Thus Kirtland became an adopted Zion, selected by revelation as a gathering place for the saints; and a little village grew into a city, with a temple.
Among these pioneers were the families of "Mother Whitney," and Eliza R. Snow, and the families of "Father Morley," and Edward Partridge, who became the "first Bishop" of Zion.
Besides these, there were a host of men and women soon numbered among the founders of Mormondom, who were also pioneers in Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois.
There is no feature of the Mormons more interesting than their distinguishing mark as pioneers. In this both their Church and family history have a national significance.
Trace their family migrations from old England to New England in the seventeenth century; from Europe to America in the nineteenth; then follow them as a people in their empire-track from the State of New York, where their Church was born, to Utah and California! It will thus be remarkably illustrated that they and their parents have been pioneering not only America but the world itself to the "Great West" for the last two hundred and fifty years!
As a community the Mormons have been emphatically the Church of pioneers. The sisters have been this equally with the brethren. Their very religion is endowed with the genius of migrating peoples.
So in 1830-31, almost as soon as the Church was organized, the prophet and the priesthood followed the disciples to the West, where the star of Messiah was rising.
As though the bride had been preparing for the coming! As though, womanlike, intuitively, she had gone into the wilderness—the chambers of a new civilization—to await the bridegroom.
For the time being Kirtland became the Zion of the West; for the time being Kirtland among cities was the bride.
But the illustration is also personal. Woman herself had gone to the West where the star of Messiah was looming. Daughters of the New Jerusalem were already in the chamber awaiting the bridegroom.