Pillar of Light
Page 453
Divergence and convergence. Separation and reunion. The Pioneer Company. The Mormon Battalion. The Donner-Reed Party. The BrooklynSaints. The Big Company. Each has its own unique part to play in the gathering, and the Steeds will be swept up in grand events just as they have been so many times before. In volume 9, it has been twenty years since Joseph and Hyrum Smith came to the Steed farm in Palmyra, New York, to help clear the land. The family then consisted of Benjamin, Mary Ann, and their five surviving children. Now the family has swelled to almost forty people. Now the third generation of Steeds begins to come forth to take part in the great saga of finding a place of refuge in the Rocky Mountains. It will not be an easy task. It will demand sacrifice and separation. It will take determination and dedication. It will require that covenants take precedence over convenience. But when it is done, the family—along with so many others—will be able to say without hesitation or reservation, “All is well.”
With the completion of volume 9, the series known as The Work and the Glorywill come to a close for a time. Personally, it will have covered ten years of my life. As previously noted in the preface to volume 8, Kim Moe and I signed our agreement to begin working on this project in November 1988. Perhaps it was just as well that neither of us could foresee that the project on which we embarked with such bold naivete would still be going a full ten years later. Sadly, Kim did not live to see it come to fruition. He died of cancer in October 1996.
Having finished volume 9, I am going to set the series aside for a time. There are a couple of reasons for this. For one thing, with the arrival of the Saints in the Salt Lake Valley, the Restoration era comes to a close. What follows is a period of isolation in which the Church is given time to consolidate, grow, and strengthen its roots. From there, it moves step by step until it becomes what we see today, a worldwide kingdom experiencing remarkable growth and global recognition. Those are exciting eras too, but my desire was to tell the story of the Restoration. (As a side note, it even feels to me as though the Steeds are saying, “All right. We’ve let you into our lives for these twenty years. Now we’d like a little time to ourselves.”)
A second reason for stopping for a time now is that for ten years I have had to put many other projects and assignments on hold in order to produce one book in the series each year. After that long, it is time to step back, take a breath, and catch up on some other things. Then, after a time, I would like to finish the series by writing another volume that jumps forward approximately one hundred and fifty years to take a look at the descendants of the Steeds in the closing years of this century. From the beginning, Kim Moe had strong feelings that we needed to tell our readers what it’s like to be a Latter-day Saint in the modern world. Before his death, I committed to Kim that once I got the Saints to the Salt Lake Valley, I would take some time off but then would complete the series by doing something with the Steeds in modern times.
I look forward to that. I have already started a file of ideas that I would like to include in that volume. Like Kim, I feel strongly that it is a story that needs to be told. A century and a half in time will have elapsed. We will have moved from the world of wagons and carts to a world of jetliners, automobiles, and the Internet. We will have gone from an age of faith to an age of high tech and low morals and widespread self-indulgence. Yet it is my deep conviction that the gospel of Jesus Christ, restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith, provides the answers to our age and our dilemmas and our challenges just as it did for those early Saints whom Benjamin and Mary Ann Steed and their family are intended to represent.
As the series comes to a close for a time, I should once again like to thank those who have played such an important part in taking this project from concept to reality. First and foremost I would like to thank my wife, Lynn, who has been not only my untiring partner over ten years of effort and sacrifice but also my first reader and most-valued critic. Though she herself would deny this, her mark—though not visible—is found throughout the series. As mentioned several times before, without Kim Moe’s vision and dogged commitment to the importance of this project, I would likely have continued doing other things with my writing for some time to come and this series would not have moved forward as it has. His wife, Jane, continues on with the work, as determined to see it through as Kim was during his life.
Russell Orton, president of Bookcraft, now retired, along with Cory Maxwell, editorial manager at Bookcraft, saw almost instantly the potential for the series while I was still struggling to make volume 1 a reality. Not only did Russell’s support and vision make him a valued associate, but through it all he and his wife, Ann, became treasured friends.
Kristin Johnson—whose work on the Donner-Reed Party entitled “Unfortunate Emigrants”: Narratives of the Donner Partywas especially valuable—also provided important consultation and many helpful suggestions on the manuscript. Her help has increased the accuracy of the references to that important group. There are many others who have been mentioned before in previous volumes—historians, designers, artists, editors, researchers, marketing personnel, secretaries, and readers. Each one could—though none of them ever will—easily step forward and say, “I had a hand in the success of this project.”
Last of all I should like to thank them whose work and glory is the subject of the series. Before I ever began, I had a testimony of the Father and the Son and of their great, ever-watchful love and concern for each of us. I knew about and loved the Prophet Joseph Smith. I had a strong conviction that the restoration of the Church and the gospel on the earth was one of the most significant events in all of human history. All of that I knew and knew it strongly.
Now, after ten years of constantly pouring over the sources, of reading and rereading, of checking and cross-checking, of trying to wiggle into the heads of these great people who made the Restoration a reality, my testimony has deepened beyond my greatest expectations. The work of the restored Church is God’s work, and from it comes his glory. Of that there is not the slightest shadow of doubt.
Recently I came across a statement by Joseph F. Smith, sixth President of the Church, that epitomizes what I have come to know and feel after ten years of writing this series. He said: “The hand of the Lord may not be visible to all. There may be many who can not discern the workings of God’s will in the progress and development of this great latter-day work, but there are those who see in every hour and in every momentof the existence of the Church, from its beginning until now, the overruling, almighty hand of Him who sent His Only Begotten Son to the world to become a sacrifice for the sin of the world” (in Conference Report, April 1904, p. 2; emphasis added).
Gerald N. Lund
Bountiful, Utah
September 1998
Characters of Note in This Book
The Steed Family
•Mary Ann Morgan, widow of Benjamin Steed, and mother and grandmother; not quite sixty as the story opens.
•Joshua, the oldest son (thirty-nine), and his wife, Caroline Mendenhall (almost forty).
William (“Will”), from Caroline’s first marriage (twenty-two), and his wife, Alice Samuelson (nineteen).
Savannah; nine.
Charles Benjamin; six.
Livvy Caroline; two years old as the book opens.
•Jessica Roundy Garrett (forty-two), Joshua’s first wife, widow of John Griffith, and her husband, Solomon Garrett (forty-one).
Rachel, from marriage to Joshua; fourteen.
Luke and Mark, sons from John Griffith’s first marriage; thirteen and eleven, respectively.
John Benjamin, from marriage to John; eight.
Miriam Jessica, from marriage to Solomon; almost three.
Solomon Clinton; fourteen months.
•Nathan, the second son (thirty-seven), and his wife, Lydia McBride (about the same age).
Joshua Benjamin (“Josh”); fifteen.
Emily; not quite fourteen.
Elizabeth Mary; eight.
Josiah Nathan; five.
&
nbsp; Nathan Joseph (called Joseph); nearly three.
Patricia (Tricia) Ann; just over two months as the book opens.
•Melissa, the older daughter (thirty-five), and her husband, Carlton (“Carl”) Rogers (thirty-six).
Carlton Hezekiah; fourteen.
David Benjamin; almost twelve.
Caleb John; nearly ten.
Sarah; seven.
Mary Melissa; almost two.
•Rebecca, the younger daughter (twenty-eight), and her husband, Derek Ingalls (twenty-eight).
Christopher Joseph; seven.
Benjamin Derek; four.
Leah Rebecca; fifteen months.
•Matthew, the youngest son (almost twenty-six), and his wife, Jennifer Jo McIntire (twenty-four).
Betsy Jo; four.
Emmeline; fifteen months.
•Peter Ingalls, Derek’s younger brother (twenty-two), and his wife, Kathryn Marie McIntire, Jennifer Jo’s sister (twenty).
Note: Deceased children are not included in the above listing.
The Smiths
* Lucy Mack, the mother.
* Mary Fielding, Hyrum’s widow.
* Emma Hale, Joseph Smith’s widow.
Others
* Samuel Brannan, leader of the group that sailed to California on the Brooklyn.
* Jim Bridger, famous mountain man and trapper.
* William Clayton, an English convert; clerk to Brigham Young and an accomplished musician.
* George and Jacob Donner, well-to-do farmers from Springfield, Illinois, who decide to go to California in 1846.
* Heber C. Kimball, friend of Brigham Young’s and a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
* Orson Pratt, member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
* Parley P. Pratt, member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
* James Reed, wealthy businessman who heads for California with the Donner brothers and his own family.
* Willard Richards, member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
* George A. Smith, member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
* John Sutter, Swiss emigrant and founder of Sutter’s Fort in Upper California.
* John Taylor, member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
* Wilford Woodruff, member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
* Brigham Young, President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and head of the Church; forty-five as the novel opens.
Though too numerous to list here, there are many other actual people from the pages of history who are mentioned by name in the novel. James and Drusilla Hendricks, Ezra T. Benson, Thomas Rhoads and family, Levinah Murphy, Colonel Philip St. George Cooke, and many others mentioned in the book were real people who lived and participated in the events described in this work.
Key to Abbreviations Used in Chapter Notes
Throughout the chapter notes, abbreviated references are given. The following key gives the full bibliographic data for those references.
CHMB Daniel Tyler, A Concise History of the Mormon Battalion in the Mexican War, 1846–1847(1881; reprint, Glorieta, N.Mex.: Rio Grande Press 1969.)
Chronicles Frank Mullen Jr., The Donner Party Chronicles: A Day-by-Day Account of a Doomed Wagon Train, 1846–1847 (Reno: Nevada Humanities Committee, 1997.)
CS Richard O. Cowan and William E. Homer, California Saints: A 150-Year Legacy in the Golden State(Provo, Utah: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1996.)
MB Norma Baldwin Ricketts, The Mormon Battalion: U.S. Army of the West, 1846–1848(Logan, Utah: Utah State University Press, 1996.)
MHBY Elden J. Watson, ed., Manuscript History of Brigham Young, 1846–1847 (Salt Lake City: Elden J. Watson, 1971.)
OBH George R. Stewart, Ordeal by Hunger: The Story of the Donner Party(Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1988.)
Overland in 1846 Dale Morgan, ed., Overland in 1846: Diaries and Letters of the California-Oregon Trail(1963; reprint, Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1993.)
“Pioneer John Zimmerman Brown, ed., “Pioneer Jour-
Journeys” neys: From Nauvoo, Illinois, to Pueblo, Colorado, in 1846, and Over the Plains in 1847; Extracts from the Private Journal of the Late Pioneer John Brown. . . . ,” Improvement Era13 (July 1910): 802-10.
SW David R. Crockett, Saints in the Wilderness: A Day-by-Day Pioneer Experience,vol. 2 of LDS-Gems Pioneer Trek Series (Tucson, Arizona: LDS-Gems Press, 1997.)
UE Kristin Johnson, ed., “Unfortunate Emigrants”: Narratives of the Donner Party(Logan, Utah: Utah State University Press, 1996.)
“Voyage” Lorin K. Hansen, “Voyage of the Brooklyn,” Dialogue21 (Fall 1988): 47-72.
WFFB J. Roderic Korns, comp., West from Fort Bridger: The Pioneering of Immigrant Trails Across Utah, 1846–1850, ed. J. Roderic Korns and Dale Morgan; revised and updated by Will Bagley and Harold Schindler (Logan, Utah: Utah State University Press, 1994.)
What I Saw Edwin Bryant, What I Saw in California (1848; reprint, Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1985.)
All Is Well
Why should we mourn or think our lot is hard?
’Tis not so; all is right.
Why should we think to earn a great reward
If we now shun the fight?
Gird up your loins; fresh courage take.
Our God will never us forsake;
And soon we’ll have this tale to tell—
All is well! All is well!
We’ll find the place which God for us prepared,
Far away in the West,
Where none shall come to hurt or make afraid;
There the Saints will be blessed.
We’ll make the air with music ring,
Shout praises to our God and King;
Above the rest these words we’ll tell—
All is well! All is well!
—William Clayton
Chapter 1
Are you still awake?”
Joshua spoke in a low murmur. Caroline had stirred a moment before, but he wasn’t sure if she was, like him, lying there in the darkness far from sleep. But there was no answer, and as he listened carefully he could hear her breathing softly but deeply. His mouth softened and he turned his head toward her, resisting the temptation to reach out and gently caress her face. He could see nothing, not even the outline of her, but he was sure that if suddenly a light were to illuminate the inside of the tent, Caroline Mendenhall Steed would be smiling softly in her sleep. And rightly so. She had waited a long time for what had happened this day.
He grinned in the darkness as he remembered Brigham Young’s words to the people who had gathered to witness Joshua’s baptism. “A giant in the forest has fallen.” And then there was Brigham’s droll smile. “And he has fallen right into our hands.”
He closed his eyes. O God. How did you ever see fit to take mercy on one whose heart was so hardened? What ever possessed thee to reach out and save me from my own blindness?
The answer was simple. How many times had Caroline prayed in his behalf? How many tears had she shed? But then, he thought, it went back further than that. Joseph and Hyrum Smith had first come to the Steed farm back in New York in the spring of 1827. Within a year, Nathan and Mary Ann were convinced that Joseph’s fantastic account of the Father and the Son appearing to him in a grove of trees and of angels and golden plates was true, and Joshua had bitterly turned against it. How many times had his mother been on her knees?
He was staggered now by the sheer number of prayers that must surely have been offered in his behalf. Will. Alice. Sweet and stubborn Savannah. Derek and Rebecca. Matthew and Jenny. His father. He turned away, eyes burning. And Olivia. This was the greatest pain for him. Even now it was as fresh and excruciating as when he learned that there had been an accident and Olivia had been killed.
Oh, Father, I would give my all—there was a sudden, fleeting smile as he realized that at the moment that wasn’t much of an offer—I would give everything if I could walk those paths again
. If I could rectify some of the pain and the hurt and the loss.
His thoughts came back to Caroline. He had caused a lot of suffering for many people over the last twenty years, but Caroline had endured the most. His mind turned to those who didn’t know yet. Oh, how he longed to be present when they first learned the news that Joshua Steed was now a member of the Church! Jessica and Solomon back at Garden Grove, Peter and Kathryn somewhere out on the trail ahead of them, Carl and Melissa.That thought stopped him for a moment. He would have to send a letter back to Nauvoo with the news. Carl would be stunned. Joshua had been his one ally in the family, the one other holdout against their beliefs. Now Carl was alone.
Joshua sighed. Most of all he wanted to share his news with Will. Where were he and Alice by now? He thought of the vastness of their sea voyage and felt a little sick. Had there been any problems? Was Alice with child yet? Had they reached Upper California? How long before they would see them again? It was a terrible frustration knowing that he couldn’t even send them a letter. But then he shook his head. No, this news could not come by letter. Not for Will. That had to be face to face, no matter how long it took before they were reunited.
And with that, he slid closer to his wife, gently putting one arm around her and pulling in closer. She stirred, snuggling in against him. She half turned her head. “You still awake?” she mumbled.