| Show I A P1ONEBif STOll Y Told by Ono of His ConiparilorisA True Narrative of Ex porloncos of a Utah Pioneer and Battalion Menbor I irTY nL years ago in Nauvoo Illinois I knew E a boy who was three years younger than I teas md r bad b lie wai not a bid boy 4pO cither nor was he so fi good that the rest of us boys could not make him 1 an associate ai asso-ciate although he dressed better > t was better schooled in books and city manners than us boys who j bled run through the brush hid in the corn fields from the mob all the way from Kirtland to Missouri I and back to Illinois He didnt think himself better than we were neither did we think he was if his father did keep a P store and live in a fine brick house His parents came to Nauvoo ink I k I 1840 He was born in September 1826 making him fourteen years I old His fathers name was Ezra Oaklej and his mothers maiden name was Elizabeth DcGroot In order to be real sociable and i familiar with the boys and not let him think that we held him at arms length because of his good clothes good looks or good manners we called him Jim though his name was James which name his parents tenaciously Stuck to because of r i their respect and love for the favorite 1 son James was a singular boy and gi ew up i singular man honestly mis Unevious i dr mischieviously I il honest Although he never liked to have any one think him religious he was a sincere Mormon it heart As a key to the inner boy mil inner in-ner man I will relate a little incident of real life between him and his lather la-ther that the reader my under 1Ii stand II him better while we follow him 1 through the Mormon Battalion ex penences and with the Pioneers into the valley of Great Salt Lake His fuller left Nuivoo in February Febru-ary 1846 with the Saints und stopped just west of the Mississippi river in Iowa Territory as it then was leaving his house and farm without selling and to this day he holds the deeds lor the same having bought it of Joseph Smith He also left 400 bushels of corn in the crib saying it may go with the rest because he could get onlrl cents a bushel for it A few days after leaving Nauvoo his friends persuaded him him to sell it and get the 16 it would bring so he sent James over to tell the saloon keeper who made the offer of 4 cents he could have the corn Jim received the money and thinking that i6 a real windfall instead of nothingand that he ought to be a little liberal with the saloonkeeper saloon-keeper he bought a drink ol whisky which cost 3 cents After a while the saloon man thought hed be T little liberal to the boy and invited him to hue another drink which the boy was in no way inclined to refuse Jim never could tell I how many times he drink or il lie drank it ill after the saloon keeper I keep-er treated him to a drink The probability is that he was drugged for he knew nothing until a man sent by his father woke him and took him over the river On tin war home he discovered that his money VMS ill gone He knew he could not drink 16 in 3 cent drinks in one day but how it got away was i i mystery to his then inexperienced mind He went to bed as soon is lie reached home and no one asked questions He slept soundly all night and when he awoke in the morning the first thought was about the money What could he say to his father and how could he look at his loving mother Then his religious nature asserted its claim claimJanes James dressed himself is soon is possible and marched straight to fuller and told the truth the whole truth as quickly possible for he could not endure the pain of MIS pease and when he had done slid now father if you will forgive me I will never do > o again The Pithier replied James your confession anti promise is worth much more to me than too bushels of corn James had learned a lesson and always kept his promise 1hen the Mormon Ilattihon vas called for Jim J wis reidy 1 on short notice lIul when they were organized organ-ized at Fort I I eivinwurthhe was enrolled en-rolled Il ill Alfred Higgin company I isked him while he reined his mritive to me if he did anything while in the Battalion worthy ol punishment I He readily replied yes I ought to hive been shot For what I asked Well it w is this smay he wrnt on I sls detailed to drive ihe loose stock and to go right behind them in the dust wis almost unbnr able so I smalktd < llo 1 one side a little 1anby and offi er came along and ordered me not to stalk tbere but right behind the stock so I walked behind as long as I could stand it and then stepped out of the I dust to get breath The officer saw it i and reported him up for which he got extra duty on guard tint night lie was halfstirved and nearly near-ly lead with thirst so he concluded it was more than he could endure and hid himself down to rest just a little while hist taking the precaution precau-tion to hy on his musket The fargent of the LII ird found him in tint condition and tiled to steal his gun but filled in tint He I knew that according to army regulations to sleep on guard in in enemys land wag punish il le earl shooting but he was so sick and worn out he was ready to take chances When the Battalion reached Pueblo a little Spanish settlement fl missionaries nra traders in the midt of the then nt Amcricm desert It was decided to leave some of the families and sick soldiers to winter Ihere50 all the men that could walk were called into line lor examination by in examining officer to see who should be left and who could endure the journey to the Pacific coast James was on the sick list but hated terribly to remain there so he fell into line standing is straight and soldierly is his feeble condition would allow when the officer cum to linn and asked his condition He inswtrcd tint hewn well and able to C < i through the officer said None of your d d lying icic YOIIre not able fill back SoJim fell back and pretty near fell down at the disappointment In answer to some of my inquiries tt sollire 111 nth regard to events while there it Pueblo he said I cant remember my good deeds in my life but all bad ones t While in quarters that sin winter the officers had their quarters about ten rods distant from the men and it was a custom with Captain B whenever when-ever he wanted to visit the men to saddle a fine horse he had and ride over to the soldiers quarters Sometimes Some-times he would repeat it several times i day tinySel Well the boys thought that entirely useless and more of a boast than i propriety so they laid a plan to take down the captains pride and one night three or foul of them took out his horse and sheared the hair oil Its tail perfectly dean The captain was decidedly angry it tint humiliation of his pride He J never rode that horse again to the jci it joy of the boys He tried to find out who did the terrible let but every vessel was tight and not a drop leaked So is a last I resort he cursed those who did it if they did not repent Such denunciations stirred up James religious nature and he actually ac-tually went off by himself and prayed the Lord to forgive him for that mean trick lor he thought he had curses enough and wanted no more In the spring of 1847 at Pueblo they took in Indian I or Spanish trail and marched to Fort I Laramie I on the Platte river and then learned that the Pioneers had pissed that place about eight days previously James with six or seven other men got a furlough to go on and overtake over-take the Pioneers They had a very mcigre outfit of horses and provi sions but on they went diy after day expecting every diy to find the company is the trail seemed fresh as yesterdays marks At Green river they saw a raft on the other side They must have it m order to cross with their bedding I and little or no provisions Who could swim that river on his horse md bung the raft back idt 1 Tom Williims said he could so in he rode and when about half wary over his horse went nand lilt him to piddle his own canoe whicl lie did with cry great difficulty Tin horse wn never seen again Alter Tom had rested iwlule he sauntered out to make discoveries I anti to his great satisfaction found a mm with a gun coning down the river From 1 him he learned that the Pioneer company was up the river about a milelaid over on account ac-count ol sickness several men being cown with mountain fever I must return to when Tom ViII 1a us had mimed the raft and hallooed I hal-looed back tint there las no use trying 10 get it hick he could 1 not I do it alone Then a feeling ol badness bad-ness md but ommful humiliation cute over all Ihey igieed to kneel I in prayer for comfort and relief which they did immediately md in a hew minutes after prayer they saw I the man with a gun whom Ton I met shortly after md who conducted con-ducted him to camp where he was hailed with great joy by all and I specially by President Brigham Young who is a patent of ill rejoiced I re-joiced exceedingly to hear f oat the I boys who had so readily responded i to the all of their country I brother Brigham I t men who soon brought the small part oGre o-Gre n river and they were joined gladly by all to increase the strength I I of the Pioneer company 1 President Young stated to the whole company liter a full report trom the Battalion boys that he fully understood the reason why so many people were taken sick and had to stop travelingthat God hid seen the necessity of affording relief to the seven brethren in their extreme ex-treme necessity he aid that the sickness would disappear md in i the morning they would travel oji which they did with the sick wonderfully improved The I man with the gun years afterwards after-wards earned tin name 01 Buttermilk Butter-milk Johnson aid that he had never shot igun in his life and why hi t > ik the gun f and went down then I I the-n cr he did not know I it the time he did it When Orson Pratt md 11 few others left President Young sick on Eat f Canyon creek James Oakley made I one of the party md at the narrow pi ice in Emigration c my on where the trail went over point he helped I beat olf the points of lock where the creek ran through the narrows md made the Canyon wide enough for wagons to piss I After getting out of the Canyon into I in-to the open valley they traveled noilherly ilong the bench land until theycune to Red Dime canyon or near its mouth and died for noon While camped there i great storm of rain came md something I like a cloud l burst swelled the creek to such proportions that they stopped some time for the waters to I subside when they pissed over md on down to or near whit is now East Temple street where there wag some feed and water for animals That was the 22nd or 23d of July 1847Next Next diy l the went as far north is hot springs where James with i his usual alacrity to be first see I ing the steam arising from till later dismounted and thrust his hand into it but took it out quicker than he put it in ex chiming we have got down to hell where they at list or very near I keep up the fire md the water hot lie remained with the Pioneer company doing whitever he could to help the general work until the rest of the battalion boys were into the v illey md he had learned that John Taylor with a large company was on the road and that his father was in that company Jim in his usual quiet way of doing things when he once made up his mind gathered a small supply of food from the warm hearts and scant rations of his Battalion com rules mounted his lame once broken legged horse md sallied out alone to meet his much loved mother mil fuher Mother Wag first in his heart and he could not rest until her loved his eyes should fill upon alone almost firm He traveled night and diy until he reached someplace some-place on Sweetwater where he thought he saw Indians in the road quite a distance ahead Not wishing to local new acquaintances acquain-tances m I such i lonely 1 place and especially es-pecially i 1 of that kind he hid ti his horse some distance from the road and took a position in a clump of willows nearer the road After a while he could see distinctly dis-tinctly a carriage and white men He ran to his horse mounted and rode to meet whoever it might be It proved to be John Taylor who wag the husband ol his own sister He met Brother Taylor very calmly and after telling that he was from the Pioneer camp I m a great big yth valley I lint contained i great lake which they could see at a distance and other matters he enquired about Brother Taylor knowing who he was talking to all the time and he asked familiarly where his folks were wereWho arc your folks he was asked and replied Ezra I Oakley And who are you Why dont you know your own brotherinlaw was the reply Then Brother Taylor gave one of his big hearty IIIILIIS andsudNo who could recognize you looking as you do I We who have seen such sights I can im uine how helooke1a l green looking youngster on a poor old 1lIne horse with in old quilt or two tied behind siddle ringed md dirty as the road with a big scab on his nose He was informed that his parents were a little way luck 1 Without With-out I further ceremony he lode on and met wagon alter wagon until at length he came to Im fuller whomheknev but who looked at him very curiouly as dill 1 every oilier man he met June sid nothing but rode steadily on Vas that not Im mother wholn he I just then spied sitting in the front t end of 11 i wagon driving 1111 ox front She too with that Millie peering look at first viewed the strings looking human but lint look lasted only m instantthe mother knew her darling long absent boy through my disguise With a leap she came out of that wagon and the boy dropped from his horse into Ins mothers mIlS As I write that meeting of mother and son my eyes go blind with I tearsWhile While wintering it Winter Quarters on the Missouri river the fimily of brother Oikley welt reduced I re-duced to such straights for proper food that Ins wile is did many others took the disease called scurvy and although her life w is I spired while many died with it she had to use crutches afterw irds until she saw her darling boy She was so overjoyed at the sight that she forgot crutches when she made the jump md never used them I after Tine boy was a powerful f 1 man in helping his lolks into the valley and when there they located I on or near the present sight of Camp Douglas where with a great rush they plowed md planted md sowed l whit Ii ldl v k le d they could but crickets i came and took it all James stayed with fattier that winter and next summer living I on small rations and when fall came I with future of crops he resolv ed togo to-go to the gold trines and seek relief for Ins mother and the family To this end he obtained President Youngs consent and blessing with a promise that lie should be prospered pros-pered in his efforts His I fuller gave II is consent because President Young had told Junes togo to-go mil he should prosper and to make him a good outfit lor the journey jour-ney lather told the boy to help himself him-self to what Hour he wanted In starting from the Missouri river his father had laid in a liberal supply of Hour for a whole year and a little more for emergencies Among other things laid in was a sack of bran almost half of which was still on hand James took that instead of flour and no flour thinking that lather md mother would need all the latter and he could live on bran Such was his love and devotion to parents His father learned the fact after his son was gone His mother made him a lot of wlat was called Dutch cheese into little balls and dried them in the sun A few others were going also and they all bought an ox and jerked the meat lint made up his ouU then t-hen he reached the gold mines he settled on a good piece ground and in a few days was taking out gold nuggets in a way tint astonished astonish-ed him but he remembered fuller and mother Not many days and he 1 hid a little I leather bag full of gold I mil also I had I an opioitumty to send it to his falher which he did liter paying all his liabilities Five I hundred dollars only think in gold in lets I time than a week from his own efforts t and that was soon on the road to his fuller and mother Gods blessings upon his labors he did not forget to acknowledge In just one yen from going Jame returned with a pile of gold When r he reached home he was the sime Jim gold did not mile him my different He wa a good boy Ito I-to father md mother md sisters Hi hid two sisters and a brother but the brother was seldom at home He found tint his father had bought five acres of good land I with some of the gold he had sent home and much of the dance his father still held There were not many opportunities nor many necessities for him to spend money then I June hid anived1t it an age and a I period in lift when he begun to think how few Oiklcjs there were md how many there ought to be and found by a nice calculation that there was likely to be a i great deficiency unless he increased his courage and energy which he soon did When he had interest in more than his fathers family he settled in Springville where I believe he has lived up to present time When his lather got very old and knew he was about to pass to the other side ol the river he made a will and in that will he gave to James the five acres ol land he bought with the gold James sent him dividing all the other property equally among the four children James said No father I dont want it that way I want all the property divided equally ithersiid James you gave me the money tint bought that land I never received a dollar front my other child you shall have it James said mNo lather it will make feelings if I take it and I wont have it James had the will his own way is he generally has things to this day and his ways are good so that the rest of us love to associate asso-ciate with him OLIVER HUt > rLNGTOi |
