Jedediah M. Grant
Born: 21 February 1816
Called to Presidency of the Seventy: 2 December 1845
Called as Counselor in the First Presidency under Brigham Young: 7 April 1854
Died: 1 December 1856
Called to Presidency of the Seventy: 2 December 1845
Called as Counselor in the First Presidency under Brigham Young: 7 April 1854
Died: 1 December 1856
Conference TalksApr 1851
Oct 1852 Oct 1852 Apr 1853 Apr 1854 Apr 1854 Apr 1854 Apr 1854 Epistle Jun 1854 Jun 1854 Oct 1854 - The Immigration—The Perpetual Emigrating Fund—Scoffers Oct 1854 Apr 1855 Apr 1855 Epistle Oct 1855 - Men Rewarded According to Their Works Oct 1855 Oct 1855 Epistle Apr 1856 Oct 1856 Oct 1856 Oct 1856 Image source: Contributor, April 1883
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Image source: Improvement Era, February 1915
Image source: Relief Society Magazine, February 1920
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Talks About Jedediah M. Grant
Biographical Articles
Biographical Encyclopedia, Volume 1
Contributor, April 1883, Jedediah M. Grant I
Contributor, May 1883, Jedediah M. Grant II
Contributor, June 1883, Jedediah M. Grant III
Contributor, July 1883, Jedediah M. Grant IV
Contributor, August 1883, Jedediah M. Grant V
Contributor, September 1883, Jedediah M. Grant VI
Relief Society Magazine, February 1920, Jedediah M. Grant's View of the Spirit World
Instructor, November 1956, Little Deeds from Big Lives
Contributor, April 1883, Jedediah M. Grant I
Contributor, May 1883, Jedediah M. Grant II
Contributor, June 1883, Jedediah M. Grant III
Contributor, July 1883, Jedediah M. Grant IV
Contributor, August 1883, Jedediah M. Grant V
Contributor, September 1883, Jedediah M. Grant VI
Relief Society Magazine, February 1920, Jedediah M. Grant's View of the Spirit World
Instructor, November 1956, Little Deeds from Big Lives
Jenson, Andrew. "Grant, Jedediah M." Biographical Encyclopedia. Volume 1. pg. 56-62.
Grant, Jedediah Morgan, second counselor to President Brigham Young from 1S54 to 1856, was the son of Joshua and Thalia Grant, and was born Feb. 21, 1816, in Windsor, Broome county, N. Y., He was baptized March 21, 1833, by John F. Boynton. In the spring or the following year, when he was. eighteen years of age, he accompanied "Zion's Camp" in the wonderful march to :Missouri, and the fatigues, privations, trying scenes and arduous labors endured by that handful of valiant men exhibited a goodly portion, for one so young, of that integrity, zeal, and unwavering effort and constant in behalf of the cause of truth, that in variably characterized his life. The experience the young men of this expedition obtained on this memorable journey, was such as few ever pass through in life. While the history of Zion’s Camp has not been fully written, and, like the history of the Latter- day Saints in general, never will be in its fulness, enough is known to show that every man, who carried himself faithfully, without murmuring, through the dangers, diseases and difficulties of that most trying period, was a hero of the first quality and had laid foundation stones of life on which ho could forever build. On returning to Kirtland, Brother Grant was ordained an Elder, and later (Feb. 28, 1835), he was ordained a Seventy under the hands of Joseph Smith and others. In connection with Elder Harvey Stanley he was also appointed to his first Pleaching mission. They started May 22, 1835, and spent the summer in the labors of the ministry, preaching and baptizing converts In the winter of 1835-6, Bro. Grant assisted in the labors upon the Kirtland Temple, where he received the blessings of the House of the Lord. He was appointed to a mission in the East, but participated, before leaving the Temple, in the great manifestations of the power and glory of God, which characterized the labor there from the time of its dedication, March 27, 1836, until the Elders, who were then called to go on missions, departed for their fields of labor. He was among that happy number who received from the lips of the Prophet much valuable counsel and instruction relating to the duties of the Priesthood. Bro. Grant started upon his mission April 13, 1836, going to New York State, where he preached a great deal in many places and raised up a branch of the Church at Fallsburg. He baptized twenty-three persons, among whom was his brother Austin. He returned to Kirtland, March 6, 1837, and remained there until the 6th of the following June, when he commenced a missionary tour to the south—the field in which his greatest missionary labors and achievements were accomplished. He passed through the States of Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania, etc., and reached North Carolina, where he labored assiduously, proclaiming the gospel in court houses, chapels and other places of assembly as frequently as circumstances permitted. He became extensively known and acquired considerable fame, as an adroit scriptorian and debater, in certain discussions held with Methodist divines whom he never feared nor declined to meet. His uniform success in overthrowing their sophistry and false theology by the forcible and conclusive way he presented the truth, won many friends and some converts. On the conclusion of his mission he returned to Kirtland and made preparations for final removal to Missouri. He started Oct. S, 1838, and arrived at Far West on the 12th of November. He called at this time at Richmond jail to see his brother George D. Grant, to whom he had previously first presented the gospel, and who was then imprisoned with the Prophet and others on account of their religious faith. Brother Grant passed through the trials of the expulsion from Missouri, being driven, with his father s family from Far West to Illinois; they located in Knox county, where Jedediah remained several months preaching and baptizing. In May, 1809, he made a trip to Nauvoo. but hastened to Quincy to attend a conference held there June 1, 1839, at which time he was called on a mission to Virginia and North Carolina. This was the signal for opening the Southern States mission in earnest. With the Elders associated with him, among them his brother Joshua, an extensive field was at once occupied; meetings were held in all available places' baptisms were quite numerous and several large branches were organized. At Burk's Garden, Tazewell county, Virginia, where Brother Grant made headquarters, a branch of more than sixty members soon sprang up and great interest excited by the populace in the labors of the traveling and local Priesthood. Brother Grant's name was everywhere spoken of; his ready speech, logical argument, fearless and daring denunciation of sin, powerful exhortations to repentance and testimony of the restoration of the gospel, were taken up. by rich and poor, high and low, and commented upon. They won many converts and left impressions on many others which are fresh in their memories even to the present time. Many very interesting episodes marked this active, incessantly laborious period of his life, among others one, which led to a painful and disagreeable accident, resulting in breaking the bones of his nose. The Saints still living in that region remember the striking peculiarities of his ministry and events which made it so successful. Several Elders who have labored in the Southern States of late years have brought with them home many anecdotes about Elder Grant, which show that his memory is still kept sacred among the people of the South. Among these anecdotes we present two which the late Elder Theodore B. Lewis very graphically tells in the "String of Pearls:" "In the early part of President Grant's ministry in that country. he gained quite a reputation as a ready speaker, frequently responding to invitations to preach from such subjects or texts as might be selected at the time of commencing his sermon, oy those inviting him. In time it became a matter of wonder with many as to how and when he prepared his wonderful sermons. In reply to their queries he informed them that he never prepared his sermons as other ministers did. 'Of course, I road and store my mind with a knowledge of gospel truths,' said he, 'but I never study up a sermon.' Well, they did not believe he told the truth, for, as they thought, it was impossible for a man to preach such sermons without careful preparation. So, in order to prove it, a number of persons decided to put him to test, and asked him if he would preach at a certain time and place, and from a text selected by them. They proposed to give him the text on his arrival at the place of meeting, thus giving him no time to prepare, gratify them his consented. The place selected was Jeffersonville, the seat Tazewell county, at that time the horn of the late John B. Floyd, who subsequently became secretary of war, and many other prominent men. The room chosen was in the court house. At the hour appointed the house was packed to its utmost capacity. Mr. Floyd and a number of lawyers and ministers were present and occupied front seats. Elder Grant came in, walked to the stand and opened the meeting as usual. At the close of the second hymn, a clerk, appointed for the occasion, stepped forward and handed the paper (the text) to Elder Grant, who unfolded it and found it to be blank. Without any mark of surprise, he held the paper up before the audience, and said: 'My friends, I am here today according to agreement, to preach from such a text as these gentlemen might select for me. I have it here in my hand. I don't wish you to become offended at me, for I am under promised to preach from the text selected; and if any one is to blame, you must blame those who selected it. I knew nothing of what text they would choose, but of all texts this is my favorite one. You see the paper is blank (at the same time holding it up to view). You sectarians down there believe that out of nothing God created all things, and now you wish me to create a sermon from nothing, for this paper is blank. Now, you sectarians believe in a God that has neither body, parts nor passions. Such a God I conceive to be a perfect blank, just as you find my text is. You believe in a church without Prophets, Apostles, Evangelists, etc. Such a church would be a perfect blank, as compared with the Church of Christ, and this agrees with my text. You have located your heaven beyond the bounds of time and space. It exists nowhere, and consequently your heaven is blank, like unto my text.' Thus he went on until he had torn to pieces all the tenets of faith professed by his hearers, and then proclaimed the principles of the gospel in great power. He wound up by asking, 'Have I stuck to the text and does that satisfy you?' As soon as he sat down, Mr. Floyd jumped up and said; 'Mr. Grant, if you are not a lawyer, you ought to be one.' Then turning to the people, he added: 'Gentlemen, you have listened to a wonderful discourse, and with amazement. Now, take a look at Mr. Grant's clothes. Look at his coat: his elbows are almost out: and his knees are almost through his pants. Let us take up a collection. As he sat down another eminent lawyer Joseph Stras, Esq., still living in Jeffersonville, arose and said: 'I am good for one sleeve in a coat and one leg in a pair of pants, for Mr. Grant.' The presiding elder of the M. E. church, South, was requested to pass the hat around, but he replied that he would not take up a collection for a 'Mormon' preacher. 'Yes you will,' said Mr. Floyd; 'Pass it around,' said Mr. Stras, and the cry was taken up and repeated by the audience, until, for the sake of peace, the minister had to yield. He accordingly marched around with a hat in his hand, receiving contributions, which resulted in a collection sufficient to purchase a fine suit of clothes, a horse, paddle and bridle for Brother Grant, and not one contributor a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, though some joined subsequently. And this from a sermon produced from a blank text. At another time. Elder Grant was challenged by a very eminent Baptist preacher, named Baldwin, to a discussion. Brother Grant consented. The place chosen was the fine, large church of his proud and imperious antagonist. Mr. Baldwin was described to me, as man, overbearing in his manner regular browbeater. When the time came lor the discussion, the house vas densely crowded. Umpires were chosen, and everything was ready to proceed, when Brother Grant arose and said: 'Mr. Baldwin. I would like to ask you a question before we proceed any farther.' 'Certainly so,' said Baldwin 'Who stands at the head of you church in south-west Virginia?' Mr. Baldwin very quickly and austerely re plied, 'I do, sir; I do.' 'All right,' sail Brother Grant; 'I wished to know that I had a worthy foe.' Mr. Baldwin looked a little confused for a moment, and then said: 'Mr. Grant, I would like to ask you, who stands at the head of your church in south-west Virginia' Brother Grant arose and with bowed head replied, 'Jesus Christ, sir.' The shock was electrical. This inspired answer completely disarmed the proud foe, and the humble servant of God again came off victor.’ Having completed his southern mission in 1842, Elder Grant returned to Nauvoo. He left the kind-hearted people of Virginia with tears in their eyes. They had learned the principles of life from his utterances and daily example, and loved him as the messenger of heaven sent to save them. For five days previous to his departure, a protracted series of meetings was held at Burk's Garden, when hundreds attended and the Elders were kept busy preaching to the large congregations, and baptizing and confirming converts. In June, 1843, Brother Grant went to Philadelphia to preside over the Saints there. He remained in that city, making many valued friends and officiating in the duties of his office, until March, 1844, when he again reached Nauvoo. His stay, however, was short, for on the 9th of the following May he started, in company with Elders Wilford Woodruff and George A Smith, on a preaching expedition through Illinois, the intention being to continue the tour eastward through several States. From this mission, however, he was suddenly recalled, and was in Nauvoo at the time of the martyrdom of the Prophet and Patriarch June 27, 1844. He proceeded at once to carry the tidings of this awful tragedy to the Apostles and other Elders in the Eastern States and resumed his station at Philadelphia. Previous to leaving- Nauvoo, July 2nd, he was married to Miss Caroline Vandyke, Bishop Newel K. Whitney officiating. His wife accompanied him to Philadelphia. His mission there was made particularly remarkable by the position he took in regard to Sidney Rigdon's peculiar apostate doctrines and the efforts of his followers to establish his claim to the guardianship of the Church. Certain letters, which Brother Grant published upon these subjects, were so clear, as were all his writings, and the strictures upon Rigdon's course so manifestly just, that they at once quelled the fears of the doubting Saints, and exhibited in plainness the true position of the faithful as well as the assumption of the ambitious apostate. In May, 1845, Elder Grant returned to Nauvoo, and in the following winter received the blessings of the House of the Lord, assisting, also, in administering those sacred ordinances to many others. He was chosen and set apart as one of the First Seven Presidents of Seventies Dec. 2, 1845, under the hands of Apostles Brigham Young, and others. He was among the first who left Nauvoo in the exodus of 1846, crossing the river in February, and with the body of the Saints turning his back upon the tyrannical oppression of mobs and treacherous friends to seek an asylum of peace in the fastnesses of the mountains of the great West. From Winter Quarters he went east in the winter of 1846-7, on a short mission, during which he purchased the materials for making a flag, which for several years floated over "the land of the free and the homes of the blest" in Salt Lake City, and was familiarly known as "the mammoth flag." After transacting important business in the interests of the exodus, he returned, in June, 1847, to the Missouri river, and was appointed captain of the third hundred of the emigrating Saints which he successfully led to Great Salt Lake valley, arriving in the following October. A year after, with characteristic energy and promptness, he went out beyond Fort Bridger with several men and teams to relieve President Willard Richards and company and assist them, in. May 26, 1849, he was elected brigadier- general of the first brigade of the Nauvoo Legion, and later (Oct. 23. 1852), he was promoted to the major-generalship of the First Division, which military office he held until his death. He was an efficient officer, valiant, energetic and just. In the difficulties with the Indians he manifested considerable skill, and always was regarded as eminently jealous of the rights of the red men as well as of the safety of the whites. In the fall of 1849, Elder Grant went to the States on business, together with about forty missionaries, who elected him captain of the company. Among the number were Apostles John Taylor, Erastus Snow, Lorenzo Snow and Franklin D. Richards, Bishop Edward Hunter, and several other prominent Elders. They had reached the banks of the Platte river some distance west of Fort Laramie, and were camped for noon on a cold, wintry day, in a horseshoe bend of the river, when they were attacked by a large war party of the Cheyennes. who were painted and equipped for war, on their way out to engage with a hostile band of the Crows. With the utmost energy the animals were got together and fastened, and a line in open rank formed from the river's bank to face the Indians and prevent them from surrounding the party. The missionaries pursued their way without further molestation. Elder Grant accomplished the object of his- mission and returned to the Valley the following year, in charge of a merchant train. Great Salt Lake City was incorporated Jan. 1.0, 1851, and at the first election held under the charter on the first Monday of the next April, Jedediah M. Grant was elected Mayor, which office he magnified in an eminent degree and held uninterruptedly, by the unanimous vote of the people, until his death. During the period of his administration, the first ordinances for the government, safety and general welfare of the people were enacted, forming the basis of the municipal regulations under which the city has grown and prospered to the present time. On the, organization of the Territory of Utah, certain officials appointed by the President of the United States found the situation in Utah, on their arrival there, not to their liking; and after a few months' sojourn, during which they did nothing for their own glory, nor for the government or the people, they returned to the East and united in framing a report to the administration at Washington, which grossly misrepresented the people of Utah and contained many outrageous charges against them, calculated to Influence public opinion and to prejudice the government officials in their intercourse with the Territory. For the purpose of counteracting whatever evil effects the "runaway judges" report might have and of setting fairly before the country the situation of the people in the mountains—then so isolated and remote from the inhabited part of the continent—Mayor Grant was called to go to Philadelphia and New York, and do what he could to gain the public attention, while he exploded the falsehoods of the judges and set the matter right respecting the new Territorial ward which had been adopted. He addressed some letters to James Gordon Bennett, the elder, which were published in the New York "Herald." They had an electrical effect. The "report" fell flat and the runaway officials never recovered from the wholesome exposure of their conduct. The New York "Herald" letters, after creating considerable sensation in the great cities and doing most effectual work in Washington, were printed in pamphlet form and widely circulated in the East. A high- Iv characteristic feature of this pamphlet was the introduction of pungent proverbs as head and foot lines on each page, in black type, which were selected with singular discernment for their appropriate relation to the text as well as for their finer humor and superior sense. Brother Grant was chosen speaker of the House of Representatives in the legislative assembly of Utah, in 1852, and at the three subsequent sessions, filling that office with dignity and honor, to the fullest satisfaction of the members over whom he presided. As a legislator he was quick and talented and brought to the lawmaking department a high practical sense of justice and right, which qualified him to propose and render valuable aid in framing wholesome laws for the political and domestic welfare of the community. But his great work, which preserves the memory of President Grant in the hearts of the Latter-day Saints, was in his ecclesiastical calling. In 1854 he was ordained an Apostle and chosen and set apart to be second counselor in the First Presidency, succeeding Willard Richards in that calling. In this position he was distinguished for the burning zeal that seemed to fire his bosom and keep him ever at work dispensing the blessings of the gospel to the people and awakening within them that enthusiasm and sincerity necessary to the faithful believer in pursuing the life of a Saint, and which was ever exemplified in the career of Brother Grant. His zeal hardly had bounds, except those of the God-given intelligence which preserved him from fanaticism, but he loved the work of the Lord with his whole heart and dedicated without reserve his might, mind and strength to its accomplishment. The exemplary faith and devotion of such a man inspired his fellows to efforts of godliness that they would never dream of if left to themselves, and this quality so pre-eminently displayed by Brother Grant, brought him to the front as the main leader, under the counsel of President Young, of the Great Reformation of 1856-7. The last six months of his life he labored indefatigably and beyond his physical strength in starting and rolling on that famous revival which kindled a fire in the midst of Zion that was joyfully felt by the Saints the whole world over, and caused sinners to tremble and many to flee from the habitations of the Saints. The thousands who responded to the eloquent appeal of this inspired speaker as he journeyed from town to town, proclaiming the truth to the people, is the best evidence of his power that could be given. Among the reforms urged were cleanliness of person and property, repentance and confession of wrongs committed between man and man, according to the Church law governing offences, and a very great deal was said in regard to training children in habits of industry, to make them self-reliant and independent. Restitution for wrongs done was required, and the people were urged to purify themselves from every shadow or stain of evil doing, that they might participate in the blessings of the sacrament and other ordinances worthily. The spirit of the Reformation was one of humility and mutual forgiveness rather than of strict discipline or law. There were comparatively few excommunications, but there was a universal revival of spiritual life and energy, such as the Saints had never before witnessed in the Church. The pre-eminently useful labors of President Grant in the reformation exhausted the vital force of his strong- constitution, and were followed by a brief and severe illness, from which he was unable to recover. His prostration caused gloom among the people, but was made the occasion to him of receiving, before death, some of the most remarkable manifestations that are ever given to men in the flesh. At Elder Grant's funeral Heber C. Kimball gave the following account thereof: "I will not stoop to the principle of death. I could weep, but I will not. There is a spirit in me that rises above that feeling, and it is because Jedediah is not dead. I went to see him one day last week, and he reached out his hand toward me. He could not speak, but he shook hands warmly with me. * * * I laid my hands upon him and blessed him, and asked God to strengthen his lungs that he might be easier; and in two or three minutes he raised himself up and talked for about an hour as busily as he could, telling me what he had seen and what he understood, until I was afraid he would weary himself, when I arose and left him. He said to me: "Brother Heber, I have been into the spirit world two nights in succession, and of all the dreads that ever came across me, the worst was to have to again return to my body, though I had to do it. 'But oh,' says he, 'the order and government that were there. When in the spirit world, I saw the order of righteous men and women; I beheld them organized in their several grades, and there appeared to be no obstructions to my vision; I could see every man and woman in their grade and order. I looked to see if there was any disorder there, but there was none; neither could I see any death, nor any darkness, disorder or confusion.' He said that the people he saw were organized in family capacities, and when he looked at them, he saw grade after grade, and all were organized and in perfect harmony. He would mention one item after another, and say, 'Why, it is just as Brother Brigham says it is; it is just as he has told us many a time.' He saw the righteous gathered together in the spirit world, and there were no wicked spirits among them. He saw his wife Caroline, who was the first person that came to him. He saw many that he knew, but did not have conversation with any but his wife. She came to him, and he said that she looked beautiful and had their little child that died on the plains, in her arms. She said, 'Mr. Grant, here is little Margaret; you know the wolves ate her up, but it did not hurt her; here she is all right.' 'To my astonishment,' he said, 'when I looked at families, there was a deficiency in some; there was a lack, for I saw families that would not be permitted to come and dwell together, because they had not honored their calling here.' He asked his wife, where Joseph and Hyrum and Father Smith and others were. She replied, 'They have gone away ahead, to perform and transact business for us.' He also spoke of the buildings he saw there, remarking that the Lord gave Solomon wisdom and poured gold and silver into his hands, that he might display his skill and ability; and said that the temple erected by Solomon was much inferior to the most ordinary building he saw in the spirit world. 'In regard to gardens,' said Brother Grant, 'I have seen good gardens on this earth, but I never saw any to compare with those that were there. I saw flowers of numerous kinds, and some with fifty or a hundred different colored flowers growing on one stalk.' We have many kinds of flowers on the earth, and I suppose those very articles came from heaven, or they would not be here.' Some may marvel at my speaking about these things, for many profess to believe that we have no spiritual existence. But do you not believe that my spirit was organized before it came to my body here? And do you not think there can be houses and gardens, fruit trees and every other good thing there? The spirits of those things are made as well as our spirits, and it follows that they can exist upon the same principles. After speaking of the gardens and the beauty of everything there. Brother Grant said that he felt extremely sorrowful at having to leave so beautiful a place and come back to earth, for he looked upon his body with loathing, but was obliged to enter it again." This imperfect account of the wonderful vision of those two nights as related by Elder Kimball was listened to with rapt attention by the large audience, and was repeated for years after by many who heard it. A profound sensation was produced by its narration, for it unfolded to many minds details of the glory of the spirit world that they had not realized from reading the general expressions in which the revelations tell of them. President Grant breathed his last, Dec. 1, 1856, and his spirit went joyfully to mingle with those of his friends, family and brethren who had gone before. He was forty years of age when he- died, but had spent those years to such advantage in laboring for the welfare of his fellow men that he was mourned by thousands, and left in their memories a name that will be forever cherished as a symbol of virtue, integrity and honor. The editor of the "Deseret News," in closing his obituary, says. "Brother Grant needs no eulogy, and least of all such an one as our language could portray, for his whole life was one of noble and diligent action upon the side of truth, of high toned and correct example to all who desire to be saved In the Kingdom of our God. As a citizen, as a friend, a son, a husband, a father, and above all as a Saint, and in every station and circumstance of life, whether military, civil, or religious, he everywhere, and at all times, shed forth the steady and brilliant light of lofty and correct example, and died, as he lived and counseled, with his 'armor on and burnished." Though the Saints deeply feel his departure, yet they can fully realize that it redounds to his and our infinite gain." (For further particulars see "Contributor," Vol. 4; "Millennial Star," Vol. 19, p. 185, Vol. 42, p. 755; Faith Promoting Series, Book 2, pp. 43-52.)
Grant, Jedediah Morgan, second counselor to President Brigham Young from 1S54 to 1856, was the son of Joshua and Thalia Grant, and was born Feb. 21, 1816, in Windsor, Broome county, N. Y., He was baptized March 21, 1833, by John F. Boynton. In the spring or the following year, when he was. eighteen years of age, he accompanied "Zion's Camp" in the wonderful march to :Missouri, and the fatigues, privations, trying scenes and arduous labors endured by that handful of valiant men exhibited a goodly portion, for one so young, of that integrity, zeal, and unwavering effort and constant in behalf of the cause of truth, that in variably characterized his life. The experience the young men of this expedition obtained on this memorable journey, was such as few ever pass through in life. While the history of Zion’s Camp has not been fully written, and, like the history of the Latter- day Saints in general, never will be in its fulness, enough is known to show that every man, who carried himself faithfully, without murmuring, through the dangers, diseases and difficulties of that most trying period, was a hero of the first quality and had laid foundation stones of life on which ho could forever build. On returning to Kirtland, Brother Grant was ordained an Elder, and later (Feb. 28, 1835), he was ordained a Seventy under the hands of Joseph Smith and others. In connection with Elder Harvey Stanley he was also appointed to his first Pleaching mission. They started May 22, 1835, and spent the summer in the labors of the ministry, preaching and baptizing converts In the winter of 1835-6, Bro. Grant assisted in the labors upon the Kirtland Temple, where he received the blessings of the House of the Lord. He was appointed to a mission in the East, but participated, before leaving the Temple, in the great manifestations of the power and glory of God, which characterized the labor there from the time of its dedication, March 27, 1836, until the Elders, who were then called to go on missions, departed for their fields of labor. He was among that happy number who received from the lips of the Prophet much valuable counsel and instruction relating to the duties of the Priesthood. Bro. Grant started upon his mission April 13, 1836, going to New York State, where he preached a great deal in many places and raised up a branch of the Church at Fallsburg. He baptized twenty-three persons, among whom was his brother Austin. He returned to Kirtland, March 6, 1837, and remained there until the 6th of the following June, when he commenced a missionary tour to the south—the field in which his greatest missionary labors and achievements were accomplished. He passed through the States of Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania, etc., and reached North Carolina, where he labored assiduously, proclaiming the gospel in court houses, chapels and other places of assembly as frequently as circumstances permitted. He became extensively known and acquired considerable fame, as an adroit scriptorian and debater, in certain discussions held with Methodist divines whom he never feared nor declined to meet. His uniform success in overthrowing their sophistry and false theology by the forcible and conclusive way he presented the truth, won many friends and some converts. On the conclusion of his mission he returned to Kirtland and made preparations for final removal to Missouri. He started Oct. S, 1838, and arrived at Far West on the 12th of November. He called at this time at Richmond jail to see his brother George D. Grant, to whom he had previously first presented the gospel, and who was then imprisoned with the Prophet and others on account of their religious faith. Brother Grant passed through the trials of the expulsion from Missouri, being driven, with his father s family from Far West to Illinois; they located in Knox county, where Jedediah remained several months preaching and baptizing. In May, 1809, he made a trip to Nauvoo. but hastened to Quincy to attend a conference held there June 1, 1839, at which time he was called on a mission to Virginia and North Carolina. This was the signal for opening the Southern States mission in earnest. With the Elders associated with him, among them his brother Joshua, an extensive field was at once occupied; meetings were held in all available places' baptisms were quite numerous and several large branches were organized. At Burk's Garden, Tazewell county, Virginia, where Brother Grant made headquarters, a branch of more than sixty members soon sprang up and great interest excited by the populace in the labors of the traveling and local Priesthood. Brother Grant's name was everywhere spoken of; his ready speech, logical argument, fearless and daring denunciation of sin, powerful exhortations to repentance and testimony of the restoration of the gospel, were taken up. by rich and poor, high and low, and commented upon. They won many converts and left impressions on many others which are fresh in their memories even to the present time. Many very interesting episodes marked this active, incessantly laborious period of his life, among others one, which led to a painful and disagreeable accident, resulting in breaking the bones of his nose. The Saints still living in that region remember the striking peculiarities of his ministry and events which made it so successful. Several Elders who have labored in the Southern States of late years have brought with them home many anecdotes about Elder Grant, which show that his memory is still kept sacred among the people of the South. Among these anecdotes we present two which the late Elder Theodore B. Lewis very graphically tells in the "String of Pearls:" "In the early part of President Grant's ministry in that country. he gained quite a reputation as a ready speaker, frequently responding to invitations to preach from such subjects or texts as might be selected at the time of commencing his sermon, oy those inviting him. In time it became a matter of wonder with many as to how and when he prepared his wonderful sermons. In reply to their queries he informed them that he never prepared his sermons as other ministers did. 'Of course, I road and store my mind with a knowledge of gospel truths,' said he, 'but I never study up a sermon.' Well, they did not believe he told the truth, for, as they thought, it was impossible for a man to preach such sermons without careful preparation. So, in order to prove it, a number of persons decided to put him to test, and asked him if he would preach at a certain time and place, and from a text selected by them. They proposed to give him the text on his arrival at the place of meeting, thus giving him no time to prepare, gratify them his consented. The place selected was Jeffersonville, the seat Tazewell county, at that time the horn of the late John B. Floyd, who subsequently became secretary of war, and many other prominent men. The room chosen was in the court house. At the hour appointed the house was packed to its utmost capacity. Mr. Floyd and a number of lawyers and ministers were present and occupied front seats. Elder Grant came in, walked to the stand and opened the meeting as usual. At the close of the second hymn, a clerk, appointed for the occasion, stepped forward and handed the paper (the text) to Elder Grant, who unfolded it and found it to be blank. Without any mark of surprise, he held the paper up before the audience, and said: 'My friends, I am here today according to agreement, to preach from such a text as these gentlemen might select for me. I have it here in my hand. I don't wish you to become offended at me, for I am under promised to preach from the text selected; and if any one is to blame, you must blame those who selected it. I knew nothing of what text they would choose, but of all texts this is my favorite one. You see the paper is blank (at the same time holding it up to view). You sectarians down there believe that out of nothing God created all things, and now you wish me to create a sermon from nothing, for this paper is blank. Now, you sectarians believe in a God that has neither body, parts nor passions. Such a God I conceive to be a perfect blank, just as you find my text is. You believe in a church without Prophets, Apostles, Evangelists, etc. Such a church would be a perfect blank, as compared with the Church of Christ, and this agrees with my text. You have located your heaven beyond the bounds of time and space. It exists nowhere, and consequently your heaven is blank, like unto my text.' Thus he went on until he had torn to pieces all the tenets of faith professed by his hearers, and then proclaimed the principles of the gospel in great power. He wound up by asking, 'Have I stuck to the text and does that satisfy you?' As soon as he sat down, Mr. Floyd jumped up and said; 'Mr. Grant, if you are not a lawyer, you ought to be one.' Then turning to the people, he added: 'Gentlemen, you have listened to a wonderful discourse, and with amazement. Now, take a look at Mr. Grant's clothes. Look at his coat: his elbows are almost out: and his knees are almost through his pants. Let us take up a collection. As he sat down another eminent lawyer Joseph Stras, Esq., still living in Jeffersonville, arose and said: 'I am good for one sleeve in a coat and one leg in a pair of pants, for Mr. Grant.' The presiding elder of the M. E. church, South, was requested to pass the hat around, but he replied that he would not take up a collection for a 'Mormon' preacher. 'Yes you will,' said Mr. Floyd; 'Pass it around,' said Mr. Stras, and the cry was taken up and repeated by the audience, until, for the sake of peace, the minister had to yield. He accordingly marched around with a hat in his hand, receiving contributions, which resulted in a collection sufficient to purchase a fine suit of clothes, a horse, paddle and bridle for Brother Grant, and not one contributor a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, though some joined subsequently. And this from a sermon produced from a blank text. At another time. Elder Grant was challenged by a very eminent Baptist preacher, named Baldwin, to a discussion. Brother Grant consented. The place chosen was the fine, large church of his proud and imperious antagonist. Mr. Baldwin was described to me, as man, overbearing in his manner regular browbeater. When the time came lor the discussion, the house vas densely crowded. Umpires were chosen, and everything was ready to proceed, when Brother Grant arose and said: 'Mr. Baldwin. I would like to ask you a question before we proceed any farther.' 'Certainly so,' said Baldwin 'Who stands at the head of you church in south-west Virginia?' Mr. Baldwin very quickly and austerely re plied, 'I do, sir; I do.' 'All right,' sail Brother Grant; 'I wished to know that I had a worthy foe.' Mr. Baldwin looked a little confused for a moment, and then said: 'Mr. Grant, I would like to ask you, who stands at the head of your church in south-west Virginia' Brother Grant arose and with bowed head replied, 'Jesus Christ, sir.' The shock was electrical. This inspired answer completely disarmed the proud foe, and the humble servant of God again came off victor.’ Having completed his southern mission in 1842, Elder Grant returned to Nauvoo. He left the kind-hearted people of Virginia with tears in their eyes. They had learned the principles of life from his utterances and daily example, and loved him as the messenger of heaven sent to save them. For five days previous to his departure, a protracted series of meetings was held at Burk's Garden, when hundreds attended and the Elders were kept busy preaching to the large congregations, and baptizing and confirming converts. In June, 1843, Brother Grant went to Philadelphia to preside over the Saints there. He remained in that city, making many valued friends and officiating in the duties of his office, until March, 1844, when he again reached Nauvoo. His stay, however, was short, for on the 9th of the following May he started, in company with Elders Wilford Woodruff and George A Smith, on a preaching expedition through Illinois, the intention being to continue the tour eastward through several States. From this mission, however, he was suddenly recalled, and was in Nauvoo at the time of the martyrdom of the Prophet and Patriarch June 27, 1844. He proceeded at once to carry the tidings of this awful tragedy to the Apostles and other Elders in the Eastern States and resumed his station at Philadelphia. Previous to leaving- Nauvoo, July 2nd, he was married to Miss Caroline Vandyke, Bishop Newel K. Whitney officiating. His wife accompanied him to Philadelphia. His mission there was made particularly remarkable by the position he took in regard to Sidney Rigdon's peculiar apostate doctrines and the efforts of his followers to establish his claim to the guardianship of the Church. Certain letters, which Brother Grant published upon these subjects, were so clear, as were all his writings, and the strictures upon Rigdon's course so manifestly just, that they at once quelled the fears of the doubting Saints, and exhibited in plainness the true position of the faithful as well as the assumption of the ambitious apostate. In May, 1845, Elder Grant returned to Nauvoo, and in the following winter received the blessings of the House of the Lord, assisting, also, in administering those sacred ordinances to many others. He was chosen and set apart as one of the First Seven Presidents of Seventies Dec. 2, 1845, under the hands of Apostles Brigham Young, and others. He was among the first who left Nauvoo in the exodus of 1846, crossing the river in February, and with the body of the Saints turning his back upon the tyrannical oppression of mobs and treacherous friends to seek an asylum of peace in the fastnesses of the mountains of the great West. From Winter Quarters he went east in the winter of 1846-7, on a short mission, during which he purchased the materials for making a flag, which for several years floated over "the land of the free and the homes of the blest" in Salt Lake City, and was familiarly known as "the mammoth flag." After transacting important business in the interests of the exodus, he returned, in June, 1847, to the Missouri river, and was appointed captain of the third hundred of the emigrating Saints which he successfully led to Great Salt Lake valley, arriving in the following October. A year after, with characteristic energy and promptness, he went out beyond Fort Bridger with several men and teams to relieve President Willard Richards and company and assist them, in. May 26, 1849, he was elected brigadier- general of the first brigade of the Nauvoo Legion, and later (Oct. 23. 1852), he was promoted to the major-generalship of the First Division, which military office he held until his death. He was an efficient officer, valiant, energetic and just. In the difficulties with the Indians he manifested considerable skill, and always was regarded as eminently jealous of the rights of the red men as well as of the safety of the whites. In the fall of 1849, Elder Grant went to the States on business, together with about forty missionaries, who elected him captain of the company. Among the number were Apostles John Taylor, Erastus Snow, Lorenzo Snow and Franklin D. Richards, Bishop Edward Hunter, and several other prominent Elders. They had reached the banks of the Platte river some distance west of Fort Laramie, and were camped for noon on a cold, wintry day, in a horseshoe bend of the river, when they were attacked by a large war party of the Cheyennes. who were painted and equipped for war, on their way out to engage with a hostile band of the Crows. With the utmost energy the animals were got together and fastened, and a line in open rank formed from the river's bank to face the Indians and prevent them from surrounding the party. The missionaries pursued their way without further molestation. Elder Grant accomplished the object of his- mission and returned to the Valley the following year, in charge of a merchant train. Great Salt Lake City was incorporated Jan. 1.0, 1851, and at the first election held under the charter on the first Monday of the next April, Jedediah M. Grant was elected Mayor, which office he magnified in an eminent degree and held uninterruptedly, by the unanimous vote of the people, until his death. During the period of his administration, the first ordinances for the government, safety and general welfare of the people were enacted, forming the basis of the municipal regulations under which the city has grown and prospered to the present time. On the, organization of the Territory of Utah, certain officials appointed by the President of the United States found the situation in Utah, on their arrival there, not to their liking; and after a few months' sojourn, during which they did nothing for their own glory, nor for the government or the people, they returned to the East and united in framing a report to the administration at Washington, which grossly misrepresented the people of Utah and contained many outrageous charges against them, calculated to Influence public opinion and to prejudice the government officials in their intercourse with the Territory. For the purpose of counteracting whatever evil effects the "runaway judges" report might have and of setting fairly before the country the situation of the people in the mountains—then so isolated and remote from the inhabited part of the continent—Mayor Grant was called to go to Philadelphia and New York, and do what he could to gain the public attention, while he exploded the falsehoods of the judges and set the matter right respecting the new Territorial ward which had been adopted. He addressed some letters to James Gordon Bennett, the elder, which were published in the New York "Herald." They had an electrical effect. The "report" fell flat and the runaway officials never recovered from the wholesome exposure of their conduct. The New York "Herald" letters, after creating considerable sensation in the great cities and doing most effectual work in Washington, were printed in pamphlet form and widely circulated in the East. A high- Iv characteristic feature of this pamphlet was the introduction of pungent proverbs as head and foot lines on each page, in black type, which were selected with singular discernment for their appropriate relation to the text as well as for their finer humor and superior sense. Brother Grant was chosen speaker of the House of Representatives in the legislative assembly of Utah, in 1852, and at the three subsequent sessions, filling that office with dignity and honor, to the fullest satisfaction of the members over whom he presided. As a legislator he was quick and talented and brought to the lawmaking department a high practical sense of justice and right, which qualified him to propose and render valuable aid in framing wholesome laws for the political and domestic welfare of the community. But his great work, which preserves the memory of President Grant in the hearts of the Latter-day Saints, was in his ecclesiastical calling. In 1854 he was ordained an Apostle and chosen and set apart to be second counselor in the First Presidency, succeeding Willard Richards in that calling. In this position he was distinguished for the burning zeal that seemed to fire his bosom and keep him ever at work dispensing the blessings of the gospel to the people and awakening within them that enthusiasm and sincerity necessary to the faithful believer in pursuing the life of a Saint, and which was ever exemplified in the career of Brother Grant. His zeal hardly had bounds, except those of the God-given intelligence which preserved him from fanaticism, but he loved the work of the Lord with his whole heart and dedicated without reserve his might, mind and strength to its accomplishment. The exemplary faith and devotion of such a man inspired his fellows to efforts of godliness that they would never dream of if left to themselves, and this quality so pre-eminently displayed by Brother Grant, brought him to the front as the main leader, under the counsel of President Young, of the Great Reformation of 1856-7. The last six months of his life he labored indefatigably and beyond his physical strength in starting and rolling on that famous revival which kindled a fire in the midst of Zion that was joyfully felt by the Saints the whole world over, and caused sinners to tremble and many to flee from the habitations of the Saints. The thousands who responded to the eloquent appeal of this inspired speaker as he journeyed from town to town, proclaiming the truth to the people, is the best evidence of his power that could be given. Among the reforms urged were cleanliness of person and property, repentance and confession of wrongs committed between man and man, according to the Church law governing offences, and a very great deal was said in regard to training children in habits of industry, to make them self-reliant and independent. Restitution for wrongs done was required, and the people were urged to purify themselves from every shadow or stain of evil doing, that they might participate in the blessings of the sacrament and other ordinances worthily. The spirit of the Reformation was one of humility and mutual forgiveness rather than of strict discipline or law. There were comparatively few excommunications, but there was a universal revival of spiritual life and energy, such as the Saints had never before witnessed in the Church. The pre-eminently useful labors of President Grant in the reformation exhausted the vital force of his strong- constitution, and were followed by a brief and severe illness, from which he was unable to recover. His prostration caused gloom among the people, but was made the occasion to him of receiving, before death, some of the most remarkable manifestations that are ever given to men in the flesh. At Elder Grant's funeral Heber C. Kimball gave the following account thereof: "I will not stoop to the principle of death. I could weep, but I will not. There is a spirit in me that rises above that feeling, and it is because Jedediah is not dead. I went to see him one day last week, and he reached out his hand toward me. He could not speak, but he shook hands warmly with me. * * * I laid my hands upon him and blessed him, and asked God to strengthen his lungs that he might be easier; and in two or three minutes he raised himself up and talked for about an hour as busily as he could, telling me what he had seen and what he understood, until I was afraid he would weary himself, when I arose and left him. He said to me: "Brother Heber, I have been into the spirit world two nights in succession, and of all the dreads that ever came across me, the worst was to have to again return to my body, though I had to do it. 'But oh,' says he, 'the order and government that were there. When in the spirit world, I saw the order of righteous men and women; I beheld them organized in their several grades, and there appeared to be no obstructions to my vision; I could see every man and woman in their grade and order. I looked to see if there was any disorder there, but there was none; neither could I see any death, nor any darkness, disorder or confusion.' He said that the people he saw were organized in family capacities, and when he looked at them, he saw grade after grade, and all were organized and in perfect harmony. He would mention one item after another, and say, 'Why, it is just as Brother Brigham says it is; it is just as he has told us many a time.' He saw the righteous gathered together in the spirit world, and there were no wicked spirits among them. He saw his wife Caroline, who was the first person that came to him. He saw many that he knew, but did not have conversation with any but his wife. She came to him, and he said that she looked beautiful and had their little child that died on the plains, in her arms. She said, 'Mr. Grant, here is little Margaret; you know the wolves ate her up, but it did not hurt her; here she is all right.' 'To my astonishment,' he said, 'when I looked at families, there was a deficiency in some; there was a lack, for I saw families that would not be permitted to come and dwell together, because they had not honored their calling here.' He asked his wife, where Joseph and Hyrum and Father Smith and others were. She replied, 'They have gone away ahead, to perform and transact business for us.' He also spoke of the buildings he saw there, remarking that the Lord gave Solomon wisdom and poured gold and silver into his hands, that he might display his skill and ability; and said that the temple erected by Solomon was much inferior to the most ordinary building he saw in the spirit world. 'In regard to gardens,' said Brother Grant, 'I have seen good gardens on this earth, but I never saw any to compare with those that were there. I saw flowers of numerous kinds, and some with fifty or a hundred different colored flowers growing on one stalk.' We have many kinds of flowers on the earth, and I suppose those very articles came from heaven, or they would not be here.' Some may marvel at my speaking about these things, for many profess to believe that we have no spiritual existence. But do you not believe that my spirit was organized before it came to my body here? And do you not think there can be houses and gardens, fruit trees and every other good thing there? The spirits of those things are made as well as our spirits, and it follows that they can exist upon the same principles. After speaking of the gardens and the beauty of everything there. Brother Grant said that he felt extremely sorrowful at having to leave so beautiful a place and come back to earth, for he looked upon his body with loathing, but was obliged to enter it again." This imperfect account of the wonderful vision of those two nights as related by Elder Kimball was listened to with rapt attention by the large audience, and was repeated for years after by many who heard it. A profound sensation was produced by its narration, for it unfolded to many minds details of the glory of the spirit world that they had not realized from reading the general expressions in which the revelations tell of them. President Grant breathed his last, Dec. 1, 1856, and his spirit went joyfully to mingle with those of his friends, family and brethren who had gone before. He was forty years of age when he- died, but had spent those years to such advantage in laboring for the welfare of his fellow men that he was mourned by thousands, and left in their memories a name that will be forever cherished as a symbol of virtue, integrity and honor. The editor of the "Deseret News," in closing his obituary, says. "Brother Grant needs no eulogy, and least of all such an one as our language could portray, for his whole life was one of noble and diligent action upon the side of truth, of high toned and correct example to all who desire to be saved In the Kingdom of our God. As a citizen, as a friend, a son, a husband, a father, and above all as a Saint, and in every station and circumstance of life, whether military, civil, or religious, he everywhere, and at all times, shed forth the steady and brilliant light of lofty and correct example, and died, as he lived and counseled, with his 'armor on and burnished." Though the Saints deeply feel his departure, yet they can fully realize that it redounds to his and our infinite gain." (For further particulars see "Contributor," Vol. 4; "Millennial Star," Vol. 19, p. 185, Vol. 42, p. 755; Faith Promoting Series, Book 2, pp. 43-52.)
"Jedediah M. Grant." Contributor. April 1883. pg. 240-245.
JEDEDIAH M. GRANT. I. The lives of many of the prominent Elders of Israel are remarkable for their large experience and the maturity they attained in their youth. Joseph Smith, the Prophet of God, brought forth the fulness of the Gospel, organized the Church, revealed every principle essential to its perpetuation on earth and the salvation of the human family, preached the truth to thousands and prepared the way for it to reach all nations, administered the sacred ordinances of the house of the Lord, and entered into the practice of every principal he revealed, before he was thirty-nine years of age. He received his first vision when he was fourteen, and in less than twenty-five years after sealed the wonderful testimony of his brief life with the blood of a martyr. The hard struggle of his associates to establish the work of the Lord upon the earth was made before they, as a rule, had passed the meridian of life. Their active labors in the ministry, in receiving and spreading the principles of the Gospel to the people, caused them to grow rapidly in the knowledge of the truth and gave them wonderful life-lessons to develop the ability they were endowed with and cause them to become men of character, before they had hardly passed the portals of boyhood. Notably, in this respect, we remember the career of President George A. Smith, who was a preacher of the Gospel at seventeen and one of the Twelve Apostles at twenty-one. Scarcely less remarkable is the rapid growth and development of President Jedediah M. Grant, the subject of this sketch. It is said of him, by those who remember him well and were most familiar with his life and ministry, that he ever impressed those who knew him with the maturity of his judgment, the thoroughness of his discipline, as related to his own culture and occupations, and the perfection he had reached in the application of the principles of eternal life. It is often said of him that he lived the Gospel so perfectly himself, and taught it so plainly to others, that it was impossible for him to remain longer in the flesh; that like certain holy men of old his great faith, the fruits of a Godly life, made it impossible to longer withhold his redemption. The progress he made in securing an education in the things of eternity—his life's greatest desire and aim—was very directly spoken of at his funeral in the remarks of President Brigham Young, who said: "Some people would have to live to be a hundred years of age to be as ripe in the things of God as was Brother Grant; as was the spirit which lately inhabited this deserted earthly tabernacle. There are but few that can ripen for the glory, the immortality that is prepared for the faithful; for receiving all that was purchased for them by the Son of God, but very few can receive what Brother Grant has received in his life time. He has been in the Church upwards of twenty-four years, and was a man that would live, comparatively speaking, a hundred years in that time. The storehouse that was prepared in him to receive the truth was capable of receiving as much in twenty-five years as most of men can in one hundred." His career, which it is the purpose of this sketch to portray, so far as the very meagre record of it has been made and is accessible to us, fully sustains the observations quoted, and reveals a sublime character, one of the noblest of the earth, engaged in the highest and worthiest labor that such can be called unto. But before passing on to the events of his life we would direct attention to his portrait, which has been obtained at great expense, and appears as the frontispiece to this number of the Magazine. It is engraved from a daguerreotype in possession of the family, and is said to be a great improvement upon the original. It exhibits Brother Grant in the full vigor and power of manhood. The face is one of great force and distinguished appearance. In this respect, however, those who knew him say no picture could do him justice. His figure was tall and graceful, and his address pleasant. He is said to have been always smiling when he was not angry; his anger, no man would care to meet. Jedediah Morgan Grant was the son of Joshua and Thalia Grant, and was born in Windsor, Broome County, New York, February 21, 1816. We have been unable to procure definite intelligence of his childhood and education, but the foundation for mental pursuits and the love of books and study was evidently laid at that early period of life, before he appeared as a candidate for baptism in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was baptized by Elder John F. Boyington, afterwards one of the Apostles, on the 21st of March, 1833. In the spring of the following year, when he was eighteen years of age, he accompanied "Zion's Camp" in the wonderful march to Missouri, "and in the fatigues, privations, trying scenes and arduous labors endured by that handful of valiant men exhibited a goodly portion, for one so young, of that integrity, zeal, and unwavering effort and constancy in behalf of the cause of truth, that invariably characterized his life." The experience the young men of this expedition obtained, on this memorable journey, was such as few ever pass through in life. While the history of Zion's Camp has not been written, and, like the history of our people in general, never will be in its fulness, enough is known to show that every man, who carried himself faithfully, without murmuring, through the dangers, diseases and difficulties of that most trying period, was a hero of the first quality and had laid foundation stones of life on which he could forever build. On returning to Kirtland Brother Grant was ordained an Elder and appointed, in connection with Elder Harvey Stanley, to his first preaching mission. They started May 22, 1835, and spent the summer in the labors of the ministry, preaching and baptizing converts. In the winter of 1835-6 Brother Grant assisted in the labors upon the Kirtland Temple, where he received the blessings of the house of the Lord. He was appointed to a mission in the east, but participated, before leaving the Temple, in the great manifestations of the power and glory of God, which characterized the labors there from the time of its dedication, March 27, 1836, until the Elders, who were then called to go on missions, departed for their fields of labor. He was among that happy number who received from the lips of the prophet so much valuable counsel and instruction relating to the duties of the priesthood, and the following admonition, which has served as a guide to faithful and wise missionaries ever since. The ordinance of washing of feet had been attended to, when the Prophet spoke, saying: "That the time we were required to tarry in Kirtland to be endowed, would be fulfilled in a few days and then the Elders would go forth and each must stand for himself, as it was not necessary for them to be sent out two by two, as in former times, but to go in all meekness, in sobriety, and preach Jesus Christ and Him crucified; not to contend with others on account of their faith or systems of religion, but to pursue a steady course. This I delivered by way of commandment, and all who observe it not will pull down persecution upon their heads, while those who do shall always be filled with the Holy Ghost; this I pronounced as a prophecy and sealed it with hosanna and amen." On the 13th of April, 1836, Brother Grant started upon his mission, going to New York State, where he preached a great deal in many places and raised up a branch of the Church at Fallsburg, baptizing twenty-three persons, among them his brother Austin. He returned to Kirtland on the 6th of March, 1837, and remained until the sixth of the following June when he commenced a missionary tour to the south—the field in which his greatest missionary labors and achievements were accomplished. He passed through the States of Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania, etc., and reached North Carolina, where he labored assiduously, proclaiming the Gospel in court houses, chapels and other places of assembly as frequently as circumstances permitted. He became extensively known and acquired considerable fame, as an adroit scriptorian and debater, in certain discussions held with Methodist divines whom he never feared nor declined to meet. His uniform success in overthrowing their sophistry and false theology by the forcible and conclusive way he presented the truth, won many friends and some converts. On the conclusion of this mission he returned to Kirtland and made preparations for final removal to Missouri. Starting October 9, 1838, he arrived at Far West on the 12th of November. He called at this time at Richmond jail to see his brother George D. Grant, to whom he had previously first presented the Gospel, and who was then imprisoned with the prophet and others on account of their religious faith. Brother Grant passed through the trials of the expulsion from Missouri, being driven, with his father's family from Far West to Illinois; they located in Knox County where he remained several months preaching and baptizing. On the 12th of May, 1839, ne made a trip to the site of the beautiful City of Joseph (Nauvoo) but hastened to Quincy to attend a conference held there on the 1st of June, at which time he was called on a mission to Virginia and North Carolina. This was the signal for opening the Southern States mission in earnest. With the Elders associated with him, among them his brother Joshua, an extensive field was at once occupied, meetings were held in all available places, baptisms were quite numerous and several large branches were organized. At Burks Garden, Tazewell County, Virginia, where Brother Grant made headquarters, a branch of more than sixty members soon sprang up and great interest excited by the populace in the labors of the traveling and local priesthood. Brother Grant's name was everywhere spoken of; his ready speech, logical argument, fearless and daring denunciation of sin, powerful exhortations to repentance and testimony of the restoration of the Gospel were taken up by rich and poor, high and low, and commented upon. They won many converts and left impressions on many others which are fresh in their memories even to the present time. Many very interesting episodes marked this active, incessantly laborious period of his life. Among others one which led to a painful and disagreeable accident, resulting in breaking the bones of his nose. The Saints still living in that region remember the striking peculiarities of his ministry and events which made it so successful, that every returning Elder laboring there in late years brings with him many anecdotes, by the frequent repeating of which Elder Grant's memory is kept sacred to them and passed down to their children. Among these we present two that Elder T. B. Lewis very graphically tells in the "String of Pearls:" "In the early part of President Grant's ministry in that country, he gained quite a reputation as a ready speaker, frequently responding to invitations to preach from such subjects or texts as might be selected at the time of commencing his sermon, by those inviting him. In time it became a matter of wonder with many as to how and when he prepared his wonderful sermons. In reply to their queries he informed them he never prepared his sermons as other ministers did. He said, 'Of course, I read and store my mind with a knowledge of Gospel truths, but I never study up a sermon.' Well, they did not believe he told the truth, for, as they thought, it was impossible for a man to preach such sermons without careful preparation. So, in order to prove it, a number of persons decided to put him to the test, and asked him if he would preach at a certain time and place, and from a text selected by them. They proposed to give him the text on his arrival at the place of meeting, thus giving him no time to prepare. To gratify them, he consented. The place selected was Jeffersonville, the seat of Tazewell County, at that time the home of the late John B. Floyd, who subsequently became Secretary of War, and many other prominent men. The room chosen was in the court house. At the hour appointed the house was packed to its utmost capacity. Mr. Floyd and a number of lawyers and ministers were present and occupied front seats. "Elder Grant came in, walked to the stand and opened the meeting as usual. At the close of the second hymn, a clerk, appointed for the occasion, stepped forward and handed a paper (the text), to Elder Grant, who unfolded it and found it to be blank. Without any mark of surprise, he held the paper up before the audience, and said: 'My friends, I am here to-day according to agreement, to preach from such a text as these gentlemen might select for me. I have it here in my hand. I don't wish you to become offended at me, for I am under promise to preach from the text selected; and if any one is to blame, you must blame those who selected it. I knew nothing of what text they would choose, but of all texts this is my favorite one.' " 'You see the paper is blank,' (at the same time holding it up to view.) ' You sectarians down there believe that out of nothing God created all things, and now you wish me to create a sermon from nothing, for this paper is blank. Now, you sectarians believe in a God that has neither body, parts nor passions. Such a God I conceive to be a perfect blank, just as you find my text is. You believe in a church without prophets, apostles, evangelists, etc. Such a church would be a perfect blank, as compared with the church of Christ, and this agrees with my text. You have located your heaven beyond the bounds of time and space. It exists nowhere, and consequently your heaven is blank, like unto my text.' "Thus he went on until he had torn to pieces all the tenets of faith professed by his hearers, and then proclaimed the principles of the Gospel in great power. He wound up by asking, ' Have I stuck to the text, and does that satisfy you?' "As soon as he sat down Mr. Floyd jumped up and said: 'Mr. Grant, if you are not a lawyer you ought to be one.' Then, turning to the people, he added: 'Gentlemen, you have listened to a wonderful discourse, and with amazement. Now, take a look at Mr. Grant's clothes. Look at his coat; his elbows are almost out; and his knees are almost through his pants. Let us take up a collection.' As he sat down another eminent lawyer Joseph Stras, Esq., still living in Jeffersonville, arose and said: ' I am good for one sleeve in a coat and one leg in a pair of pants, for Mr. Grant.' ''The presiding elder of the M. E. church, South, was requested to pass the hat around, but replied that he would not take up a collection for a 'Mormon' preacher. 'Yes you will!' said Mr. Floyd. ' Pass it around ! ' said Mr. Stras, and the cry was taken up and repeated by the audience, until, for the sake of peace, the minister had to yield. He accordingly marched around with a hat in his hand, receiving contributions, which resulted in a collection sufficient to purchase a fine suit of clothes, a horse, saddle and bridle for Brother Grant, and not one contributor a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, though some joined subsequently. And this from a sermon produced from a blank text. "At another time, Elder Grant was challenged by a very eminent Baptist preacher, named Baldwin, to a discussion. Brother Grant consented. The place chosen was the fine, large church of his proud and imperious antagonist. Mr. Baldwin was described to me, as a man, overbearing in his manner—a regular browbeater. When the time came for the discussion, the house was densely crowded. Umpires were chosen, and everything was ready to proceed, when Brother Grant arose and said: 'Mr. Baldwin, I would like to ask you a question before we proceed any farther.' 'Certainly so,' said Baldwin. 'Who stands at the head of your church in southwest Virginia?' Mr. Baldwin very quickly and austerely replied, 'I do, sir; I do.' 'All right,' said Brother Grant; 'I wished to know that I had a worthy foe.' Mr. Baldwin looked a little confused for a moment, and then said: 'Mr. Grant, I would like to ask you, who stands at the head of your Church in south-west Virginia?' Brother Grant arose and with bowed head replied, 'Jesus Christ, sir.' "The shock was electrical. This inspired answer completely disarmed the proud foe, and the humble servant of God again came off victor." |
"Jedediah M. Grant." Contributor. May 1883. pg. 281-283.
JEDEDIAH M. GRANT.
II.
Having completed his Southern mission in 1842, Elder Grant returned to Nauvoo. He left the kind hearted people of Virginia with tears in their eyes. They had learned the principles of life from his utterances and daily example, and loved him as the messenger of heaven sent to save them. For five days previous to his departure, a protracted series of meetings was held at Burk's Garden, when hundreds attended and the Elders were kept busy preaching to the large congregations, and baptizing and confirming converts.
In June, 1843, Brother Grant went to Philadelphia to preside over the Church there. He remained in that city, making many valued friends and officiating in the duties of his office, until March, 1844, when he again reached Nauvoo. His stay, however, was short, for on the 9th of the following May he started, in company with Elders Woodruff and George A. Smith, on a preaching expedition through Illinois, the intention being to continue the tour eastward through several States. From this mission, however, he was suddenly recalled, and was in Nauvoo at the time of the martyrdom of the Prophets, on the 27th of June.
He proceeded at once to carry the tidings of this awful tragedy to the Apostles and other Elders in the eastern States and resumed his station at Philadelphia. Previous to leaving Nauvoo, July 2nd, he was married to Miss Caroline Vandyke, Bishop Newel K. Whitney officiating. His wife accompanied him to Philadelphia. His mission there was made particularly remarkable by the position he took in regard to Sidney Rigdon's peculiar apostate doctrines and the efforts of his followers to establish his claim to the guardianship of the Church. Certain letters which Brother Grant published upon these subjects were so clear, as were all his writings, and the strictures upon Rigdon's course so manifestly just, that they at once quelled the fears of the doubting Saints, and exhibited in plainness the true position of the faithful as well as the assumption of the ambitious apostate.
In May, 1845, Elder Grant returned to Nauvoo, and in the following winter received the blessings of the House of the Lord, assisting, also, in administering those sacred ordinances to many others. He-was among the first who left Nauvoo in the exodus of 1846, crossing the river in February, and with the body of the Saints turning his back upon the tyrannical oppression of mobs and treacherous friends to seek an asylum of peace in the fastnesses of the mountains of the great West.
He went east from Winter Quarters in the winter of 1846-7, on a short mission, during which he purchased the materials for making a flag, which for several years floated over "the land of the free and the homes of the blest" in this city, and was familiarly known as "the mammoth flag." After transacting important business in the interests of the exodus, he returned, in June, 1847, to the Missouri River, and was appointed Captain of the Third Hundred of the emigrating Saints which he successfully led to the Salt Lake Valley, arriving in the following October. A year after, with characteristic energy and promptness, he went out beyond Fort Bridger with several men and teams to relieve President Willard Richards and company and assist them in.
May 26, 1849, he was elected Brigadier General of the first brigade of the Nauvoo Legion, and October 23, 1852, was promoted to the Major Generalship of the First Division, which military office he held unto his death. He was an efficient officer, valiant, energetic and just. In the difficulties with the Indians he manifested considerable skill, and always was regarded as eminently jealous of the rights of the red men as well as of the safety of the whites.
In the fall of 1849, Elder Grant went to the States on business together with about forty missionaries, who elected him Captain of the company. Among the number were President John Taylor, Apostles Erastus .Snow, Lorenzo Snow, F. D. Richards, Bishop Hunter, Colonel Reese, Curtis E. Bolton and several other prominent Elders.
They had reached the banks of the Platte river some distance this side of Fort Laramie, and were camped for noon on a cold, wintry day, in a horseshoe bend of the river, when they were attacked by a large war party of the Cheyennes, who were painted and equipped for war, on their way out to engage with a hostile band of the Crows. With the utmost energy the animals were got together and fastened, and a line in open rank formed from the river's bank to face the Indians and prevent them from surrounding the party. President Taylor, in writing to the Frontier Guardian, describes the appearance of the red men as follows:
"When they first appeared they were about three quarters of a mile from us, and as they were mounted upon excellent chargers they came with the rapidity of an arrow. It gave us little enough time to gather our horses and prepare ourselves to meet our belligerent visitors. Captain Shadrach Roundy ordered the horses to be gathered and securely tied to the wagons. General Grant acted with great promptness and decision on the occasion, immediately forming us into line, leaving two of our number to tie the horses up. The men showed great intrepidity, every man standing at his post undaunted. The efforts of the Indians were to either break our line or turn our flank; but being repulsed at all points, they were brought to a dead halt about a rod and a half in front of us. During all this they were shaking out the priming from their firearms and priming them anew. Many placed their arrows to their bow strings—their lances in rest, and were wetting the ends ,of their arrows with their mouths, that they might not slip too quick from the finger and thumb."
Bishop Hunter describes the scene at this moment as one of the intensest excitement. Every white man stood with his gun cocked and primed, expecting each moment to receive the signal to fire; indeed one or two raised their weapons, but were ordered in Gen. Grant's usually emphatic manner, doubled, to lower their guns. The advance warriors rode their animals furiously along the line of the white men, and showed great excitement and determination to fight. They worked up a perfect frenzy of rage, and could hardly be restrained until their chiefs came to the front.
As they approached, President Taylor, Captain Roundy and Curtis E. Bolton went forward to meet them. They showed signs of peace, and exhibited a paper signed by Major Sanderson, commanding Fort Laramie, certifying that "This tribe is friendly to the whites.'" During this parley, General Grant becoming impatient at the ferocious conduct of the younger warriors who were restless and eager for the fray, called Bishop Hunter from the line to the command, while he went forward to assist in the council with the chiefs. The Indians were finally ordered to withdraw while the council proceeded. They were presented with crackers, dried meat and tobacco, had a grand smoke, and after riding along the line twice, consented to shake hands and let the party proceed upon their way.
President Taylor further says: "They very courteously filed to the right and left, and escorted us on our road till we came opposite their village. They were about two hundred in number, and were of the tribe of Cheyennes, as they pronounced it. They presented the most respectable appearance of any Indians I have met with. Many of them were dressed in American style, with clothes of the best broadcloth, beaver hats, caps, etc. And those who were dressed in Indian costume, displayed the greatest elegance of taste in their attire. They were adorned with head dresses of feathers of the richest hues; and their various insignia of office, displayed a taste which is at once wild, romantic and beautiful. They were mounted on excellent horses —richly comparisoned in many instances, and painted off in the most fantastic style; they pawed the ground and champed their bits, and seemed as impatient of restraint as their riders. The whole affair was truly grand, and notwithstanding the peculiar situation in which we were placed, we could not but admire the magnificent display which the lords of the prairie presented, as they dashed with lightning speed upon us, arrayed in all the gaudiness and pride of Indian holiday attire. The scene was rich, and exceeded any theatrical representation we have ever witnessed Messrs. Edward Hunter, Lorenzo Snow and myself, at the request of their chief, visited their encampment, which was about three miles off the road; we found there a large number of lodges, and were informed by a Frenchman that they numbered six hundred warriors. They appeared to be wealthy, and I should think they had about three thousand horses, seen by us. We visited many of their lodges. They appeared very friendly, but a little chagrined at the occurrence of the morning."
The party pursued their way without further molestation. Elder Grant accomplished the object of his mission and returned to the vallies in the following year, in charge of a merchant train. Many interesting incidents, displaying the strong characteristics of their leader, occurred on this return journey, which make it ever memorable to those who were in the train.
JEDEDIAH M. GRANT.
II.
Having completed his Southern mission in 1842, Elder Grant returned to Nauvoo. He left the kind hearted people of Virginia with tears in their eyes. They had learned the principles of life from his utterances and daily example, and loved him as the messenger of heaven sent to save them. For five days previous to his departure, a protracted series of meetings was held at Burk's Garden, when hundreds attended and the Elders were kept busy preaching to the large congregations, and baptizing and confirming converts.
In June, 1843, Brother Grant went to Philadelphia to preside over the Church there. He remained in that city, making many valued friends and officiating in the duties of his office, until March, 1844, when he again reached Nauvoo. His stay, however, was short, for on the 9th of the following May he started, in company with Elders Woodruff and George A. Smith, on a preaching expedition through Illinois, the intention being to continue the tour eastward through several States. From this mission, however, he was suddenly recalled, and was in Nauvoo at the time of the martyrdom of the Prophets, on the 27th of June.
He proceeded at once to carry the tidings of this awful tragedy to the Apostles and other Elders in the eastern States and resumed his station at Philadelphia. Previous to leaving Nauvoo, July 2nd, he was married to Miss Caroline Vandyke, Bishop Newel K. Whitney officiating. His wife accompanied him to Philadelphia. His mission there was made particularly remarkable by the position he took in regard to Sidney Rigdon's peculiar apostate doctrines and the efforts of his followers to establish his claim to the guardianship of the Church. Certain letters which Brother Grant published upon these subjects were so clear, as were all his writings, and the strictures upon Rigdon's course so manifestly just, that they at once quelled the fears of the doubting Saints, and exhibited in plainness the true position of the faithful as well as the assumption of the ambitious apostate.
In May, 1845, Elder Grant returned to Nauvoo, and in the following winter received the blessings of the House of the Lord, assisting, also, in administering those sacred ordinances to many others. He-was among the first who left Nauvoo in the exodus of 1846, crossing the river in February, and with the body of the Saints turning his back upon the tyrannical oppression of mobs and treacherous friends to seek an asylum of peace in the fastnesses of the mountains of the great West.
He went east from Winter Quarters in the winter of 1846-7, on a short mission, during which he purchased the materials for making a flag, which for several years floated over "the land of the free and the homes of the blest" in this city, and was familiarly known as "the mammoth flag." After transacting important business in the interests of the exodus, he returned, in June, 1847, to the Missouri River, and was appointed Captain of the Third Hundred of the emigrating Saints which he successfully led to the Salt Lake Valley, arriving in the following October. A year after, with characteristic energy and promptness, he went out beyond Fort Bridger with several men and teams to relieve President Willard Richards and company and assist them in.
May 26, 1849, he was elected Brigadier General of the first brigade of the Nauvoo Legion, and October 23, 1852, was promoted to the Major Generalship of the First Division, which military office he held unto his death. He was an efficient officer, valiant, energetic and just. In the difficulties with the Indians he manifested considerable skill, and always was regarded as eminently jealous of the rights of the red men as well as of the safety of the whites.
In the fall of 1849, Elder Grant went to the States on business together with about forty missionaries, who elected him Captain of the company. Among the number were President John Taylor, Apostles Erastus .Snow, Lorenzo Snow, F. D. Richards, Bishop Hunter, Colonel Reese, Curtis E. Bolton and several other prominent Elders.
They had reached the banks of the Platte river some distance this side of Fort Laramie, and were camped for noon on a cold, wintry day, in a horseshoe bend of the river, when they were attacked by a large war party of the Cheyennes, who were painted and equipped for war, on their way out to engage with a hostile band of the Crows. With the utmost energy the animals were got together and fastened, and a line in open rank formed from the river's bank to face the Indians and prevent them from surrounding the party. President Taylor, in writing to the Frontier Guardian, describes the appearance of the red men as follows:
"When they first appeared they were about three quarters of a mile from us, and as they were mounted upon excellent chargers they came with the rapidity of an arrow. It gave us little enough time to gather our horses and prepare ourselves to meet our belligerent visitors. Captain Shadrach Roundy ordered the horses to be gathered and securely tied to the wagons. General Grant acted with great promptness and decision on the occasion, immediately forming us into line, leaving two of our number to tie the horses up. The men showed great intrepidity, every man standing at his post undaunted. The efforts of the Indians were to either break our line or turn our flank; but being repulsed at all points, they were brought to a dead halt about a rod and a half in front of us. During all this they were shaking out the priming from their firearms and priming them anew. Many placed their arrows to their bow strings—their lances in rest, and were wetting the ends ,of their arrows with their mouths, that they might not slip too quick from the finger and thumb."
Bishop Hunter describes the scene at this moment as one of the intensest excitement. Every white man stood with his gun cocked and primed, expecting each moment to receive the signal to fire; indeed one or two raised their weapons, but were ordered in Gen. Grant's usually emphatic manner, doubled, to lower their guns. The advance warriors rode their animals furiously along the line of the white men, and showed great excitement and determination to fight. They worked up a perfect frenzy of rage, and could hardly be restrained until their chiefs came to the front.
As they approached, President Taylor, Captain Roundy and Curtis E. Bolton went forward to meet them. They showed signs of peace, and exhibited a paper signed by Major Sanderson, commanding Fort Laramie, certifying that "This tribe is friendly to the whites.'" During this parley, General Grant becoming impatient at the ferocious conduct of the younger warriors who were restless and eager for the fray, called Bishop Hunter from the line to the command, while he went forward to assist in the council with the chiefs. The Indians were finally ordered to withdraw while the council proceeded. They were presented with crackers, dried meat and tobacco, had a grand smoke, and after riding along the line twice, consented to shake hands and let the party proceed upon their way.
President Taylor further says: "They very courteously filed to the right and left, and escorted us on our road till we came opposite their village. They were about two hundred in number, and were of the tribe of Cheyennes, as they pronounced it. They presented the most respectable appearance of any Indians I have met with. Many of them were dressed in American style, with clothes of the best broadcloth, beaver hats, caps, etc. And those who were dressed in Indian costume, displayed the greatest elegance of taste in their attire. They were adorned with head dresses of feathers of the richest hues; and their various insignia of office, displayed a taste which is at once wild, romantic and beautiful. They were mounted on excellent horses —richly comparisoned in many instances, and painted off in the most fantastic style; they pawed the ground and champed their bits, and seemed as impatient of restraint as their riders. The whole affair was truly grand, and notwithstanding the peculiar situation in which we were placed, we could not but admire the magnificent display which the lords of the prairie presented, as they dashed with lightning speed upon us, arrayed in all the gaudiness and pride of Indian holiday attire. The scene was rich, and exceeded any theatrical representation we have ever witnessed Messrs. Edward Hunter, Lorenzo Snow and myself, at the request of their chief, visited their encampment, which was about three miles off the road; we found there a large number of lodges, and were informed by a Frenchman that they numbered six hundred warriors. They appeared to be wealthy, and I should think they had about three thousand horses, seen by us. We visited many of their lodges. They appeared very friendly, but a little chagrined at the occurrence of the morning."
The party pursued their way without further molestation. Elder Grant accomplished the object of his mission and returned to the vallies in the following year, in charge of a merchant train. Many interesting incidents, displaying the strong characteristics of their leader, occurred on this return journey, which make it ever memorable to those who were in the train.
"Jedediah M. Grant." Contributor. June 1883. pg. 321-326.
JEDEDIAH M. GRANT.
III.
Great Salt Lake City was incorporated on the 19th of January, 1851, and at the first election held under the charter on the first Monday of the next April, Brother Grant was elected mayor, which office he magnified in an eminent degree and held uninterruptedly, by the unanimous vote of the people, until his death. During the period of his administration, the first ordinances for the government, safety and general welfare of the people were enacted, forming the basis of the municipal regulations under which the city has grown and prospered to the present time.
On the organization of the Territory of Utah, certain officials appointed by the President of the United States found the situation in Utah, on their arrival here, not to their liking; and after a few months' sojourn, during which they did nothing for their own glory, for the government nor the people, they returned to the East and united in framing a report to the Administration at Washington, which grossly misrepresented the people of Utah, and contained many outrageous charges against them, calculated to influence public opinion and to prejudice the powers that be in their official intercourse with the Territory. For the purpose of counteracting whatever evil effect the "runaway judges," report might have and of setting fairly before the country the situation of our people in the vallies of the Rocky mountains—then so isolated and remote from the inhabited part of the continent—Mayor Grant was called to go to Philadelphia, and New York, and do what he could to gain the public attention, while he exploded the falsehoods of the judges and set the matter right respecting the new Territorial ward which had been adopted. He addressed some letters to James Gordon Bennett, the elder, which were published in the New York Herald. They had an electrical effect. The "report" fell flat and the runaway officials never recovered from the wholesome exposure of their conduct.
These letters possess features which at once stamp their author as an original, forcible and clear-headed writer, whose use of the power of diction was a surprise to his friends and gave him a place in the front ranks of home literature. No finer satire could be employed than characterizes the three papers. The following brief extracts will serve to exhibit the writer's style and at the same time to remind the reader of an interesting episode in the early history of the Territory:
"Sir.—I will thank you to print, as soon as you can, the substance of this letter. Considered only as news, it ought to be worth your while. There is great curiosity everywhere to hear about the Mormons, and eagerness to know all the evil that can be spoken of them. Announce you that I am a Mormon Elder, just arrived from Utah—mayor, in fact, of Salt Lake City, where my wife and family are still living—a preacher, brigadier of horse, and president of the quorum of Seventies, and the like; and not one subscriber that waded over shoe-tops through the slime of details, you gave of the play-actor's divorce trial lately, will not be greedy to read all I have to say about the filthier accusations that have been brought against me and my friends and brethren. This is what I have to count upon, thank falsehood. And if you will publish my letter entire, I will ask for no editorial help from you. I am no writer; but, with the help of the Power of Light, I am not afraid of what you can say against us. So long as I walk by the rule of my Master, you walk by the rude working of your fancies.
I must say I have had my doubts about writing out upon these matters; my doing so not being approved by our Delegate in Congress, Dr. Bernhisel. The Doctor is one of our gentlemen at home, a real gentleman, and would not say a rough word or do a rough thing to hurt the feelings or knock off the spectacles of any man for the world. But I am no gentleman, in his sense at least, and have had slights enough put upon me, personally, since I came eastward, to entitle me to any amount of stand up self-defence. Dr. Bernhisel's official course in this matter, I suppose I am bound to accept; for I have understood that he had the advice of experienced men, who said to him: "Take up the report of the three officers criminating your constituents, when it comes from the State Department into the House; ask for a special committee with power to send for persons and papers, and put the false witnesses on oath; but don't stoop to wrangle upon your religion, morals and political opinions with Mr. Webster or the Congressmen at large, whom the country considers to have enough to do to take care of their own."
This is all very well, and very high and mighty and dignified, certainly; but while the grass grows, the cow starves; while Congress is taking its months to do the work of a day, the verdict of the public goes against us, as the law-word is, by default, and we stand substantially convicted of any thing and everything that any and every kind of blackguard can make up a lie about. And now I hear that the charges are not to be pushed; two of the officers want to come back to us as friends—they are to be virtually abandoned after doing us all the harm they can. What Mr. Webster thinks, we care a little; what is the opinion of most members of Congress, you can hardly believe, in your part of the world, how very little, but Public Opinion, that power we respect as well as recognize; and, therefore, I am now determined, on my own responsibility, to write myself, and blurt out all the truth I can. I may not be discreet, but I will be honest.
I have written, to begin with, an examination into the causes that induced the three officers to leave Utah; but find it grown on my hands too long for publication. As I must confine myself, therefore, to plain and unargued narrative, I will best begin with the original and beginning of our troubles, found, to my mind, in the notion that, unlike other populous communities, we are not fit, or have not the right, to furnish our own rulers. I doubt if the contrary ever once occurred to Mr. Fillmore, who, I am persuaded, had quite a wish to deal justly with us. What was the consequence? At the very outset of our national career, we had to have strangers sent to govern us. Who of worth and standing at home would venture out to our distant and undescribed country? Accordingly, the offices went begging among all the small-fry politicians who could be suspected of being fit to fill them. And (as I have heard, after sundry nominations were refused,) the following were picked up:
No. 1. — A Mr. Brandebury, who brought his recommendation, saying he had studied law in the office of a Pennsylvania county court lawyer, renowned for successful high and lofty tumbling in the support of the United States Bank through a bloodless civil war, but who, in every other respect, exaggerated the recommendation of a Presidential candidate, of being perfectly and entirely unknown.
No. 2.—Zerubbabel Snow, of Ohio, a lawyer practicing in the interior of that State—qualifications rather ahead of the others—willing to come out probably, having kinsfolk among us.
No. 3.—Mr. P. E. Brocchus, of Alabama, of whom I have again to speak—character unknown, I hope, to the President — in the lower purlieus of the District of Columbia, by no means entitled to that recommendation.
No. 4.—B. D. Harris, a smart youngster —from a Vermont printing office, I think —for secretary. And for Indian agent, No. 5, a lazy little fellow named Day—with half the head of a Yankee, for he was all the time thinking of a "trade," and half the heart of a woman, for he would have run from a squaw.
"Fry stones with butter," says the proverb, "the broth will be good." I don't know what manner of appearance these men present, now that they have taken their titles at our expense, and drawn some of Uncle Sam's money for it; but, as they came among us, the bevy was just such as you will rind keeping tavern together at a railway water station. Zerub, the active partner — Lemuel, rather slow; but his uncle, superintendent of the road, to secure the trains stopping there at breakfast and dinner times; with Harris, the bar-keeper, to fly round spry, and Day to black boots, pump tank and lift trunks. To our misfortune they were not kept in their proper spheres.
The first we knew of our becoming a Territory was the account of the passage, September, 1850, of the law organizing Utah, which reached us before the year was out. Nothing could exceed the clamorous joy of our citizens at learning that they were thus invited into the family party by their brethren of the Union. Our national flags went up, hailed by huzzas, all over the settlement, and when we hoisted our large one on the liberty pole at Temple Block, in Great Salt Lake City, the artillery saluted it with one hundred rounds, rammed home.
The first actual appearance among us, by personal representative, of the government majesty of the United States, was the arrival of No. 1, as above, which came as much as half a year after (the 7th of June, I think,) with a limited amount of personal luggage, including one remarkably large black umbrella, and put up at a boarding house on the outskirts of the town, resorted to by traders and carriers passing through the settlement. We welcomed this from our hearts. We did not fire the cannon at it, having saved this honor for our country's standard, or its enemies. Nor did we attend to appearances as well as the French, who made ready for their king by putting white kid gloves on the guideposts' fingers, and a clean cambric ruffled shirt and silk stockings on the body of a criminal hanging in irons. Our means, after all, were limited; but we cordially did our best. As it was the chief justice, numbers of us paid him our respects; and, though our calls were not returned, proceeded to get up, after our custom, a ball in his honor. A paragraph or two, descriptive of this entertainment, will not be out of place here,, if it gives you an idea of our humble but hearty fashions.
About two and a half miles from the site of our future Temple, out of the base of what we call Ensign Mountain, a. big toe of the Wasatch range, gush up a number of hot springs, various in quality and temperature; of which one in particular has a constant head strong enough to work a fulling mill. This we have conducted in pine logs to a large house in the city suburbs, and provided there the tubs and other requirements for the most luxurious artificial bathing. Though at the charge of one dollar a month per family, it has become a place of frequent resort for our whole population; and as with Mormons, society and festivity go hand in hand, this concourse has led to the erection of additional buildings, including, beside a ball-room, two parlors for club and party suppers, etc., and a famous big double-kitchen to cook up the good things in.
To this bath house we invited Judge Brandebury. Our hours being early at Salt Lake, we sent the governor's carriage for him at three in the afternoon; but dressing or something else detained him till five, shortly after which he arrived. The guests were then sometime assembled. Tickets had only been issued to our nicest people; and I will say it, a prettier company no honest man, not a fop, would have asked to meet. After an orchestral symphony, Brother Spencer, by his office, president of the Stake, opened with an appropriate prayer, and quadrilles commenced. Judge Brandebury took to the corner at first; but some of our ladies, making true woman's account of the Miss Nancyism of a drawed up old bachelor, that showed he had sat a good deal in the shade, took pains with him, and, though a little piqued at first, we soon got him up and made him excited. He danced with Mrs. and Mrs. , again with Mrs. and Mrs. , and finally left them all, real old bachelor fashion, to pay his exclusive attentions to "that sweet young lady with the wreath of roses round her head"—thus describing little Miss Sarah Badlam, aged, perhaps, thirteen, be the same more or less. Supper was announced at seven. The ladies and gentlemen sat down together — Governor Young at the head of one of the tables, with Judge Brandebury opposite him. Our leading confectionery consisted of roast beef, roast mutton, chickens, roast and boiled veal, roast pig, wild fowl, bear meat and game pie, helped through with garden truck and sauce, pies, puddings, preserves, pumpkin butter, and other home dainties not so well known in these parts, and oysters and sardines in cans from the East. For drink, we had our own brew of porter and ale—which I could not recommend, as it tastes like one part of the lager article to three of water—and for Brandebury's special use, champagne wine from the grocery. From supper we went into the dancing again, and kept it up with spirit until near two o'clock in the morning, the handing round, at twelve, of refreshments (consisting of ice creams, cake, pie, nuts and beverages), being the only interruption till the benediction and final dismissal home."
The following manifests a spirit of patriotism and courage, which the life of the writer continually personified, and is worthy the emulation of every native born son of the mountains in these vallies:
"I do not believe, either, that any American citizen, not of the lowest black-neb riff-raff and rabble of the cities thinks less of any man, or set of men, for a proper sense of self-respect and consciousness of merit. A just pride, not vanity, tells as much for communities as individuals. It is our praise that we are proud. I go again in the stocks for this. Yes! Earthly heaven of our stormy voyaging! Deseret! Fair blushing cloud that tells the morning of the splendors of the day star to rise Rosy shadow of things hoped for, golden evidence of things not elsewhere seen And thou, too, blest youthful city,
"The New Jerusalem that God has built
For those to dwell in that are chosen His;
His chosen people purged from sinful guilt,
With precious blood that cruelly was spilt.
"The blessed angels to and fro descend
From highest heaven's gladsome company,
And with great joy unto that city wend,
As commonly as friend does with his friend."
Sweet home! Dear Utah! As I look out from my little fourth story window here, upon its landscape of dark backyards and stinking alleys, does not my heart faint now to dwell among thy saints? Yes, sir, you whose pride it is to dissect every high affection to the skeleton, and sneer at every unworldly sentiment! Yes, sir, proud I am, and proud we all are of our Utah home, through all the shame that is cast upon it here. Not proud of its mountains, its rivers, lakes, woods and fields, for we think these are no more part of us than of any other of God's children. Nor proud of its wealth:
"Were this the charter of our State,
On pain of hell, be rich and great,
Damnation then would be our fate
Beyond remeed;
But thanks to heaven, that's no the gate
We learn our creed."
You are rich in New York town, you raise your yearly crops of merchant princes and millionaires, with pike-eat pickerel overgrown fortunes, who build their chateaus so high they can look clean over the Five Points. But what's all this for glory, when it has on and over it the runnings and rotmarks of sin that is shame? What, sir, I ask you, are whole dreadful columns of advertisements in your paper, but the image of a state of society so radically corrupt, diseased and wretched, that the charlatans of science are paid fortunes for pretending to palliate a fraction of its sufferings? In our country, we don't see what you look at every day. We don't see old men in the highway picking up manure with their fingers, or children in cotton factories dwarfing their backs before their milk teeth are shed. We don't wear pantaloons sewed at ten cents a pair, and French nose-rags brocaded at one hundred dollars apiece. We don't have churches laid out in Sunday opera-boxes for fashionable hiring. We don't see men hire other white men to wait on them at table, with bands round their hats and cockades and uniforms to set off and proclaim their miserable subjection. Our men don't see their own species put out their hands to them for alms in the streets; and, sir, my lord, they don't see what's worse, able-bodied young women, for money, asking the favor God has made man to beg of woman, and that even the dog asks of his female! What is quoted for our ancestors and forerunners of Plymouth is true of their descendants of Utah: "As Ireland will not brook venomous beasts, so will not that land vile livers." Heaven be praised! there is not yet a brothel or a beggar, or a dram-shop or a drunkard, or a thief or a tavern keeper, or a palace or a prostitute; no, thank God! not one of them yet in all our settlement.
And this is why we have a right to grow up proud. The boys hear stories that come up to them through the South Pass, about their brethren being of no account in the States; that they aren't any of them asked to dinner parties, or called out at public meetings, or invited to lecture on chastity and French china, or give their opinions for publication on the right of intervention, and whether saltpeter will explode; and, on the contrary, are nearly everywhere insulted by hideaway newspaper writers, preached over by parsons, pointed at even by politicians, and, generally, are treated about as shabbily as the first Christians were by the last Jews. But they—do they mind this any more than any other tales that are told? They whose lungs breathe a sky air darker blue than your Atlantic out of soundings, who point their deer tracks hunting by mountain peaks that are never out of sight or naked of perpetual snow, who drink the ice-water of glacier cascades, and cut timber in passes and topple it down canyon chasms near three times as high as your Niagara Falls, or Trinity Church steeple? Ask them is it better to hear the lark sing or the mouse squeak!
"Where the eye sees the spirit speeds!" We have, if I am correct, the finest firmament for astronomical observations in the world. It puzzles all computations of distance. I have been told that newcome immigrants have been known, by paces measured, to shoot at deer a third of a mile off; and I am sure that if a man from the sea-board could alight from a balloon at my house in the afternoon, I could persuade him, after he had taken tea, to walk with me to West Mountain and back, though it is twenty-three miles off. I remember the day we first raised the American flag on our big liberty pole, we found it could be seen from every part of Salt Lake county without a glass; where it seemed small as your head, the red stripes glowed as bright as on a piece of mint stick in your hand. Think of it, how our boys' eyes fastened on it there, flaunting and flapping as if to dare the whole earth to spit at it, in our breezy southwest wind. That's the way in highland atmospheres men learn to look at the rights they have. I mean mountaineers, men that shoot with rifles, not shot guns, sir; be good enough to comprehend. And one thing once for all, I may as well have distinctly understood: We Mormons ask no favors of any man. We are no Helots here in our own republic. No taunting yet has made us reply to the accusations of our want of patriotism. They say we are English; we are English this far, that we are no French Gumbos, to jabber on after the chip has been knocked off our hats. I know my own right, too, to stand upon this soil. My father's paternal grandfather, or lucky daddy, as he liked to call him, was from Scotland; but the rest of my ancestors were New Englanders of the oldest stocks. Two of them fought for independence in the revolution. My brothers and myself, six footers all, with our own arms and axes have cleared the wood off more acres than we this day own. I have worked hard for my living, now thirty odd years even on. I owe no man a cent. I have never dodged a tax collector. I have stood up for my country in more ways than one, that I don't condescend to mention. Also I have read the Constitution of the United States, Article IV, Section 2, clause 1st. And he that wants me to answer whether I am not as good an American as he is, shall step out like a man and insult me to my face."
JEDEDIAH M. GRANT.
III.
Great Salt Lake City was incorporated on the 19th of January, 1851, and at the first election held under the charter on the first Monday of the next April, Brother Grant was elected mayor, which office he magnified in an eminent degree and held uninterruptedly, by the unanimous vote of the people, until his death. During the period of his administration, the first ordinances for the government, safety and general welfare of the people were enacted, forming the basis of the municipal regulations under which the city has grown and prospered to the present time.
On the organization of the Territory of Utah, certain officials appointed by the President of the United States found the situation in Utah, on their arrival here, not to their liking; and after a few months' sojourn, during which they did nothing for their own glory, for the government nor the people, they returned to the East and united in framing a report to the Administration at Washington, which grossly misrepresented the people of Utah, and contained many outrageous charges against them, calculated to influence public opinion and to prejudice the powers that be in their official intercourse with the Territory. For the purpose of counteracting whatever evil effect the "runaway judges," report might have and of setting fairly before the country the situation of our people in the vallies of the Rocky mountains—then so isolated and remote from the inhabited part of the continent—Mayor Grant was called to go to Philadelphia, and New York, and do what he could to gain the public attention, while he exploded the falsehoods of the judges and set the matter right respecting the new Territorial ward which had been adopted. He addressed some letters to James Gordon Bennett, the elder, which were published in the New York Herald. They had an electrical effect. The "report" fell flat and the runaway officials never recovered from the wholesome exposure of their conduct.
These letters possess features which at once stamp their author as an original, forcible and clear-headed writer, whose use of the power of diction was a surprise to his friends and gave him a place in the front ranks of home literature. No finer satire could be employed than characterizes the three papers. The following brief extracts will serve to exhibit the writer's style and at the same time to remind the reader of an interesting episode in the early history of the Territory:
"Sir.—I will thank you to print, as soon as you can, the substance of this letter. Considered only as news, it ought to be worth your while. There is great curiosity everywhere to hear about the Mormons, and eagerness to know all the evil that can be spoken of them. Announce you that I am a Mormon Elder, just arrived from Utah—mayor, in fact, of Salt Lake City, where my wife and family are still living—a preacher, brigadier of horse, and president of the quorum of Seventies, and the like; and not one subscriber that waded over shoe-tops through the slime of details, you gave of the play-actor's divorce trial lately, will not be greedy to read all I have to say about the filthier accusations that have been brought against me and my friends and brethren. This is what I have to count upon, thank falsehood. And if you will publish my letter entire, I will ask for no editorial help from you. I am no writer; but, with the help of the Power of Light, I am not afraid of what you can say against us. So long as I walk by the rule of my Master, you walk by the rude working of your fancies.
I must say I have had my doubts about writing out upon these matters; my doing so not being approved by our Delegate in Congress, Dr. Bernhisel. The Doctor is one of our gentlemen at home, a real gentleman, and would not say a rough word or do a rough thing to hurt the feelings or knock off the spectacles of any man for the world. But I am no gentleman, in his sense at least, and have had slights enough put upon me, personally, since I came eastward, to entitle me to any amount of stand up self-defence. Dr. Bernhisel's official course in this matter, I suppose I am bound to accept; for I have understood that he had the advice of experienced men, who said to him: "Take up the report of the three officers criminating your constituents, when it comes from the State Department into the House; ask for a special committee with power to send for persons and papers, and put the false witnesses on oath; but don't stoop to wrangle upon your religion, morals and political opinions with Mr. Webster or the Congressmen at large, whom the country considers to have enough to do to take care of their own."
This is all very well, and very high and mighty and dignified, certainly; but while the grass grows, the cow starves; while Congress is taking its months to do the work of a day, the verdict of the public goes against us, as the law-word is, by default, and we stand substantially convicted of any thing and everything that any and every kind of blackguard can make up a lie about. And now I hear that the charges are not to be pushed; two of the officers want to come back to us as friends—they are to be virtually abandoned after doing us all the harm they can. What Mr. Webster thinks, we care a little; what is the opinion of most members of Congress, you can hardly believe, in your part of the world, how very little, but Public Opinion, that power we respect as well as recognize; and, therefore, I am now determined, on my own responsibility, to write myself, and blurt out all the truth I can. I may not be discreet, but I will be honest.
I have written, to begin with, an examination into the causes that induced the three officers to leave Utah; but find it grown on my hands too long for publication. As I must confine myself, therefore, to plain and unargued narrative, I will best begin with the original and beginning of our troubles, found, to my mind, in the notion that, unlike other populous communities, we are not fit, or have not the right, to furnish our own rulers. I doubt if the contrary ever once occurred to Mr. Fillmore, who, I am persuaded, had quite a wish to deal justly with us. What was the consequence? At the very outset of our national career, we had to have strangers sent to govern us. Who of worth and standing at home would venture out to our distant and undescribed country? Accordingly, the offices went begging among all the small-fry politicians who could be suspected of being fit to fill them. And (as I have heard, after sundry nominations were refused,) the following were picked up:
No. 1. — A Mr. Brandebury, who brought his recommendation, saying he had studied law in the office of a Pennsylvania county court lawyer, renowned for successful high and lofty tumbling in the support of the United States Bank through a bloodless civil war, but who, in every other respect, exaggerated the recommendation of a Presidential candidate, of being perfectly and entirely unknown.
No. 2.—Zerubbabel Snow, of Ohio, a lawyer practicing in the interior of that State—qualifications rather ahead of the others—willing to come out probably, having kinsfolk among us.
No. 3.—Mr. P. E. Brocchus, of Alabama, of whom I have again to speak—character unknown, I hope, to the President — in the lower purlieus of the District of Columbia, by no means entitled to that recommendation.
No. 4.—B. D. Harris, a smart youngster —from a Vermont printing office, I think —for secretary. And for Indian agent, No. 5, a lazy little fellow named Day—with half the head of a Yankee, for he was all the time thinking of a "trade," and half the heart of a woman, for he would have run from a squaw.
"Fry stones with butter," says the proverb, "the broth will be good." I don't know what manner of appearance these men present, now that they have taken their titles at our expense, and drawn some of Uncle Sam's money for it; but, as they came among us, the bevy was just such as you will rind keeping tavern together at a railway water station. Zerub, the active partner — Lemuel, rather slow; but his uncle, superintendent of the road, to secure the trains stopping there at breakfast and dinner times; with Harris, the bar-keeper, to fly round spry, and Day to black boots, pump tank and lift trunks. To our misfortune they were not kept in their proper spheres.
The first we knew of our becoming a Territory was the account of the passage, September, 1850, of the law organizing Utah, which reached us before the year was out. Nothing could exceed the clamorous joy of our citizens at learning that they were thus invited into the family party by their brethren of the Union. Our national flags went up, hailed by huzzas, all over the settlement, and when we hoisted our large one on the liberty pole at Temple Block, in Great Salt Lake City, the artillery saluted it with one hundred rounds, rammed home.
The first actual appearance among us, by personal representative, of the government majesty of the United States, was the arrival of No. 1, as above, which came as much as half a year after (the 7th of June, I think,) with a limited amount of personal luggage, including one remarkably large black umbrella, and put up at a boarding house on the outskirts of the town, resorted to by traders and carriers passing through the settlement. We welcomed this from our hearts. We did not fire the cannon at it, having saved this honor for our country's standard, or its enemies. Nor did we attend to appearances as well as the French, who made ready for their king by putting white kid gloves on the guideposts' fingers, and a clean cambric ruffled shirt and silk stockings on the body of a criminal hanging in irons. Our means, after all, were limited; but we cordially did our best. As it was the chief justice, numbers of us paid him our respects; and, though our calls were not returned, proceeded to get up, after our custom, a ball in his honor. A paragraph or two, descriptive of this entertainment, will not be out of place here,, if it gives you an idea of our humble but hearty fashions.
About two and a half miles from the site of our future Temple, out of the base of what we call Ensign Mountain, a. big toe of the Wasatch range, gush up a number of hot springs, various in quality and temperature; of which one in particular has a constant head strong enough to work a fulling mill. This we have conducted in pine logs to a large house in the city suburbs, and provided there the tubs and other requirements for the most luxurious artificial bathing. Though at the charge of one dollar a month per family, it has become a place of frequent resort for our whole population; and as with Mormons, society and festivity go hand in hand, this concourse has led to the erection of additional buildings, including, beside a ball-room, two parlors for club and party suppers, etc., and a famous big double-kitchen to cook up the good things in.
To this bath house we invited Judge Brandebury. Our hours being early at Salt Lake, we sent the governor's carriage for him at three in the afternoon; but dressing or something else detained him till five, shortly after which he arrived. The guests were then sometime assembled. Tickets had only been issued to our nicest people; and I will say it, a prettier company no honest man, not a fop, would have asked to meet. After an orchestral symphony, Brother Spencer, by his office, president of the Stake, opened with an appropriate prayer, and quadrilles commenced. Judge Brandebury took to the corner at first; but some of our ladies, making true woman's account of the Miss Nancyism of a drawed up old bachelor, that showed he had sat a good deal in the shade, took pains with him, and, though a little piqued at first, we soon got him up and made him excited. He danced with Mrs. and Mrs. , again with Mrs. and Mrs. , and finally left them all, real old bachelor fashion, to pay his exclusive attentions to "that sweet young lady with the wreath of roses round her head"—thus describing little Miss Sarah Badlam, aged, perhaps, thirteen, be the same more or less. Supper was announced at seven. The ladies and gentlemen sat down together — Governor Young at the head of one of the tables, with Judge Brandebury opposite him. Our leading confectionery consisted of roast beef, roast mutton, chickens, roast and boiled veal, roast pig, wild fowl, bear meat and game pie, helped through with garden truck and sauce, pies, puddings, preserves, pumpkin butter, and other home dainties not so well known in these parts, and oysters and sardines in cans from the East. For drink, we had our own brew of porter and ale—which I could not recommend, as it tastes like one part of the lager article to three of water—and for Brandebury's special use, champagne wine from the grocery. From supper we went into the dancing again, and kept it up with spirit until near two o'clock in the morning, the handing round, at twelve, of refreshments (consisting of ice creams, cake, pie, nuts and beverages), being the only interruption till the benediction and final dismissal home."
The following manifests a spirit of patriotism and courage, which the life of the writer continually personified, and is worthy the emulation of every native born son of the mountains in these vallies:
"I do not believe, either, that any American citizen, not of the lowest black-neb riff-raff and rabble of the cities thinks less of any man, or set of men, for a proper sense of self-respect and consciousness of merit. A just pride, not vanity, tells as much for communities as individuals. It is our praise that we are proud. I go again in the stocks for this. Yes! Earthly heaven of our stormy voyaging! Deseret! Fair blushing cloud that tells the morning of the splendors of the day star to rise Rosy shadow of things hoped for, golden evidence of things not elsewhere seen And thou, too, blest youthful city,
"The New Jerusalem that God has built
For those to dwell in that are chosen His;
His chosen people purged from sinful guilt,
With precious blood that cruelly was spilt.
"The blessed angels to and fro descend
From highest heaven's gladsome company,
And with great joy unto that city wend,
As commonly as friend does with his friend."
Sweet home! Dear Utah! As I look out from my little fourth story window here, upon its landscape of dark backyards and stinking alleys, does not my heart faint now to dwell among thy saints? Yes, sir, you whose pride it is to dissect every high affection to the skeleton, and sneer at every unworldly sentiment! Yes, sir, proud I am, and proud we all are of our Utah home, through all the shame that is cast upon it here. Not proud of its mountains, its rivers, lakes, woods and fields, for we think these are no more part of us than of any other of God's children. Nor proud of its wealth:
"Were this the charter of our State,
On pain of hell, be rich and great,
Damnation then would be our fate
Beyond remeed;
But thanks to heaven, that's no the gate
We learn our creed."
You are rich in New York town, you raise your yearly crops of merchant princes and millionaires, with pike-eat pickerel overgrown fortunes, who build their chateaus so high they can look clean over the Five Points. But what's all this for glory, when it has on and over it the runnings and rotmarks of sin that is shame? What, sir, I ask you, are whole dreadful columns of advertisements in your paper, but the image of a state of society so radically corrupt, diseased and wretched, that the charlatans of science are paid fortunes for pretending to palliate a fraction of its sufferings? In our country, we don't see what you look at every day. We don't see old men in the highway picking up manure with their fingers, or children in cotton factories dwarfing their backs before their milk teeth are shed. We don't wear pantaloons sewed at ten cents a pair, and French nose-rags brocaded at one hundred dollars apiece. We don't have churches laid out in Sunday opera-boxes for fashionable hiring. We don't see men hire other white men to wait on them at table, with bands round their hats and cockades and uniforms to set off and proclaim their miserable subjection. Our men don't see their own species put out their hands to them for alms in the streets; and, sir, my lord, they don't see what's worse, able-bodied young women, for money, asking the favor God has made man to beg of woman, and that even the dog asks of his female! What is quoted for our ancestors and forerunners of Plymouth is true of their descendants of Utah: "As Ireland will not brook venomous beasts, so will not that land vile livers." Heaven be praised! there is not yet a brothel or a beggar, or a dram-shop or a drunkard, or a thief or a tavern keeper, or a palace or a prostitute; no, thank God! not one of them yet in all our settlement.
And this is why we have a right to grow up proud. The boys hear stories that come up to them through the South Pass, about their brethren being of no account in the States; that they aren't any of them asked to dinner parties, or called out at public meetings, or invited to lecture on chastity and French china, or give their opinions for publication on the right of intervention, and whether saltpeter will explode; and, on the contrary, are nearly everywhere insulted by hideaway newspaper writers, preached over by parsons, pointed at even by politicians, and, generally, are treated about as shabbily as the first Christians were by the last Jews. But they—do they mind this any more than any other tales that are told? They whose lungs breathe a sky air darker blue than your Atlantic out of soundings, who point their deer tracks hunting by mountain peaks that are never out of sight or naked of perpetual snow, who drink the ice-water of glacier cascades, and cut timber in passes and topple it down canyon chasms near three times as high as your Niagara Falls, or Trinity Church steeple? Ask them is it better to hear the lark sing or the mouse squeak!
"Where the eye sees the spirit speeds!" We have, if I am correct, the finest firmament for astronomical observations in the world. It puzzles all computations of distance. I have been told that newcome immigrants have been known, by paces measured, to shoot at deer a third of a mile off; and I am sure that if a man from the sea-board could alight from a balloon at my house in the afternoon, I could persuade him, after he had taken tea, to walk with me to West Mountain and back, though it is twenty-three miles off. I remember the day we first raised the American flag on our big liberty pole, we found it could be seen from every part of Salt Lake county without a glass; where it seemed small as your head, the red stripes glowed as bright as on a piece of mint stick in your hand. Think of it, how our boys' eyes fastened on it there, flaunting and flapping as if to dare the whole earth to spit at it, in our breezy southwest wind. That's the way in highland atmospheres men learn to look at the rights they have. I mean mountaineers, men that shoot with rifles, not shot guns, sir; be good enough to comprehend. And one thing once for all, I may as well have distinctly understood: We Mormons ask no favors of any man. We are no Helots here in our own republic. No taunting yet has made us reply to the accusations of our want of patriotism. They say we are English; we are English this far, that we are no French Gumbos, to jabber on after the chip has been knocked off our hats. I know my own right, too, to stand upon this soil. My father's paternal grandfather, or lucky daddy, as he liked to call him, was from Scotland; but the rest of my ancestors were New Englanders of the oldest stocks. Two of them fought for independence in the revolution. My brothers and myself, six footers all, with our own arms and axes have cleared the wood off more acres than we this day own. I have worked hard for my living, now thirty odd years even on. I owe no man a cent. I have never dodged a tax collector. I have stood up for my country in more ways than one, that I don't condescend to mention. Also I have read the Constitution of the United States, Article IV, Section 2, clause 1st. And he that wants me to answer whether I am not as good an American as he is, shall step out like a man and insult me to my face."
"Jedediah M. Grant." Contributor. July 1883. pg. 361-365.
JEDEDIAH M. GRANT.
IV.
The New York Herald letters, after creating a considerable sensation in the great cities and doing most effectual work in Washington, were printed in pamphlet form and widely circulated in the East. A highly characteristic feature of this pamphlet was the introduction of pungent proverbs as head and foot lines on each page, in black type, which were selected with singular discernment for their appropriate relation to the text as well as for their fine humor and superior sense.
The following are extracted from the great variety which adorn the fifty pages, two on a page:
"As vinegar to the teeth and as smoke to the eyes, so is the sluggard to them that send him."
"Doth the wild ass bray when he hath grass? Their eyes did fail, because there was no grass."
"Go out for wool, come home shorn."
"Fools reflect, but always after their folly?"
"And the faulty scent is picked up by the hound
And the fact turns up like a worm from the ground.
And the sow that is aught by the ear is caught,
And the sin to the sinful door is brought."
"He loved mutton well that licked where the ewe lay."
"He should sit close that has riven breeks."
"Rush bellowing and breathing fire and smoke,
At crippled papistry to butt and poke,
Exactly as a skittish Scottish bull
Hunts an old woman in a scarlet cloak."
"No solemn, sanctimonious face I pull,
Nor think I'm pious, when Fm only bilious."
"First the work gives credit to the workman,
Then the workman gives credit to the work."
"Laws catch flies, and let hornets go free."
The career of Brocchus and the influence he exercised over his compeers in office, his ambition to become Delegate to Congress and what came of it, and the review of his speech at Conference; are told so aptly in the letters, that we are induced to make the following extract:
"This day, arrived out from the States', Mr. P. E. Brocchus, and in one short six weeks after that this man stayed among us, he was the means of stirring up all the evil report that we have had since to. encounter.
"Brocchus, as far as I have been able to find anything about him, I make of to be one of those characters that It would be difficult to examine or educate anywhere out of the District of Columbia. Their description is that of the- Washington maid-of-all-work—that is, dirty work. Having the Directory of the cellars and garrets by heart—being the very men to show new 'M. C's' the fashions, after dark-—quick-smell feasts, long-suffering chamberers—knowing all the 'convenient' people;—lobbying as only those men can who have nothing else to do—always ready to hold big men's horses, and willing to blow their noses all day in the waiting room for the chance—they live on the broken victuals of big and little kitchen cabinets, till they come at last by their chance of boning the mutton joint, which they devour in the face of the poor they have defrauded of it.
"Of such came out to us from Alabama, via Washington, nearly one year after we were made a Territory by law, our second Associate Judge. To our people at Kanesville, where he stopped for other purposes than outfitting, he proclaimed his intention of running as Delegate to Congress. He provided intoxicating liquors gratuitously to those in his company who would listen to his discourse on this subject. He said it was his only purpose in going out to Utah; and that, his election secured, he should return at once. He alluded darkly to dangers impending over us at Washington, that only he could avert, and declared that he had come out to enable him to be our savior. Thus he spoke and electioneered with the people of the train till he met a return company, who conveyed the intelligence to the States of the election of Dr. John M. Bernhisel. His tone then changed. As soon as he arrived, he announced his intention of returning to the States. He said he was sick, and supported the character in the eyes of his fellow-lodgers by eating enormously, without taking any out-door exercise. He was hale and busy enough, to our cost. He must have obtained his influence over the others almost immediately after his arrival. They soon removed to the boarding-house in which he was quartered, and there, evidently, as we think we can see now, concerted their schemes and courses of molestation and mischief. We heard now distinctly more of discontent and dissatisfaction, and more of the insufficient compensation and the rest. We could do nothing ourselves; but a petition to Congress having been drawn up, asking an increase of their salaries, the Governor headed it, and sent it off by Dr. Bernhisel, on the 1st of September. Of much avail, was it! Within the week after, there followed the proceedings I am now going to describe. They had not their connected appearance at the time, but we have been at no loss to understand their bearing since.
"One day Brocchus reminded the Governor that he was going away very soon, and asked him to do him the favor of procuring him as large an audience of the people as possible, as he was very anxious to set before them, in style, the claims of the Washington monument fund. I do not know how he made out his case, but as he was always specious and smiling, the Governor, willing to show him a pleasure, said, 'I will invite you, sir, to speak at our approaching Conference. It is a religious meeting, I suppose you are aware; but I wish well to your cause.' One of the first buildings we ever raised at Salt Lake was our Bowery, or gallery of rough timber and wattles, for public assemblies. Around it then was all naked ground, though it now stands in the heart of the business part of the city. Our semi-annual conferences have always met in it; our hall one assembling here by stated appointment, September the 6th. At its opening day, a handsome representation of the people from all quarters being in attendance, Governor Young took the first opportunity of fulfilling his promise. 'I was respectfully and honorably introduced,' says the published statement of Judge Brocchus.
"This individual, I take it, is one of those who, by reason of a certain fluency and custom of easy rambling from subject to subject, spreading themselves out over all they have ever had a thought upon, are able to acquit themselves quite creditably in a conversation or brief friendly letter; while they break down miserably if called on for a speech or essay upon a continuous subject, which exposes in them the defects of their early education, their habitually loose texture of thought, and their want of connected views and consistent principles of any kind. Such creatures frequently pass through the world without being voted ignoramus or lack-wit, and so with some yet may this unsteady creature Brocchus.
"I make this remark, because I am certain no one of his acquaintance at Salt Lake City was prepared for such a speech as he made on this occasion. In its way it beat Brandebury's shirt. I would give a hundred dollars for the sake of our cause, to have had a phonographer to take down the stupendous effort. I can only now profess to remember a few points of it, recalled to my memory by the use that has been made of them since. He began by stating that he had read our history with deep interest, particularly that part relating to our sufferings in Winter Quarters, on the Missouri River, during the severe winter of '47. 'I intended to have visited Winter Quarters,' he said, 'but, alas, was not able. A friend of mine brought me these flowers; here they are: it is all I can present you of that sainted place!' At this sympathetic display he forced a tear, and, the careless observer would have said, wiped it from his cheek, but Deseret eyes saw the handkerchief pass to the right and left, while the tear remained on the cheek by an overcast of the head. His reception. was next referred to. 'I was a stranger and you took me in; sick and you visited me,' etc. 'Even a kind lady brushed the flies from my forehead; her kindness I can never forget.' Another tear was forthcoming, and wiped as before. Twenty minutes of this sort of thing quite naturally introduced the consideration of his personal merits. In the course of an able and flattering autobiography, he displayed all his advantages of experience and public service in important imaginary capacities. His appointment by his Excellency the President of the United States was enough to show what kind of a man he was. The President being a virtuous man could appoint none but a virtuous man like himself; he (Brocchus) being virtuous, therefore like' the President, received his appointment. By this argument he refuted any vile calumnies from the States that he said might have pursued his private character. After this, in a style half school-book, half fourth of July, came up Anthony (!) Putnam, the Revolutionary War, and General Washington, who was declared a greater man than Napoleon and all his generals, and only to be compared to President Taylor. Putnam he got at Bunker Hill, but Washington at Burgoyne's, probably Braddock's, defeat. 'Behold him!' he cried, on his white horse at the battle of Yorktown, proudly careering on his white charger over the prostrate bodies of his country's enemies. This sort of thing took up an hour more, by which the patience of the company was pretty nearly worn out, though they remained quiet. 'For more than two hours,' he writes, 'I was favored with the unwavering attention of my audience.' But a changed tone then came on him, with a change of subject. He began a studied assault upon his introducer, Governor Young, and an argument to the people against allowing the man so much influence as he possessed, the sum of it being that so long as this continued we could have no party divisions, and without party divisions we could not be a worthy object of the notice or favor of politicians. Soon, however, he found he could do nothing on this head. 'Oh, ladies, sweet ladies,' he cried, 'why do you 'go in' for such a man? Your smiles should be turned on the contemplation of men who can handle the sword—George Washington, and Zachary Taylor, the second Washington. Oh, Governor Young can't handle the sword !' Even such soft appeals as this were thrown away. From bad to worse, disapprobation rose till the orator was groaned. He tried a few insinuations more, and was groaned again, groaned with a will. At this, instead of taking his seat, he changed his ground, and made a direct and undisguised attack upon the audience itself, men and women, without distinction, accusing them of want of patriotism and attachment to the laws, and reproaching and insulting them to their face. General D. H. Wells, of Illinois, an impulsive and hot spoken man, but I am bound to say one of our most liberal and public-spirited citizens, had delivered an oration on the 24th of July, severely condemning the course of the federal government towards us. Producing an imperfect report of this speech and commenting on it, Brocchus proceeded to attribute its sentiments to the people, and make them answerable for it, thereupon threatening them with destruction by the whole army and navy of the United States. In the same way he brought up remarks of Governor Young upon General Taylor, threatening the people with destruction for them also, and declaring that his (Broochus's) influence should break him from office the instant he arrived in Washington. Finally, the women hissing him here, he mentioned Washington, for the first time, in connection with the monument, and as if merely incidentally. 'It reminds me, by the way,' he said, 'that I have a commission from the Washington Monument Association, to ask of you (the ladies) a block of marble, as the test of your citizenship and loyalty to the government of the United States. But in order for you to do it acceptably,' you must become virtuous, and teach your daughters to become virtuous, or your offering had better remain in the bosom of your native mountains.'
"At this climax of insult, the meeting rose as one man, and their cries and uproar compelled the speaker to take his seat. The tumult continuing, we looked to the other officers of the United States, who had been invited to the stand, to reply; but, as they failed to do so, the Governor, being loudly called for, rose and spoke in substance (for I cannot imitate or remember successfully his peculiar style), as follows: 'But for this man's personalities, I would be ashamed not to leave him to be answered by some of our small spouters — sticks of his own timber. Such an orator, I should suppose, might be made by down-east patent, with Comstock's phonetics and elocution primers; but, I ask you all, have we ever before listened to such trash and nonsense from this stand? Are you a judge,' he said, turning to him, 'and can't even talk like a lawyer, or a politician, and havn't read an American school history? Be ashamed, you illiterate ranter,' said he, 'not to know your Washington better than to praise him for being a mere brutal warrior. George Washington was called first in war; but he was first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen. He had a big head and a great heart. Of course he could fight. But, Lord! what man can't? What man here will dare to say, with women standing by, that he is a bit more a coward than Washington was? Handle the sword! I can handle a sword as well as George Washington. I'd be ashamed to say I couldn't. But you, standing there, white and shaking now, at the hornet's nest you have stirred up yourself—you are a coward, and that is why you have cause to praise men that are not, and why you praise Zachary Taylor. President Taylor you can't praise—you find nothing in him. Old General Taylor! what was he? A mere soldier, with regular army buttons on; no better to go at the head of brave troops than a dozen I could pick up between Leavenworth and Laramie. And, for one, I'll not have Washington insulted by having him compared to Taylor, for a single breath of speech. No, nor what is more, President and General Andrew Jackson crowed down and forgotten, while I am with this people— even if I did not know that one is in one place (of punishment), and the other in another (of reward).' Brigham Young spoke this out of his knowledge by the priesthood."
"After defining very fully his views after this wise, the Governor concluded, I remember, about as follows: 'What you have not been afraid to intimate about our morals, I will not stoop to notice, except to make my particular personal request of every brother and husband present, not to give your back what such impudence deserves. You talk of things 'you have on hearsay,' since your coming among us. I'll talk of hearsay, then—the hearsay that you are discontented and will go home, because we cannot make it worth your while to stay. What it would satisfy you to get out of us I think it would be hard to tell; but I am sure it is more than you'll get. If you or anyone else is such a baby-calf, -we must sugar your soap to coax you to 'Wash yourself of Saturday nights: go home to mammy, straightway, and the sooner the better!' “
JEDEDIAH M. GRANT.
IV.
The New York Herald letters, after creating a considerable sensation in the great cities and doing most effectual work in Washington, were printed in pamphlet form and widely circulated in the East. A highly characteristic feature of this pamphlet was the introduction of pungent proverbs as head and foot lines on each page, in black type, which were selected with singular discernment for their appropriate relation to the text as well as for their fine humor and superior sense.
The following are extracted from the great variety which adorn the fifty pages, two on a page:
"As vinegar to the teeth and as smoke to the eyes, so is the sluggard to them that send him."
"Doth the wild ass bray when he hath grass? Their eyes did fail, because there was no grass."
"Go out for wool, come home shorn."
"Fools reflect, but always after their folly?"
"And the faulty scent is picked up by the hound
And the fact turns up like a worm from the ground.
And the sow that is aught by the ear is caught,
And the sin to the sinful door is brought."
"He loved mutton well that licked where the ewe lay."
"He should sit close that has riven breeks."
"Rush bellowing and breathing fire and smoke,
At crippled papistry to butt and poke,
Exactly as a skittish Scottish bull
Hunts an old woman in a scarlet cloak."
"No solemn, sanctimonious face I pull,
Nor think I'm pious, when Fm only bilious."
"First the work gives credit to the workman,
Then the workman gives credit to the work."
"Laws catch flies, and let hornets go free."
The career of Brocchus and the influence he exercised over his compeers in office, his ambition to become Delegate to Congress and what came of it, and the review of his speech at Conference; are told so aptly in the letters, that we are induced to make the following extract:
"This day, arrived out from the States', Mr. P. E. Brocchus, and in one short six weeks after that this man stayed among us, he was the means of stirring up all the evil report that we have had since to. encounter.
"Brocchus, as far as I have been able to find anything about him, I make of to be one of those characters that It would be difficult to examine or educate anywhere out of the District of Columbia. Their description is that of the- Washington maid-of-all-work—that is, dirty work. Having the Directory of the cellars and garrets by heart—being the very men to show new 'M. C's' the fashions, after dark-—quick-smell feasts, long-suffering chamberers—knowing all the 'convenient' people;—lobbying as only those men can who have nothing else to do—always ready to hold big men's horses, and willing to blow their noses all day in the waiting room for the chance—they live on the broken victuals of big and little kitchen cabinets, till they come at last by their chance of boning the mutton joint, which they devour in the face of the poor they have defrauded of it.
"Of such came out to us from Alabama, via Washington, nearly one year after we were made a Territory by law, our second Associate Judge. To our people at Kanesville, where he stopped for other purposes than outfitting, he proclaimed his intention of running as Delegate to Congress. He provided intoxicating liquors gratuitously to those in his company who would listen to his discourse on this subject. He said it was his only purpose in going out to Utah; and that, his election secured, he should return at once. He alluded darkly to dangers impending over us at Washington, that only he could avert, and declared that he had come out to enable him to be our savior. Thus he spoke and electioneered with the people of the train till he met a return company, who conveyed the intelligence to the States of the election of Dr. John M. Bernhisel. His tone then changed. As soon as he arrived, he announced his intention of returning to the States. He said he was sick, and supported the character in the eyes of his fellow-lodgers by eating enormously, without taking any out-door exercise. He was hale and busy enough, to our cost. He must have obtained his influence over the others almost immediately after his arrival. They soon removed to the boarding-house in which he was quartered, and there, evidently, as we think we can see now, concerted their schemes and courses of molestation and mischief. We heard now distinctly more of discontent and dissatisfaction, and more of the insufficient compensation and the rest. We could do nothing ourselves; but a petition to Congress having been drawn up, asking an increase of their salaries, the Governor headed it, and sent it off by Dr. Bernhisel, on the 1st of September. Of much avail, was it! Within the week after, there followed the proceedings I am now going to describe. They had not their connected appearance at the time, but we have been at no loss to understand their bearing since.
"One day Brocchus reminded the Governor that he was going away very soon, and asked him to do him the favor of procuring him as large an audience of the people as possible, as he was very anxious to set before them, in style, the claims of the Washington monument fund. I do not know how he made out his case, but as he was always specious and smiling, the Governor, willing to show him a pleasure, said, 'I will invite you, sir, to speak at our approaching Conference. It is a religious meeting, I suppose you are aware; but I wish well to your cause.' One of the first buildings we ever raised at Salt Lake was our Bowery, or gallery of rough timber and wattles, for public assemblies. Around it then was all naked ground, though it now stands in the heart of the business part of the city. Our semi-annual conferences have always met in it; our hall one assembling here by stated appointment, September the 6th. At its opening day, a handsome representation of the people from all quarters being in attendance, Governor Young took the first opportunity of fulfilling his promise. 'I was respectfully and honorably introduced,' says the published statement of Judge Brocchus.
"This individual, I take it, is one of those who, by reason of a certain fluency and custom of easy rambling from subject to subject, spreading themselves out over all they have ever had a thought upon, are able to acquit themselves quite creditably in a conversation or brief friendly letter; while they break down miserably if called on for a speech or essay upon a continuous subject, which exposes in them the defects of their early education, their habitually loose texture of thought, and their want of connected views and consistent principles of any kind. Such creatures frequently pass through the world without being voted ignoramus or lack-wit, and so with some yet may this unsteady creature Brocchus.
"I make this remark, because I am certain no one of his acquaintance at Salt Lake City was prepared for such a speech as he made on this occasion. In its way it beat Brandebury's shirt. I would give a hundred dollars for the sake of our cause, to have had a phonographer to take down the stupendous effort. I can only now profess to remember a few points of it, recalled to my memory by the use that has been made of them since. He began by stating that he had read our history with deep interest, particularly that part relating to our sufferings in Winter Quarters, on the Missouri River, during the severe winter of '47. 'I intended to have visited Winter Quarters,' he said, 'but, alas, was not able. A friend of mine brought me these flowers; here they are: it is all I can present you of that sainted place!' At this sympathetic display he forced a tear, and, the careless observer would have said, wiped it from his cheek, but Deseret eyes saw the handkerchief pass to the right and left, while the tear remained on the cheek by an overcast of the head. His reception. was next referred to. 'I was a stranger and you took me in; sick and you visited me,' etc. 'Even a kind lady brushed the flies from my forehead; her kindness I can never forget.' Another tear was forthcoming, and wiped as before. Twenty minutes of this sort of thing quite naturally introduced the consideration of his personal merits. In the course of an able and flattering autobiography, he displayed all his advantages of experience and public service in important imaginary capacities. His appointment by his Excellency the President of the United States was enough to show what kind of a man he was. The President being a virtuous man could appoint none but a virtuous man like himself; he (Brocchus) being virtuous, therefore like' the President, received his appointment. By this argument he refuted any vile calumnies from the States that he said might have pursued his private character. After this, in a style half school-book, half fourth of July, came up Anthony (!) Putnam, the Revolutionary War, and General Washington, who was declared a greater man than Napoleon and all his generals, and only to be compared to President Taylor. Putnam he got at Bunker Hill, but Washington at Burgoyne's, probably Braddock's, defeat. 'Behold him!' he cried, on his white horse at the battle of Yorktown, proudly careering on his white charger over the prostrate bodies of his country's enemies. This sort of thing took up an hour more, by which the patience of the company was pretty nearly worn out, though they remained quiet. 'For more than two hours,' he writes, 'I was favored with the unwavering attention of my audience.' But a changed tone then came on him, with a change of subject. He began a studied assault upon his introducer, Governor Young, and an argument to the people against allowing the man so much influence as he possessed, the sum of it being that so long as this continued we could have no party divisions, and without party divisions we could not be a worthy object of the notice or favor of politicians. Soon, however, he found he could do nothing on this head. 'Oh, ladies, sweet ladies,' he cried, 'why do you 'go in' for such a man? Your smiles should be turned on the contemplation of men who can handle the sword—George Washington, and Zachary Taylor, the second Washington. Oh, Governor Young can't handle the sword !' Even such soft appeals as this were thrown away. From bad to worse, disapprobation rose till the orator was groaned. He tried a few insinuations more, and was groaned again, groaned with a will. At this, instead of taking his seat, he changed his ground, and made a direct and undisguised attack upon the audience itself, men and women, without distinction, accusing them of want of patriotism and attachment to the laws, and reproaching and insulting them to their face. General D. H. Wells, of Illinois, an impulsive and hot spoken man, but I am bound to say one of our most liberal and public-spirited citizens, had delivered an oration on the 24th of July, severely condemning the course of the federal government towards us. Producing an imperfect report of this speech and commenting on it, Brocchus proceeded to attribute its sentiments to the people, and make them answerable for it, thereupon threatening them with destruction by the whole army and navy of the United States. In the same way he brought up remarks of Governor Young upon General Taylor, threatening the people with destruction for them also, and declaring that his (Broochus's) influence should break him from office the instant he arrived in Washington. Finally, the women hissing him here, he mentioned Washington, for the first time, in connection with the monument, and as if merely incidentally. 'It reminds me, by the way,' he said, 'that I have a commission from the Washington Monument Association, to ask of you (the ladies) a block of marble, as the test of your citizenship and loyalty to the government of the United States. But in order for you to do it acceptably,' you must become virtuous, and teach your daughters to become virtuous, or your offering had better remain in the bosom of your native mountains.'
"At this climax of insult, the meeting rose as one man, and their cries and uproar compelled the speaker to take his seat. The tumult continuing, we looked to the other officers of the United States, who had been invited to the stand, to reply; but, as they failed to do so, the Governor, being loudly called for, rose and spoke in substance (for I cannot imitate or remember successfully his peculiar style), as follows: 'But for this man's personalities, I would be ashamed not to leave him to be answered by some of our small spouters — sticks of his own timber. Such an orator, I should suppose, might be made by down-east patent, with Comstock's phonetics and elocution primers; but, I ask you all, have we ever before listened to such trash and nonsense from this stand? Are you a judge,' he said, turning to him, 'and can't even talk like a lawyer, or a politician, and havn't read an American school history? Be ashamed, you illiterate ranter,' said he, 'not to know your Washington better than to praise him for being a mere brutal warrior. George Washington was called first in war; but he was first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen. He had a big head and a great heart. Of course he could fight. But, Lord! what man can't? What man here will dare to say, with women standing by, that he is a bit more a coward than Washington was? Handle the sword! I can handle a sword as well as George Washington. I'd be ashamed to say I couldn't. But you, standing there, white and shaking now, at the hornet's nest you have stirred up yourself—you are a coward, and that is why you have cause to praise men that are not, and why you praise Zachary Taylor. President Taylor you can't praise—you find nothing in him. Old General Taylor! what was he? A mere soldier, with regular army buttons on; no better to go at the head of brave troops than a dozen I could pick up between Leavenworth and Laramie. And, for one, I'll not have Washington insulted by having him compared to Taylor, for a single breath of speech. No, nor what is more, President and General Andrew Jackson crowed down and forgotten, while I am with this people— even if I did not know that one is in one place (of punishment), and the other in another (of reward).' Brigham Young spoke this out of his knowledge by the priesthood."
"After defining very fully his views after this wise, the Governor concluded, I remember, about as follows: 'What you have not been afraid to intimate about our morals, I will not stoop to notice, except to make my particular personal request of every brother and husband present, not to give your back what such impudence deserves. You talk of things 'you have on hearsay,' since your coming among us. I'll talk of hearsay, then—the hearsay that you are discontented and will go home, because we cannot make it worth your while to stay. What it would satisfy you to get out of us I think it would be hard to tell; but I am sure it is more than you'll get. If you or anyone else is such a baby-calf, -we must sugar your soap to coax you to 'Wash yourself of Saturday nights: go home to mammy, straightway, and the sooner the better!' “
"Jedediah M. Grant." Contributor. August 1883. pg. 401-403.
JEDEDIAH M. GRANT.
V.
In regard to the judges return and the object of their fiendish report to the government, the following explanation of the causes of their disappointments are given:
"It would be hard to persuade some of our people that these three persons were not in a plot together, to stir up troubles, and bring us to meet such another brunt in Utah, as in Illinois ended in our being driven from our garden homes there. But I take a more simple view of the case. What men who are not conscience driven, go out to new countries for, I take it, is to seek their fortunes, more or less like the younger sons in the Story books. Sam. Brannan, formerly of our Church, goes out to San Francisco to make his pile of a million; or Jacky Badboy leaves his poor folks in Vermont, to be returned the Honorable John Longlegs of Sicklynoy. Money or Political Honors, one or other, men expect to get; or else they stay at home. Now, Utah is no place for ease in either of these pursuits. In the first place, though we have no gold mines among us, they are near enough to give us California prices for what we consume. In California, the State judges complain at getting, in the District Court, only six thousand five hundred dollars, and in the Supreme Court, ten thousand dollars a year; the United States give our Judges and Secretary but one thousand eight hundred dollars a year. No fortunes to be saved out of these; with flour often as high as twelve dollars a barrel; six cent sugar at thirty-seven and a half to forty-five cent's; and ten cent coffee at forty to fifty cents; in other words, with freight charges alone from the place of first import of fourteen cents a pound on everything, from a bar of soap to a bar of iron. And as for politics, it is still worse. We burnt our fingers once with hot politics. We hate politics—hate them, and thank our fortune most that we have so little call to meddle in them. We have only one delegate to elect, and to that one delegate give but one precept: that he is to leave party questions alone. Yet our views of our own interests and the merits of our public servants are clear and decided enough.
"Now it is enough everyway for my reasoning, to know that the run-away officers were disappointed and discontented with their prospects. .So far would I be from accusing them of being men of the mould at all to contrive or carry out a conspiracy of moment, that I should rather say, that being the feeble natures that they were, and not controlled by ruling convictions of honor or duty, they were just the more likely to be influenced by transitory and inconsiderable causes. To their main disappointment, they were perhaps able to add each his little special cause of discontent. Brochy, as he avows, only came out to us to be sent back Delegate. Unhappy Brandy sucked the Julep of May and December; and boy Harris found his gray mare the better horse. It is all sober truth that I have printed of Brandy. We did our best, as I have stated, to bring him acquainted with the dames and ripe damsels that were of the place; but he was ashamed to make himself much for wholesome or equal company, and liked too much to be alone to benefit himself or them. So what was heaven's judgment on the untimely gallant but to prick him to make up to the little girl I have mentioned? Had he only fancied some elderly lady like himself; after some mutual carriages of love, 'Brandy would have become the Latin for Goose,' the turtle doves would have soon got under pie crust, and flocks of little carrier pigeons would have flown forth to the United States) bearing no tidings but the praises of Utah and all big and little Mormons, under their happy wings. Harris, for his part, was affected the opposite. He had not been long married; and his wife, they said, who was weakly and kept him pretty close, was notiony besides; so thought she would have a particular call to go to her mother after the winter had set in to interrupt the travel. But I rather liked the looks of the little fellow, myself, and should be sorry if the Governor offended him. According to a story, he took the notion the Secretary was his Clerk, and accosted him soon after they met, producing a written paper, and saying, 'I want it copied from here to here,' (showing him) 'and be sure you have it done to bring it to me tomorrow morning early,' which I think is quite natural for a young man to be chafed at, who was holding office for the first time.
"Though thus, perhaps, quite early discontented, I think they were without original or settled definite purpose. Their endeavoring to cozen us out of more than the law gave them, I look upon as merely incidental. But they were afterward led, I apprehend, from step to step and circumstance to circumstance, as weak men generally are. This, of course, gave Brocchus, with his fixed purpose of going home, a great advantage over the two others. He virtually committed them, the moment he was able to keep them from disavowing his misconduct at the Conference. What little notions they may have had of self-respect or official duty being soon after sacrificed, he could have had small difficulty in persuading them finally to join his sort of moonlight flitting for the East. Once run off, of course they came home to public notoriety.
'Hodge speaks of the fair,
By the profit-he had there.'
"To justify himself, each made up his story, and each had to support one grown by telling. Their united fables, in conclave labored into concordance, and done into English by a Washington pen, form the report.
" 'From being a beggar among kings, you shall be a king among beggars.' I know I am right in rating among the substantial disappointments of the officers, the non-fulfilment of this prophecy in their not finding themselves out to be the great men and Caesars of the village they came out to rule. " * *
"I honestly believe the weakness of these vain fellows was such, that, by dint of turkey-gobblerish bloatings up over the notion of their magnificent titles and appointments, they expected on or before being sworn in, to undergo, as it were, a grand palingenetic change—thought in fact to wake up and see themselves the morning after, Brocchus an orator, Brandebury knowing something about law, and Harris a six footer of stately port and dignified demeanor. Bad enough to wake up from such a pleasant dream; but, how much worse to be shaken by the shoulders out of it by that dreadful Brigham Young, a quoter of such thoughts as: 'Why is dust and ashes proud?' 'An ass is an ass if you call him a lion,' 'Death only discovers how little the small bodies of men are,' etc., etc.; a man who casts off all kinds of titles as frippery only fit for understrappers, and insists, maybe, upon wearing the plain clothes at the very time he should be waited upon by the splendid liveries. What burdens in our Earthly Servant's Hall, are the born masters of men' Since the Governor received his appointment, they tell a story, that an English snob having to address a communication to him, superscribed it: 'To his Excellency, Brigham Young, Governor of Utah, Indian Agent for the Territory, and President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.' 'I see,' says Brigham, 'you have given me my titles.' 'Yes,' says the writer, smoothing himself down satisfied, 'yes, Governor, I think they are all there.' 'No sir,' says the Governor, 'they are not, you have left out a most important one, the first I was ever honestly entitled to in my life, and which I have done nothing to be cashiered of since.' 'You mean the Generalship, Governor; beg pardon, allow me to add it, Sir,' says the snob. 'No, Squire Eglon,' says Brigham; (he called him this jocosely, because, like Eglon king of Moab, in the Scripture, he was 'a very fat man,') 'no matter now, Squire, but the next time you shall put it in by itself, without the others. It will read then right sprucely:
'For his Excellency, Brigham Young,
Painter and Glazier.'
"The excuse pays the highest possible tribute it can, in my judgment, when it attempts to authenticate its cock and bull stories, to account for the Governor's extraordinary sway and authority and influence. It is in history that a clever French woman, named Dancre, was executed for her sorcery in governing the Queen after her own desires. 'By what witchcraft,' said her enemies to her on her way to death, 'by what witchcraft have you obtained such an ascendency?' 'By that,' answered she, 'that a strong nature will always have over a weak one.' It is so with men; it is so with the wild horses on the Prairie where one Lord Stallion leads the line; and it is so with the Mormons. Young, Mr. Young, Mr. B. Young, Elder Young, President Young, or Governor Young, call him what you please, is the one appointed ruler and leader of our people. The President may call another man governor even, and it won't be different. It can't be helped. It is the old story of MacDonald, the Lord of the Isles. Coming in late to the Lord Mayor's dinner, and taking his place at the foot of the board, the Mayor sent him a message to come higher up, and repeated it, saying, 'Come, take a seat near me at the head of the table.' To which McDonald returned answer by the servant, 'Tell your master that where McDonald is, there is the head of the table.' 'Where the king is, there is the court,' runs the adage. Where Brigham Young is, there is the head of the table. And it will be as long as he lives. And it can't be helped."
JEDEDIAH M. GRANT.
V.
In regard to the judges return and the object of their fiendish report to the government, the following explanation of the causes of their disappointments are given:
"It would be hard to persuade some of our people that these three persons were not in a plot together, to stir up troubles, and bring us to meet such another brunt in Utah, as in Illinois ended in our being driven from our garden homes there. But I take a more simple view of the case. What men who are not conscience driven, go out to new countries for, I take it, is to seek their fortunes, more or less like the younger sons in the Story books. Sam. Brannan, formerly of our Church, goes out to San Francisco to make his pile of a million; or Jacky Badboy leaves his poor folks in Vermont, to be returned the Honorable John Longlegs of Sicklynoy. Money or Political Honors, one or other, men expect to get; or else they stay at home. Now, Utah is no place for ease in either of these pursuits. In the first place, though we have no gold mines among us, they are near enough to give us California prices for what we consume. In California, the State judges complain at getting, in the District Court, only six thousand five hundred dollars, and in the Supreme Court, ten thousand dollars a year; the United States give our Judges and Secretary but one thousand eight hundred dollars a year. No fortunes to be saved out of these; with flour often as high as twelve dollars a barrel; six cent sugar at thirty-seven and a half to forty-five cent's; and ten cent coffee at forty to fifty cents; in other words, with freight charges alone from the place of first import of fourteen cents a pound on everything, from a bar of soap to a bar of iron. And as for politics, it is still worse. We burnt our fingers once with hot politics. We hate politics—hate them, and thank our fortune most that we have so little call to meddle in them. We have only one delegate to elect, and to that one delegate give but one precept: that he is to leave party questions alone. Yet our views of our own interests and the merits of our public servants are clear and decided enough.
"Now it is enough everyway for my reasoning, to know that the run-away officers were disappointed and discontented with their prospects. .So far would I be from accusing them of being men of the mould at all to contrive or carry out a conspiracy of moment, that I should rather say, that being the feeble natures that they were, and not controlled by ruling convictions of honor or duty, they were just the more likely to be influenced by transitory and inconsiderable causes. To their main disappointment, they were perhaps able to add each his little special cause of discontent. Brochy, as he avows, only came out to us to be sent back Delegate. Unhappy Brandy sucked the Julep of May and December; and boy Harris found his gray mare the better horse. It is all sober truth that I have printed of Brandy. We did our best, as I have stated, to bring him acquainted with the dames and ripe damsels that were of the place; but he was ashamed to make himself much for wholesome or equal company, and liked too much to be alone to benefit himself or them. So what was heaven's judgment on the untimely gallant but to prick him to make up to the little girl I have mentioned? Had he only fancied some elderly lady like himself; after some mutual carriages of love, 'Brandy would have become the Latin for Goose,' the turtle doves would have soon got under pie crust, and flocks of little carrier pigeons would have flown forth to the United States) bearing no tidings but the praises of Utah and all big and little Mormons, under their happy wings. Harris, for his part, was affected the opposite. He had not been long married; and his wife, they said, who was weakly and kept him pretty close, was notiony besides; so thought she would have a particular call to go to her mother after the winter had set in to interrupt the travel. But I rather liked the looks of the little fellow, myself, and should be sorry if the Governor offended him. According to a story, he took the notion the Secretary was his Clerk, and accosted him soon after they met, producing a written paper, and saying, 'I want it copied from here to here,' (showing him) 'and be sure you have it done to bring it to me tomorrow morning early,' which I think is quite natural for a young man to be chafed at, who was holding office for the first time.
"Though thus, perhaps, quite early discontented, I think they were without original or settled definite purpose. Their endeavoring to cozen us out of more than the law gave them, I look upon as merely incidental. But they were afterward led, I apprehend, from step to step and circumstance to circumstance, as weak men generally are. This, of course, gave Brocchus, with his fixed purpose of going home, a great advantage over the two others. He virtually committed them, the moment he was able to keep them from disavowing his misconduct at the Conference. What little notions they may have had of self-respect or official duty being soon after sacrificed, he could have had small difficulty in persuading them finally to join his sort of moonlight flitting for the East. Once run off, of course they came home to public notoriety.
'Hodge speaks of the fair,
By the profit-he had there.'
"To justify himself, each made up his story, and each had to support one grown by telling. Their united fables, in conclave labored into concordance, and done into English by a Washington pen, form the report.
" 'From being a beggar among kings, you shall be a king among beggars.' I know I am right in rating among the substantial disappointments of the officers, the non-fulfilment of this prophecy in their not finding themselves out to be the great men and Caesars of the village they came out to rule. " * *
"I honestly believe the weakness of these vain fellows was such, that, by dint of turkey-gobblerish bloatings up over the notion of their magnificent titles and appointments, they expected on or before being sworn in, to undergo, as it were, a grand palingenetic change—thought in fact to wake up and see themselves the morning after, Brocchus an orator, Brandebury knowing something about law, and Harris a six footer of stately port and dignified demeanor. Bad enough to wake up from such a pleasant dream; but, how much worse to be shaken by the shoulders out of it by that dreadful Brigham Young, a quoter of such thoughts as: 'Why is dust and ashes proud?' 'An ass is an ass if you call him a lion,' 'Death only discovers how little the small bodies of men are,' etc., etc.; a man who casts off all kinds of titles as frippery only fit for understrappers, and insists, maybe, upon wearing the plain clothes at the very time he should be waited upon by the splendid liveries. What burdens in our Earthly Servant's Hall, are the born masters of men' Since the Governor received his appointment, they tell a story, that an English snob having to address a communication to him, superscribed it: 'To his Excellency, Brigham Young, Governor of Utah, Indian Agent for the Territory, and President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.' 'I see,' says Brigham, 'you have given me my titles.' 'Yes,' says the writer, smoothing himself down satisfied, 'yes, Governor, I think they are all there.' 'No sir,' says the Governor, 'they are not, you have left out a most important one, the first I was ever honestly entitled to in my life, and which I have done nothing to be cashiered of since.' 'You mean the Generalship, Governor; beg pardon, allow me to add it, Sir,' says the snob. 'No, Squire Eglon,' says Brigham; (he called him this jocosely, because, like Eglon king of Moab, in the Scripture, he was 'a very fat man,') 'no matter now, Squire, but the next time you shall put it in by itself, without the others. It will read then right sprucely:
'For his Excellency, Brigham Young,
Painter and Glazier.'
"The excuse pays the highest possible tribute it can, in my judgment, when it attempts to authenticate its cock and bull stories, to account for the Governor's extraordinary sway and authority and influence. It is in history that a clever French woman, named Dancre, was executed for her sorcery in governing the Queen after her own desires. 'By what witchcraft,' said her enemies to her on her way to death, 'by what witchcraft have you obtained such an ascendency?' 'By that,' answered she, 'that a strong nature will always have over a weak one.' It is so with men; it is so with the wild horses on the Prairie where one Lord Stallion leads the line; and it is so with the Mormons. Young, Mr. Young, Mr. B. Young, Elder Young, President Young, or Governor Young, call him what you please, is the one appointed ruler and leader of our people. The President may call another man governor even, and it won't be different. It can't be helped. It is the old story of MacDonald, the Lord of the Isles. Coming in late to the Lord Mayor's dinner, and taking his place at the foot of the board, the Mayor sent him a message to come higher up, and repeated it, saying, 'Come, take a seat near me at the head of the table.' To which McDonald returned answer by the servant, 'Tell your master that where McDonald is, there is the head of the table.' 'Where the king is, there is the court,' runs the adage. Where Brigham Young is, there is the head of the table. And it will be as long as he lives. And it can't be helped."
"Jedediah M. Grant." Contributor. September 1883. pg. 441-444.
JEDEDIAH M. GRANT.
VI.
Brother Grant was chosen Speaker of the House of Representatives in the Legislative Assembly of the Territory in 1852, and at the three subsequent sessions, filling that office with dignity and honor, to the fullest satisfaction of the members over whom he presided. As a legislator he was quick and talented and brought to the law making department a high practical sense of justice and right, which qualified him to propose and render valuable aid in framing wholesome laws for the political and domestic welfare of the community.
But his great work which preserves the memory of President Grant in the hearts of the Latter-day Saints, was in his ecclesiastical calling. In 1854 he was chosen from the First Seven Presidents of Seventies, one of whom he had been for many years, to be second counselor in the First Presidency. In this position he was distinguished for the burning zeal that seemed to fire his bosom and keep him ever at work dispensing the blessings of the Gospel to the people and awakening within them that enthusiasm and sincerity necessary to the faithful believer in pursuing the life of a Saint, and which was ever exemplified in the career of Brother Grant. His zeal hardly had bounds, except those of the God given intelligence which preserved him from fanaticism; but he loved the work of the Lord with his whole heart and dedicated without reserve his might, mind and strength to its accomplishment. The exemplary faith and devotion of such a man inspires his fellows to efforts of godliness that they would never dream of if left to themselves, and this quality so pre-eminently displayed by Brother Grant, brought him to the front as the main leader, under the counsel of President Young—of the Great Reformation of 1856-7. The last six months of his life he labored indefatigably and beyond his physical strength in starting and rolling on that famous revival which kindled a fire in the midst of Zion that was joyfully felt by the Saints the whole world over, and caused sinners to tremble and many to flee from the habitations of the Saints. Whatever may be said at this late day of the Reformation—for there are those who are inclined to criticise the severity with which the laws of God were administered— notably those who received the Reformation and got through with it the same day—we must look upon it as the occasion of a great and long to be remembered outpouring of the Spirit of God upon the people. Lives that were more or less clouded with doubts or difficulties were lifted into the clear sunlight of faith and freedom, and have there remained, growing better and brighter with the years as they roll on, bearing the saved souls to that exaltation and glory, their repentance and good works are preparing for them, in the world to come.
The energy with which Brother Grant labored to effect the reformation of the people, the difficulties encountered and the manner in which they were overcome is illustrated in the following extract from a discourse delivered by him in November before his death: "We went to Kaysville to preach the Reformation, under the direction of Brother Brigham. There was a dark and dull spirit there, which was not very congenial to our natures, and brother Joseph Young felt life in him; he was full of the Spirit. .After staying a couple of days he said to me: 'Brother Grant, they feel cold and I guess we had better go to Farmington, preach there and go home.' After a while I said to him, 'Do you know how I feel about it? In the name of the Lord I will never leave this land until this people surrender. I will hang the flag of the Lord Jesus Christ on their doors, .and there shall be a siege of forty days.' Then let every man storm the castle and rush against the bulwarks of hell, and let every Elder throw the arrows of God Almighty through the sinners and pierce their loins and penetrate their vitals until the banner of Christ shall wave triumphantly over Israel. Shall we give up and let the wicked and ungodly overcome us? No, in the name and by the power of God we will overcome them. We will cleanse the inside of the platter and have Israel ^saved through the name of Jesus Christ and by the power of His word. In former days the Lord cut off rebellious Israel by thousands to save them; he had no other way for saving them. He had tried every other means; He had opened the sea for them to pass over dry shod and overthrew their enemies, the horse and his rider in the flood; he made the mountains skip like rams and the little hills like lambs; he spoke to the angels, saying, throw down your food to them, and the bright clouds shed down manna to sustain them; he spake to them in thunders, in lightnings, in earthquakes, and tried every means to save them that a God could try, in the plenitude of His mercy, and when He' had exhausted the arrows of His wrath in chastisement, and the wells of His mercy in blessings and entreaty, He cut them off by thousands. O Israel, hear, while the voice of entreaty is in the land, hear the voice of Brother Brigham, and awake from your slumber, forsake your sins and abominations, and turn unto your God, that repentance may reach you, and remission of sins and the gifts and blessings of God come upon you."
The thousands who responded to the eloquent appeal of this inspired speaker as he journeyed from town to town, proclaiming the truth to the people, is the best evidence of his power that could be given. Among the reforms urged, were cleanliness of person and property, repentance and confession of wrongs committed between man and man, according to the Church law governing offences, and a very great deal was said in regard to training children in habits of industry, to make them self-reliant and independent. Restitution for wrongs done was required, and the people were urged to purify themselves from every shadow or stain of evil doing, that they might participate in the blessings of the sacrament and other ordinances, worthily. The spirit of the Reformation was one of humility and mutual forgiveness rather than of strict discipline or law. There were comparatively few excommunications, but there was a universal revival of spiritual life and energy, such as the Saints had never before witnessed in the Church.
The pre-eminently useful labors of President Grant in the Reformation, exhausted the vital force of his strong constitution, and were followed by a brief and severe illness, from which he was unable to recover. His prostration caused gloom among the people, but was made the occasion to him of receiving, before death, some of the most remarkable manifestations that are ever given to men in the flesh. The following account thereof narrated at his funeral by President Heber C. Kimball, will be read with interest by those who were then present, and by all Latter-day Saints to whom the existence beyond the grave is so clearly and satisfactorily made known, through the revelations of God to His Prophets of this great and last dispensation. Brother Kimball said: "I will not stoop to the principle of death. I could weep; but I will not. There is a spirit in me that rises above that feeling, and it is because Jedediah is not dead. I went to see him one day last week, and he reached out his hand and shook hands with me. He could not speak, but he shook hands warmly with me. I felt for him, and wanted to raise him up, and to have him stay and help us whip the devil and bring to pass righteousness. Why? Because he was valiant and I loved him. He was a great help to us, and you would be if you were as valiant as he was, which you can be through faithfulness and obedience.
I laid my hands upon him and blessed him, and asked God to strengthen his lungs that he might be easier; and in two or three minutes he raised himself up, and talked for about an hour as busily as he could, telling me what he had seen and what he understood, until I was afraid he would weary himself, when I arose and left him. He said to me, 'Brother Heber, I have been into the spirit world two nights in succession, and of all the dreads that ever came across me, the worst was to have to again return to my body, though I had to do it. 'But O' says he, 'the order and government that were there! When in the spirit world, I saw the order of righteous men and women; beheld them organized in their several grades, and there appeared to be no obstructions to my vision; I could see every man and woman in their grade and order. I looked to see if there was any disorder there, but there was none, neither could I see any death, nor any darkness, disorder or confusion.' He said that the people he saw were organized in family capacities, and when he looked at them, he saw grade after grade, and all were organized and in perfect harmony. He would mention one item after another, and say: 'Why it is just as Brother Brigham says it is; it is just as he has told us many a time.'
"He saw the righteous gathered together in the spirit world, and there were no wicked spirits among them. He saw his wife; she was the first person that came to him. He saw many that he knew, but did not have conversation with any but his wife Caroline. She came to him, and he said that she looked beautifully and had their little child that died on the plains, in her arms, and said, 'Mr. Grant, here is little Margaret; you know the wolves ate her up, but it did not hurt her; here she is all right.' 'To my astonishment,' he said, 'when I looked at families, there was a deficiency in some; there was a lack, for I saw families that would not be permitted to come and dwell together, because they had not honored their calling here. He asked his wife, where Joseph and Hyrum and Father Smith and others were; she replied, 'They have gone away ahead, to perform and transact business for us.'
He also spoke of the buildings he saw there, remarking that the Lord gave Solomon wisdom and poured gold and silver into his hands, that he might display his skill and ability; and said that the temple erected by Solomon was much inferior to the most ordinary buildings he saw in the spirit world. 'In regard to gardens,' says Brother Grant, 'I have seen good gardens on this earth, but I never saw any to compare with those that were there. I saw flowers of numerous kinds, and some with fifty or a hundred different colored flowers growing on one stalk.' We have many kinds of flowers on the earth, and I suppose those very articles came from heaven or they would not be here. After mentioning the things that he had seen, he spoke of how much he disliked to return and resume his body, after having seen the beauty and glory of the spirit world, where the righteous spirits are gathered together.
"Some may marvel at my speaking about these things, for many profess to believe that we have no spiritual existence. But do you not believe that my spirit was organized before it came to my body here? And do you not think there can be houses and gardens, fruit trees and every other good thing there? The spirits of those things are made as well as our spirits, and it follows that they can exist upon the same principle. After speaking of the gardens and the beauty of everything there, Brother Grant said that he felt extremely sorrowful at having to leave so beautiful a place and come back to earth, for he looked upon his body with loathing, but was obliged to enter it again. He said that after he came back he could look upon his family and see the spirit that was in them and the darkness that was in them; and that he conversed with them about the Gospel and what they should do, and they replied, 'Well, Brother Grant, perhaps it is so and perhaps it is not;' and he said that is the state of the people, to a great extent, for many are full of darkness and will not believe."
This imperfect account of the wonderful vision of those two nights was listened to with rapt attention by the large audience, and was repeated for years after by many who heard it. A profound sensation was produced by its narration, for it unfolded to many minds details of the glory of the spirit world that they had not realized from reading the general expressions in which the revelations tell of them.
On December 1, 1856, President Grant breathed his last, and his spirit went joyfully to mingle with those of his friends, family and brethren that had gone before. He was forty years of age when he died, but had spent those years to such advantage in laboring for the welfare of his fellow men that he was mourned by thousands, and left in their memories a name that will be forever cherished as a symbol of virtue, integrity and honor. The editor of the Deseret News, in closing his obituary, says:
"Brother Grant needs no eulogy, and least of all such an one as our language could portray, for his whole life was one of noble and diligent action upon the side of truth, of high toned and correct example to all who desire to be saved in the Kingdom of our God. As a citizen, as a friend, a son, a husband, a father, and above all as a Saint, and in every station and circumstance of life, whether military, civil, or religious, he everywhere, and at all times, shed forth the steady and brilliant light of lofty and correct example, and died as he lived and counseled, with his 'armor on and burnished.' Though all Saints deeply feel his departure, yet they can fully realize that it redounds to his and our 'infinite gain.' "
JEDEDIAH M. GRANT.
VI.
Brother Grant was chosen Speaker of the House of Representatives in the Legislative Assembly of the Territory in 1852, and at the three subsequent sessions, filling that office with dignity and honor, to the fullest satisfaction of the members over whom he presided. As a legislator he was quick and talented and brought to the law making department a high practical sense of justice and right, which qualified him to propose and render valuable aid in framing wholesome laws for the political and domestic welfare of the community.
But his great work which preserves the memory of President Grant in the hearts of the Latter-day Saints, was in his ecclesiastical calling. In 1854 he was chosen from the First Seven Presidents of Seventies, one of whom he had been for many years, to be second counselor in the First Presidency. In this position he was distinguished for the burning zeal that seemed to fire his bosom and keep him ever at work dispensing the blessings of the Gospel to the people and awakening within them that enthusiasm and sincerity necessary to the faithful believer in pursuing the life of a Saint, and which was ever exemplified in the career of Brother Grant. His zeal hardly had bounds, except those of the God given intelligence which preserved him from fanaticism; but he loved the work of the Lord with his whole heart and dedicated without reserve his might, mind and strength to its accomplishment. The exemplary faith and devotion of such a man inspires his fellows to efforts of godliness that they would never dream of if left to themselves, and this quality so pre-eminently displayed by Brother Grant, brought him to the front as the main leader, under the counsel of President Young—of the Great Reformation of 1856-7. The last six months of his life he labored indefatigably and beyond his physical strength in starting and rolling on that famous revival which kindled a fire in the midst of Zion that was joyfully felt by the Saints the whole world over, and caused sinners to tremble and many to flee from the habitations of the Saints. Whatever may be said at this late day of the Reformation—for there are those who are inclined to criticise the severity with which the laws of God were administered— notably those who received the Reformation and got through with it the same day—we must look upon it as the occasion of a great and long to be remembered outpouring of the Spirit of God upon the people. Lives that were more or less clouded with doubts or difficulties were lifted into the clear sunlight of faith and freedom, and have there remained, growing better and brighter with the years as they roll on, bearing the saved souls to that exaltation and glory, their repentance and good works are preparing for them, in the world to come.
The energy with which Brother Grant labored to effect the reformation of the people, the difficulties encountered and the manner in which they were overcome is illustrated in the following extract from a discourse delivered by him in November before his death: "We went to Kaysville to preach the Reformation, under the direction of Brother Brigham. There was a dark and dull spirit there, which was not very congenial to our natures, and brother Joseph Young felt life in him; he was full of the Spirit. .After staying a couple of days he said to me: 'Brother Grant, they feel cold and I guess we had better go to Farmington, preach there and go home.' After a while I said to him, 'Do you know how I feel about it? In the name of the Lord I will never leave this land until this people surrender. I will hang the flag of the Lord Jesus Christ on their doors, .and there shall be a siege of forty days.' Then let every man storm the castle and rush against the bulwarks of hell, and let every Elder throw the arrows of God Almighty through the sinners and pierce their loins and penetrate their vitals until the banner of Christ shall wave triumphantly over Israel. Shall we give up and let the wicked and ungodly overcome us? No, in the name and by the power of God we will overcome them. We will cleanse the inside of the platter and have Israel ^saved through the name of Jesus Christ and by the power of His word. In former days the Lord cut off rebellious Israel by thousands to save them; he had no other way for saving them. He had tried every other means; He had opened the sea for them to pass over dry shod and overthrew their enemies, the horse and his rider in the flood; he made the mountains skip like rams and the little hills like lambs; he spoke to the angels, saying, throw down your food to them, and the bright clouds shed down manna to sustain them; he spake to them in thunders, in lightnings, in earthquakes, and tried every means to save them that a God could try, in the plenitude of His mercy, and when He' had exhausted the arrows of His wrath in chastisement, and the wells of His mercy in blessings and entreaty, He cut them off by thousands. O Israel, hear, while the voice of entreaty is in the land, hear the voice of Brother Brigham, and awake from your slumber, forsake your sins and abominations, and turn unto your God, that repentance may reach you, and remission of sins and the gifts and blessings of God come upon you."
The thousands who responded to the eloquent appeal of this inspired speaker as he journeyed from town to town, proclaiming the truth to the people, is the best evidence of his power that could be given. Among the reforms urged, were cleanliness of person and property, repentance and confession of wrongs committed between man and man, according to the Church law governing offences, and a very great deal was said in regard to training children in habits of industry, to make them self-reliant and independent. Restitution for wrongs done was required, and the people were urged to purify themselves from every shadow or stain of evil doing, that they might participate in the blessings of the sacrament and other ordinances, worthily. The spirit of the Reformation was one of humility and mutual forgiveness rather than of strict discipline or law. There were comparatively few excommunications, but there was a universal revival of spiritual life and energy, such as the Saints had never before witnessed in the Church.
The pre-eminently useful labors of President Grant in the Reformation, exhausted the vital force of his strong constitution, and were followed by a brief and severe illness, from which he was unable to recover. His prostration caused gloom among the people, but was made the occasion to him of receiving, before death, some of the most remarkable manifestations that are ever given to men in the flesh. The following account thereof narrated at his funeral by President Heber C. Kimball, will be read with interest by those who were then present, and by all Latter-day Saints to whom the existence beyond the grave is so clearly and satisfactorily made known, through the revelations of God to His Prophets of this great and last dispensation. Brother Kimball said: "I will not stoop to the principle of death. I could weep; but I will not. There is a spirit in me that rises above that feeling, and it is because Jedediah is not dead. I went to see him one day last week, and he reached out his hand and shook hands with me. He could not speak, but he shook hands warmly with me. I felt for him, and wanted to raise him up, and to have him stay and help us whip the devil and bring to pass righteousness. Why? Because he was valiant and I loved him. He was a great help to us, and you would be if you were as valiant as he was, which you can be through faithfulness and obedience.
I laid my hands upon him and blessed him, and asked God to strengthen his lungs that he might be easier; and in two or three minutes he raised himself up, and talked for about an hour as busily as he could, telling me what he had seen and what he understood, until I was afraid he would weary himself, when I arose and left him. He said to me, 'Brother Heber, I have been into the spirit world two nights in succession, and of all the dreads that ever came across me, the worst was to have to again return to my body, though I had to do it. 'But O' says he, 'the order and government that were there! When in the spirit world, I saw the order of righteous men and women; beheld them organized in their several grades, and there appeared to be no obstructions to my vision; I could see every man and woman in their grade and order. I looked to see if there was any disorder there, but there was none, neither could I see any death, nor any darkness, disorder or confusion.' He said that the people he saw were organized in family capacities, and when he looked at them, he saw grade after grade, and all were organized and in perfect harmony. He would mention one item after another, and say: 'Why it is just as Brother Brigham says it is; it is just as he has told us many a time.'
"He saw the righteous gathered together in the spirit world, and there were no wicked spirits among them. He saw his wife; she was the first person that came to him. He saw many that he knew, but did not have conversation with any but his wife Caroline. She came to him, and he said that she looked beautifully and had their little child that died on the plains, in her arms, and said, 'Mr. Grant, here is little Margaret; you know the wolves ate her up, but it did not hurt her; here she is all right.' 'To my astonishment,' he said, 'when I looked at families, there was a deficiency in some; there was a lack, for I saw families that would not be permitted to come and dwell together, because they had not honored their calling here. He asked his wife, where Joseph and Hyrum and Father Smith and others were; she replied, 'They have gone away ahead, to perform and transact business for us.'
He also spoke of the buildings he saw there, remarking that the Lord gave Solomon wisdom and poured gold and silver into his hands, that he might display his skill and ability; and said that the temple erected by Solomon was much inferior to the most ordinary buildings he saw in the spirit world. 'In regard to gardens,' says Brother Grant, 'I have seen good gardens on this earth, but I never saw any to compare with those that were there. I saw flowers of numerous kinds, and some with fifty or a hundred different colored flowers growing on one stalk.' We have many kinds of flowers on the earth, and I suppose those very articles came from heaven or they would not be here. After mentioning the things that he had seen, he spoke of how much he disliked to return and resume his body, after having seen the beauty and glory of the spirit world, where the righteous spirits are gathered together.
"Some may marvel at my speaking about these things, for many profess to believe that we have no spiritual existence. But do you not believe that my spirit was organized before it came to my body here? And do you not think there can be houses and gardens, fruit trees and every other good thing there? The spirits of those things are made as well as our spirits, and it follows that they can exist upon the same principle. After speaking of the gardens and the beauty of everything there, Brother Grant said that he felt extremely sorrowful at having to leave so beautiful a place and come back to earth, for he looked upon his body with loathing, but was obliged to enter it again. He said that after he came back he could look upon his family and see the spirit that was in them and the darkness that was in them; and that he conversed with them about the Gospel and what they should do, and they replied, 'Well, Brother Grant, perhaps it is so and perhaps it is not;' and he said that is the state of the people, to a great extent, for many are full of darkness and will not believe."
This imperfect account of the wonderful vision of those two nights was listened to with rapt attention by the large audience, and was repeated for years after by many who heard it. A profound sensation was produced by its narration, for it unfolded to many minds details of the glory of the spirit world that they had not realized from reading the general expressions in which the revelations tell of them.
On December 1, 1856, President Grant breathed his last, and his spirit went joyfully to mingle with those of his friends, family and brethren that had gone before. He was forty years of age when he died, but had spent those years to such advantage in laboring for the welfare of his fellow men that he was mourned by thousands, and left in their memories a name that will be forever cherished as a symbol of virtue, integrity and honor. The editor of the Deseret News, in closing his obituary, says:
"Brother Grant needs no eulogy, and least of all such an one as our language could portray, for his whole life was one of noble and diligent action upon the side of truth, of high toned and correct example to all who desire to be saved in the Kingdom of our God. As a citizen, as a friend, a son, a husband, a father, and above all as a Saint, and in every station and circumstance of life, whether military, civil, or religious, he everywhere, and at all times, shed forth the steady and brilliant light of lofty and correct example, and died as he lived and counseled, with his 'armor on and burnished.' Though all Saints deeply feel his departure, yet they can fully realize that it redounds to his and our 'infinite gain.' "
Richards, L. Lula Greene. "Prest. Jedediah M. Grant's View of the Spirit World." Relief Society Magazine. February 1920. pg. 64-67.
What Do We Know of the Other Side? (Yes; what do we know about the World beyond the grave? We know a great deal, and the world knows very little. In this article we have grouped a number of well-authenticated descriptions from our Church leaders.) PREST. JEDEDIAH M. GRANTS VIEW OF THE SPIRIT WORLD. A Memorable Incident Recalled to Mind by L. Lula Greene Richards With the several eventful days of the present month, February, the 21st may be noted and remembered by the Latter- day Saints as the birthday of one of their early heroes. President Jedediah Morgan Grant, he having been born on that date, in the year 1816. And on March 21, 1833, sixteen days before the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was three years old, that valiant and fearless advocate of the principles of the restored gospel was received into its sacred folds by baptism and became a most energetic and powerful teacher, both by word and example, of the plan of salvation, as revealed through the Prophet Joseph Smith. Jedediah M. Grant, the father of President Heber J. Grant who now presides as prophet, seer and revelator and president of the Church, after his baptism strenuously devoted his whole remaining earthly existence to the building up of the kingdom of God upon the earth and the salvation of God's children. In 1854, when a vacancy was occasioned in the first presidency of the Church, in Utah, by the death of the second counselor. Elder Willard Richards, Brother Grant was chosen as Brother Richards' successor. A beautiful and enduring tribute and testimony of the love and confidence with which President Brigham Young regarded his counselor, President Grant, was evinced in the fact that two sons of the former were named for the latter, but they both died in childhood. All students of the early history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are more or less familiar with strikingly interesting and faith promoting anecdotes and stories wherein Jedediah M. Grant became noted for the prompt inspiration, brilliant wit, and masterful logic with which he always succeeded in confounding and putting to silence those who opposed his message of truth as a "defender of the faith." It is not, however, the purpose of this article to reproduce any of those richly entertaining narrations. Yet, the desire is to recall briefly an account of the most remarkable of all President Grant's earthly experiences, as related by himself to the brethren and his family, a few days previous to his death which took place in Salt Lake City, Utah, Dec. 1, 1856, when he was forty years old. This last wonderful story was repeated at President Grant's funeral by President Heber C. Kimball from whose discourse the following abridgment is made: President Kimball told of having visited Elder Grant a short time before his death and said, "He could not speak, but shook hands warmly with me. I laid my hands upon him and blessed him and asked God to strengthen his lungs that he might be easier; and in two or three minutes he raised himself up and talked for about an hour as busily as he could tell me of what he had seen and what he understood." He said to me, "Brother Heber, I have been into the spirit world two nights in succession, and of all the dreads that ever came across me, the worst was to have again to return to my body, though I had to do it. Oh, the order and government that were there ! When in the spirit world, I saw the order of righteous men and women; I beheld them organized in their several grades, and there appeared to be no obstructions to my vision; I could see every man and woman in their grade and order. I looked to see if there was any disorder there, but there was none, neither could I see any death, nor any darkness or confusion. The people were organized in family capacities, grade after grade, in perfect harmony. Why it is just as Brother Brigham says it is; just as he has told us many a time. The righteous gathered together in the spirit world and no wicked spirits among them. I saw my wife, Caroline, who was the first person that came to me. I saw many that I knew, but did not have conversation with any but my wife. She looked beautiful and had our little child that died on the plains in her arms. She said, 'Here is little Margaret; you know the wolves ate up her body, but it did not hurt her; here she is. all right.' "To my astonishment, when I looked at families, there was a deficiency in some; there was a lack, for I saw families that would not be permitted' to come and dwell together, because they had not honored their calling here. I asked my wife where Joseph and Hyrum and Father Smith, and others, were. She replied, 'They have gone away ahead to perform and transact business for us.' "Buildings! The Lord gave Solomon wisdom, and poured gold and silver into his hands that he might display his skill and ability; but the temple erected by Solomon was much inferior to the most ordinary building I saw in the spirit world. "Gardens! I have seen good gardens on this earth, but never any to compare with those that were there. I saw flowers of numerous kinds, some with fifty or a hundred different- colored flowers growing on one stalk. We have many kinds of flowers on the earth, and I suppose those very articles came from heaven, or they would not be here. The spirits of those things are made as well as ours, and it follows that they can exist upon the same principles. After seeing the beauty of everything there, I felt extremely sorrowful at having to leave so beautiful a place and come back to earth, for I looked upon my body with loathing, but was obliged to enter it again." The account of the marvelous vision of those two nights in which so much that was exceedingly choice and valuable, as well as intensely interesting to learn, as was revealed to that great and good man, Jedediah M. Grant, was reverently repeated among the Saints for years afterwards. And some, who were little children then, have always remembered and cherished the wonderful story as one of the dearest and best descriptions of heaven, or the spirit world, ever uttered by mortal men. More lengthy particulars concerning the subject have been published in Church literature. |
PRESIDENT JEDEDIAH M. GRANT
Born, 21 February, 1816; died, 1 December, 1856. First Counsellor to President Brigham Young. |
Anderson, Arthur S. "Little Deeds from Big Lives - They Sought His Will - He Prepared Himself in Advance." Instructor. November 1956. pg. 330-331.
Little Deeds from Big Lives By Arthur S. Anderson They Sought His Will He Prepared Himself In Advance JEDEDIAH M. GRANT believed it was wise to store up knowledge of all Gospel truths so that he would be ready for any teaching or preaching when the opportunity presented itself. He proved the wisdom of this practice many times. While on a mission in Virginia and North Carolina, he was asked to preach at a meeting to be held in the Jeffersonville courthouse. A group of the town's lawyers and ministers doubted that Elder Grant's eloquent sermons could be delivered without preparation. They suggested he be given a subject for this sermon upon his arrival at the courthouse so that there would be no time for preparation. To satisfy them, he consented. At the hour appointed, the courthouse was packed to capacity. Elder Grant was given the piece of paper on which he was to find the subject for his sermon. When the paper was unfolded, it was found to be blank. Without any mark of surprise. Elder Grant began his discourse by drawing a comparison between the blank piece of paper and the sectarian belief in a world which was created from "nothing." He compared the paper with many other "blanks" in the doctrines embraced by the members of his audience and then proclaimed the true principles of the Gospel with great power. Because Jedediah M. Grant was always prepared for any teaching opportunity, he was instrumental in bringing many converts into the Church.[1] He was ordained an Apostle and set apart as second counselor to President Brigham Young on April 7, 1854. [1] Prophets and Patriarchs by Matthias F. Cowley, published by Ben E. Rich. |
Jedediah M. Grant
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