Person:Abraham Palmer (6)

== The Life & Times of Abraham Palmer A Biography Compiled and Edited by Arnold S. Grundvig, Jr. ==

This biography of Abraham Palmer and his family was compiled from a long list of sources. Extracts and quotes were taken from journals and other records, including censuses, obituaries, newspaper and magazine articles, histories complied for the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers, and stories handed down from generation to generation. These personal events were interwoven with historical events to put his biography into its historical context. Some stories were not precise as to dates and places. They were pieced together in as much of a chronological order as possible. Stories are quoted with minimal editing to present a comprehensive, deeply insightful narrative of a faithful Mormon pioneer who was otherwise historically anonymous.

How Abraham and his family members endured and were strengthened by their trials is a solid testimony of their faith and how such strength comes from adversity. Their trials were not taken away because of their faith, but the Palmers were given the strength to bear them. Abraham knew that he was building the Kingdom of God and that the Adversary did not want it to be built. Knowing that, Abraham bravely faced his adversaries, resolved not to be worn down, never gave up, and persisted, in spite of the difficulties and the cost. His faithful endurance is his legacy.

Abraham Palmer was born December 4, 1807 in Sherburne, Chenango County, New York, the eighth of nine children born to Noah and Tirzah Whitney Palmer. On July 10, 1825, at the age of 17, he married 16-year-old Patience Delila Pierce in Oswegatchie, New York. Patience was born February 15, 1809 near Ogdensburg, St. Lawrence, New York, the fourth of eight children born to Isaac and Elizabeth Taylor Pierce. Patience’s grandfather, Daniel Pierce, and Abraham’s Father, Noah, were American patriots who served in the Revolutionary War. Abraham was a direct descendant of William Palmer who arrived in Massachusetts November 9, 1621, on the ship the Fortune, just after the first Thanksgiving. Patience was a direct descendant of Michael J. Pierce who arrived in America about 1643 and was killed in an Indian massacre in 1675.

The Palmers made their home in Oswegatchie and their first child, Isaac Pierce, was born there on April 25, 1826. He lived only five days. Their second child, Luther Moses, was born July 5, 1827. Their third child, John Quincy, named after the US President at the time, was born January 11, 1829. Their first daughter and fourth child, Elizabeth, was born May 18, 1831, also in Oswegatchie.

Abraham related a story that took place in 1833. He was studying the Bible while traveling on a boat on Lake Champlain, located on the border between New York and Vermont. As he was thus engaged, a middle-aged man sat down and asked him if he understood what he was reading. Abraham replied, “No,” and they talked for an hour or more as the man explained those particular verses and went on to expound on other verses. As the man left Abraham, he said, “You will hear about me a year from today.” Abraham went on studying his Bible and came to another part that he didn’t understand and went to look up the gentleman. After hunting all over the boat, he asked the Captain about the man. The Captain told him that he knew of no one by that description on the boat.

In 1834, one year later to the day, two missionaries came to Abraham’s home in St. Lawrence County, bringing the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They gave Abraham a copy of the Book of Mormon, and upon opening it, one of the first things he found was the story of three Nephites in 3rd Nephi 28, where they asked Jesus for the privilege of staying upon earth until the Second Coming. Abraham was confident that he had been taught by one of "the three Nephites" one year earlier.

Later, the Palmers moved to the small village of Castile, further west in New York. Their second daughter and fifth child, Ann Eliza, was born there on August 28, 1834. On February 14, 1835, when he was 27 years-old, Abraham was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It was still winter and in order to be baptized, it was necessary to break a hole through the ice of the Genesee River. By coincidence, February 14th was also the day Brigham Young was called and ordained an Apostle in Kirtland, Ohio.

Apparently, Abraham returned to Oswegatchie for a time, possibly to visit with Patience's family. On May 19, 1835, John Walker recorded that Abraham baptized his children, William Holmes, Lorin, Catherine, and Lucy, at Ogdensburg, St. Lawrence, New York. (Ogdensburg was adjacent to the township of Oswegatchie.) On October 15, 1835 their third daughter and sixth child, Susannah Charlotte, was born back at Castile. Patience was not baptized a member of the Church until December 1835, ten months following Abraham. Patience came from a deeply religious family, which may have discouraged her from leaving their religion. That fact may have been behind Abraham’s visit to Oswegatchie earlier in the year. Patience’s father was the Reverend Isaac Washington Pierce of Oswegatchie. Her brother, Isaac Washington Pierce II, followed Patience’s example and joined the Church too.

In 1836 while still in New York, Abraham was ordained an Elder by John E. Page. He also received a patriarchal blessing under the hands of Joseph Smith, Sr., Church Patriarch, who was serving a mission with his brother, John, in the eastern states. About this time, Abraham was called to organize a branch of the Church in New York, which consisted of 68 members. Patience apparently joined Abraham and lived in Oswegatchie to have her next child, and on February 19, 1838, their seventh child, Abraham Pierce, was born.

In the spring of 1838, Abraham traveled to Kirtland, Ohio, and spent a few months with the Saints, encountering substantial conflict and apostasy. He learned that about 500 faithful Saints were preparing to move from Kirtland to Far West, Missouri. On July 6, 1838, those Saints left Kirtland, traveling nearly 1,000 miles and arriving in Far West October 4th. Patience's brother, Isaac Washington Pierce, and his wife, Phebe, along with Phebe's two brothers, were among the Saints traveling from Kirtland to Far West. Missouri was to be the site of a new temple, a new "gathering place" for the Saints, a time and place to prepare for the Second Coming. Those Saints were “welcomed” to Missouri by armed mobs that allowed them to travel on only after they surrendered their weapons and books, specifically their "religious books." More than one group of Saints refused to be disarmed or to be passively looted by the militia/mobs. Battles resulted. While the casualties were few, tempers were hot.

Abraham left Kirtland and returned to New York to gather his family to the Saints in Missouri. Abraham led a total of eight families from the Oswegatchie Branch in New York to Far West.

In response to claims that the Mormons were engaged in "armed resistance," Governor Lilburn Boggs issued Missouri Executive Order 44 on October 27, 1838. In it, Boggs asserted that the Mormons were in "open and avowed defiance of the laws" and that they had "made war upon the people of this State." When Governor Boggs hand wrote his order, it stated, "…the Mormons must be treated as enemies, and must be exterminated or driven from the state..." The Governor's Extermination Order was not known instantly known across the state, but word would spread quickly enough.

On October 29, 1838, as Abraham and his company approached Far West, they were accosted by an armed mob and driven into the woods. They remained there until after a “treaty” with that mob was agreed upon. Missouri histories record that the mobs were, in fact, local "militias", whose stated goal was to protect local citizens from "invading Mormons.” That was the pretense for accosting the Mormons and stealing whatever they could, always certain to steal their weapons and books. They feared weapons and, apparently, The Book of Mormon.

Not far away from where Abraham and his company were resting, the "militia" was negotiating another treaty with the Saints at Haun’s Mill, requiring the Saints to give up all of their weapons, with a promise that by doing so they would be left in peace.

In 1892, Patience penned a historical narrative of the unfolding events, a story that would appear in print, directed at the youth of the Church. Her story is as follows:

It was in the fall of 1838, when the eight families of us were on our way from New York to Far West, Missouri, where many of the Saints were gathered. On our journey, we had our wagons searched by mobs; they took our books and guns from us. When we reached Shoal Creek [near Fairview Township, Caldwell County, Missouri,] we could go no further on account of the surrounding mobs, so we camped there. We were four miles below Haun’s Mill. At the mill, the Saints and the mob had made a treaty that neither party should molest the other.

The day was beautiful and warm, and in the afternoon the other sisters and myself were washing clothes in the creek. The children, with shoes and stockings off, were playing about when a boy on a horse came riding furiously down the creek. He told us that the mob was killing the Saints at the mill. “What were we to do?” At about 4 pm on October 30, 1838, a mob of about 240 murderous terrorists [aka the Livingston County Militia], led by Colonel William Jennings, Sheriff of Livingston County, attacked what they believed were totally unarmed Mormons. The terrorists killed 17 Mormons and one non-Mormon. Two of the dead were boys, Charley Merrick, age 9, and Sardius Smith, age 10. Sardius was murdered when he tried to defend his dying father, Warren. A terrorist named Glaze put his musket against Sardius's skull and pulled the trigger, blowing the top of Sardius's head off. Seventy-eight- year-old Thomas McBride surrendered his musket to Jacob Rogers, who immediately responded by shooting McBride, then hacked his body to pieces with a corn knife. Women were not killed, but were "abused" [raped]. Bodies of the dead were mutilated, beheaded, and dismembered, as the blood-thirsty terrorists reveled in their cleverly planned victory over what they thought were disarmed Mormons. The only weapons fired in self defense were those owned by the few people who had arrived at the mill just after the mob disarmed the Saints. Were it not for those few weapons, there would have been nothing to stop the terrorists from massacring every man, woman, and child.

Patience continued her narration of their situation: There were no arms in our camp, so we were unable to defend ourselves. Without stopping to put shoes or stockings on our children, we hastily fled toward the woods, and our [unarmed] husbands remained [at Shoal Creek.]

The unarmed Saints remained at Shoal Creek to give their lives in order to delay the mob long enough for their wives and children to escape. Abraham and the rest of the men with him performed an unheralded act of bravery.

Patience continued: I had six small children at my side and a baby at my breast [eight-month old Abraham]. We ran over brush and hill and hollows. As our children ran over the rough, untrodden ground, their tender, bare feet left stains of blood. We would stop for a short rest. Mothers would take their clothes from off their backs to lay them on the ground for the children to stand on and warm their cold, raw feet. Once, for a rest while in the woods, we crawled under a tree that had fallen down. During the night, we traveled through the woods and over burnt prairies. In the morning, we heard the call of our husbands and returned with them to camp.

The mob had killed 18 at the mill. Instead of coming down to our camp, as they had intended, they became frightened lest an armed group of Saints from Far West were coming down Shoal Creek, so the mob fled over a twenty-mile prairie that night. After our return to camp, our husbands went to Haun’s Mill to gather and prepare the dead for burial.

Abraham and the other Saints found 18 dead, including one non Mormon sympathizer. Fearing the return of the murderers, they hurriedly deposited the bodies and body parts into an old, dry well to protect them from feral hogs, and covered the well with dirt and straw. After the mill was abandoned, locals built an outhouse over the well, their final act of terrorism against the massacred Saints. Patience continued:

While they [our husbands] were away, we saw a mob, armed and on horseback, approaching us. They rode down toward us to the brow of the hill a short distance away and stopped. Another sister and myself went to them, and the captain, with drawn sword, advanced. I asked him what they intended to do with us. To our surprise, he said that his company would not hurt us, but he told us to leave the vicinity, for a mob of furious men were coming. He told us of a back road from which the guard had been removed and offered a man to act as our guide. He then requested us to promise we would not reveal what he had told us, for if it became known, his life would be in danger. We did as advised, broke camp, and started for the woods. When we had traveled about 15 miles, we stopped for several days, waiting for orders from Far West. While we were there, one of the brothers arrived with the news that the Saints had agreed to leave the state of Missouri. We then moved on.

Our food soon gave out and we had nothing to eat. Abraham got some corn and then we ate it, and it was all we had for three weeks. We would parch the corn [cook and dry it] and then eat it, but the small children could not eat parched corn. We had to partly chew it ourselves–it having been parched–and feed it to them. We lived in this way three long weeks before our other corn gave out. Then we were without food of any kind for two days and a half. On the night of the third day, we procured a sack of flour. We lived several days on “spoon-cakes” made by mixing flour with water and baking in dry skillets.

During all that time, our children neither murmured nor complained. Had it not been for the help of the Lord, we never could have endured as we did. The reason for our company living for three weeks on parched corn was not due to our having no money, for there was money in the camp. We repeatedly tried to buy provisions from the settlers as we moved along our weary way, leaving the state of Missouri. In compliance with the Governor’s extermination order, the whole county was stirred to a fever heat in persecuting the Saints, and the people would not sell us food.

For example, Abraham wanted to get a horse shod that had become so tender-footed that he could not travel further without shoes. He took the horse 5 or 6 miles in advance of the company to a small village. As Abraham was not known, they shod his horse and took him into the house for dinner. While they were eating, our company passed. The women in our company and larger children were walking, holding up their skirts while wading through the mud and slush, which was ankle-deep in many places, as it had rained and snowed nearly all the time. The woman of the house seeing us go by said, “I wish all those women and children would take cold and die.” The man answered viciously, “I wish I could see old Joe Smith tied to a pile of wood and I have the privilege of kindling it. I would say to the fire, 'burn slow.' ” During that never-to-be forgotten journey coming out of Missouri, we traveled through mud, snow, and ice, nearly all the way. All, except the little children, were on foot as we had already traveled a thousand miles that summer [from New York] to get to Missouri. Our horses were almost worn out, and it was all they could do to slowly move our wagons.

One day, a company of “mobbers” came to Far West, surrounded us, and called us to halt. The leader, with drawn sword, asked for the captain of our company. Abraham stepped out to meet him. The leader said, "We have orders from the Governor to search your wagons and take your guns and books." My husband told him our wagons had been searched and our guns taken from us, and showed a receipt to that effect. Then they rode on, and as they did so, one man placed the muzzle of his gun almost against my breast and said, “I swore I’d kill a G-- D--- Mormon when I left home, and now is my chance.” I looked at him fearlessly in the eyes, and when the captain told him to put his gun down, he did and then rode on. One man, a more humane one, said as he passed me, “Good woman, you had better go and get into your wagon. You will catch your death wading through this water and mud.” Then, they rode to the top of the hill they had just descended and simultaneously fired off their guns, making the air ring with demonic yells.

One day I remember, we traveled over a prairie covered with ice, slush and snow. With one step the ice would hold us up, and with the next we would break through over our shoe tops. Thus, our feet were wet all day long. At night, we camped by a stretch of water with timber and brush along its banks. We parched our corn, from which we made our supper, after which some of the men cut down brush to sleep upon to keep their beds out of the water that was running everywhere. Some slept in the wagons which was a little better, as the covers had become worn and torn from our long traveling.

is clothes so he could put them on. I saw my little children covered with the snow that had fallen during the night. Everything was dreary. Snow was sifting into my bed. I knew that when I got up, with my little ones shivering around the campfire, that I would have nothing to give them to eat but parched corn. Realizing that our supply was becoming short, my heart sank within me and I burst into weeping. What had we done to be thus treated by our fellow man? My husband’s father had suffered untold hardship all through the Revolutionary War, had fought and bled to establish American Freedom; so had my own grandfather. They had labored and suffered that all men might enjoy religious liberty in this land, and there we were, fleeing before a relentless and blood-thirsty mob, composed of American citizens sent out by the Governor of Missouri to compel us to leave the state.

Marvelous to say, notwithstanding all the exposure and the privations we endured, our health did not fail, nor did our strength depart us, for the Lord was always with us and blessed us. We had a positive knowledge that Joseph was a Prophet of God and that we had been born of the water and of the Spirit, and had received the truth as it is in Jesus Christ. That testimony is still with me to this day. I have been a member of the Church since 1835. Now I am 83 years old and still bear testimony that I do know that we have the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and that this Church and Kingdom is God’s work and will stand forever.

To return to where we were, camped on the banks of a creek in the slush by our campfires. After we ate our corn, we moved on, exerting ourselves to the utmost to get out of the State of Missouri before the winter closed in upon us. We found ourselves with only bitter enemies to depend upon for work and to supply us with our food. As we were traveling, one of the sisters became sick. We camped a few hours, and a child was born. Then we moved on again and the mother and child were so blessed of the Lord that they thrived as well as if they had been in a comfortable home.

After our corn gave out, as stated before, we went without food of any kind for two and a half days. Then we obtained a sack of flour which was divided between eight families. This we ate in water cakes for breakfast one morning and then went without food of any sort until the next evening. During the next forenoon, Abraham found a box of pills labeled “For Fever and Ague” [malaria], lying by the side of the road. We camped about the middle of the afternoon, because our teams were exhausted, as well as ourselves. They only had prairie grass for feed and no grain. It was hard for them to drag our wagons along through the snow that had become quite deep. After we camped, some of the men went in search of food and I, unobserved by the rest of the company, wended my way across a field to a small house, which I entered. I found several of the family sick with fever and ague of very long standing. I produced the box of pills Abraham had found. They were very anxious to buy them, so they gave me about 25 pounds of unbolted flour and a bucket of frozen apples. I hurried to the camp and distributed the flour and apples among the hungry families. Notwithstanding, we had only water to mix our bread with, and no sugar for the stewed apples, but it seemed I never ate such a delicious meal. The brethren returned, having procured a little food also.

That evening, if my memory serves me right, we held a council to find out what was best thing to do. The snow was getting so deep, the roads so bad, and our teams so worn, and ourselves in such a destitute and worn out condition, having traveled all the summer and fall, suffering so many hardships and exposures, that it became impossible for us to go any further.

Now came a serious question to consider. We all belonged to the same branch of the Church in St. Lawrence County, New York, and when we started for Missouri, we made solemn covenant that we would stick together until we reached the settlements of the Saints. But now it seemed impossible for all of us to get into one neighborhood for winter quarters. There were reasons for this. First, it seemed it might arouse the mob spirit to see so many of us together, notwithstanding that we had gotten out of the districts where the bitter feelings existed. Second, it would be hard for so many of us to get in one township, so we agreed to part. We sang hymns of Zion, offered our prayers to the Lord, asked his forgiveness if we were doing wrong in separating for a while, and invoked His special blessings upon each to guide us to food and shelter.

That farewell meeting in the snow by our campfires will never be forgotten by me. The next morning, we separated; two families going together—each in a different direction to find homes for the winter. My sister, Ruth Crosier, with her husband, Samuel, and children went with us. We soon got a house to live in for the winter; and Abraham (being a carpenter by trade) took a contract to build and finish a frame church.

See how the hand of the Lord was over us that we might keep our covenants with each other and receive the necessities of life, also? The word soon noised about that Abraham was a Mormon preacher and he was asked to preach at their schoolhouse the following Sunday. An appointment was given out accordingly. Imagine our surprise upon going to the meeting to find all the brethren and sisters of our company there, and to learn that we were all within two miles of the schoolhouse. Abraham gave employment to all the brothers to work on the church. Thus, the Lord opened the way for us to get food and clothing. We held our meetings every Sunday and greatly rejoiced in the Gospel.

Following Governor Boggs' orders, General Samuel D. Lucas led a militia of 2,500 men to Far West, where he announced that "they would massacre every man, woman, and child" if Joseph Smith and several other Church leaders were not given up. On November 1, Joseph Smith and others surrendered. At midnight, following a secret trial, Lucas gave the order to General Alexander William Doniphan, "You will take Joseph Smith and the other prisoners into the public square at Far West and shoot them at 9 o'clock tomorrow morning." General Doniphan refused the order. Governor Boggs followed that failed effort by appointing General John Bullock Clark to enforce the Extermination Order. On November 5th, Clark arrested 56 men in the public square and gave a public speech, declaring that the Saints' property would be seized and sold to cover the losses suffered by “law-abiding Missouri citizens.”

A month later, on December 1, 1838, Joseph Smith and others were imprisoned in Liberty Jail, where they would remain until April 6, 1839. Patience continued her narrative:

In March 1839, we resumed our journey to leave the state, ourselves and our teams being now recruited. We had bought food and clothing with the product of our labor, but could take but little of the former with us, as our teams were light, and winter was just breaking up. The roads were muddy and we encountered frequent storms, all of which made the journey unpleasant, though it was not so bad as it was during the previous fall when mobs were tantalizing us, and we were destitute and hungry, wading through mud, slush, and snow.

At last, we arrived at the Mississippi opposite the city of Quincy, Adams County, Illinois. There we found hundreds of families of Saints camped on the banks of the river, awaiting their turns to cross on the one ferry boat that was plying back and forth, carrying the exiled Saints from the cruel state of Missouri to the friendly shores [and people] of Quincy, Illinois. What a scene; thousands of honest humble followers of Christ, destitute of the necessities of life, fleeing before a relentless mob made up of our own countrymen, backed by the cruel “extermination order” of the Governor, and all because we believed in new revelation that “God is the same yesterday, today, and forever.”

I hope my young readers will stop and consider these things and ask themselves the question: Was not the Lord our Father with us? Yes, and He has never forsaken me to this day, and as I stand upon the brink of the grave and expect to soon meet my Maker, let me once more bear testimony that I know Joseph Smith to be a true Prophet of God, and Mormonism, so-called, to be the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

On June 26, 1839, Abraham and Patience wrote a letter to Abraham’s sister back in New York. In it, they related their personal experiences in Missouri. Here is Abraham's portion:

Through the tender mercies of our God, we are still well. It is now one year since we left that place, and various and strange have been the scenes through which we have passed. But we yet live and praised be the name of the Lord.”

No doubt you have heard many things from Missouri, respecting our people. I will now tell you what I know of the transaction in as few words as I can. A mob of about 200 drove about 80 families from Dewitt, Missouri. They fired upon our brethren, but killed none. Thus, we were left to be murdered by brutes, in the form of men, or to defend ourselves.

We had been smitten twice, yes, three times and had born it, but we said we would bear it no longer without resistance. Many of our brethren were shot and thrown into the brush while at work—their bodies left to be devoured [by feral hogs] and without doubt their bones still lie bleaching in the sun. About the first of November we got to Livingston County, Missouri, and here 38 men with rifles surrounded our wagons and robbed us of 3 guns and gave us much abuse. Then, we passed on into Caldwell County. I went to a place 4 or 5 miles from our camp, where our brethren, forty or fifty, had collected to defend themselves at Haun's Mill from lawless bandits. I had barely returned to our camp when to our surprise, news came that the mob had fallen upon our friends at the mill and were killing men, women, and children. This was near sunset. The next moment we expected to share the same fate that no pen can describe, no tongue can tell. The horrors of the scenes found mothers weeping over their smiling babies and helpless children, which they soon expected to see strangling in death–yet, God was our deliverance. Well do I remember that dreadful night when in the company with two brothers, we went in search of some of the survivors of the slaughtered men, women and children who had fled into the woods for safety. Yea, they hid themselves in the hole of the earth, awaiting in solemn silence the approach of day; their grief was beyond tears. The mob which murdered our brethren was 250 in number; our brethren 40 or 50. No warning was given them. Two boys were killed. Some of the wounded were shot again for fear they would not die. One little boy was pleading for his father’s life, who lay bleeding with wounds when one of the mob put his gun to the boy’s head and blew his brains out.

Two women had their dresses shot full of holes. One was shot through the hand and many were wounded; and all this for our religion. The next night, the mob told us we might have our choice; either to deny our faith or leave the country, or death would be our portion. We chose the latter, preferring rather afflictions with the people of God than enjoying the treasures of the earth, knowing it is for righteousness sake. Many were cast into prison, where some yet remain. Brother Joseph is set free. Our people were not the aggressors, but stood in their own defense. The governor called out troops to protect the mob and drive the Saints out of the State. Drive or exterminate was the order. O, my God, has it come to this that nothing but mob's law can prevail? We were all condemned to banishment without a trial. We came back 75 miles through the snow and rain, staying in Huntsville [Missouri] during the coldest time we had last winter. There we stayed until spring, where I took a job to build a meeting house. In April 1840, Isaac Pierce [Abraham's brother-in-law] took my family to Illinois, but I stayed [in Huntsville] until my job was finished. I am now at work in this place [Springfield, Illinois], working on the State House at $2 per day.

Signed Abraham Palmer

Then, Patience added her comments to the letter: If any of our friends ask you if we have denied the faith, tell them NO! NO! nor would not for our lives, for if we should, we would expect nothing to follow us but eternal damnation for we do know for a surety that it is eternal truth and the angels bear witness of it, and so do we. For we know that heaven and earth may pass away, but this work will stand forever. So my dear brother and sister, I do entreat you by the grace of God to enlist in the work before it is too late. Oh, how I feel for the welfare of the souls of my friends. Signed Patience Palmer

Later, Abraham was asked to provide an affidavit to a Justice of the Peace about the events. The following is his sworn testimony, taken a year after the event: Abraham Palmer’s testimony, in a Mormon Redress Petition, sworn to before J. Adams. J.P., Sangamon County, Illinois, 9 November 1839.

Abraham Palmer of Springfield, Sangamon County, State of Illinois, says he is a member of the Church of Latter-day Saints, commonly called Mormons, and that he moved into the State of Missouri in October 1838 and proceeded with his family in a wagon as far as Caldwell County, where he arrived two days before the Massacre of the Mormons at Haun's Mill. He stopped at a Mr. Walker's about four miles from the said Mill, where he remained in his wagon with his family in company with six other wagons of his brethren until after the Massacre. The next day after the aforesaid outrage, a company of the mob came to him and brethren and said, "If you will deny your faith, you can live with us in peace, but if you will not, you must leave the Country forthwith on pain of death, for we will exterminate all of you that do not deny your faith: men, women, and children." The above proposition was made by a man who had previously assisted in plundering our wagons. He called his name Austin and styled himself Captain of the Livingston County Spies.

Signed Abraham Palmer

Respected for his carpentry work, someone had suggested Abraham go to Springfield, Illinois to work on the Capitol Building, which needed carpenters to finish the interior. Life (and death) went on, and later in 1840, their third child, John Quincy, died at the age of 11 in Springfield.

Springfield was the State Capital of Illinois, and one of the most prosperous cities for many miles. It had been renamed from Calhoun in 1832, largely due to the efforts of a young lawyer, Abraham Lincoln, and his some of his friends. Abe went on to be elected to the Illinois State House of Representatives from 1834 to 1846, followed by being elected to the US House of Representatives. Springfield was designated as the state capital in 1839, during Abe's term in office. Abe Lincoln moved to Springfield in 1837, leaving in 1861, when he went to Washington, DC as the newly elected President of the United States.

After the Capitol was completed, on November 5, 1840, Abraham Palmer was called as Bishop of the Springfield Stake, along with Henry Stephens and Jonathan Palmer, under the Stake Presidency of Edwin P. Merriam, Isaac A. Bishop, and Arnold Stephens. He left his family in the safely of Springfield and journeyed to Nauvoo. Over the next few years, Abraham and Patience were back and forth from Nauvoo to Springfield. In fact, the many documented events of the Palmer's lives, including the births and deaths of children, suggest that instead of moving their households back and forth, they may have maintained two households for a period, the primary one in Springfield and perhaps a smaller one in Nauvoo. Nauvoo was located about 160 miles to the northwest of Springfield, which was no small commute for Abraham and Patience. Once Abraham arrived in Nauvoo, he was made a member of the Nauvoo Police Force, where he would serve for three years. In that role, Abraham was given the opportunity to serve as a bodyguard for the Prophet Joseph Smith.

The next spring, following excavation of the Temple site and the quarrying of stone, the cornerstone for the Nauvoo Temple was laid on April 6, 1841. After that, construction work was begun in earnest. Abraham was called to work on it too because of his experience as a carpenter and joiner. As portions of the Temple were completed, each one was dedicated and put into immediate use.

In October 1841 at Springfield, Abraham was ordained a High Priest and Bishop under the hands of Hyrum Smith. On November 18, 1841, the basement and baptismal font of the Temple were dedicated and put into service.

Abraham was immediately called to serve in the Temple Baptistry. One time, while doing baptisms for the dead in the newly dedicated baptismal font, Abraham became uneasy. He said that he wasn't completely convinced of baptisms for the dead, and shortly afterwards, he fell to the floor, unconscious. The Prophet Joseph Smith told the men to lay him on the bench and let him be. After lying there for a while, he recovered. The Prophet asked him where he had been and what he had seen. Being a man of few words, he said, "I believe baptism for the dead is right now."

Abraham and his wife went to visit with Joseph and Emma Smith one evening in Nauvoo. Joseph was not at home, but Emma invited them inside. While visiting with Emma, the door opened and a black arm, covered with tar and feathers, reached inside. The man outside asked for a blanket. Emma Smith, recognizing the voice as that of her husband, Joseph, fainted. Abraham went with the Prophet to help remove the tar and feathers. Patience stayed to help comfort Emma. Others soon came to assist Abraham in cleaning the tar and feathers from Joseph. The story of Joseph being tarred and feathered in Hiram, Ohio is well known, but the event in Nauvoo is not. The Saints came to know that they were not safe in Nauvoo.

On December 25, 1841, their eighth child, James Albert, was born at their home, back in Springfield. Three days later, Patience's younger brother, Isaac Washington Pierce II, died in Rushville, Schuyler, Illinois, which was about half way between Springfield and Nauvoo. He had been standing guard in the rain, keeping an eye out for mobsters. After which, he came down with pneumonia and died. He left a wife, Phebe, and three surviving children; two of his other children had already died. Phebe married Daily Carpenter in Nauvoo the next spring, on March 13, 1842.

March 17, 1842, on the second floor of Joseph Smith's Red Brick Store in Nauvoo, The Female Relief Society of Nauvoo was organized. Upon a visit to Springfield thereafter, the Prophet Joseph Smith. Jr., set Patience apart as a member of the visiting committee of the Female Relief Society of Springfield, whose duties were to visit all the families, to seek out the needy and discover if pecuniary aid was needed. Later, she received her patriarchal blessing at Nauvoo, under the hands of Joseph Smith, Sr., the Church Patriarch.

Their son, James Albert, lived just short of sixteen months and died in April 1843, in Springfield. Their first daughter and fourth child, Elizabeth, died on September 20, 1843, also in Springfield, at age twelve. At the October conference of the Church, Abraham was ordained a Seventy and was sent on a mission to Logan County, just northeast of Springfield, where he raised up a large branch and led them to Nauvoo.

On December 19, 1843, Abraham was again one of 40 selected as city policemen under Captain Jonathan Dunham. Of the other names, the following are noted, Abraham O. Smoot, Shadrack Roundy, John D. Lee, and Samuel Billings. The economic influence of the Saints was noticeable to non Mormons. As a result, the anti-Mormon sentiment in Illinois was growing and it was necessary to protect the city from mobs, intent on destruction of homes and crops, beatings of men, and the abuse [rape] of women. On June 27, 1844, Joseph and Hyrum Smith were martyred in the jail in Carthage, Illinois, some 25 miles southeast of Nauvoo, the target of a murder conspiracy intended to destroy the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints “by cutting of its head.” The corruption and anti-Mormon sentiment was rampant in the government. The Governor of Illinois was involved in and essential to the plot to murder Joseph Smith.

Some years later, Orrin Porter Rockwell signed an affidavit with the following testimony:

Orrin P. Rockwell, who being first duly sworn, deposeth and saith that about the hour of 3 o'clock in the afternoon of the 27th day of June, one thousand eight hundred forty-four, a short time only before Governor Ford addressed the citizens of Nauvoo, he (Ford) and his suit occupied an upper room in the mansion of Joseph Smith, in the city of Nauvoo, when he, the said Rockwell, had of necessity, to enter said upper room for his hat. And as he entered the door, all were sitting silent except one man, who was standing behind a chair making a speech, and while in the act of dropping his right hand from an uplifted position, said. "The deed is done before this time," which were the only words I heard while in the room, for on seeing me, they all hushed in silence. At that time, I could not comprehend the meaning of the words, but in a few hours after I understood them as referring to the murder of Joseph and Hyrum Smith in Carthage jail.

Signed Orrin P. Rockwell,

Subscribed and sworn to before me, the fourteenth day of April, 1856.

Thomas Bullock, Recorder of Great Salt Lake County Patience often related the scenes in Nauvoo at that time the bodies of the two martyrs were brought from Carthage. She said, “You could meet no one but what they were weeping.”

At the time of the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum, Abraham was again on his mission to Logan County, Illinois, just northwest of Springfield. At that time, missionaries and mission presidents did not take their families with them and often traveled to and from their homes to the mission, if it was practical. In Logan County, Abraham endured much hardship and privation, but he baptized many into the Church and led them back to Nauvoo. Almost as soon as he returned from Logan County, he was called to go on a mission to Schyuler County, where his brother-in-law had died, and where Abraham baptized many members and organized a branch there also. After that, he was called to preside over the Saints in Maine. He started his journey to Maine and had only made it a few miles when he was called back to prepare for the Exodus from Illinois.

On August 8, 1844, Brigham Young spoke at a meeting, and over 100 in attendance testified that he bore the image and had the voice of Joseph Smith, a sign to them that Brigham Young was to be the prophet. At General Conference on October 6-7, 1844, the Quorum of the Twelve sustained and ordained Brigham Young as President of the Quorum of the Twelve, which was to act collectively as the Presidency of the Church.

On November 11, 1844, Abraham and Patience’s ninth child and fourth daughter, Patience Delilah Naomi, was born at Springfield. The Palmers continued to live in Springfield while Abraham spent much time in service at Nauvoo.

Organized mob violence in and around Nauvoo caused construction on the Temple to be halted. It resumed in 1845 after Brigham Young encouraged the saints to complete the Temple. The attic rooms, which were to be used for ordinance work, were dedicated November 30, 1845. The sealing altar was dedicated January 7, 1846. Patience joined Abraham in Nauvoo and both were called to work in the Temple during the whole time ordinances were given (1845-1846) and they “received all of the blessings pertaining to that house.“

On February 10, 1846, Brigham Young led the “Mormon Exodus” from Nauvoo, when 1,600 saints crossed the Mississippi. In the spring of 1846, Patience became very sick. Apostle Heber C. Kimball was called to administer to her. Holding her by the hand, he said, “Sister Palmer, you want me to say something to you, and I will say, in the name of the Lord, that you shall not die and that I shall shake hands with you in the Great American Wilderness.”

On April 14, 1846, as the advanced caravan rested at Locus Cree, Iowa, a young man named William Clayton received word that his wife, Diantha, who was still in Nauvoo, had given birth to a son two weeks earlier. The next morning, he wrote a poem, “All is Well” and set it to an English folk tune of the same name. Later, the song was renamed, “Come, Come Ye Saints.”

Faithful saints continued to work on the Temple and it was completed and fully dedicated May 1, 1846. Now, the Temple was completed in its entirety, even though the city was in the midst of being abandoned.

Abraham came home one day and said, “We have agreed with the mob to leave the state.” They bartered their home, getting what they could, crossed the river, and camped at Greenwood, Lee County, Iowa, just across the river from Nauvoo. The Palmers moved into a small, one-room, log hut that had been built by trappers. It had no door and there were large cracks between the logs. Later that May, their eight-year-old son, Abraham Pierce, died in Greenwood, becoming their fifth child to die. Abraham spent his time building wagons for those embarking on the journey west.

In 1846, most of the saints were making preparations and traveling west from Lee County. After each day’s work was finished, the men would assist those building wagons for the journey. They saved all the money they could to buy oxen and cows for teams. Those who left Lee County for the western border of Iowa were slowed by deep snows left over from the winter, heavy spring rains, and overflowing streams. At times, the journey had to be halted until the streams could go down enough to cross safely. In all, it took 131 days to cover the 300 miles from Lee County on the eastern border to Pottawattamie County on the western border of Iowa. In September 1846, an armed mob of approximately 800 men, equipped with six cannon attacked Nauvoo, intent upon driving every Saint out of the state. A treaty was negotiated, allowing the remaining Saints time to gather their belongings.

Within a few days, all of the remaining saints, numbering about 700, mostly too poor, too old, or too sick to travel earlier, were driven from Nauvoo. Most of the refugees stayed a mile or so north of Montrose, Iowa in what came to be known as “poor camp,” due to the extreme poverty of the refugees. One day, running low on food, thousands of quail descended on the whole line of camps along the river. They were easily caught, providing a protein-rich source of delicious meat. The event came to be known as “The Miracle of the Quail.”

By the winter of 1846-1847, around 16,000 saints had crossed the river via ferry, traveling in some 2,000 wagons. On December 10, 1846, the Palmer's tenth child, William Moroni, was born in the log hut at Greenwood, Iowa, during a driving storm that was blowing snow through the cracks between the logs. There were two families, totaling 14 people, trying to stay out of the weather in the hut. In the spring, the Palmers relocated to Montrose, Iowa, directly across the Mississippi River from Nauvoo. There, Abraham and his family, along with 14 other families, stayed in one house that had multiple rooms. All of the men were able to find work, while the women took in sewing and washing. Abraham was called upon to build wagons for those joining the migration west. There was room for many encampments in the general area, as the Church had acquired 19,000 acres in 1841, upon which there were plans build the city of Zarahemla.

That spring, on April 16, 1847, Brigham Young’s company left Winter Quarters, Nebraska for the Great Salt Lake Basin. The company consisted of 142 men, 3 women, and 2 children, in 72 wagons. They covered 1,031 miles in less than 100 days, arriving in the valley July 21-24, 1847. The journey across the plains took less time to cover triple the distance of the journey across Iowa.

A list of members on January 2, 1848, showed Abraham Palmer as a high priest. Very late in the fall of 1848, Abraham’s company of 15 families was finally approved to travel across Iowa, stopping at Pottawattamie Creek, an abandoned Indian village, about 50 miles south of Kanesville, Iowa. Kanesville was named after Colonel Thomas L. Kane, who had befriended the Mormons and defended them in a number of potentially dangerous situations.

The US Government had driven the Indians out of the area, south to Oklahoma, some years earlier, leaving their homes abandoned. The snow in the area was so deep the Palmers and the other families could travel no further. What remained of the abandoned Indian houses in this village were built of grass and bark. Into these, the 15 families went for refuge. Because of the deep snow, they could not obtain provisions, but they were blessed to find a cache of corn abandoned by the Indians. During the greater part of this winter, they lived upon parched corn and hominy which they made by soaking the corn in lye water. The lye was made from ashes. The corn was soaked to remove the dried hulls, then washed and boiled, and served without meat or butter. They also ground corn with two great stones, which the Indians had left. The young men would sometimes kill pheasants which were always divided among every family. On one occasion, one of the oxen broke through the ice and was drowned, so they pulled it out and butchered it for the meat. They fed their cattle by shoveling the snow off the tall grass and chopping down trees for them to browse on. There was also a larger Indian hut, 20 by 30 feet, which they used for a meeting house.

Into this colony of 15 families at Pottawattamie, eight children were born during the winter of 1848-1849, including the Palmer’s last child, a son, named Hyrum Smith, born February 9, 1849. Among the 15 families with them, Patience wrote the names of Ferrin, Pettingill, Marsh, Warner, Clyde, Carpenter, David, and Pierce; the latter being the family of her brother, Isaac Pierce. Most of the Saints were gathering in Kanesville in preparation for the journey west.

During 1849, Kanesville was filled with men passing through on their way to the Gold Rush in California, following the discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill in January 1848. At that time, non Mormons outnumbered Mormons in the newly formed township. The presence of gold seekers created a temporary economic boom for the nearly destitute Saints, providing money to build wagons and make final preparations for the journey west. (Kanesville would be renamed Council Bluffs in 1853, designating the spot where Lewis & Clark held council with the Indians in 1804.)

By the early fall of 1849, the Palmers had moved north to Kanesville, located in the very large county of Pottawattamie. Abraham was soon called as Bishop by Apostle Orson Hyde. Again, they were to remain in Kanesville and fit out other companies for their journey west. Their delay was due to some 6,100 English converts who were on their way up the Missouri River from England.

The 1850 census taken on the 27th of September, showed the family in Pottawattamie County, with Abraham listed as a carpenter. The census listed Abraham, age 42, Patience, age 41, Luther (working as a stage driver), age 23, Ann, age16, Susannah, age 14, Delila, age 5, William, age 3, and Hyrum, age 1 year. Their daughter, Patience Delila Naomi, died November 20, 1851, just nine days after her fifth birthday, at Pottawattamie.

In the spring of 1852, after more than two years of building many wagons for others, Abraham built his own wagon and purchased oxen and cows for teams for the journey to the Great Salt Lake Basin. [Note: Handcarts were not used until 1856, the year of the Martin and Willey Companies.]

Finally, on July 5, 1852, Abraham, along with his wife, Patience, and four children, Ann Eliza, age 17, Susannah Charlotte, age 16, William Moroni, age 5, and Hyrum Smith, age 3, prepared to leave Kanesville. They were in the James C. Snow Company, also known as the 18th Company. Caught up in "gold fever," Luther, age 25, was said to have left the family to join the California gold rush. Patience's nephew, Nathan, age 18, joined the Palmers to drive one of the wagons.

Abraham was the Captain of the “1st Ten,” which included Patience's sister-in-law, Phebe, who had remarried, along her husband, Daily Carpenter, and their children. As the Snow Company prepared to leave, they discovered that there were no blacksmiths among them. It would be necessary for one of the "companies of ten" to remain behind to recruit a blacksmith to join the company. As might be expected, Abraham volunteered his "Ten" to stay behind and find a blacksmith. When that was accomplished, Abraham's "Ten" made good time and caught up with the rest of the Snow Company.

Journals of the Snow Company note that on July 24th several members of the company were baptized, and Brothers Palmer and Warner confirmed them. [At that time, individuals were allowed to be baptized more than once.] On the following day, Abraham baptized his nephew, George Pierce, who was to turn 20 the following day. On August 15th, one sister, Rebecca Burdick Winters, died when an epidemic of cholera broke out. They were not in a place deemed suitable to stop for a burial, so they decided to carry her body a distance further in hopes of finding a better place. That same day, a party of about 400 Sioux warriors crossed their way as they went to do battle with their enemies, the Pawnee. The Sioux demanded and received food, but they wanted to feast, and demanded more food than the company could spare from their scanty stores. Captain Hawley took the leader of the Indians to the wagon carrying Sister Winters and lifted the blanket covering her lifeless body. In fear for their lives, the Indians let out a "whoop and a yell" and rode away as fast as their horses could carry them.

August 29th again found Abraham staying behind a few days with part of his company, this time to assist those needing blacksmithing and wheel repair. Four days later, on September 2nd, Abraham's ten were asked to go ahead and catch up with the “lead ten” to assist them. Abraham worked and waited at Devil's Gate on the Sweetwater River in Wyoming, until the 5th, when the rest of the companies caught up with them.

Somewhere along the journey, an epidemic of pinkeye broke out in the camp. Among the children attacked was William, age 5. A horse doctor prescribed a copper-sulfate application as a remedy, but the application proved disastrous for William, and he was blinded. He remained blind until some years later, when he was miraculously healed under the hands of President Heber C. Kimball.

Journals noted that travels were difficult due to rain, sleet, and snow on September 30. Four days later, on October 4th, a relief wagon carrying supplies, met them at the Red Fork of the Weber River, providing them with much needed flower. The weary family arrived in the Salt Lake Valley six days later, on October 10, 1852. Their journey had been greatly blessed. Buffalo were “provided” at times of need, and were taken, slaughtered, and distributed for food. Native American Indians came to them, asking for flour and provisions, and there was adequate to share.

Upon arriving in Salt Lake City, they went up into the main part of the city where they met Apostle Heber C. Kimball. He grasped Abraham and Patience by the hands and said to Patience, “The last time I saw you, you were in Nauvoo in your sick bed, and now here you are in the wilderness.” This encounter fulfilled the prophecy he had given the last time he saw them.

On December 18, 1852, Abraham and Patience’s daughter, Susanna Charlotte married Lyman Smith Hutchings in Salt Lake City. The marriage was cancelled by Brigham Young five and a half months later, on June 3, 1853 on the basis of Hutchings’ cruelty toward Susanna. Four months later, on October 3, 1853, a year after arriving in the valley, Susannah Charlotte, died after giving birth to her daughter, Susan Delila Ann. Susannah was just twelve days short if her eighteenth birthday. The tragedy was offset by another miracle. Before the trip west, when Susannah was too young to wed, she met and fell in love with Richard John Moxey Bee. They lost track of each other among the various companies traveling west and were unable to find each other. Only after Susannah had been married, divorced, and died did Richard finally locate the Palmer Family. With permission of Brigham Young, Richard was sealed to Susannah by proxy. Susan Delila Ann, Susannah’s daughter, was raised by her grandmother, Patience Palmer, as if she were another daughter. When Patience counted her children, she also included Susan, bringing the total to twelve.

In 1854, the Palmer family moved north to a small village named Ogden. Abraham was called as counselor to President Lorin Farr in the first Stake Presidency of Weber County. Abraham also served as an Alderman in Ogden, being sworn in on March 17,1855, also under Lorin Farr, who was sworn in as the Mayor of Ogden. On October 4, 1855, Abraham was elected as Selectman in Ogden.

Patience worked diligently performing the relief society duties she had learned in Nauvoo and Springfield, helping the poor during the grasshopper ravages of 1855. She and her assistants also went from house to house gathering cast off clothing, repairing and molding them into useful garments, then distributing them among the poor. On January 3, 1856, Patience was formally called as the first President of the Female Relief Society of Weber Stake, with Martha M. Knight and Abigail Smith Abbott as her counselors.

The Ogden Tabernacle started construction in 1855. The Relief Society took useless rags and made carpets to cover the aisles of the tabernacle. They carded and spun wool, which they colored with dye made from brush, bark, and ocher from Ogden Canyon. They used the wool to make enough carpets to cover the stand, vestry and prayer circle chamber of the tabernacle.

On February 16, 1857, Abraham Palmer took Hulda Catherine Hill, as his second wife. Family records indicate that he also took a third wife, Ann Bedford Allen of Yorkshire, England, that same day. She was the widow of John Allen. The Allens were married in Yorkshire, England and had a daughter, Anne, and a son, James X [just an initial, not a name]. John Allen died in 1836, leaving Ann with her two young children. (Nothing else is known about Ann except that she died April 12, 1883, bearing the name of Ann Palmer, and was buried in the Ogden, Utah cemetery.)

On April 6, 1857, Abraham was once again elected to serve a two-year term as Alderman, again serving under Lorin Farr, the Mayor of Ogden. In the fall of 1857, news came that the US Government was sending an army against the Mormons. After considering an appropriate response, Brigham Young instructed faithful members to prepare to move south in the spring of 1858. Their homes were to be prepared to be burned, if necessary.

The Relief Society distributed the carpet intended for the Tabernacle, to be used as wagon covers, with the woolen carpet used as skirts for women, and shirts for men and children. In March and July of 1858, trains of families by the hundreds left their homes, gardens, fields, and everything they had built. Fortunately, the relentless delaying tactics of the Nauvoo Legion effectively stopped Johnson's Army from entering Utah Territory as intended, and the army was forced to winter in Wyoming, short of supplies, horses, and enthusiasm.

Abraham and Patience joined “The Move South" and went to Spanish Fork where they built a willow shack and spent the summer of 1858. Colonel Thomas L. Kane traveled from Utah to Washington, DC to report that the stories of disloyalty among the Mormons had all been lies, a too frequent occurrence throughout the history of the Church, inspired by the father of all lies. In the end, the army made a treaty with the Saints asking them to return to their homes. The Palmer family was relieved to do so. The army rode through Salt Lake City, not attacking the Mormons but directing threats and foul comments to the Saints, contrary to their treaty. They rode south to establish a post known as Camp Floyd, 50 miles southwest of Salt Lake City.

The Mormons returned to their homes in peace. The Relief Society was inactive for nine years, until it was reorganized by Eliza R. Snow. On December 26, 1858, Abraham and Hulda’s first child, a girl named Delila Vilate, was born in Ogden, Utah. She was the first white child of record, born in a log cabin where the Union Pacific Depot was eventually erected.

On February 14 1859, Abraham was once again elected to serve a two-year term as Alderman, again serving under Lorin Farr, still the Mayor of Ogden. Abraham did not run for reelection in 1861.

The Palmers showed up in the 1860 census as of July 5, 1860 in Ogden, Weber County, Utah, where Abraham was listed as a farmer. The census showed "Abram," Patience D., William, and Hyrum. The census also showed a seven-year-old daughter, Anna, born in Utah, the nickname for Susan Delila Ann, the granddaughter they took in after her mother’s death.

On February 22, 1861, Abraham and Hulda's second child, a girl named Josephine, was born in Ogden, Utah. On September 8, 1863, their third child, a girl named Catherine Alfina, was also born in Ogden, Utah. In 1865, the Palmer's moved south to Chicken Creek, Juab County, where they were to participate in a plan to grow hardwood trees that would be used for wagon wheels.

On June 1, 1866, Abraham and Hulda’s fourth child, a boy named Richard Marcellus, was born. On May 18, 1868, their fifth child, a girl named Mary, was also born at Chicken Creek. In 1868, the settlement of Chicken Creek was abandoned due to poor soil and lack of water, and the residents moved to a site between Chicken and Pigeon Creeks. The new settlement was soon renamed Levan by Brigham Young.

The 1870 census, taken July 17, 1870, showed the Palmer family still living at the Chicken Creek Settlement, Juab County, as the name Levan was not yet accepted in common usage. The census showed Abraham, Catherine, age 28, Delila V., Josephine, Catherine A., age 6, Richard M., and Mary C. A second Palmer family is listed on the same page, listing Patience, and William M. In addition, Mary A. from England, along with her children, Alexander, age 6, and Clara Marinda, age 2, were on the census, possibly boarders or another family the Palmers took in.

In 1870, Abraham moved Patience and their family to Fayette, Utah, to be closer to their children and where Abraham planned to teach school. The school was a one-room log cabin, with split logs used for benches and the children used slates. In the fall of 1870, his wife, Hulda Catherine, and her children joined Abraham in Fayette. Together, Abraham, Patience, and Hulda taught school for many years, the first schoolteachers in Fayette. They were paid with produce of many kinds, which they used to support their families.

Patience and her family apparently lived separately, in a large adobe house they built at the north end of Fayette, which had the name of "Palmer House" on it. It also served as the stagecoach stop. Horses were cared for while drivers and riders got something to eat for themselves. The Palmer House was remodeled and was in good condition for many years.

In May 4, 1871, Abraham and Hulda had their sixth child, a boy named Frank Abraham, born at Fayette, Utah. The two families lived in Fayette and raised their families together. The children called the one wife “Mother” and the other “Mama.”

In the late fall of 1873, Abraham began to suffer from what was diagnosed as "dropsy," a condition recognized by the accumulation of fluid in the legs and feet, also called edema. The cause was congestive heart failure and is treated effectively these days, but in 1873, there was no treatment. On May 25, 1875, Abraham died at Dover, Sanpete County, just west of Fayette, at the age of 67, after suffering from dropsy for 18 months. Abraham was buried on the Mellor plot in the Fayette Cemetery, in the family plot owned by his daughter, Delila Vilate, and her husband, William Charles Mellor. Dover was eventually abandoned due to seasonal flooding and disease-bearing mosquitoes.

At the time of his death, four of his and Patience’s eleven children were alive. Seven had died in infancy or in their youth due to the severe conditions caused by endless persecution. All six of his and Hulda’s children outlived him as they were all born in Utah, away from the mobs that terrorized the saints in Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois.

The following is excerpted from his obituary:

Abraham worked in a number of different vocations, some of which included a farmer; school teacher and carpenter. During all the years of life after obeying the Gospel he never faltered or had a doubt to the truth of the same, and died in full faith and hope of a glorious resurrection unto eternal life. He left a large family and numerous friends.

(Deseret News 24: 333, 1875)

In the summer of 1893, Patience’s health started to deteriorate. She died March 25, 1894 at the age of 85, at the home of her son, William Moroni, at Aurora, Sevier County, Utah. In her patriarchal blessing, given by Joseph Smith, Sr. some 50 years earlier, she was told that she would live to be 85, and that prophetic promise was kept. She had borne 11 children, only 4 of whom were still alive. In addition, she counted her granddaughter, Susan Delila Ann Hutchings, Susanna’s daughter, as one of her children. At the time of her passing, she had a living posterity of 32 grandchildren, 40 great-grandchildren, and 6 great-great-grandchildren. The number that preceded her in death was also great, but not numbered.

The following was excerpted from Patience's obituary:

After Abraham's death, Patience went to live with her son, William Moroni, at Glenwood, Sevier County, where she died on March 25, 1894, and was buried beside her husband. During her strenuous life she acted as a midwife and a doctor, administering help and comfort to all in need. Of the hundreds of women she waited on, she never lost one case or child, which she ascribed to the fact that a prayer was always on her lips for divine assistance whenever she waited on the sick. She was also a school teacher of considerable success. She taught in Annabelle, Sevier County, Deseret, Millard County, and Chicken Creek, Juab County. She was considered to be very genial, had a kind disposition, and was beloved by all who knew her, especially the children. Truly a more righteous, patient, and humble woman never lived, for she devoted her whole life to the Gospel of Christ and has now gone to her reward. Patience earned and exemplified her name for she truly was patient in all of her mortal trials.

After Abraham's death, his second wife, Hulda Catherine Hill, moved to Alberta, Canada to live with Mary, one of her daughters, and her husband, Brigham Franklin Pickett. The influenza epidemic of 1918 made it to Canada, and on January 4, 1919, Mary died from influenza in Orion, Alberta. Four days later, Hulda died from it also. The family was carrying their caskets to the cemetery when the police stopped their wagon and opened the caskets to make sure they weren't carrying liquor instead of bodies. Hulda and Mary were buried in Raymond, Alberta, Canada.

Abraham was a faithful worker in the Lord's Church from the time he was baptized. From the earliest days of his membership in the Church, he suffered, and his family suffered too, even to death, adding greatly to his own suffering. He worked hard, doing all he could for as many people as he could, always serving, never giving up. His life was preserved many times as he escaped death at the hands of mobs, the elements, and depredations. His testimony never wavered and he bore it every day in the works he performed. He was blessed to be personal friends of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, along with Emma, Joseph Senior, and all of the founding leaders of the Church. His legacy of faith is a gift to all of his descendants, and is to be remembered and lived up to.

Copyright Arnold S. Grundvig, Jr. Great-great-grandson 24 July 2015