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“Every Saint who knew him loved him”

“Every Saint who knew him loved him”

Last updated on: July 5, 2020 at 9:26 pm by Dan Peterson

“Every Saint who knew him loved him” 2020-07-05T21:26:02-06:00 Dan Peterson

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At work on the set of the Interpreter Foundation’s forthcoming “Witnesses” film project, which dives deeply into the early history of the Restoration. (Still photograph by James Jordan)

Some further notes from Hyrum L. Andrus and Helen Mae Andrus, Personal Glimpses of the Prophet Joseph Smith (American Fork, Utah: Covenant Communications, 2009):

James Leithead emigrated from Scotland to Canada, and it was there that he first heard the Restoration preached. He and his wife were baptized in May 1837, and they joined the Latter-day Saints in Missouri around the beginning of August 1838. They were then obliged to flee Missouri with the Saints and settle in Illinois in 1840 or thereabouts, moving from Quincy to the main Latter-day Saint city of Nauvoo in the spring of 1841.

From 1840 to 1844, when he and his brother were murdered in Carthage Jail, I had many chances of seeing and hearing the Prophet preach on the Sabbath and at other times and can truthfully say I never heard or saw anything in his conduct but what was in accordance with strict morality. (104)

John Lyman Smith comments on a time when his family were all ill with malaria in the new Church settlement of Commerce, Illinois, before it grew into (and was renamed) Nauvoo:

The next day, the Prophet Joseph, and his brother Hyrum, visited us and administered to us all, father being delirious from the effects of the fever. Their words comforted us greatly as they said, “in the name of the Lord, you all shall be well again.”

Upon leaving the hovel, Joseph placed his slippers upon my mother’s feet, sprang upon his horse from the doorway and rode home barefoot. The next day, Joseph removed father to his own home and nursed him until he recovered. (105)

A few years later, in the first half of 1844 (when the troubles were underway that would culminate in the murder of Joseph and Hyrum), John Lyman Smith was involved in a miserable all-night march of the Nauvoo Legion from Macedonia, Illinois, to Nauvoo. The marching militia had even encountered violent opposition. In the wake of the near-dawn conclusion of the march,

While I was guarding the baggage, Joseph the Prophet rode up to the log, reached his hand to me and inquired after my father and mother. He held me by the hand and pulled me forward until I was obliged to step upon the log, in turning his horse sideways he drew me step by step toward the end of the log. When seeing that each foot left marks upon the bark, he asked me what was the matter with my feet.

I remarked that the prairie grass had cut my shoes to pieces, but they would soon be all right. I noticed the hand he raised to his face was wet, and looking up I saw his cheeks covered with tears. He placed his hand on my head, and said, “God bless you. God bless you, my dear boy.” (107)

And, finally, an excerpt from the 1906 reminiscences of Enoch E. Dodge:

I was personally acquainted with the Prophet Joseph Smith, and I know that he was a good man in every respect. . . . Every Saint who knew him loved him, and would have been willing to lay down his life for him if it had been necessary.

I have seen him run, jump, wrestle and pull sticks many times, and he was always winner.

He played ball with other boys many times, and when they had played a reasonable amount of time he would say, “Well, I must go to my work.” (168-169)

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