History draft; handwriting of , John L. Smith, Jonathan Grimshaw, Robert L. Campbell, , , and ; 101 numbered pages plus several inserted pages; CHL. This manuscript covers the period from 1 March 1843 to 31 December 1843.
at , , <Chester>, &c, through the Winter, having left last fall. Captn. of the “Maid of Iowa” was a few weeks since, & <who> has been 11 days coming from , being detained by ice &c.—— — I was present at the , & the first on board the Steamer, when I met Sister (who had been to with ) & her little daughter, only 3 or 4 days old, I could not refrain from shedding tears.
So many of my friends & acquaintances arriving in one day, kept me very busy receiving their congratulations, & answering their questions. I was rejoiced to meet them in such good health & fine Spirits, for they are equal to any that had ever come to .
<13> Municipal court met at 9 a.m. to hear the case of Brink v <v on appeal,> but adjourned the case to the 19th.
at 10 a.m. the Emigrants & a great multitude of others, assembled at the . Choir sung a hymn. Prayer by , when I addressed the Saints, of which the following synopsis was written by .
I most heartily congratulate you on your safe arrival in , & on your safe deliverance from all the dangers & difficulties you have had to encounter on the way; but you must not think that your tribulations are ended. This day I shall not address you on doctrine, but concerning your temporal welfare.
Inasmuch as you have come up here assaying to keep the commandments of God, I pronounce the blessings of Heaven & Earth upon you, & inasmuch as you will follow counsel, & act wisely, & do right, these blessings shall rest upon you, so far as I have power with God to seal them upon you.
I am your Servant, & it is only through the Holy Ghost that I can do you good. God is able to do his own work.
We do not present ourselves before you as any thing but your humble servants, willing to spend & be spent in your service, & therefore we shall dwell upon your temporal welfare on this occasion.
In the 1st. place where a crowd is flocking from all parts of the world, of different minds, religions, &c, there will be some who do not live up to the commandments; there will be some designing characters who would turn you aside & lead you astray, & you may meet speculators who would get away your property, therefore it is necessary that we should have an order here, & when emigrants arrive, instruct them, concerning these things. If the heads of the have laid the foundation of this place & have had the trouble of doing what has been done, are they not better qualified to tell you how to lay out your money, than those who have had no interest in it?
Some start on the revelations to come here, before they arrive they get turned away, <or meet with speculators who get their money for land with bad titles> & loose all of their property, & then they come & make their complaints to us, when it is too late to do any thing for them———— The object of this meeting is to tell you these things, & then if you will pursue the same course you must bear the same consequences of your own folly.
There are several objects in your coming here, one object has been to bring you from Sectarian bondage, another object was to bring you from National bondage, to where you can be planted in a fertile soil. We have brought you into a free government, not that you are to consider yourselves outlaws [p. 18]