The Women of Mormondom

by Edward W. Tullidge

It was on this journey that she first became acquainted with Gen. Wells, to whom she was married shortly after they reached the valley. As the senior wife of that distinguished gentleman, "Aunt Louisa" is well known throughout Utah; and as a most unselfish and unostentatious dispenser of charity, and an ever-ready friend and helper of the sick and needy, her name is indelibly engraved on the hearts of thousands.

CHAPTER XXXVI.

BATHSHEBA W. SMITH'S STORY CONTINUED—THE PIONEERS RETURN TO WINTER QUARTERS—A NEW PRESIDENCY CHOSEN—OLIVER COWDERY RETURNS TO THE CHURCH—GATHERING THE REMNANT FROM WINTER QUARTERS—DESCRIPTION OF HER HOUSE ON WHEELS.

Continuing her narration of affairs at winter quarters, Sister Bathsheba W. Smith says:

"As soon as the weather became warm, and the gardens began to produce early vegetables, the sick began to recover. We felt considerable anxiety for the safety of the pioneers, and for their success in finding us a home. About the first of December, to our great joy, a number of them returned. They had found a place in the heart of the Great Basin, beyond the Rocky Mountains, so barren, dry, desolate and isolated that we thought even the cupidity of religious bigots would not be excited by it. The pioneers had laid out a city, and had commenced a fort; and some seven hundred wagons and about two thousand of our people had by this time arrived there. The country was so very dry that nothing could be made to grow without irrigation.

"After the location of winter quarters a great number of our people made encampments on the east side of the river, on parts of the Pottawatomie lands. The camps, thus scattered, spread over a large tract. On one occasion my husband and I visited Hyde Park, one of these settlements, in company with the twelve apostles. They there held a council in a log-cabin, and a great manifestation of the holy spirit was poured out upon those present. At this council it was unanimously decided to organize the First Presidency of the Church according to the pattern laid down in the Book of Covenants. Soon after, a general conference was held in the log tabernacle at Kanesville (now Council Bluffs), at which the saints acknowledged Brigham Young President of the Church, and Heber C. Kimball and Willard Richards his councilors.

"Shortly after this conference our family moved to the Iowa side of the river. My husband bought two log-cabins, and built two more, which made us quite comfortable. The winter was very cold, but wood was plentiful, and we used it freely. The situation was a romantic one, surrounded as we were on three sides by hills. We were favored with an abundance of wild plums and raspberries. We called the place Car-bun-ca, after an Indian brave who had been buried there.

"In May, 1848, about five hundred wagons followed President Young on his return to Salt Lake. In June some two hundred wagons followed Dr. Willard Richards. When Dr. Richards left, all the saints that could not go with him were compelled by the United States authorities to vacate winter quarters. They recrossed into Iowa, and had to build cabins again. This was apiece of oppression which was needless and ill-timed, as many of the families which had to move were those of the men who had gone in the Mormon battalion. This compulsory move was prompted by the same spirit of persecution that had caused the murder of so many of our people, and had forced us all to leave our homes and go into the wilderness.

"On the Iowa side of the river we raised wheat, Indian corn, buckwheat, potatoes, and other vegetables; and we gathered from the woods hazel and hickory nuts, white and black walnuts, and in addition to the wild plums and raspberries before mentioned, we gathered elderberries, and made elderberry and raspberry wine. We also preserved plums and berries. By these supplies we were better furnished than we had been since leaving our homes. The vegetables and fruits caused the scurvy to pretty much disappear.

"In September, 1848, a conference was held in a grove on Mosquito Creek, about two thousand of the saints being present. Oliver Cowdery, one of the witnesses of the Book of Mormon, was there. He had been ten years away from the Church, and had become a lawyer of some prominence in Northern Ohio and Wisconsin. At this conference I heard him bear his testimony to the truth of the Book of Mormon, in the same manner as is recorded in the testimony of the three witnesses in that book.