Show historical SCRAPS RELATING TO RESTING PLACE OP MANY SAINTS the history of one buried at mount pisgah about three years ago our beloved and late president john taylor sent me a letter that was written by mr A C white of afton Iowa who owns the land where once was a settlement of the saints called by them pisgah Pis gah where they had a temporary resting place in their hight from nauvoo in 1846 he asked president taylor what do the people want to do with the remains of their friends who buried here mr white stated that the burying ground was in the center of his farm and that he had preserved it sacredly as such Pr eident taylor went into exile about the time he received mr white s letter and it was impracticable for him to keep up a correspondence with mr white when he sent tha letters to me he sent certain instructions which have been carried out that burying ground is owned by the hattei day saints one acre and is well fenced president john taylor and the present presiding authority of the church have seen fit to mars the burying ground at pisgah with special signs of love and respect for their brethren who were left there by the hand of death because mr white has made it possible for them to do so he was a boy when his father bought a large track of land embracing pisgah soon after the saints left there he became owner of the land after the death of his father and about the time the country become settled permanently manent ly the boy grew up to manhood almost upon the very place where sorrowing hearts bathed the soil with burning tears for loved ones buried clero under the most distressing circumstances cum stances and for that spot of earth the innocent boy conceived a respect and feeling of sacred regard that has not been blotted out with the bustling scenes of a business life but has matured and brought in manhood to the joy of souls that never forget he never allowed the earth to be disturbed about those little silent mounds so closely clustered together until it has grown up to hazel brush hickory and oak trees scattered about the despised cormons mormons Mor mons have been compelled to dot the prairies of ohio missouri illinois and iowa with graveyards besides hundreds of lonely graves by the wayside and never until now have I 1 heard of any man of tho many thousands who have come after us to our desolate homos and got possession of the last resting place of our loved dead who has asked if we would like to mark those cities of the dead for our children to drop a tear upon mr white tells me that he kemem bers seeing in his boyhood one and the only complete gravestone with the name of william huntington chilled upon it that was tho grave of my father and that stone disappeared very many years ago to make whet stones for tho incoming inhabitants it came from the bed of grand biver nearby the little mound of earth by which stood that stone is now lost among the many others that are only tiny grassy knolls it may be a consolation to some person who reads this to know of the following statement written to me by mr ho says there is a grave with two stones common nig ger heads as we call them with the initials H S on each stone when I 1 first saw it it was fenced with hewn posts and split slabs the grave was rounded up and is still in good shape this grave is probably the only one that can be recognized by living friends last fall a foundation of rock four feet square cubic was laid in the earth near the centre of the burying ground which in the coming spring will be placed a marble monument twelve feet high which has been contracted for I 1 believe upon condition of my approval and from the drawing sent me I 1 am aeu pleased with the design the main shaft is eight feet long or high upon which the name oi every person buried there will bo en graved that is if the liying friend will send their names plainly watter and correctly spelled to me ii utah before the of next march 0 B after the publication of th above letter a relative oi byrun spencer whose grave is referred t in the foregoing communication wrote the following I 1 have thought perhaps no death i among those who dropped by wayside was more touching or sad than the one whose resting place is marled by the initials H S an obituary of the martyr might bo prop er hyner spencer the son of daniel spencer and chloe wilson was boma incest coun byj mass anjiras an diras one of the three brothers who embraced the gosselin Go daniel and orson lived among the baines to become well known this brother died almost the saints c andrin circumstances where obituaries could abot be printed but he ax m su eastern home and wherever known at nil as an honest man and aa able one of strong mental and physical of an affectionate disposition unassuming and avoiding notoriety a man so far remo ed in his nature irom religious superstition from cant and claptrap as most man when the Gospel was presented to him by his brother daniel his cool dear judgment decided tl must not accept such great things as you claim even axom my loved brother without direct testimony in his earnestness of investigation vesti gation he claimed of god a manifestation ife station and etwas granted he having an hopun opun vision in the day time in the woods to which he had repaired he was in vision over four hours but there is not space to recount it the panorama of this nation was shown him to a point where the whole eastern part of the land was a scene of fratricidal strife every mans hand against his neighbor the horrors of blood and camago too terrible for description he moved to nauvoo about 1841 built a city home and opened a farm in february 1846 he with his family was driven out of crossing the mississippi on the ice making a sudden exchange of the home comforts of life tune for the snow covered grounds of the iowa wilds and a tent life in winter he was elected captain of a company of fifty families co sharers in exile and in early spring slowly toiled through the storms and mud of that exceptionally tio nally wet season towards such civilization safety and amenities as the greas and almost unexplored wilderness of the west and its indian proprietors prie tors might afford of the patience and labors of this man on that journey labors mental and physical I 1 think no encomium would be extravagant I 1 have known him doubling teams sometimes as many as twelve yoke of oxen to a wagon from early morn till late evening and only gain one mile advance never heard from him a rough word or a sign that patience was exhausted he finally reached garden grove taking his company up the fenced lane that led to that settlement about 9 p m the mud wherever one was from six to eighteen inches deep next morning early he was off in company with the writer on express business we were out to see and among the indians for about twelve days with a sack of hard tack and very dried beef for food not one twenty four hours of the time but ho was thoroughly wet he visited nauvoo desirous of realizing something for the real and personal property left there As an illustration of the character of the man I 1 will relate a little incident he was leaning against a store counter trying to induce the proprietor a to fulfill a contract he had made when the man standing behind the opposite counter gave mr spencer the lie the latter made ono spring clutched him with one hand raised him over the counter held hanf up and shoo bhim cast hun on his back on the floor as though ho had soiled his hand in tho contact set his foot on the mans breast and said tou are the first man that ever called me a liar withdrawing his foot get up sir and dont do it again while in nauvoo he bargained a valuable farm for head of mixed cattle going to alton to receive them he left the writer to watch mob action in nauvoo A mob was expected to come in a few days and a manufactured writ was got out to hold mr spencer or his effects until the mob came but by the help of some friendly gentiles the sheriff and posse were 69 miles below nauvoo the day that mr spencer took his over the mississippi 60 miles above nauvoo then commenced a struggle to reach a mormon camp before the sheriff overtook him he had one assistant it was in the heat of early august tho field time for flies and mosquitoes it was rush for all the cattle could stand by day and almost constant guard by night I 1 think it was the seventh day out I 1 saw him reeling in his saddle and rode up and asked him what is the matter the reply came with a most beautiful smile nothing is the matter only I 1 have done myall help me down and I 1 will die here I 1 assisted him a short distance from the trail this was about p HL at 1130 that night his earthly labors were hushed in peace from the time bs lay down until his strength failed his conversation was as pleasant as ever in life not a struggle just as the last ebbings of life were passing be said my nephew I 1 give you my daughter to wife tell her so when you meet his last act was to show mo confidence and cast some comfort into the floods of sorrow and trial that were submerging my soul my readers our love for each other surpassed that of many fathers and sons iliad associated with him from childhood he lying there in death 1 standing dumb with grief in that broad prairie wilderness with midnight stars for death watchers was only one among so many touching episodes that thickly marked the weary exodus of the saints from nauvoo next morning the help of two or three was obtained from a com banys camp some wagon boards served to form a box tha body was carried on timber was obtained some posts chopped out some railing split some pickets taken of a grave deef 1 I think the first grave at pisgah Pis gah two head rocks found and with a rough instrument marked H S and the body was lowered to its last rest the fence and the stones sear up marked the resting place of hyrum spencer one of earths martyred marty red noblemen the dedicated a prophesy was uttered over it that though lying in the wilderness ia the midst of the roaming and hunting ground of the savage n it should be protected letter testifies how has been fulfilled |