Show DOWN IN TENNESSEE maury county tennessee january ath 1897 publication the names and send for addresses I 1 of the elders laboring in n the addresses of the conference middle tennessee southern states S mission as follows D DC C young J john W shaw joseph erbet 1005 north market st nashville tennessee thad W N naylor lor nephi M savage mar market t st si nashville ten zoos north ansbe tee samuel C barrell R G ar archibald achibald chi bald an nt grun dy county tennessee bi Lmont T charles charle s collett Collet hen tHen A L C tennessee berson chester county f walter J T sloan tames james larsen man cheater che coffee county tennessee oter IR pay 5 V VWe wentz J J L bench jackson iari tennessee renn essee madison nn county felam W illiam H kennington allred F weakley anderson rss dres dresden den county T H enry A adrover gro ver J J barker paris 9 henry county tennessee george F ashcroft james sessions lynchburg lynchburg moore county tennessee S W S greena greenwood sidney decaturville Deca turville decatur county Irein charles essee TA A levi W sabus Gaines gainesboro borot jackson county 1 W bessee 0 Thris christensen M B olsen hun carroll carrol I 1 county tennessee ot oh A wa otton frank L wilson trenton gibs gibson n county tennessee george A huntington Hunti thomas A waynesboro wayne a county dun ty asse rS james Se H yardley oley C oleson dover stewart cot county anty tennessee E E brown isaac E freeman savannah he hardin adin coun county ty tennes tennessee see we feel thankful that we are all in in tood food health and are meeting with friends on an all 11 II sides middle tennessee can boast of her I 1 hospitality to the mormon elders eldera and I 1 presume there never was a time tun when ewhen we were vere better treated than at the present we are now composed of IL a valiant band ot of hard workers numbering irig thirty two good health pd good spirits and union are in our midst my bay duties are ol of a pleasant nature and I 1 feel reluctant to stop work even though the allotted missionary time is near at hand our elders are no now w scattered from jackson fackson county count y in middle tennessee to gibson county in in west tennessee ae the most of our work at the present time is being done in west tennessee although we are still called the middle tennessee conference we have four pa pair ir of what we call meteoric elders they are the most efficient men we have and they are laboring in the counties which have been closed how strange that some ot of the elders used to think that when they had finished and closed a county that that was the last of it now we are meeting with the greatest success in these old fields our last conference was held at shady grove hickman county since then I 1 have made a complete round of the conference having walked many hundred miles held one hundred and twenty lour meetings and baptized ten honest souls into the fold of christ we thought this was doing very well until we heard that one pair of elders in another conference had held one hundred and sixty meetings in a week after baptism and before confirmation those received were taught the duties which were required of them in paying tithes fasting and pra prayer er observing the word of wisdom antso and so forth we now see the wisdom of observing this command of the lord for where that has been neglected it is difficult to instill these things into their minds one of our old converts told an elder after preaching upon the law ot of tithing that the eder who baptized him never instructed him about that and he considered it none of the elders business whether he paid tithes or not who will be held accountable for this disregard ard of one of gods laws can we glame blame the convert who had never been taught I 1 mention this for the benefit of our young brethren who are now in the missionary field the work of visiting among the elders was commenced in warren county with elders john A wootton and S S sanderson brother J F bauers made our visit there very pleasant and got out appointments nt ments for several interesting meetings grundy county was next visited where I 1 found ifould elders archibald Archiba fd and barrell barrel and W I 1 sloan my new companion anxiously awaiting my arrival here we held some very successful meetings and especially at a watering place called beersheba springs the people were more than kind to us and even the proprietor of the big hotel mr nelson opened his bis heart and house bouse to us placing two pleasant rooms at our disposal as long as we wished to use them and when we left invited us or any of our elders to return abany at any time and we would find a home as long as he was running the hotel we found his cifes mother a very well informed lady and a contributor on religious matters to some of the newspapers in answer to mv question she informed me that she did pot not now belong to any of the contending jarring sects but had withdrawn from them all and was looking tor or the restitution ot of all things 1 enquired of her how she liked the views of P P pratt on that point contained in the voice of warning one of which I 1 had s sold old her the day before she replied very much she had sat up much of the night to read it our stay here was so 80 pleasant that we were loth to leave while here we had the pleasure of baptizing brother and sister tanner since then the most of their bamily have been added to the church our next visit was with elders charles A and thad W naylor whom we met at ai putnam county 1 alter after a very pleasant visit with th the saints in dekalb county and app appointing inting a building committee there tor for the arec tion of a church building As it would be impossible for me to describe our very pleasant visit with the saints I 1 will only mention the organization of the branch with tillman thompson as the pre presiding biding elder and the starting of a sunday school with the following officers superintendent tillman thompson first assistant sister davis second assistant reilly fields secretary dora dom davis assistant secretary felix vaughan treasurer savannah mchenry I 1 have not heard what progress they are making but I 1 trust they are doing a flodd good work certainly they have a fine lot at of officers sister bates of rock springs having heard that we were at at ai rode eight miles on horse back leaving a sick husband to request baptism at our hands of course we gladly responded for our mission is to save the world or at least the righteous part of it on our way to nashville we accepted an invitation to call on sister bates not knowing how her husband would receive us as in the past he had been very bitter towards our elders strange to say he received us in a very kind and hospitable man ner and before we left invited us wad trad minister to nim for his health what a change has come over the world the good work rolls and many are now earnestly contending for the faith once delivered to the saints who is it bring this great change amongst the people who but the lords blessing attending the mormon elders my companion elder thad W naylor na y and I 1 were next to visit with elder elde r I 1 H hale and james larsen in cheatham county we were accompanied as far as nashville by elder S S sander son who was on his way to west tennessee to labor with elder george T ashcroft at nashville we visited our former headquarters rood N market street where I 1 first landed in the missionary field and had bad the pleasure of first meeting elders W W bean 0 M sanderson soren peterson J it Y duke and others we lound found grandma malone very sick in bed at her request I 1 administered to her as she was as full of faith as ever havin having been healed miraculously under the ands hands of elders heber iverson and 0 M sanderson when they first opened the city of nashville A sign A cry and here is a living witness right in the heart ot of a great city but how many believe the ministers of the gospel do not even wait for the infidel and skeptic to cry delusion but try to convince this good old soul that she has hall not been healed and they take the lead in opposing that faith which jude admonishes monis hes us to contend earnestly tor for brother nolan the former pastor of this good old lady whose word had never been doubted before could not believe her when she testified of the power of god in her behalf and that f she e was healed by the administration of the mormon elders we know that god unto moses but as for these fellows we know not whence they are why herein Is a marvelous thing that ye know not from whence they are and yet they have made me whole and they cast her out in cheatham county we made our first visit at lockertsville and were kindly entertained by brother george W wall and other citizens elders hale and larsen are good preachers rea chers and singers and we had some ine fine meetings ing ts at least the people who came out said they were very much interested hurrying on to humphreys we crossed the cumberland river just before dark and when the waters were running high and swift A young boy offered to take us across in his light canoe for twenty cents this we consented to allow and were soon seated in our places and being carefully paddled out into the deep water by the lad who proved to be an expert at his business elder naylor being a heavy weight and myself not far behind him having made good use of my time when at the hog and hor hominy rack we proved too much for the light craft and put back to shore just in time to save the boat from sinking seeing that we were too much for the small canoe we went across one at a time and even then the young captain seemed somewhat nervous that night we found good quarters with a well to do larmer farmer who is the happy possessor of one ot of those beautiful hornes homes on the banks of the cumberland our journey took us through dickson dickson county where we were most royally entertained by sister lucy camfield root who is the daughter of the late brother israel camfield of meadville pennsylvania who joined the church in the days of the prophet joseph she has many relatives in utah and is as devoted to her religion as a any saint could be there we lound found your valuable paper and many valuable vau able church works some of which we had never seen before monday night we heard the distinguished bryan tuesday we were en pertained for two hours by the noted bob taylor who was doing the state for free silver bob taylor and bryan while in dixon sister root tried hard bard to get jus us a church in which to preach but the good people seemed to have no use for the gospel which we offer free to all our next visit was to turkey creek humphreys county where we found elders grover and oleson and the saints in good health and glad to st see e us four baptisms was the result of the labors done in this county we left aest them feeling well and with a de tion to speedily build a church house for their use how surprised would be the elders who first labored in these counties to come back and find buildings of our own in which to preach sister beacham is still true as steel her son daughter in law and granddaughter are now in the fold and no longer strangers and foreigners but fel low citizens with the saints sister forrest and her son george georg are also in the same happy condition no doubt many of our elders who have been s so 0 kindly entertained by them many years ago will be glad to 10 hear this this letter has become so long now that I 1 cannot relate our visit in lawrence wayne county except to say that we found priest david brauwn and family well and all firm in the faith the branch is also in a prosperous condi condition conditto tio n in west tennessee we had a very pleasant visit with elders A L culmore Culi imore and charles collett in perry county we found brothers keeling denton and inman saints who were baptized many years ears ago and never expected to seea see a mormon elder again also elders greenwood brown freeman jacklin and elder jacklin being on his way home from hardin county at brother keepings He Ke elings we visited ft a chronological tree where we found the following names L A bean september M F L LA A shepherd june irth 1884 J H gibbs august fth 1884 this was but div five i e days before that awful day on cane creek R A shipp september 1887 G J woodbury october ard 3rd 1884 our visit in west tennessee was very pleasant but too long to relate as I 1 am fearful I 1 have now taken up too much of your valuable space our chi christmas istman was a merry one made so by the kind saints of shady grove and greenfield bend eight of us sat down at once to a turkey dinner at the home of sister mollie anderson who is ever kind to the servants of the lord our respected president elder elias S kimball favored us with a call on the dinst the former president of the shady grove branch brother isaac emmens t hurch having passed away to the other side we reorganized the branch b by IT putting brother M A mobley in his place we also ordained brother george brown church a priest to assist in the branch elders savage and naylor have been appointed my assistants and left today to visit the elders in west tennessee eler elder will go with me for the present into moore county we all left brother joel loves about io 10 a m walking out together for a mile where we took a sad farewell and left for our various fields they going north over the mountain and we going east toward williamsport William sport and columbia after several hours walk through what is called the garden spot pot of ten bessee we safely arrived at t the city of columbia where we were kindly entertained by mr L A goslin an old war veteran who has been very kind to our elders since elders ogden and first made their appearance in these parts pardon this long letter my apology is that I 1 do not write very often and wish to make a general answer to my many correspondents JOSEPH DON CARLOS YOUNG |