The Women of Mormondom

by Edward W. Tullidge

"It was a great trial for a young maiden (I was only nineteen years of age) to forsake all for the gospel—father, mother, brothers and sisters—and to leave my childhood's home and native land, never expecting to see it again. This was the prospect before me. The saints were already leaving fatherland, in obedience to the doctrine of gathering, which was preached at this time with great plainness by the elders as an imperative command of God. We looked upon the gathering as necessary to our salvation. Nothing of our duty in this respect was concealed, and we were called upon to emigrate to America as soon as the way should open, to share the fate of the saints, whatever might come. Young as I was and alone of all my family in the faith, I was called to take up my cross and lay my earthly all upon the altar; yet so well satisfied was I with my new religion that I was willing to make every sacrifice for it in order to gain my salvation and prove myself not unworthy of the saints' reward.

"Having determined to be baptized, I resolved to at once obey the gospel, although it was mid-winter, and the weather bitterly cold.

"It is proper to here state that baptism was a trial to the converts in England in those days. They had to steal away, even unknown to their friends oftentimes, and scarcely daring to tell the saints themselves that they were about to take up the cross; and not until the ordinance had been administered, and the Holy Ghost gave them boldness, could they bring themselves to proclaim openly that they had cast in their lot with the despised Mormons. Nor was this all, for generally the elders had to administer baptism when the village was wrapt in sleep, lest persecutors should gather a mob to disturb the solemn scene with gibes and curses, accompanied with stones or clods of earth torn from the river bank and hurled at the disciple and minister during the performance of the ceremony.

"On the evening of a bitterly cold day in mid-winter, as before stated, I walked four miles to the house of a local elder for baptism. Arriving at his house, we waited until midnight, in order that the neighbors might not disturb us, and then repaired to a stream of water a quarter of a mile away. Here we found the water, as we anticipated, frozen over, and the elder had to chop a hole in the ice large enough for the purpose of baptism. It was a scene and an occasion I shall never forget. Memory to-day brings back the emotions and sweet awe of that moment. None but God and his angels, and the few witnesses who stood on the bank with us, heard my covenant; but in the solemnity of that midnight hour it seemed as though all nature were listening, and the recording angel writing our words in the book of the Lord. Is it strange that such a scene, occurring in the life of a latter-day saint, should make an everlasting impression, as this did on mine?

"Having been thus baptized, I returned to the house in my wet and freezing garments.

"Up to this hour, as intimated, my heart's best affection had been centred on home, and my greatest mental struggle in obeying the gospel had been over the thought of soon leaving that home; but no sooner had I emerged from the water, on that night of baptism, and received my confirmation at the water's edge, than I became filled with an irresistible desire to join the saints who were gathering to America. The usual confirmation words, pronounced upon my head, 'Receive ye the gift of the Holy Ghost,' were, indeed, potent. They changed the current of my life. This remarkable and sudden change of mind and the now all-absorbing desire to emigrate with the saints was my first testimony to the truth and power of the gospel.

"Shortly thereafter (December 27th, 1843), I left the home of my birth to gather to Nauvoo. I was alone. It was a dreary winter day on which I went to Liverpool. The company with which I was to sail were all strangers to me. When I arrived at Liverpool and saw the ocean that would soon roll between me and all I loved, my heart almost failed me. But I had laid my idols all upon the altar. There was no turning back. I remembered the words of the Saviour: 'He that leaveth not father and mother, brother and sister, for my sake, is not worthy of me,' and I believed his promise to those who forsook all for his sake; so I thus alone set out for the reward of everlasting life, trusting in God.

"In company with two hundred and fifty saints I embarked on the sailing vessel Fanny, and after a tedious passage of six weeks' duration, we arrived in New Orleans. There an unexpected difficulty met us. The steamer Maid of Iowa, belonging to the prophet Joseph, and on which the company of saints had expected to ascend the Mississippi to Nauvoo, was embargoed and lashed to the wharf. But Providence came to our aid. A lady of fortune was in the company—a Mrs. Bennett—and out of her private purse she not only lifted the embargo, but also fitted out the steamer with all necessary provisions, fuel, etc., and soon the company were again on their way.

"The journey up the river was a tedious and eventful one, consuming five weeks of time. At nearly every stopping place the emigrants were shamefully insulted and persecuted by the citizens. At Memphis some villain placed a half consumed cigar under a straw mattress and other bedding that had been laid out, aft of the ladies' cabin, to air. When we steamed out into the river the draft, created by the motion of the boat, soon fanned the fire into a quick flame. Fortunately I myself discovered the fire and gave the alarm in time to have it extinguished before it had consumed more than a portion of the adjoining woodwork. Perhaps one minute more of delay in its discovery, and that company of two hundred and fifty souls would have been subjected to all the horrors and perils incident to a panic and fire on shipboard.

"At another place the pilot decided to tie up the boat at a landing and wait for the subsiding of a furious gale that was blowing. This he accordingly did, and let off steam, thinking to remain there over night. In the meantime a mob gathered. We were Mormons. Too often had mobs shown that the property of Mormons might be destroyed with impunity, in the most lawless manner, and their lives taken by the most horrible means. Had that boat been consumed by fire, 'twould, have been but a pleasing sensation, seeing that it belonged to the Mormon prophet; and the two hundred and fifty men, women and children, if consumed, would have been, in the eyes of their persecutors, only so many Mormons well disposed of. Thus, doubtless, would have thought the mob who gathered at that landing-place and cut the boat adrift The Maid of Iowa was now submitted to the triple peril of being adrift without steam, at the mercy of a treacherous current, and in the midst of a hurricane. The captain, however, succeeded in raising the steam, and the boat was brought under sufficient control to enable her to be brought to, under shelter of a heavy forest, where she was tied up to the trees and weathered the gale.