he afterward worked as a blacksmith in his father's shop. In<br />

1820, his father having lost his property, he was compelled to seek his own<br />

livelihood, and after suffering much hardship, found employment with his<br />

brother, who was a potter by trade, and removed with him to Mendon. He was<br />

converted to Mormonism by the preaching <strong>of</strong> Phineas H. <strong>Young</strong>, and in 1832<br />

was baptized, and soon afterward ordained an elder. In Sept. <strong>of</strong> this year he<br />

went to Kirtland with <strong>Brigham</strong> and Joseph <strong>Young</strong>, and there met the prophet.<br />

In 1835 he was chosen a member <strong>of</strong> the first quorum <strong>of</strong> the twelve, and from<br />

that date until the expulsion from Nauvoo his time was mainly spent in missionary<br />

labors in the eastern states and in England. Returning from Salt<br />

Lake City to Winter Quarters with the main body <strong>of</strong> the pioneers, he was<br />

appointed first councillor to the president, which <strong>of</strong>fice he held until his decease,<br />

in June 1S6S. On the organization <strong>of</strong> the state <strong>of</strong> Deseret, he was elected<br />

lieutenant-governor and chief justice, and later became president <strong>of</strong> the council<br />

<strong>of</strong> the legislative assembly. A man <strong>of</strong> singular generosity, integrity, and<br />

purity <strong>of</strong> heart, there are few whose names are held in more esteem among<br />

the latter-day saints than that <strong>of</strong> President Kimball.<br />

In March 1850 occurred the decease <strong>of</strong> Oliver Cowdery, at Richmond, Ray<br />

co., Mo. His connection with the church from its earliest days, and the part<br />

which he took in the translation <strong>of</strong> the book <strong>of</strong> Mormon, have already been<br />

mentioned. He was cut <strong>of</strong>f, as we have seen, in 1S38, but in 1S4S was rebaptized.<br />

'His relation <strong>of</strong> events,' remarks S. W. Richards, 'was <strong>of</strong> no ordinary<br />

character, maintaining unequivocally all those written testimonies he had furnished<br />

to the church in earlier days. Moroni, Peter, James, and John, and<br />

other heavenly messengers who had ministered to him in connection with the<br />

prophet, Joseph Smith, were familiarly but sacredly spoken <strong>of</strong>.' After his<br />

second conversion he devoted the brief remainder <strong>of</strong> Ins life entirely to the<br />

cause <strong>of</strong> the church, declaring his willingness to go forth among the nations<br />

and bear testimony <strong>of</strong> that which had been revealed to him—a testimony which<br />

none but he could bear. Contributor, 1884, p. 446.<br />

In addition to the authorities already quoted on the subject <strong>of</strong> missions<br />

and immigration, I append the following: Millennial Star, i. 302, iv. 17-19,<br />

33-6, viii. 142, ix. 244-5, x. and xi. passim, xiv. 618, xxi. G3S, xxii. 18. xxiii.

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