Life of Heber C. Kimball, an apostle

by Orson F. Whitney

In February, 1811, the Kimballs migrated from Vermont, and settled in West Bloomfield, Ontario County, New York, five hundred miles from their former home, where the head of the family reengaged in his occupations of farmer and blacksmith, to which he now added that of builder. He was aided in his new venture by Judge Towsley, of Scipio, Cayuga County, who had employed him for several months as foreman in a blacksmith shop.

Heber thus describes the journey from Sheldon to West Bloomfield, with incidents of their subsequent experience in that then new country:

"My father took my mother and six children in a sleigh, with one span of horses, a change of clothing for each of us, and some blankets to wrap us in; when we reached St. Albans, my father bought each of his boys a hat, which was the first hat I ever had on my head. We traveled on Lake Champlain, on the ice, and the wind being very high, my hat was blown off and lost.

"We traveled on the ice up to Whitehall, a distance of one hundred and ten miles, where, spring being open, he traded his sleigh for a wagon and proceeded to West Bloomfield.

"He built an academy in West Bloomfield, also two tavern stands and several private dwellings; he made nearly all of the edge tools, such as scythes, augers, axes, knives, etc., also plow-shares and agricultural implements, for the country around, to a distance of fifty or sixty miles; and sometimes he had eight forges employed at once.

"He continued living in West Bloomfield during the 'last war' with England, which place was on the thoroughfare between Albany and Buffalo, on what was called 'the public turnpike,' and on which the soldiery passed during the war (1812-15). It was flourishing times, there being plenty of business and money, and most men in business became involved, so that when the war closed bankruptcy became common, as every merchant, tavern-keeper and grog-shop had a banking establishment, and issued 'shin-plasters' from one cent up to five dollars.

"My father lost the greater portion of his property, which broke him up in that place. He then moved two and one-half miles east, half way between East and West Bloomfield, where he bought a farm of a Mr. Stewart, near a small lake called Stewart's Pond; on this farm there was a little improvement. Here he established blacksmithing, built a large tavern stand, barns and other out-houses, and once more set out an orchard of various kinds of fruit trees.

"This was in the year 1816, which was called the cold season; the same year that the black spot was seen on the sun. The following year we had little to subsist upon; for some three weeks we gathered milk weeds, and boiled and ate them, not having salt to put on them. It was with difficulty that bread could be procured."

Evidently the elder Kimball was a man of force and energy, qualities which his son Heber inherited, and in turn transmitted to his posterity. The Kimballs, with scarcely an exception, are, in this respect, of just such sterling stuff as their sire and grandsire, and invariably "show the mettle of their pasture," as colonizers, wherever their lot is cast.

The limited amount of schooling that Heber received in these days of his childhood and early youth, extended from his fifth to his fourteenth year, and was of the quality usually found in the primitive village schools of the day. He was not an ardent lover of books, but drew his lessons from life and nature in all their multiplied and varied phases. It was "about the time of the great eclipse in 1806" that he commenced going to school. The eclipse he "remembered well," as his father was about starting on a journey, but was obliged to wait on account of the darkness.