F 
 
 S2S 
 
 WILSON 
 
 LIFE OF 
 DAVID W. PATTEN 
 
 BANCROFT 
 LIBRARY 
 
BANCROFT 
 LIBRARY 
 
 -> 
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
LIFE OF 
 
 DAVID W. PATTEN 
 
 THE FIRST APOSTOLIC 
 MARTYR. 
 
 LYCURGUS AV WILSON. 
 
 Copyrighted 1900. 
 
 1904. 
 
 The Deseret News, 
 Salt Lake City, Utah. 
 
TO THE MISSIONARIES 
 
 OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST 
 
 OF BATTER-DAY SAINTS, AT HOME AND ABROAD, 
 
 THIS FEEBLE SKETCH OF THE LIFE WORK OF ONE WHOSE 
 
 ENERGIES WERE ALL DEVOTED TO THE SAME 
 
 WORTHY PURPOSE AS THEIR OWN, IS 
 
 MOST RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED. 
 
Z3I7S PREFACE. 
 
 Bancroft Library 
 
 Tlu- writing of this little volume has been a pleasant 
 And just as we find mingled with our regret at 
 parting with a friend, a joy in the assurance that to 
 \\lmmxM-\vr lu comes he will give the same pleasure he 
 has afforded us, so the author has a feeling in putting 
 out this brief numoir of David W. Patten that the cour- 
 age and faith manifested in his life will not be lost or un- 
 fruitful iirthe lives of those who contemplate his can r 
 
 Then- remains only the pleasure of thanking those 
 who have taken an interest in this work, and their name 
 is legion. But first of all perhaps is the nephew of 
 Apostle Patten, Thomas Jefferson Patten, of Provo, 
 fftak 
 
 Particular mention should be made of the kindness 
 -shown by the late President Wilford Woodruff, by Presi- 
 dent Lorenzo Snow, by President Joseph F. Smith, by 
 the late Apostle Franklin D. Richards and by the late 
 President Abraham 0. Smoot, of Utah Stake. In short, 
 all who knew, or who have read of, Apostle David W. 
 Patten, have .-reined to count it a pleasure to do what- 
 
 ihey could to assist in perpetuating his memory. 
 
 L. A. W. 
 
 Salt Lake City, Utah. 
 February 8, 1900. 
 
OFFICE OF 
 
 6, 1900. 
 
 To the Reader: 
 
 All the circumstances of my first and last meeting with Apostle 
 Da*bid W. Patten are as clear to my mind as if it were an occurrence 
 of but yesterday, and yet it took place some sixty-four years ago. 
 He appeared to me then to be. a remarkable man, and that impression 
 has remained with me e*ber since. 
 
 We traveled together on horseback from my father's home, at 
 Mantua, Ohio, to Kirtland, a distance of perhaps twenty-five miles, 
 he on his return from some missionary labor, I to commence a course 
 of studies at Oberlin College. 
 
 On the *b>ay our conversation fell upon religion and philosophy, 
 and being young and having enjoyed some scholastic advantages, I 
 was at first disposed to treat his opinions lightly, especially so as 
 they were not always clothed in grammatical language; but as he 
 proceeded in his earnest and humble "toay to open up before my mind 
 the plan of salvation, I seemed unable to resist the knowledge that 
 he was a man of God and that his testimony was true. I felt 
 pricked in my heart. 
 
 This he evidently perceived, for almost the last thing he said to 
 me after bearing his testimony, was that I should go to the Lord be- 
 fore retiring at night and ask him for myself. This I did with the 
 result that from the day I met this great Apostle, all my aspirations 
 have been enlarged and heightened immeasurably. This was the 
 turning point in my life. 
 
 What impressed me most foas his absolute sincerity, his earnest- 
 ness and his spiritual power; and I believe I cannot do better in this 
 connection than to commend a careful study of his life to the honest 
 in heart everywhere. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Early life of David W. Patten Parentage Marriage Joins 
 the Methodists Learns of the restoration of the Gospel- 
 Visits his brother Resume of Church history Receives 
 Baptism First mission. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 His procedure in administering to the sick Testimony as to 
 his success Visits the Prophet Missionary labors Casts 
 out a "devil" His family baptized Mrs. Strong healed 
 Called to Jackson County. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Condition of Saints in Missouri Revelation to them With Wil- 
 liam D. Pratt, David goes to Missouri Ministering to the 
 suffering Freedom from animosity Mission to Tennessee 
 Healing of Mrs. Lane. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Chosen an Apostle Ordination Revelation instructing the 
 Twelve Date of birth Healing of Mrs. Stearns Impres- 
 sion of Lorenzo Snow. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 A period of rest Endowments Second mission to Tennessee 
 Meets Wilford Woodruff and Abraham O. Smoot Trial by 
 mob court Escape Interview with Cain Bares his breast 
 to a mob. 
 
VIII CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 David's personal appearance Healing of Abraham O. Smoot 
 Margaret Tittle healed Prophecy at Paris, Tennessee- 
 Journey to Far West Visits Kirtland during the great apos- 
 tasy Chosen to Presidency in Missouri Revelation Ex- 
 presses a wish to die as a martyr. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Visits Adam-ondi-Ahman Address to the Saints Spirit of 
 mobocracy in Missouri David known as "Captain Fear 
 Not" Calms a storm Mobocracy and treason David suc- 
 ceeds to the Presidency of Twelve. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 His last call to arms Battle of Crooked river David mortally 
 wounded The closing scene Wilford Woodruff's testimony 
 Testimony of the Prophet Joseph His place behind the veil 
 revealed. 
 
UFE 
 
 DAVID W. PATTEN. 
 
 '-'-God gives me all the 9 power I have. 9 ' 
 
 DAVID W. PATTEN. 
 
 I. 
 
 Early life of David W. Patten Parentage Marriage Joins 
 the Methodists Learns of the restoration of the Gospel 
 Visits his brother Resume of Church history Receives 
 Baptism First mission. 
 
 Great men are the Lord's abject lessons to the world. 
 They hold out to mankind the measure of truth committed 
 to their generation. As example is greater than precept, 
 so a life may state a truth more forcibly than words. 
 
 When He answered the question as to the first great 
 commandment, the Savior did more than satisfy the idle 
 curiosity of the listening crowd, He indicated one of the 
 underlying purposes of this life and stated the principle by 
 which the degree of civilization will be determined. 
 
 Measured by the love he bore his Maker and his fel- 
 low-men, few greater men have ever lived than David Wy- 
 
2 LIFE OF DAVID W. PATTEN. 
 
 man Patten. With all the intensity of his nature, he 
 served the Lord, and with the same undivided purpose he 
 was devoted to the welfare of humanity. Having in mind 
 that divine precept, "Greater love hath no man than this, 
 that a man lay down his life for his friend," the Prophet 
 Joseph Smith said over the remains of this great Apostle, 
 "There lies a man who has done just as he said he would 
 he has laid down his life for his friends." 
 
 Of David's early life little is known. While he was 
 quite young, his parents, Benenio Patten and Abagail Cole 
 Patten, removed from the State of Vermont, where he' was 
 born about the year 1800, to the town of Theresa, at In- 
 dian Elver Falls, in the western part of the State of New 
 York. 
 
 Leaving home while yet a boy, he made his way to 
 the southeastern part of Michigan, and made himself a 
 home in the woods a short distance above the little town 
 of Dundee, in Monroe County, where he married Miss 
 Phoebe Ann Babcock, in 1828. Here, too, though telling 
 his fellow-religionists that there was no true religion on 
 the earth, he allied himself with the Methodists. 
 
 Having been from youth of a religious turn of mind, 
 he had received a particular manifestation of the Holy 
 Ghost when he was twenty-one years of age. Being ad- 
 monished to humble himself before the Lord and repent 
 of his sins, he enjoyed for the next three years a close com- 
 munion with the Lord, through visions and dreams of the 
 night. In one of these it was made known to him that the 
 Church of Christ would be established in his day, and he 
 looked forward to such an event with joyous anticipation. 
 
LIFE OF DAVID W. PATTEN. 3 
 
 When about the age of twenty-four years, as he tells 
 us in his meager journal,, he became,, through the cares of 
 the world, neglectful in conduct, and remained so to some 
 extent until he was thirty years old, when, by sincere re- 
 pentance, he again received a testimony that his sins were 
 forgiven. Under these conditions and at about this time 
 he saw for the first time a copy of the Book of Mormon, 
 but only long enough to read the inspired preface and the 
 testimony of the eleven witnesses. From this time he 
 prayed continually for faith and a more perfect knowledge. 
 Jt was while living in anticipation of just such an event, 
 therefore, that he received, in the latter part of May, 1832, 
 a letter from his elder brother, John Patten, of Fairplay, 
 Indiana, informing him of the restoration of the Gospel. 
 
 The message fairly caused his heart to leap for joy. 
 He seemed conscious of the light which was about to burst 
 upon him. He knew by intuition that his life's darkness 
 was over, and that henceforward he should walk in the 
 light of eternal truth. He arose in the meeting that day 
 -for it was on a Sunday he received the intelligence and 
 told the assembly that he had at last got word of the 
 Church of Christ. 
 
 Impatient to be off, he mounted his old grey mare the 
 next morning and started alone through the woods on a 
 journey of three hundred miles. That part of the country 
 in those days was little more than a wilderness. The roads 
 by which the settlers had come from their eastern homes 
 ran, in the main, east and west, so that David's way to the 
 south led him over hills, through valleys and across rivers 
 by paths almost unknown to the white man; but nature 
 
4 LIFE OF DAVID -W. PATTEN. 
 
 was in her glory, the birds made melody the day through, 
 and, more than all else, his own heart, swelling with grati- 
 tude, kept time to the music of the spheres, for God had 
 again spoken from the heavens, the questionings of his 
 soul since boyhood had been answered, and those paths, 
 rough though they were, led to the realization of his 
 highest hopes this side of eternity. That otherwise lonely 
 journey was filled with peace and happiness unspeakable. 
 
 Arrived at the home of his brother, at Fairplay, he 
 found him, before an infidel, now a devoted Christian and 
 substantially as the history of the rise of the Church was 
 related to him we shall repeat it here : 
 
 "In a little town six hundred miles to the east, in the 
 State of New York, a young man named Joseph Smith, 
 while praying in the woods twelve years ago, received a 
 visit from God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ. 
 Three years later, an angel, calling himself Moroni, ap- 
 peared to this youth and explained that he was a resurrect- 
 ed being who had formerly lived on this continent in the 
 flesh. Telling the boy Joseph of a sacred record hidden in 
 a hill near by, the angel met him on the hillside where the 
 precious charge lay concealed in a stone box, and after 
 repeated admonitions during the four subsequent years, 
 delivered to him some gold plates and an instrument called 
 a Urim and Thummim,with which to translate the inspired 
 hieroglyphics. 
 
 "After much delay and a great deal of persecution, 
 the youth succeeded in reproducing from the gold plates 
 the record known as the Book of Mormon, now published 
 to the world these three years. 
 
LIFE OF DAVID W. PATTEN. 5 
 
 "Two years and two months ago, having received au- 
 thority under the hands of John the Baptist, as also from 
 Peter, James and John, the ancient apostles, this modern 
 Prophet, in accordance with directions from the Lord, or- 
 ganized the true Church of Christ, at Fayette, Seneca 
 County, in the State of New York. 
 
 "The next fall after the Church was set up, three 
 missionaries came west with the intention of introducing 
 the work among the Indians, who are descended from an 
 ancient people of whom the Book of Mormon gives the his- 
 tory; and on their way came among an earnest body of 
 worshipers at Kirtland, Ohio. These read the book, be- 
 lieved the testimony, and received baptism to the number 
 of several hundred souls. 
 
 "Keceiving a visit from a number of these converts, 
 the Prophet himself has removed with his family to Kirt- 
 land, where he now lives with a number of his followers. 
 
 "It has, moreover, been revealed to the Prophet that 
 the ancient site of the Garden of Eden is on this continent, 
 and that the building of the New Jerusalem is to com- 
 mence at that sacred spot. Accordingly, the converts to 
 the new faith are gathering from all directions into Inde- 
 pendence, Missouri, where about four hundred of them are 
 now settled." 
 
 Interesting as this narrative is to us, though we have 
 heard it for the hundredth time, how much more interest- 
 ing must it have been to David W. Patten, for it was all 
 new to him. Drinking it in with his whole soul, he received 
 the truth with joy, and was led into the waters of baptism 
 on the 15th day of June, 1832. 
 
6 LIFE OF DAVID W. PATTEN. 
 
 With the most of men there is lingering in the very ; 
 heart of their faith a grain of doubt. Even the missionary, 
 no doubt, feels easier in placing himself in the hands of 
 the Lord, when he knows that if no place is furnished him 
 to sleep, he can with the dollar in his pocket provide for 
 himself. And so it is with each of us at times. It seems 
 as though we cannot free ourselves from the millstone of 
 doubt, and take the Lord at His w r ord when He says He 
 will provide for those who trust Him. This was not the 
 case, however, with David W. Patten. He stood six feet 
 and one inch in height, and weighed over two hundred 
 pounds ; but there seems to have been no room in his whole 
 generous composition for a particle of doubt. He took the 
 Lord at His word and devoted his whole life to His service; 
 and whether face to face with Cain, or baring his breast to 
 an infuriated mob, a doubt that the Lord was with him 
 seems thenceforth never to have entered his mind. 
 
 Two days after his baptism David was ordained an El- 
 der under the hands of Elisha H. Groves, and with Joseph 
 Wood, another recent convert, as a companion, was given 
 a mission to the Territory of Michigan. 
 
 II. 
 
 His procedure in administering to the sick Testimony as to 
 his success Visits the Prophet Missionary labors Casts 
 out a "devil" His family baptized Mrs. Strong healed 
 Called to Jackson County. 
 
 Those who have had a like experience, will know with 
 what joy the new convert returned to his friends in the 
 wilderness. All business was laid aside. With his com- 
 
LIFE OF DAVID W. PATTEN. 7 
 
 panion, David traveled through all the country round 
 about preaching the Gospel and healing the sick. 
 
 Immediately upon taking up his labors in Michigan, 
 in calling at the house of a stranger to ask for dinner, 
 David found in the family a very sick child, and while dis- 
 cussing the restoration of the Gospel with the parents, 
 was, asked to administer to the little one. Finding the 
 mother had faith, he did so, and it was at once healed. 
 
 In administering the healing ordiance David had a 
 method of procedure peculiarly his own. On reaching the 
 bedside, he would first teach the principles of the Gospel 
 and bear his testimony to their truth/when he usually made 
 a promise that the invalid should be healed if he would 
 agree to accept baptism. President Abraham 0. Smoot, of 
 Utah Stake, once said he never knew an instance in which 
 David's petition for the sick was not answered, and this 
 was also the testimony of President Wilford Woodruff. 
 
 At the close of one of his meetings in Michigan,where 
 he had no doubt spoken of the gift of healing/two children 
 sick of fever and ague were brought to the meeting-house 
 to be healed. David had started off, but was called back 
 and upon learning from the parents of their faith, acceded 
 to their request, and the children were healed instantly. 
 
 Until the latter part of September David and his com- 
 panion labored in Southeastern Michigan, baptizing six- 
 teen persons in a branch of the Maumee Eiver during that 
 time. Late in the summer they took up a journey to Kirt- 
 land, preaching by the way. 
 
 Perhaps the first person thev met at Kirtland was 
 Elder Joseph C. Kingsbury, for they inquired of him at 
 
g LIFE OF DAVID W. PATTEN. 
 
 Newel K. Whitney's store the way to the home of the 
 Prophet Joseph. It was early in October; the Prophet was 
 on a mission east, and while waiting his return,David spent 
 the next two or three weeks on the Prophet's farm, help- 
 ing to dig potatoes and harvest corn. 
 
 Soon after the return of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 
 
 David W. Patten was sent into Pennsylvania on his second 
 
 mission, traveling sometimes with John Murdock as a 
 
 companion, and at other times with Reynolds Gaboon. 
 
 The Prophet, in sending out these earlv missionaries, 
 
 ' had no particular field of labor in mind for any of them. 
 They were sent to warn all men, but their message was 
 
 , specially to the honest in heart, and these they had no way 
 of finding except by the inspiration of the Lord. Just at 
 this time a large number of Elders had been sent east from 
 Kirtland in response to the revelation of September 22, 
 1832, from which we quote as follows: 
 
 "62. Go ye into all the world, and whatsoever ^>lace 
 ye cannot go into ye shall send, that the testimony may go 
 from you into all the world unto every creature. 
 
 "63. And as I said unto mine apostles, even so I say 
 unto you, for you are mine apostles, even God's High 
 Priests: ye are they whom mv Father hath given me ye 
 are my friends; 
 
 "64. Therefore, as I said unto mine apostles I say un- 
 to you, again that every soul who believeth on your words, 
 and is baptized by water for the remission of sins, shall re- 
 ceive the Holy Ghost; 
 
 "65. And these signs shall follow them that believe. 
 
LIFE OP DAVID W. PATTEN. 9 
 
 "66. In my name they shall do many wonderful 
 works; 
 
 "67. In my name they shall cast out devils; 
 
 "68. In my name they shall heal the sick; 
 
 "69. In my name they shall open the eyes of the 
 blind, and unstop the ears of the deaf; 
 
 "70. And the tongue of the dumb shall speak; 
 
 "71. And if any man shall administer poison unto 
 them it shall not hurt them; 
 
 "72. And the poison of a serpent shall not have 
 power to harm them. 
 
 "73. But a commandment . I give unto them, that 
 they shall not boast themselves of these things, neither 
 speak them before the world, for these things are given 
 unto you for your profit and for salvation. 
 
 "74. Verily, verily, I say unto you they who believe 
 not on your words, and are not baptized in water, in my 
 name, for the remission of their sins, that they may re- 
 ceive the Holy Ghost, shall be damned, and shall not come 
 into my Father's kingdom, where my Father and I am. 
 
 "75. And this revelation unto you, and command- 
 ment, is in force from this very hour upon all the world, 
 and the gospel is unto all who have not received it. 
 
 "76. But, verily, I say unto all those to whom the 
 kingdom has been given, from you it must be preached 
 unto them, that they shall repent of their former evil 
 works, for they are to be upbraided for their evil hearts of 
 unbelief; and your brethren in Zion for their rebellion, 
 against you at the time I sent you. 
 
 "77. And again I say unto you, my friends, (for 
 from henceforth I shall call you friends,) it is expedient 
 that I give unto you this commandment, that ye become 
 even as my friends in days when I was with them traveling 
 to preach the gospel in my power, 
 
 2 
 
10 LIFE OF DAVID W. PATTEN. 
 
 "78. For I suffered them not to have purse or scrip, 
 neither two- coats; 
 
 "79. Behold I send you out to prove the world, and 
 the laborer is worthy of his hire. 
 
 "80. And any man that shall go and preach this gos- 
 pel of the kingdom, and fail not to continue faithful in all 
 things shall not be weary in mind, neither darkened, 
 neither in body, limb, nor joint: and an hair of his head 
 shall not fall to the ground unnoticed. And they shall no-t 
 go hungry, neither athirst. 
 
 "81. Therefore, take no thought for the morrow, for 
 what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, OT wherewithal 
 ye shall be clothed; 
 
 "82. For consider the lilies of the field, how they 
 grow, they toil not, neither do they spin; and the kingdoms 
 of the world, in all their glory, are not arrayed like one of 
 these ; 
 
 "83. For your Father who art in heaven, knoweth 
 that you have need of all these things. 
 
 "84. Therefore, let the morrow take thought for the 
 things of itself. 
 
 "85. Neither take ye thought beforehand what ye 
 shall sa} r , but treasure up in your minds continually the 
 words of life, and it shall be given you in the very hour 
 that portion that shall be meted unto every man. 
 
 "86. Therefore let no man among you, (for this com- 
 mandment is unto all the faithful who are called of God 
 in the church unto the ministry,) from this hour take purse 
 -or scrip, that goeth forth to proclaim this gospel o-f the 
 kingdom. 
 
 "87. Behold, I send you out to reprove the world of 
 all their unrighteous deeds, and to teach them of a judg- 
 ment which is to come. 
 
 "88. And whoso receiveth you, there I will be also, 
 for I will go before your face : I will be on your right hand 
 
LIFE OF DAVID W. PATTEN. 11 
 
 and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, 
 and mine angels round about you, to bear you up. 
 
 "89. Whoso receiveth you receiveth me,and the same 
 will feed you, and cloth you, and give you money. 
 
 "90. And he who feeds you, or clothes you or gives 
 you money, shall in no wise lose his reward : 
 
 "91. And he that doeth not these things is not my 
 disciple; by this you may know my disciples. 
 
 "92. He that receiveth you not, go away from him 
 alone by yourselves, and cleanse your feet even with water, 
 pure water, whether in heat or in cold, and bear testimony 
 of it unto your Father which is in heaven, and return not 
 again unto that man. 
 
 "93. And in whatsoever village or city ye enter, do 
 likewise. 
 
 "94. Nevertheless, search diligently and spare not; 
 and wo unto that house, or that village or citj that re- 
 jecteth you, or your words, or your testimony concerning 
 me. 
 
 "95. Wo, I say again, unto that house, or that village 
 or city that rejecteth you, or your words, or your testimony 
 of me. 
 
 "96. For I the Almighty, have laid my hands upon 
 the nations, to scourge them for their wickedness: 
 
 "97. And plagues shall go forth, and they shall not 
 be taken from the earth until I have completed my work 
 which shall be cut short in righteousness, 
 
 "98. Until all shall know me, who remain, even from 
 the least unto the greatest, and shall be filled with the 
 knowledge of the Lord, and shall see eye to eye, and shall 
 lift up their voice, and with the voice together sing this 
 new song, saying 
 
 "99. The Lord hath brought again Zion 
 The Lord hath redeemed his people, Israel, 
 According to the election of grace, 
 
12 LIFE OF DAVID W. PATTEN. 
 
 Which was brought to pass by the faith 
 And covenant of their fathers. 
 
 "100. The Lord hath redeemed his people, 
 And' Satan is bound and time is no longer: 
 The Lord hath gathered all things in one: 
 The Lord hath brought down Zion from above. 
 The Lord hath brought up Zion from beneath. 
 
 "101. The earth hath travailed and brought forth 
 
 her strength: 
 
 And truth is established in her bowels: 
 And the heavens have smiled upon her : 
 And she is clothed with the glory of her God : 
 For he stands in the midst of his people: 
 
 "102. Glory, and honor, and power, and might, 
 Be ascribed to our God; for he is full of mercy, 
 Justice, grace arid truth, and peace, 
 Forever and ever, Amen. 
 
 "103. And again, verily, verily I say unto you, it is 
 expedient that every man who go>es forth to proclaim mine 
 everlasting gospel, that inasmuch as they have f amilies,and 
 receive monies by gift that they should send it unto them 
 or make use of it for their benefit, as the Lord shall direct 
 them, for thus it seemeth me good. 
 
 "104. And let all those who have not families, who 
 receive monies, send it up u-nto the Bishop in Zion, or unto 
 the Bishop in Ohio, that it may be consecrated for the 
 bringing forth of the revelations and the printing thereof, 
 and for establishing Zion. 
 
 "105. And if any man shall give unto any of you a 
 coat, or a suit, take the old and cast it unto the poor, and 
 go your way rejoicing. 
 
 "106. And if any man among you be strong in the 
 Spirit, let him take with him he that is weak, that he may 
 be edified in all meekness, that he may become strong also. 
 
 "107. Therefore, take with you those who are or- 
 dained unto the lesser priesthood/ and send them before 
 
LIFE OF DAVID W. PATTEN. 13 
 
 you to make appointments, and to prepare the way, and to 
 fill appointments that you yourselves are not able to fill. 
 
 "108. Behold, this is the way that mine apostles, in 
 ancient days, built up my church unto me. 
 
 "109. Therefore, let every man stand in his own of- 
 fice, and labor in his own calling; and let not the head say 
 unto the feet, it hath no need of the feet, for without the 
 feet how shall the body be able to stand ? 
 
 "110. Also the body hath need of every member, 
 that all may be edified together, that the system may be 
 kept perfect. 
 
 "111. And behold the High Priests should travel, 
 and also the elders,, and also the lesser priests; but the dea- 
 cons and teachers should be appointed to watch over the 
 church, to be standing ministers unto the church. 
 
 "112. And the bishop, Newel K. Whitney, also-, 
 should travel round about and among all the churches, 
 searching after the poor to administer to their wants by 
 humbling the rich and the proud; 
 
 "113. He should also employ an agent to take 
 charge and to do his secular business as he shall direct. 
 
 "114. Nevertheless, let the bishop go unto the city 
 of New York, also the city of Albany, and also to the 
 city of Boston, and warn the people of those cities with 
 the sound of the gospel, with a loud voice, of the desolation 
 and utter abolishment which await them if they do reject 
 these things; 
 
 "115. For if they do reject these things the hour of 
 their judgment is nigh, and their house shall be left unto 
 them desolate. 
 
 "116. Let him trust in me and he shall not be con- 
 founded; and an hair of his head shall not fall to the 
 ground unnoticed. 
 
 "117. And verily I say unto you, the rest of my ser- 
 vants, go ye forth as your circumstances shall permit, in 
 
14 LIFE OF DAVID W. PATTEN. 
 
 your several callings unto the great and notable cities and 
 villages, reproving the world in righteousness of all their 
 unrighteous and ungodly deeds, setting forth clearly and 
 understandingly the desolation of abomination in the last 
 days. 
 
 "118. For with you saith the Lord Almighty, I will 
 rend their kingdoms: I will not only shake the earth, but 
 the starry heavens shall tremble; 
 
 "119. For I, the Lord, have put forth my hand to 
 exert the powers of heaven; ye cannot see it now, yet a 
 little while and ye shall see it, and know that I am, and 
 that I will come and reign with my people. 
 
 "120. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the 
 end. Amen." Doc. and Cov. Sec. 84. 
 
 On the 9th of November, in eastern Ohio<, David fell 
 in with John F. Boynton and Zebedee Coltrin, who like 
 himself were uncertain a,s to their course, and the three 
 thereupon held a council of inquiry. Agreeing that Zeb- 
 edee Coltrin should be mouth, the three went into a, wood 
 near by and knelt in prayer. They were directed to go 
 eastward, preaching as they went. This they did, and 
 David adds, "the Spirit of God leading us." Several per- 
 sons were baptized on their way. 
 
 At Springfield, Pa., David met Hyrum Smith and his 
 brother William, and joined them in holding services. Af- 
 ter meeting, six persons were baptized. David's gift of 
 healing the sick was in constant demand. People came to 
 him from all the country round, and it was a daily occur- 
 rence for the sick to be healed under his administrations. 
 One woman, who had been an invalid for twenty years, 
 was healed instantly. 
 
LIFE OF DAVID W. PATTEN. 15 
 
 After four months' labor in and about Pennsylvania, 
 David returned to Kirtland, arriving there February 25, 
 1833. 
 
 David was a man of great physical strength. While 
 on his third mission, which was undertaken after a month's 
 rest at Kirtland, he and Reynolds Cahoon had an appoint- 
 ment to preach at the house of Father Bosley, at Avon, 
 Ohio. 
 
 Several meetihgs had been held here before by other 
 Elders, and among the assembled neighbors, was a man 
 known as the "County Bully/' who was the source of a 
 great deal of annoyance to the speakers. 
 
 Sitting by the door in the hallway, this man would, 
 every little while, contradict the speaker, or call out some 
 irreverent suggestion, or ask for a sign. He boisterously re- 
 fused to be quiet, and on the evening of David's meeting at 
 the house, was particularly noisy, asking David, among 
 other things, to cast the devil out. Whether it was from a 
 sense of humor at the fellow's unlucky remark, or because 
 he was tired of the disturbance, we cannot say, but David 
 finally determined 'to silence his persecutor. 
 
 Walking to the hallway, he quietly picked the man up 
 bodily, carried him to the outside door, and with a swing 
 sent the fellow about ten feet onto the wood pile. There 
 was no more disturbance that night, and the saying was 
 the current mirth provoker of the neighborhood for weeks 
 afterward, that "Patten cast out one devil, soul and body." 
 
 While on this mission, David assisted in converting 
 a part of his own family. On the 20th of May, 1833, at 
 Theresa, Indian River Falls his brothers Archibald and 
 
16 . LIFE OF DAVID W. PATTEN. 
 
 Ira, his sister Polly, his mother, and two of his brothers- 
 in-law, Warren Parrish and Mr. Cheeseman, were led into 
 the waters of baptism by Elder Brigham Young, who was 
 another of the large number of missionaries sent out from 
 Kirtland in March, 1833. David's father had died in 
 August the previous year. 
 
 For nearly a year now David had been almost contin- 
 uously in the field preaching the Gospel and healing the 
 sick, his power with the Lord in no wise diminishing. No 
 credit was ever taken to himself, however, in the miracles 
 performed, for he writes of this time: 
 
 "The Lord did work with me wonderfully, in signs 
 and wonders following them that believed in the ful- 
 ness of the Gospel of Jesus Chist, insomuch that the deaf 
 were made to hear, the blind to see, and the lame were 
 made whole. Fevers;, palsies, crooked and withered limbs, 
 and in fact all manner of diseases common to the country, 
 were healed by the power of God, that was manifested 
 through His servants." 
 
 Among those visited by him was a blind woman, the 
 wife of Ezra Strong. It was nearly noon when David 
 reached the house. After the usual testimony and ques- 
 tions respecting her faith in the Gospel, David rubbed and 
 anointed her eyes, when immediately she was restored to 
 sight; and so thoroughly was she healed that she prepared 
 dinner for the household. 
 
 During this summer, under great hardship and suffer- 
 ing, eighty members were added to the Church under 
 David's administration. Eighteen of these were at Orleans, 
 Jefferson County, New York. At Henderson where eight 
 
LIFE OF DAVID W. PATTEN. 17 
 
 converts were baptized, great power was manifested at 
 the confirmation, when the members spoke in tongues and 
 prophesied. 
 
 With his brother, Ira, David returned in the early 
 autumn of 1833 to Kirtland, where he worked on the tem- 
 ple for a month. Before winter set in that year, David had 
 removed his wife and their effects from Michigan to Flor- 
 ence, Ohio, where he remained till the latter part of No- 
 vember. Having been sickly, five weeks of the seven he 
 spent at home that fall, David commended himself into 
 the hands of the Lord and went into the neighboring coun- 
 try to preach. But there was a field more in need of his 
 labors than this, for he had not been from home more than 
 two weeks when the word of the Lord came to him as fol- 
 lows: 
 
 "Depart from your field of labor, and go unto Kirt- 
 laiid, for behold, I will send thee up to the land of Zion, 
 for behold, thou shalt serve thy brethren there." 
 
 
 III. 
 
 Condition of Saints in Missouri Revelation to them With Wil- 
 liam D. Pratt, David goes to Missouri Ministering to the 
 suffering Freedom from animosity Mission to Tennessee 
 Healing of Mrs. Lane. 
 
 Greatly were his brethren in Zion in need of whatever 
 services David could render them. About the time of his 
 arrival at Kirtland after receiving the word of the Lord, a 
 letter came to the Prophet from Elder W. W. Phelps,dated 
 Clay County, Missouri, in which among other things he 
 says: 
 
18 LIFE OF DAVID W. PATTEN. 
 
 "The situation of the Saints, as scattered, is dubious 
 and affords a gloomy prospect. No regular order can be 
 enforced, nor any usual discipline kept up; among the 
 world, yea, among the most wicked part of it, some commit 
 one sin and some another (I speak of the rebellious, for 
 there are Saints that are as immovable as the everlasting- 
 hills,) and what can be done? We are in Clay, Ray, Lafa- 
 yette, Jackson, Van Buren, etc., and cannot hear from each 
 other oftener than we do from you. 
 
 "I know it was right that we should be driven out of 
 the land of Zion, that the rebellious might be sent away. 
 But, brethren, if the Lord will, I should like to know what 
 the honest in heart shall do." 
 
 On December IGth, 1833, the Lord gave, in answer to 
 this inquiry, the following revelation : 
 
 "1. Verily I say unto you, concerning your brethren 
 who have been afflicted, and persecuted, and cast out from 
 the land of their inheritance, 
 
 "2. I, the Lord, have suffered the affliction to come 
 upon them, wherewith they have been afflicted, in conse- 
 quence of their transgressions ; 
 
 "3. Yet I will own them, and they shall be mine in 
 that day when I shall come to make up my jewels. 
 
 "4. Therefore, they must needs be chastened and 
 tried, even as Abraham, who was commanded to offer up 
 his only son; 
 
 "5. For all those who will not endure chastening,but 
 deny me, cannot be sanctified. 
 
 "6. Behold, I say unto you, there were jarrings, and 
 contentions, and envyings, and strifes, and lustful and cov- 
 etons desires among them; therefore by these things they 
 polluted their inheritances. 
 
LIFE OF DAVID W. PATTEN. 19 
 
 "7. They were slow to hearken unto the voice of the 
 Lord their God, therefore the Lord their God is slow to 
 hearken unto their prayers, to answer them in the day of 
 their trouble. 
 
 "8. In the day of their peace they esteemed lightly 
 my counsel; but, in the day of their trouble, of necessity 
 they feel after me. 
 
 "9. Verily, I say unto you, notwithstanding their 
 sins, my bowels are filled with compassion towards them: 
 I will not utterly cast them off; and in the day of wrath 
 I will remember mercy. 
 
 "10. I have sworn, and the decree hath gone forth 
 by a former commandment which I have given unto you, 
 that I would let fall the sword of mine indignation in the 
 behalf of my people; and even as I have said, it shall come 
 to pass. 
 
 "11. Mine indignation is soon to be poured out with- 
 out measure upon all nations, and this will I do when the 
 cup of their iniquity is full. 
 
 "12. And in that day all who are found upon the 
 watch tower, or in other words, all mine Israel shall be - 
 saved. 
 
 "13. And they that have been scattered shall be 
 gathered; 
 
 "14. And all they who have mourned shall be com- 
 forted ; 
 
 "15. And all they who have given their lives for my 
 name shall be crowned. 
 
 "16. Therefore, let your hearts be comforted con- 
 cerning Zion; for all flesh is in mine hands: be still and 
 know that I am God. 
 
 "17. Zion shall not be moved out of her place, not- 
 withstanding her children are scattered; 
 
 "18. They that remain, and are pure in heart, shall 
 return, and come to their inheritance, they and their 
 
2Q LIFE OF DAVID W. PATTEN. 
 
 children, with songs of everlasting joy to build up the 
 waste places of Zion; 
 
 "19. And all these things that the prophets might 
 be fulfilled. 
 
 "20. And,, behold, there is none other place appoint- 
 ed than that which I have appointed; neither shall there 
 be any other place appointed than that which I have ap- 
 pointed, for the work of the gathering of my saints, 
 
 "21. Until the day cometh when there is found no 
 more room for them; and then I have other places which 
 I will appoint unto them, and they shall be called Stakes, 
 for the curtains, -or the strength of Zion. 
 
 "22. Behold, it is my will, that all they who call on 
 my name, and worship me according to mine everlasting 
 gospel, should gather together, and stand in holy places, 
 
 "23. And prepare for the revelation, which is to 
 come, when the veil of the covering of my temple, in my 
 tabernacle, which hideth the earth, shall be taken off, and 
 all flesh shall see me together. 
 
 "24. ' And every corruptible thing, both of man, or of 
 the beasts of the field, or of the fowls of the heavens, or of 
 the fish of the sea, that dwell upon all the face of the 
 earth, shall be consumed; 
 
 "25. And also that of element shall melt with fer- 
 vent heat ; and all things shall become new, that my knowl- 
 edge and glory may dwell upon all the earth. 
 
 "26. And in that day the enmity of man, and the en- 
 mity of beasts, yea, the enmity of all flesh, shall cease from 
 before my face, 
 
 "27. And in that day whatsoever any man shall ask, 
 it shall be given unto him. 
 
 "28. And in that day Satan shall not have power to 
 tempt any man. 
 
 "29. And there shall be no sorrow because there is 
 no death, 
 
LIFE OF DAVID W. PATTEN. 21 
 
 "30. In that day an infant shall not die until he is 
 old, and his life shall be as the age of a tree. 
 
 "31. And when he dies he shall not sleep, (that is to 
 say in the earth,) but shall be changed in the twinkling of 
 an eye, and shall be caught up, and his rest shall be glo- 
 rious. 
 
 "32. Yea, verily I say unto you, in that day when 
 the Lord shall come, he shall reveal all things 
 
 "33. Things which have passed, and hidden things 
 which no man knew things of the earth, by which it was 
 made, and the purposes and the end thereof 
 
 "34. Things most precious things that are above, 
 and things that are beneath things that are in the earth, 
 and upon the earth, and in heaven. 
 
 "35. And all they who suffer' persecution for my 
 name, and endure in faith, though they are called to lay 
 down their lives for my sake, yet shall they partake of all 
 this glory. 
 
 "36. Wherefore, fear not even unto death ;f or in this 
 world your joy is not full, but in me your joy is full. 
 
 "37. Therefore, care not for the body, neither the 
 life of the body; but care for the soul, and for the life of 
 the soul; 
 
 "38. And seek the face of the Lord always, that in 
 patience ye may possess your souls, and ye shall have eter- 
 nal life. 
 
 "39. When men are called unto mine everlasting 
 gospel, and covenant with an everlasting covenant, they are 
 accounted as the salt of the earth, and the savor of men; 
 
 "40. They are called to be the savor of men. There- 
 fore, if that salt of the earth lose its savor, behold, it is 
 thenceforth good for nothing, only to be cast out, and 
 trodden under the feet of men. 
 
 "41. Behold, here is wisdom concerning the children 
 
22 LIFE OF DAVID W. PATTEN. 
 
 of Zion, even many, but not all; they were found trans- 
 gressors, therefore they must needs be chastened. 
 
 "42. He that exalteth himself shall be abased, and 
 he that abaseth himself shall be exalted. 
 
 "43, And now, I will show unto you a parable, that 
 you may know my will concerning the redemption of Zion. 
 
 "44. A certain nobleman had a spot of land, very 
 choice; and he said unto his servants, Go ye unto my vine- 
 yard, even upon this very choice piece of land, and plant 
 twelve olive trees, 
 
 "45. And set watchmen round about them, and build 
 a tower, that one may overlook the land round about, to 
 be a watchman upon the tower, that mine olive trees may 
 not be broken down, when the enemy shall come to spoil, 
 and take unto themselves the fruit of my vineyard. 
 
 "46. Now, the servants of the nobleman went and 
 did as their lord commanded them; and planted the olive 
 trees, and built a hedge round about, and set watchmen, 
 and began to build a tower. 
 
 "47. And while they were yet laying the foundation 
 thereof, they began to say among themselves, And what 
 need hath my lord of this tower ? 
 
 "48. And consulted for a long time, saying among 
 themselves, What need hath my lord of this tower, seeing 
 this is a time of peace? 
 
 "49. Might not this money be given to the exchang- 
 ers ? for there is no need of these* things ! 
 
 "50. And while they were at variance one with an- 
 other they became very slothful, and they harkened not 
 unto the commandments of their lord, 
 
 "51. And the enemy came by night, and broke down 
 the hedge, and the servants of the nobleman arose and 
 were affrighted, and fled; and the enemy destroyed their 
 works, and broke down the olive trees. 
 
 "52. Now behold, the nobleman, the lord of the vine- 
 
LIFE OF DAVID W. PATTEN. 23 
 
 yard, called upon his servants, and said unto them, Why ! 
 what is the cause of this great evil ? 
 
 "53. Ought ye not to have done even as I commanded 
 you ? and after ye had planted the vineyard, and built the 
 hedge round about, and set watchmen upon the walls 
 thereof, built the tower also, and set a watchman upon the 
 tower, and watched for my vineyad, and not have fallen 
 asleep, lest the enemy should come upon you? 
 
 "54. And behold, the watchman upon the tower 
 would have seen the enemy while he was yet afar off, and 
 then ye could have made ready and kept the enemy from 
 breaking down the hedge thereof, and saved my vineyard 
 from the hands of the destroyer. 
 
 "55. And the lord of the vineyard said unto one of 
 his servants, Go and gather together the residue of my ser- 
 vants, and take all the strength of mine house, which are 
 my warriors, my young men, and they that are of middle 
 age also among all my servants, who are the strength of 
 mine house, save those only whom I have appointed to 
 tarry; 
 
 "56. And go ye straightway unto the land of my 
 vineyard, and redeem my vineyard, for it is mine, I have 
 bought it with money. 
 
 "57. Therefore, get ye straightway unto my land; 
 break down the walls of mine enemies; throw down their 
 tower, and scatter their watchmen : 
 
 "58. And inasmuch as they gather together against 
 you, avenge me of mine enemies, that by and by I may 
 come with the residue of mine house, and possess the land. 
 
 "59. And the servant said unto his lord, When shall 
 these things be ? 
 
 "60. And he said unto his servant, When I will, go 
 ye straightway, and do all things whatsoever I have com- 
 manded you; 
 
 "61. And this shall be my seal and blessing upon 
 
24 LIFE OF DAVID W. PATTEN. 
 
 you a faithful and wise steward in the midst of mine 
 house, a ruler in my kingdom. 
 
 "62. And his servant went straightway, and did all 
 things whatsoever his lord commanded him, and after 
 many* days all things were fulfilled. 
 
 "63. Again, verily I say unto you, I will show unto 
 you wisdom in me concerning all the churches, inasmuch 
 as they are willing to be guided in a right and proper way 
 for their salvation, 
 
 "64. That the work of the gathering together of my 
 saints may continue, that I may build them up unto my 
 name upon holy places; for the time of harvest is come, 
 and my word must needs be fulfilled. 
 
 "65. Therefore, I must gather together my people, 
 according to the parable of the wheat and the tares, that 
 the wheat may be secured in the garners to possess eternal 
 life, and be crowned with celestial glory when I shall come 
 in the kingdom of my Father, to reward every man accord- 
 ing as his work shall be, 
 
 "66. While the tares shall be bound in bundles, and 
 their bands made strong, that they may be burned with un- 
 quenchable fire. 
 
 "67. Therefore, a commandment I give unto all the 
 churches, that they shall continue to gather together unto 
 the places which I have appointed; 
 
 "68. Nevertheless, as I have said unto you in a for- 
 mer commandment, let not your gatheing be in haste, 
 nor by flight; but let all things be prepared before you; 
 
 "69. And in order that all things be prepared before 
 you, observe the commandments which I have given con- 
 cerning these things, 
 
 "70. Which saith, or teacheth, to puchase all the 
 lands by money, which can be purchased for money, in 
 the region round about the land which I have appointed 
 
LIFE OF DAVID W. PATTEN. 25 
 
 to be the land of Zion, for the beginning of the gathering 
 of my saints; 
 
 "71. All the land which can be purchased in Jackson 
 County, and the counties round about, and leave the resi- 
 due in mine hand. 
 
 "72. Now, verily I say unto you, let all the churches 
 gather together all their monies; let these things be done 
 in their time, be not in haste, and observe to have all 
 things prepared before you. 
 
 "73. And let honorable men be appointed, even wise 
 men, and send them to purchase these lands; 
 
 "74. And every church in the eastern countries when 
 they are built up, if they will hearken unto this counsel, 
 they may buy lands and gather together upon them, and 
 in this way they may establish Zion. 
 
 "75. There is even now already in store a sufficient, 
 yea, even abundance, to redeem Zion, and establish her 
 waste places, no more to be thrown down, where the 
 churches who call themselves after my name, willing to 
 hearken to my voice. 
 
 "76. And again I say unto you, those who have been 
 scattered by their enemies, it is my will that they should 
 continue to importune for redress, and redemption, by the 
 hands of those who are placed as rulers, and are in author- 
 ity over you. 
 
 "77. According to the laws and constitution of the 
 people which I have suffered to be esablished, and should 
 be maintained for the rights and protection of all flesh, ac- 
 cording to just and holy principles. 
 
 "78. That every man may act in doctrine and prin- 
 ciple pertaining to futurity, according to this moral agency 
 which I have given unto them, that every man may be ac- 
 countable for his own sins in the day of judgment. 
 
 "79. Therefore, it is not right that any man should 
 be in bondage one to another. 
 
 "80. And for this purpose I have established the 
 
26 LIFE OF DAVID W. PATTEN. 
 
 constitution of this land, by the hands of wise men whom I 
 raised up unto this very purpose, and redeemed the land 
 by the shedding of blood. 
 
 "81. Now, unto what shall I liken the children of 
 Zion? I will liken them unto the parable of the woman 
 and the unjust judge (for men ought always to pray and 
 not to faint) which saith, 
 
 "82. There was in a city a judge which feared not 
 God, neither regarded man. 
 
 "83. And there was a widow in that city, and she 
 came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary. 
 
 "84. And he would not for awhile, but afterward he 
 said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard 
 man, yet because this widow troubleth me I will avenge 
 her, lest, by her continual coming, she weary me. 
 
 "85. Thus will I liken the children of Zion. 
 
 "86. Let them importune at the feet of the Judge; 
 
 "87. And if he heed them not, let them importune 
 at the feet of the Governor; 
 
 "88. And if the Governor heed them not, let them 
 importune at the feet of the President; 
 
 "89. And if the President heed them not, then will 
 the Lord arise and come forth out of his hiding place, and 
 in his fury vex the nation, 
 
 "90. And in his hot displeasure, and in his fierce 
 anger, in his time, will cut off those wicked, unfaithful, 
 and unjust stewards,and appoint them their portion among 
 hypocrites, and unbelievers; 
 
 "91. Even in outer darkness, where there is weeping, 
 and wailing, and gnashing of teeth. 
 
 "92. Pray ye, therefore, that their ears may be open- 
 ed unto your cries, that I may be merciful unto them, that 
 these things may not come upon them. 
 
 "93. What I have said unto you, must needs be, that 
 all men may be left without excuse; 
 
LIFE OF DAVID W. PATTEN. 27 
 
 "94. That wise men and rulers may hear and know 
 that which they have never considered; 
 
 "95. That I may proceed to bring to pass my act, my 
 strang* 3 act, n<l perform my work, my strange work, that 
 men may discern between the righteous and the wicked, 
 saith your God. 
 
 "96. And again, I say unto you, it is contrary to my 
 commandment, and my will, that my servant Sidney Gil- 
 bert should sell my storehouse, which I have appointed un- 
 to my people, into the hands of mine enemies. 
 
 "97. Let not that which I have appointed be polluted 
 by mine enemies, by the consent of those who call them- 
 selves after my name; 
 
 "98. For this is a very sore and grievous sin against 
 me, and against my people, in consequence of those things 
 which I have decreed and are soon to befall the nations. 
 
 "99. Therefore, it is my will that my people should 
 claim, and hold claim upon that which I have appointed 
 unto them, though they should not be permitted to dwell 
 thereon; 
 
 "100. Nevertheless, I do not say they shall not dwell 
 thereon; for inasmuch as they bring forth fruit and works 
 meet for my kingdom, they shall dwell thereon ; 
 
 "101. They shall build, and another shall not inherit 
 it ; they shall plant vineyards, and they shall eat the fruit 
 thereof. Even so. Amen." Doc. and Cov. Sec. 101. 
 
 With a copy of this revelation and other papers bear- 
 ing comfort to the distressed people, David accompanied 
 William D. Pratt to Missouri, making the greater part of 
 the journey on foot. 
 
 Under date of December 19th occurs the following 
 entry in the diary of the Prophet Joseph Smith : 
 
 "William Pratt and David Patten took their journey 
 
28 LIFE OF DAVID W. PATTEN. 
 
 to the land of Zion, for the purpose of bearing dispatches 
 to the brethren in that place from Kirtland. 0, may God 
 grant it a blessing for Zion, as a kind angel from hea,ven. 
 Amen." 
 
 To face that journey of six hundred miles in the dead 
 of winter on foot and in poverty, took no common courage. 
 Men who weighed their own comfort against the welfare 
 of their fellowmen, would have seriously considered the al- 
 ternative. But not so with these. 
 
 Since the summer of 1831, when the Saints first set- 
 tled in Jackson County, Missouri, converts had been gath- 
 ering from all parts of the country to the center Stake of 
 Zion. Much progress had been made by them in providing 
 themselves with the comforts of life, when, in the fall of 
 1833, an armed mob recruited from the surrounding re- 
 gion arose against the Saints and drove them, about twelve 
 hundred souls in all, from their homes, and now they were 
 as we have seen scattered and in distress. 
 
 After much suffering on this perilous journey, David 
 reached Clay County, where his brother John had located, 
 on March 24, 1834. He found the Saints in a truly pit- 
 iable condition. Driven from their homes in and about 
 Independence before the crops of the previous year could 
 be utilized, their fields laid waste, their houses and in many 
 instances all their belongings burned by the mob, many of 
 the people hardly knew how they had been preserved 
 through the winter. The Lord only will ever know. 
 
 David's whole soul went out to the sufferers. His time 
 was spent night and day in ministering to their necessities. 
 That attribute of the Lord, which we are sent here partic- 
 
LIFE OF DAVID W. PATTEN. 29 
 
 ularly to cultivate, of love for all things, was most fully 
 exercised in David during this period of his development. 
 Even the most despised of the animal kingdom came with- 
 in the reach of his sympathy,for while traveling among the 
 people he interposed whenever opportunity offered to pre- 
 vent the destruction even of the rattlesnakes with which 
 the country was infested. Explaining on one such occasion 
 that we need not look for animals to become harmless so 
 long as men cherish enmity, he drove the intruder with a 
 brush of leaves into retirement. 
 
 Not even the men who had brought upon his brethren 
 and sisters the suffering he so untiringly sought to relieve, 
 could call from David any heated demonstration of bitter- 
 ness. While he stood ready to go with the Saints back to 
 their homes, and advocated such a course, he was yet un- 
 willing to entertain for their enemies a feeling of ven- 
 geance. 
 
 In June, 1834, when Zion's camp had arrived, David 
 met in council with a number of his brethren and the lead- 
 ers of the mob. At the close of the conference, on account 
 of some remark of his, one of the mobocrats drew a bowie 
 knife on David, swearing: 
 
 "You d d Mormon, I'll cut your d d throat/' 
 
 "My friend, do nothing rash." 
 
 "For God's sake don't shoot." 
 
 David's composure and gentle reply threw the man 
 into a state of alarm for his own safety. It was beyond him 
 to conceive of such unruffled demeanor unless his antagon- 
 ist relied for his security on concealed weapons. But David 
 was wholly unarmed,except with the affection which knows 
 
30 LIFE OF DAVID W. PATTEN. 
 
 no fear. There are other instances in his career when 
 David's fearlessness led his enemies to believe he was 
 armed. These, however, will be noted as we proceed. 
 
 The Prophet Joseph left Missouri for Kirtland early in 
 July, and in September David took a steamer at the small 
 town of La Grange on the Mississippi river, and, in com- 
 pany with Warren Parish, started on a mission to the 
 Southern States. At Paris, Henry County, Tennessee, 
 where they arrived in October, the Elders remained preach- 
 ing about three months. During this time twenty converts 
 were made and many sick were healed. 
 
 Of the many cases of healing performed under David's 
 administrations, one of the most wonderful perhaps was 
 that of the wife of Johnston F. Lane. She had been sick 
 for eight years, and for a year past had been unable to 
 .walk. Hearing of the Elders she begged her husband to 
 send for them. David answered the summons at once. As 
 was his custom, he first explained the Gospel and upon re- 
 ceiving from the lady an assurance of faith in the Lord, he 
 laid his hands on her, saying: 
 
 "In the name of Jesus Christ, I rebuke the disorder 
 and command it to depart." 
 
 As he said this she was instantly made whole, and at 
 his command and in accordance with her promise, she went 
 into the water and was baptized within the hour. Among 
 the promises made her at her confirmation, was one that 
 she should bear a son in less than a year, though she had 
 been married twelve years and was childless. The proph- 
 ecy was fulfilled, and, out of the gratitude to the servant of 
 the Lord under whose hands the mother had been so mar- 
 
LIFE OF DAVID W. PATTEN. 31 
 
 velously healed, the child was named David Patten Lane. 
 The mother bore several children afterward. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Chosen an Apostle Ordination Revelation instructing the 
 Twelve Date of birth Healing of Mrs. Stearns Impres- 
 sion of Lorenzo Snow. 
 
 From Paris, Tennessee, David made his way to Kirt- 
 land, where events very nearly concerning him were- soon 
 to take place. 
 
 Even before the organization of the Church, two of the 
 witnesses to the Book of Mormon, were directed to search 
 out the Twelve Apostles, and as a mark by which these 
 men were to be known the Lord particularizes: 
 
 "And the Twelve are they who shall desire to take up- 
 on them my name with full purpose of heart." 
 
 In his diary under date of 1835, the Prophet Joseph 
 writes : 
 
 "On the Sabbath, previous to the 14th of February, 
 Brothes Joseph and Brigham Young came to my house 
 after meeting and sang for me ; the Spirit of the Lord was 
 poured out upon us, and I told them I wanted those 
 brethren together who went up to Zion in the camp the 
 previous summer, for I had a blessing for them." 
 
 Of the minutes of that meeting on February 14th, a 
 brief extract will be interesting: 
 
 "President Joseph Smith, Jr., after making many re- 
 marks on the subject of choosing the Twelve, wanted an 
 expression from the brethren if they would be satisfied to 
 have the Spirit of the Lord dictate in the choice of the El- 
 
32 LIFE OF DAVID W. PATTEN. 
 
 ders to be Apostles; whereupon all the Elders present ex- 
 pressed their anxious desire to have it so. 
 
 "A hymn was then sung, 'Hark, Listen to the 
 Trumpeters/ President Hyrum prayed and meeting was 
 dismissed for one hour. 
 
 "Assembled pursuant to adjournment^and commenced 
 with prayer. 
 
 "President Joseph Smith, Jr., said that the first busi- 
 ness of the meeting was for the three witnesses of the Book 
 of Mormon to pray, each one, and then proceed to choose 
 twelve men from the Church as Apostles, to go to all na- 
 tions, kindreds, tongues and people. 
 
 "The three witnesses, viz., Oliver Cowdery, David 
 Whitmer and Martin Harris, united in prayer. 
 
 "These three witnesses were then blessed by the lay- 
 ing on of the hands of the Presidency. 
 
 "The witnesses then, according to a former command- 
 ment, proceeded to make a choice of the Twelve. Their 
 names are as follows: 
 
 Lyman E. Johnson. Wm. E. McLellin, 
 
 Brigham Young, John F. Boynton. 
 
 Heber C. Kimball, Orson Pratt, 
 
 Orson Hyde, William Smith, 
 
 David W. Patten, Thos. B. Marsh, 
 
 Luke Johnson, Parley P. Pratt." 
 
 Under the hands of the witnesses, the Twelve were 
 next ordained. David's ordination occurred on Sunday, 
 February 15, 1835, m language of which the following 
 quotation from the minutes is probably only a synopsis : 
 
LIFE OF DAVID W. PATTEN. 33 
 
 "0 God, give this, Thy servant, a knowledge of Thy 
 will; may he be like one of old, who bore testimony of 
 Jesus ; may he be a new man from this day forth. He shall 
 be equal with his brethren, the Twelve, and have the qual- 
 ifications of the Prophets before him; may his body be 
 strong and never weary; may he walk and not faint. May 
 he have power over all diseases, and faith according to his 
 desires ;may the heavens be opened upon him speedily, that 
 he may bear testimony from knowledge; that he may go to 
 the nations and isles afar off. May he have a knowledge of 
 the things of the kingdom from the beginning, and be able 
 to tear down priestcraft like a lion; may he have power to 
 smite his, enemies before him with utter destruction; may 
 he continue till the Lord comes. Father, we seal these 
 blessings upon him. Even so. Amen." 
 
 The period intervening till the 4th of May, when their 
 first mission was entered upon, was a varitable Pentecost 
 to the newly chosen Twelve. Through the Prophet Joseph 
 and his counselors the Lord truly poured out upon them 
 the choicest blessings of heaven. On March 28th, in an- 
 swer to their petition for "a revelation of His mind and 
 will concerning our duty the coming season, even a great 
 revelation that will enlarge our hearts, comfort us in ad- 
 versity, and brighten our hopes amidst the powers of dark- 
 ness," the Lord, through the Prophet, answered every de- 
 sire of their hearts with the revelation Section 107, in the 
 Doctrine and Covenants, as follows: 
 
 "1. There are in the church, two Priesthoods, name- 
 ly, the Melchisedek, and Aaronic, including the Levitical 
 priesthood. 
 
34 LIFE OF DAVID W. PATTEN. 
 
 "2. Why the first is called the Melchisedek Priest- 
 hood, is because Melchisedek was such a great High Priest. 
 
 "3. Before his day it was called the Holy Priesthood, 
 after the order of the Son of God; 
 
 "4. But out of respect or reverence to the name of 
 the Supreme Being, to avoid the too frequent repetition oi 
 his name, they, the church, in ancient days, called that 
 Priesthood after Melchisedek, or the Melchisedek Priest- 
 hood. 
 
 "5. All other authorities or offices in the church are 
 appendages to this Priesthood. 
 
 "6. But there are two divisions or grand heads one 
 is the Melchisedek Priesthood,and the other is the Aaronic, 
 or Levitical Priesthood. 
 
 "7. The office of an Elder comes under the Priest- 
 hood of Melchisedek. 
 
 "8. The Melchisedek Priesthood holds the right of 
 Presidency, and has power and authority over all the of- 
 fices in the church in all ages of the world, to administer 
 in spiritual things. 
 
 "9. The Presidency of the High Priesthood, after the 
 order of Melchisedek, have a right to officiate in all the 
 offices in the church. 
 
 "10. High Priests after the order of the Melchisedek 
 Priesthood, have a right to officiate in their own standing, 
 under the direction of the Presidency, in administering 
 spiritual things; and also in the office of an elder, priest, 
 (of the Levitical order,) teacher, deacon, and member. 
 
 "11. An elder has a right to officiate in his stead 
 when the High Priest is not present. 
 
 "12. The High Priest and elder are to administer in 
 spiritual things, agreeable to the covenants and command- 
 ments of the church; and they have a right to officiate in 
 all these offices of the church when there are no higher 
 authorities present. 
 
 "13. The second priesthood is called the priesthood 
 
LIFE OF DAVID W. PATTEN. 35 
 
 of Aaron, because it was conferred upon Aaron and his 
 seed, throughout all their generations. 
 
 "14. Why it is called the lesser priesthood, is because 
 it is an appendage to the greater or the Melchisedek Priest- 
 hood, and has power in administering outward ordinances. 
 
 "15. The bishopric is the presidency of this priest- 
 hood and holds the keys or authority of the same. 
 
 "16. No man has a legal right to this office, to hold 
 the keys of this priesthood, except he be a literal descend- 
 ant of Aaron. 
 
 "17. But as a High Priest of the Melchisedek Priest- 
 hood has authority to officiate in all the lesser offices, he 
 may officiate in the office of bishop when no literal de- 
 scendant of Aaron can be found, provided he is called and 
 set apart and ordained unto this power by the hands of 
 the Presidency of the Melchisedek Priesthood. 
 
 "18. The power and authority of the Higher or Mel- 
 chisedek Priesthood, is to hold the keys of all the spiritual 
 blessings of the church 
 
 "19. To have the privilege of receiving the myster- 
 ies of the kingdom of heaven to have the heavens opened 
 unto them to commune with the general assembly and 
 church of the first born, and to enjoy the communion and 
 presence of God the Father, and Jesus the Mediator of the 
 new covenant. 
 
 "20. The power and authority of the lesser,or Aaron- 
 ic. priesthood, is to hold the keys of the ministering of an- 
 gels, and to administer in outward ordinances, the letter of 
 the gospel the baptism of repentance for the remission of 
 sins, agreeable to the covenants and commandments. 
 
 "21. Of necessity there are presidents, or presiding 
 offices growing out of,or appointed of or from among those 
 who are ordained to the several offices in these two priest- 
 hoods. 
 
 "22. Of the Melchisedek Priesthood, three Presiding 
 High Priests, chosen by the body, appointed and ordained 
 
E36 
 
 LIFE OF DAVID W. PATTEN. 
 
 to that office, and upheld by the confidence, faith, and 
 prayer of the church, form a quorum of the Presidency of 
 the church. 
 
 "23. The Twelve traveling counselors are called to 
 be the Twelve Apostles, or special witnesses of the name 
 of Christ in all the world; thus differing from other offi- 
 cers in the church in the duties of their calling. 
 
 "24. And they form a quorum, equal in authority 
 and power to the three Presidents previously mentioned. 
 
 "25. The seventy are also called to preach the gos- 
 pel, and to be especial witnesses unto the Gentiles and in 
 all the world. Thus differing from other officers in the 
 church in the duties of their calling; 
 
 "26. And they form a quorum equal in authority to 
 that of the Twelve special witnesses or apostles just named. 
 
 "27. And every decision made by either of these 
 quorums, must be by the unanimous voice of the same; 
 that is, every member in each quorum must be agreed to 
 its decisions, in order to make their decisions of the same 
 power or validity one with the other. 
 
 "28. (A majority may form a quorum, when circum- 
 stances render it impossible to be otherwise.) 
 
 "29. Unless this is the case, their decisions are not 
 entitled to the same blessings which the decisions of a 
 quorum of three Presidents were anciently, who were or- 
 dained after the order of Melchisedek, and were righteous 
 and holy men. 
 
 "30. The decisions of these quorums, or either of 
 them, are to be made in all righteousness, in holiness, and 
 lowliness of heart, meekness and long-suffering, and in 
 faith, and virtue, and knowledge, temperance, patience, 
 godliness, brotherly kindness and charity; 
 
 "31. Because the promise is, if these things abound 
 in them, they shall not be unfruithful in the knowledge of 
 the Lord. 
 
 "32. And in case that any decision of these quorums 
 
LIFE OF DAVID W. PATTEN. 37 
 
 is made in unrighteousness, it may be brought before a 
 general assembly of the several quorums, which constitute 
 the spiritual authorities of the church, otherwise there can 
 be no appeal from their decision. 
 
 "33. The Twelve are a traveling presiding High 
 Council, to officiate in the name of the Lord, under the di- 
 rection of the Presidency of the church, agreeable to the 
 institution of heaven ; to build up the church, and regulate 
 all the affairs of the same in all nations; first unto the 
 Gentiles, and secondly unto the Jews. 
 
 "34. The seventy are to act in the name of the Lord, 
 under the direction of the* Twelve or the traveling High 
 Council, in building up the church and regulating all the 
 affairs of the same in all nations -first unto the Gentiles 
 and then to the Jews; 
 
 "35. The Twelve being sent out, holding the keys 
 to open the door by the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus 
 Christ and first unto the Gentiles and then unto the Jews. 
 
 "36. The standing High Councils, at the Stakes of 
 Zion, form a quorum equal in authority, in the affairs of 
 the church, in all their decisions, to the quorum of the 
 Presidency, or to the traveling High Council. 
 
 "37. The High Council in Zion, form a quorum 
 equal in authority, in the affairs of the church, in all their 
 decisions, to the Councils of the Twelve at the Stakes of 
 Zion. 
 
 "38. It is the duty of the traveling High Council to 
 call upon the seventy, when they need assistance, to fill 
 the several calls for preaching and administering the gos- 
 pel, instead of any others. 
 
 "39. It is the duty of the Twelve, in all large branch- 
 es ^of the church, to ordain evangelical ministers, as they 
 shall be designated unto them by revelation. 
 
 "40. The order of this priesthood was confirmed to 
 be handed down from father to son, and rightly belongs to 
 
38 LIFE OF DAVID W. PATTEN. 
 
 the literal descendants of the chosen seed, to whom the 
 promises were made. 
 
 "41. This order was instituted in the days of Adam, 
 and came down by lineage in the following manner : 
 
 "42. From Adam to Seth, who was ordained by 
 Adam at the age of 69 years, and was blessed by him three 
 years previous to his (Adam's) death, and received the 
 promise of God by his father that his posterity should be 
 the chosen of the Lord, and that they should be preserved 
 unto the end of the earth, 
 
 "43. Because he (Seth) was a perfect man, and his 
 likeness was the express likeness of his father's, insomuch 
 that he seemed to be like unto his father in all things, 
 and could be distinguished from him only by his age. 
 
 "44. Enos was ordained at the age of 134 years and 
 four months, by the hand of Adam. 
 
 "45. God called upon Cainan in the wilderness, in 
 the fortieth year of his age, and he met Adam in journey- 
 ing to the place Shedolamak. He was 87 years old when he 
 received his ordination. 
 
 "46. Mahalaleel was 496 years and seven days old 
 when he was ordained by the hand of Adam, who also 
 blessed him. 
 
 "47. Jared was 200 years old when he was ordained 
 under the hand of Adam, who also blessed him. 
 
 "48. Enoch was 25 years old when he was ordained 
 under the hand of Adam, and he was 65 and Adam blessed 
 him. 
 
 "49. And he saw the Lord, and he walked with him, 
 and was before his face continually; and he walked with 
 God 365 years, making him 430 years old when he was 
 translated. 
 
 "50. Methuselah was 100 years old when he was or- 
 dained under the hand of Adam. 
 
 "51. Lamech was 32 years old when he was ordained 
 under the hand of Seth. 
 
LIFE OF DAVID W. PATTEN. 39 
 
 "52. Noah was 10 years old when he was ordained 
 under the hand of Methuselah. 
 
 "53. Three years previous to the death of Adam, he 
 called Seth, Enos, Cainan, Mahalaleel, Jared, Enoch, and 
 Methuselah, who were all High Priests, with the residue 
 of his posterity who were righteous, into the valley of 
 Adam-ondi-Ahman, and there bestowed upon them his last 
 blessing. 
 
 "54. And the Lord appeared unto them, and they 
 rose up and blessed Adam, and called him Michael, the 
 Prince, the Archangel. 
 
 "55. And the Lord administered comfort unto 
 Adam, and said unto him, I have set thee to be at the head 
 a multitude of nations shall come of thee, and thou art 
 a prince over them forever. 
 
 "56. And Adam stood up in the midst of the con- 
 gregation, and notwithstanding he was bowed down with 
 age, being full of the Holy Ghost, predicted whatsoever 
 should befall his posterity unto the latest generation. 
 
 "57. These things were all written in the book of 
 Enoch, and are to be testified of in due time. 
 
 "58. It is the duty of the Twelve, also, to ordain 
 and set in order all the other officers of the church." 
 
 Just before starting off on their first mission as a 
 quorum unto the eastern states, to set the branches of the 
 Church in order, the Twelve were instructed to take their 
 places in council, according to age, the oldest to be seated 
 at the head. In pursuance thereof, the Twelve were ar- 
 ranged with Thomas B. Marsh, David W. Patten and Brig- 
 ham Young in the order named ; and this fact gives us the 
 most definite information we now have as to the date of 
 David's birth. Thomas B. Marsh, being the oldest of the 
 Twelve, was born November 1, 1799, and Brigham Young 
 
40 LIFE OF DAVID W. PATTEN. 
 
 on June 1, 1801, and somewhere between these dates was 
 the birthday of David. 
 
 The 4th of May saw the departure of the Twelve from 
 Kirtland. The next five months were spent by David in 
 traveling with his quorum through New York, Canada, 
 Vermont, and Maine, holding meetings and setting 
 branches in order. 
 
 While a conference was being held at Bethel, Maine, 
 a young woman, Mary Ann Stearns, who had been troubled 
 for five years with an extremely aggravated case of heart 
 disease, sent for the Elders, and upon investigation asked 
 for baptism. David was mouth in the confirmation as well 
 as in administering to her afterward for her health, and 
 made her the promise that she should be entirely restored 
 to perfect health and soundness. She afterwards became 
 the wife of Apostle Parley P. Pratt, and endured all the 
 hardships through which the Saints were called to pass; 
 but from that time till the time of her death in 1891, at 
 the age of eighty-two years, she never again complained of 
 heart trouble. 
 
 The Twelve returned to Kirtland in September, 1835. 
 
 The indelibility of the impressions made by David 
 upon those with whom he associated was something re- 
 markable. Though it is more than sixty years since his 
 death, the Saints who knew him in life still recall with 
 pleasure the inspiration of his presence. In the course 
 of a ride of twenty-five miles with him on horseback about 
 the time of David's return from his mission with the 
 Twelve, Lorenzo Snow first received a testimony of the 
 
LIFE OF DAVID W. PATTEN. 41 
 
 truth of the Gospel. Sister Eliza B, Snow in the biogra- 
 phy of her brother best describes the occurrence. 
 
 "On his way to Oberlin, my brother accidentally fell 
 in company with David W. Patten, an incident to which 
 he frequently refers as one of those seemingly trivial oc- 
 currences in human life which leaves an indelible trace. 
 This gentleman was an early champion of the fulness of 
 the Gospel as taught by Jesus and His Apostles in the me- 
 ridian of time, and revealed in our own day through the 
 Prophet Joseph Smith, to which cause Elder Patten fell a 
 martyr on the 24th of October, 1838, in Missouri, during 
 the terrible scenes of persecution through which the Lat- 
 ter-day Saints passed in that State. He possessed a mind 
 of deep thought and rich intelligence. In conversation 
 with him, my brother was much impressed with the depth 
 and beauty of the philosophical reasoning with which this 
 inspired Elder seemed perfectly familiar as he descanted 
 on the condition of the human family in connection with 
 the sayings of the ancient Prophets, as recorded in the 
 Scriptures the dealings with, and the purposes of God in 
 relation to, His children on the earth. From that time a new 
 field with a new train of reflections, was open to my broth- 
 er's mind, the impress of which has never been erased." 
 
 V. 
 
 A period of rest Endowments Second mission to Tennessee 
 Meets Wilford Woodruff and Abraham O. Smoot Trial by 
 mob court Escape Interview with Cain Bares his breast 
 to a mob. 
 
 Without doubt the most enjoyable period of David's 
 life, was that spent at home with his wife, and in council 
 
42 LIFE OF DAVID W. PATTEN. 
 
 with his Quorum, in Kirtland, during the next eight 
 months. Mingling with his brethren in the most intimate 
 relationship,, in the school for the study of languages, in 
 the school of the Prophets,, each preparing himself in 
 mutual bearing and forbearance one with another, to re- 
 ceive his endowments at the dedication of the Temple, 
 David won from all their lasting love and respect. 
 
 At the dedication of the Kirtland Temple on March 
 27, 1836, after giving the interpretation of a discourse in 
 tongues delivered by Brigham Young, David himself 
 spoke in tongues. 
 
 Eeceiving his blessings and endowments in the Tem- 
 ple directly after its dedication, David took his wife and. 
 started on another mission into Tennessee, where he met 
 for the first time Wilford Woodruff and Abraham 0. 
 Smoot. 
 
 Of this time President Woodruff writes: 
 
 "Brother Smoot traveled with me constantly till the 
 21st of April, when we had the privilege of meeting with 
 Elder David W. Patten, who had come direct from Kirt- 
 land, and who had been ordained one of the Twelve 
 Apostles. 
 
 "It was a happy meeting. He gave us an account of 
 the endowments at Kirtland, the glorious blessings re- 
 ceived, the ministration of angels, the organization of the 
 Twelve Apostles and Seventies, and informed me that I 
 was appointed a member of the second quorum of Seven- 
 ties. All of this was glorious news to me, and caused 
 my heart to rejoice. 
 
 "On the 27th of May we were joined by Elder War- 
 
LIFE OF DAVID W. PATTEN. 43 
 
 ren Parrish, direct from Kirtlami. We had a happy time 
 together. 
 
 "On the 28th, we held a conference at Brother Seth 
 Utley's, where were represented all the branches of the 
 Church in the South. 
 
 "I was ordained on the 31st of May a member of the 
 second quorum of Seventies under the hands of David W. 
 Patten and Warren Parrish. 
 
 "At the close of the conference we separated for a 
 short time. Elders Patten and Parrish labored in Tennes- 
 see, Brother Smoot and myself in Kentucky. On the 9th 
 of June we all met at Damon Creek branch,where Brother 
 Patten baptized two. One was Father Henry Thomas, 
 who had been a revolutionary soldier under General 
 Washington, and father of Daniel and Henry Thomas. 
 
 "A warrant was issued, on the oath of a priest, against 
 D. W. Patten, W. Parrish and myself. We were accused 
 in the warrant of the great 'crime' of testifying that 
 Christ would come in this generation,and that we promised 
 the Holy Ghost to those whom we baptized. Brothers 
 Patten and Parrish were taken on the 19th of June. I 
 being in another county, escaped being arrested. The 
 brethren were put under two thousand dollars bonds to 
 appear at court. Albert Petty and Seth Utley were their 
 bondsmen. ' 
 
 "They were tried on the 22nd of June. 
 
 "They plead their own cause. Although men came 
 forward and testified they did receive the Holy Ghost after 
 they were baptized, the brethren were condemned; but 
 
44 LIFE OF DAVID W. PATTEN. 
 
 were finally released by paying the expenses of the mob 
 court. 
 
 "There was one peculiar circumstance connected with 
 this trial by a mob court, which was armed to the teeth. 
 When the trial was through with, the people were not will- 
 ing to permit more than one to speak. Warren Parrish 
 had said but few words, and they were not willing to let 
 David Patten speak. But he, feeling the injustice of the 
 court, and being filled with the power of God, arose to his 
 feet and delivered a speech of about twenty minutes, hold- 
 ing them spell-bound while he told them of their wicked- 
 ness and the abominations that they were guilty of, also of 
 the curse of God that awaited them, if they did not repent, 
 for taking up two harmless, inoffensive men for preaching 
 the Gospel of Christ. 
 
 ''When be had got through his speech the judge said, 
 'You must be armed with secret weapons, or you would 
 not talk in this fearless manner to an armed court/ 
 
 "Brother Patten replied: 'I have weapons that you 
 know not of, and they are given me of God, for He gives 
 me all the power I have/ 
 
 "The judge seemed willing to get rid of them almost 
 upon any terms, and offered to dismiss them if their 
 friends would pay the costs, which the brethren present 
 freely offered to do. 
 
 "When the two were released, they mounted their 
 horses and rode a mile to Seth Utley's; but, as soon as they 
 had left, the court became ashamed that they had been 
 let go so easily and the whole mob mounted their horses to 
 follow them to Utley's. 
 
LIFE OF DAVID W. PATTEN. 45 
 
 "One of the Saints, seeing the state of affairs, went 
 on before the mob to notify the brethren, so that they had 
 time to ride into the woods near by. 
 
 "They traveled along about three miles to Brother 
 Albert Petty's, and went to bed. The night was dark, 
 and they fell asleep. 
 
 "But Brother Patten was warned in a dream to get up 
 and flee, as the mob would soon be there. They both 
 arose, saddled their animals, and rode into the adjoining 
 county. 
 
 "The house they had just left was soon surrounded by 
 the mob, but the brethren had escaped through the mercy 
 of God." 
 
 In that expression, referring to the Lord, "He gives 
 me all the power I have," Apostle David W. Patten gave 
 at once the secret and the watchword of his wonderful ca- 
 reer. 
 
 It was probably not long after his arrival in Tennessee 
 in the spring of 1836, that David had one of the most re- 
 markable experiences of his life. He was making his 
 home with Levi Taylor, the step-father of Abraham 0. 
 Smoot, at the time and had been to Paris, some sixteen 
 miles away, holding a meeting. Eiding home in the 
 evening, just where his road lay through a dense growth 
 of brush, called in those parts a "barren," he suddenly be- 
 came aware that a person on foot by his side was keeping 
 pace with the mule on which he rode. 
 
 But the subjoined letter, dated at Provo, Utah, will 
 explain the matter: 
 President Joseph F. Smith, Salt Lake City : 
 
 Dear Brother: In relation to the subject of the visit 
 
46 LIFE OF DAVID W. PATTEN. 
 
 of Cain to Brother David W. Patten in the State of Ten- 
 nessee, about which you wrote to me, I will say that ac- 
 cording to the best of my recollection it was in the month 
 of September, 1835. 
 
 It was in the evening, just twilight, when Brother 
 Patten rode up to my father's house, alighted from his 
 mule and came into the house. The family immediately 
 observed that his countenance was quite changed. My 
 mother having first noticed his changed appearance said : 
 "Brother Patten, are you sick ?" He replied that he was 
 not, but had just met with a very remarkable personage 
 who had represented himself as being Cain, who murdered 
 his brother, Abel. He went on to tell the circumstances 
 as near as I can recall in the following language: 
 
 "As I was riding along the road on my mule I sudden- 
 ly noticed a very strange personage walking beside me. He 
 walked along beside me for about two miles. His head 
 was about even with my shoulders as I sat in my saddle. 
 He wore 110 clothing, but was covered with hair. His skin 
 was very dark. I asked him where he dwelt and he re- 
 plied that he had no home, that he was a wanderer in the 
 earth and traveled to and fro. He said he was a very 
 miserable creature,that he had earnestly sought death dur- 
 ing his sojourn upon the earth, but that he could not die, 
 and his mission was to destroy the souls of men. About 
 the time he expressed himself thus, I rebuked him in the 
 name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by virtue of tho Holy 
 Priesthood, and commanded him to go hence, and he im- 
 mediately departed out of my sight. When he left me 
 I found myself near your house." 
 
 There was much conversation about the circumstances 
 
LIFE OF DAVID W. PATTEN. 47 
 
 between Brother Patten and my family which I don't re- 
 call, but the above is in substance his statement to us at 
 the time. The date is, to the best of my recollection, and 
 I think it is correct, but it may possible have been in the 
 spring of 1836, but I feel quite positive that the former 
 date is right. 
 
 Hoping the above will be satisfactory to you and an- 
 swer your purpose, I am with the kindest regards, as ever, 
 Your friend and Brother, 
 
 A. 0. SMOOT. 
 
 Another incident showing David's utter fearlessness, 
 occurred about this time. While preaching at the house 
 of Father Fry, in Benton county, Tennessee, David was 
 interrupted by a Mr. Eose, who asked him to raise the 
 dead. David administered to the man a stinging rebuke 
 for his wickedness, when Mr. Eose in great anger left the 
 house. After meeting, however, he returned,bringing with 
 him a crowd of armed men, who stood in sullen array 
 about the dooryard. 
 
 Probably for the reason that he did not wish the fam- 
 ily to be disturbed by them, David went out, cane in hand, 
 to learn their intentions. He was greeted with the brand- 
 ishing of weapons and dire threats of vengeance; but with 
 the utmost coolness he bared his breast to the mob, and 
 told them to shoot. The same fear seemed to fall upon 
 them that possessed the mobocrat in Missouri, for they fled 
 the premises as if in fear of their lives. 
 
 David had now arrived at the state of advancement, 
 noticeable alike in the life of the Savior, and in the closing 
 
48 LIFE OF DAVID W. PATTEN. 
 
 years of the Prophet Joseph, where one sees, in the light of 
 eternal truth, the utter shallowness and worthlessness of 
 worldly pride and pretense, and, cognizant of the fact that 
 no amount of tolerance will cure the evil, is moved to 
 awaken humility with a sharp rebuke. 
 
 That evening, President Woodruff relates, he and 
 David went to a stream of clear water below the house, and 
 washed their hands and feet as the Lord directs, and bore 
 testimony against those wicked men. 
 
 VI. 
 
 David's personal appearance Healing of Abraham O. Smoot 
 Margaret Tittle healed Prophecy at Paris, Tennessee 
 Journey to Far West Visits Kirtland during the great apos- 
 tasy Chosen to Presidency in Missouri Revelation Ex- 
 presses a wish to die as a martyr. 
 
 Probably the description of David's personal appear- 
 ance with which the most of those who knew him in life 
 agree, is that given by President Abraham 0. Smoot, who 
 says he was about six feet one inch in height, stoutly built, 
 though not fleshy, and of a dark complexion, with piercing 
 black eyes. As to disposition, President Smoot describes 
 him as jovial, qualifying his expression, however, with the 
 closing remark: 
 
 "His jokes, though, were pretty solid." 
 At one time while traveling with David, Abraham 0. 
 Smoot, then little more than a boy, became so sick he could 
 sit on his horse no longer. Stopping at the house of an 
 atheist, Brother Smoot was put to bed, and David assisted 
 their hostess to prepare the sick man some warm drinks. 
 
LIFE OF DAVID W. PATTEN. 49 
 
 His companion receiving no relief, David obtained 
 permission to "attend prayers/' and kneeling down by the 
 bedside he laid his hands upon the sick man's head and 
 asked the Lord to beal him. 
 
 "Every bit of pain left me/' said Brother Smoot, in 
 relating the incident, "in the twinkling of an eye." 
 
 It was just following this remark that President 
 Snioot said: 
 
 "I don't recollect that he ever failed in his importun- 
 ing to heal the sick." 
 
 Once, when David and Wilford Woodruff were travel- 
 ing together, they were called to the bedside of a sick wo- 
 man, Margaret Tittle, who lay at the point of death. 
 Preaching the Gospel to her, David received a promise that 
 if healed she would be baptized. After being administered 
 to by the servants of the Lord, she was restored to perfect 
 health instantly, when she refused baptism. 
 
 They told her she was acting a dangerous part and 
 would again be attacked if she did not repent. Eeturning 
 that way in a few days, they found her very low again, 
 when she again promised, but this time with more sinceri- 
 ty, for after being healed the second time, she was led into 
 the water and baptized by Wilford Woodruff 
 
 On August 20th., David preached at the house of Ean- 
 dolph Alexander, and after meeting baptized him and his 
 wife. 
 
 The spirit of mobocracy seemed always to have 
 aroused in David all the resentment of which he was cap- 
 able. At one time while holding a meeting in Paris, Ten- 
 nessee, as related by President Woodruff, a mob gathered 
 
50 LIFE OF DAVID W. PATTEN. 
 
 in the place of meeting with threats of violence. ^ Instead, 
 however, of being intimidated by their presence, David de- 
 nounced their undertaking in the most unmeasured terms 
 and in the spirit of prophecy, though the fulfillment in the 
 Civil War was then more than twenty-five years away, pre- 
 dicted : 
 
 "Before you die some of you will see the streets of 
 Paris run with the blood of its own citizens." 
 
 How fearfully this prophecy was fulfilled in the cap- 
 ture of Paris in 1862 by General Morgan, during his fa- 
 mous raid through Kentucky and Tennessee! 
 
 Early in September, the seven branches of the Church 
 in Kentucky and Tennessee, representing one hundred and 
 thirty-three members, assembled in conference on Da- 
 mon's Creek, Calloway County, Kentucky, Thomas B. 
 Marsh, as president of the Twelve Apostles, presiding. On 
 the third day of 'the conference, David preached on repent- 
 ance and baptism, and at the close of the meeting, five per- 
 sons came forward and asked to be baptized. 
 
 Directly after conference, David with his wife took 
 leave of the Saints and his fellow laborers, and returned 
 in safety with Thomas B. Marsh and companion Elisha H. 
 Groves, to Missouri. 
 
 In leaving the field of his labors of the past six 
 months, in company with Elisha H. Groves, who had first 
 conferred upon him authority to enter the missionary field, 
 it was but natural that David should retrospectively con- 
 template the work to which his life had been so wholly 
 given over since that lonely ride through the woods from 
 Michigan to Indiana. His first disappointing missionary 
 
LIFE OF DAVID W. PATTEN. 51 
 
 labors among his friends and acquaintances in Michigan, 
 when he expected all of them to rejoice with him in the 
 great light newly burst upon the world; the first visit to 
 the Prophet Joseph, followed by the two successive mis- 
 sions in the East; his winter's journey with William D. 
 Pratt; his labors in Missouri and in the South; his ordina- 
 tion to the Apostleship with the* wonderful feast of bless- 
 ings and endowments that followed; the return to the 
 South, just terminated all these reflections crowded upon 
 him with all their accompanying memories of toil and pri- 
 vation, with all the accompanying memories of the powers 
 and blessings the Lord had bestowed upon him; and there 
 was no room in his soul for anything but gratitude. Not 
 only so, but there was a more settled resolution to per- 
 severe to the end; and it was probably on this journey back 
 to Missouri that in David's mind the nature of that end 
 was predetermined. 
 
 Upon his return to Missouri, after an absence of two 
 years, David found not a few marks of progress in the con- 
 dition of the Saints. A new town had been laid out called 
 Far West, into which the people were gathering from every 
 quarter. Efforts were being made to purchase all the land 
 in the newly created County of Caldwell, and it was to 
 gather means for this purpose that President Thomas B. 
 Marsh had made his recent visit into Kentucky. 
 
 Locating on a single lot in the northwest part of town 
 given him by the Saints, David soon had a plain log house 
 erected, and from that time he devoted himself entirely to 
 the welfare of the Church. His zeal in spreading the truth 
 
52 LIFE OF DAVID W. PATTEN. 
 
 abroad, was not surpassed by that manifested in its defense 
 at home. 
 
 Early in the spring of 1837, David preferred charges 
 before the High Council in Zion against Lyman Wight for 
 teaching false doctrine. At the trial in Far West on April 
 24th the charges were sustained,, the proper acknowledge- 
 ments soon after accepted by the Saints and harmony re- 
 stored. The incident illustrates the disinterestedness and 
 manliness of David's character, for his action in this mat- 
 ter seems only to have drawn closer the ties of confidence 
 and friendship existing between himself and his command- 
 ing officer in the militia, Colonel Lyman Wight. 
 
 In June, in company with Thomas B. Marsh and Wil- 
 liam D. Pratt, David, responding to a call for a meeting of 
 the Twelve, took a mission through the intervening States 
 to Kirtland, where they arrived in the midst of the great 
 apostasy. Here was need of all the courage he could com- 
 mand, for it was a time to test the integrity of the strong- 
 est. 
 
 Deception and fraud and darkness had overcome his 
 close friend and brother-in-law, Warren Parrish^ who tried 
 by every means in his power to turn David himself against 
 the Prophet; and the downfall of his brethren at that time 
 was one of the greatest sorrows of David's life. Not long 
 after the conference at Kirtland in September, 1837, David 
 returned to Far West. 
 
 The spirit of the apostasy soon spreading into Mis- 
 souri, it was found necessary to displace the three Presi- 
 dents, David Whitmer, John Whitmer and W. W. Phelps. 
 
LIFE OF DAVID W. PATTEN. 53 
 
 In consequence, Thomas B. Marsh and David W. Patten 
 were, on February 10th, sustained as temporary Presidents 
 of the Church in Missouri, pending the arrival of the 
 Prophet Joseph Smith from Kirtland. At the coming of 
 the Prophet, March 14th, 1838, a conference was called, at 
 which three weeks later, Thomas B. Marsh was chosen 
 President in Missouri, and David W. Patten and Brigham 
 Young his assistants. 
 
 Shortly after, on April 17, 1838, the following revela- 
 tion was received through the Prophet Joseph Smith: 
 
 "1. Verily thus said the Lord, it is wisdom in my 
 servant David W. Patten, that he settle up all his business 
 as soon as he possibly can, and make a disposition of his 
 merchandise, that he may perform a mission unto me next 
 spring, in company with others, even Twelve, including 
 himself, to testify of my name, and bear glad tidings unto 
 the world. 
 
 "2. For verily thus saith the Lord, that inasmuch as 
 there are those among you who deny my name, others shall 
 be planted in their stead, and receive their bishopric. 
 Amen/' Doc. and Cov. Sec. 114. 
 
 It was probably this revelation that occasioned a con- 
 versation between the Prophet and David, reported by Wil- 
 ford Woodruff. 
 
 David made known to the Prophet that he had asked 
 the Lord to let him die the death of a martyr, at which the 
 Prophet, greatly moved, expressed extreme sorrow, "for," 
 said he to David, "when a man of your faith asks the Lord 
 for anything, he generally gets it." 
 
54 LIFE OF DAVID W. PATTEN. 
 
 VII. 
 
 Visits Adam-ondi-Ahman Address to the Saints Spirit of 
 mobocracy in Missouri David known as "Captain Fear 
 Not" Calms a storm Mobocracy and treason David suc- 
 ceeds to the Presidency of Twelve. 
 
 In May, David left Far West with the Prophet Joseph 
 and party to lay off a Stake of Zion to the north of them. 
 It was on this trip that Adam's altar was discovered, at 
 Adam-ondi-Ahman, where a revelation was given through 
 the Prophet as follows : 
 
 "1. Adam-ondi-Ahman, because, said he, it is the 
 place where Adam shall come to visit his people, or the 
 Ancient of Days shall sit, as spoken of by Daniel the 
 Prophet." Doc. and Cov. Sec. 116. 
 
 In his official capacity, David issued an epistle to the 
 Saints through the Elders" Journal, under date of July, 
 1838, into which, notwithstanding the imperfect typog- 
 raphy as here copied, there is breathed a spirit of concern 
 for the welfare of the people of God, equalled only by that 
 of integrity in defense of the Prophet Joseph Smith. 
 
 To the Saints Abroad: 
 
 Dear Brethren and Sisters: Whereas, many have 
 taken into hand to set forth the order of the Kingdom of 
 God on earth, and have testified of the grace of God, as 
 given unto them, to publish unto you, I also feel it my duty 
 to write unto you, touching the grace of God given unto 
 me, to youward; concerning the dispensation we have re- 
 ceived; which is the greatest of all dispensations And has 
 
LIFE OF DAVID W. PATTEN. 55 
 
 been spoken of by the mouths of all the holy prophets since 
 the world began. In this, my communication to you, I de- 
 sign to notice some of these prophecies. Now the Apostle 
 Paul says on this wise, "For I would not, brethren, that 
 you should be ignorant of this mystery, (lest you should be 
 wise in your own conceit), that blindness in part has hap- 
 pened unto Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come 
 in. And so all Israel shall be saved; as is written. There 
 shall come out of Zion a deliverer, and shall turn away un- 
 godliness from Jacob/' What is that he says? "For I 
 would not have you ignorant," ignorant of what? Why 
 of this mystery, that blindness in part had happened unto 
 Israel. And to what end ? Why, that salvation might come 
 unto the Gentiles. See the 12th and 13th verses of this 
 chapter (11) to the Eomans. Now if the fall of them be the 
 riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches 
 of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness? "For I 
 speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle to the 
 Gentiles, I magnify mine office." Now, we are to under- 
 stand the apostle, as speaking of the return of Israel, when 
 he said "how much more their fulness," in their return. 
 "For I would not have you ignorant concerning this mat- 
 ter/' that blindness will depart from them in the day that 
 the fulness of the Gentiles is come in, and the reason is 
 very obvious, because it is said, that out of Zion shall come . 
 the deliverer; and for what cause? Why that the word 
 of God might be fulfilled. This deliverer might, through 
 the mercy of God, turn away ungodliness from Jacob. This 
 work evidently commences at the time God begins to take 
 the darkness from the minds of Israel, for this will be the 
 work of God by the deliverer, for he shall turn away un- 
 godliness from the whole family of Jacob. "For this is 
 my covenant with them, when I shall take away their sins. 
 Now then, we can see that this deliverer is a kind of har- 
 binger or forerunner, that is, one that is sent to prepare 
 the way for another. And this deliverer is such a one, for 
 
56 LIFE OF DAVID W. PATTEN. 
 
 he comes to turn away ungodliness from Jacob. Conse- 
 quently he must receive a dispensation and authority suit- 
 able to his calling,, or he could not turn away ungodliness 
 from Jacob,, nor fulfill the scripture. But the words of 
 the prophets must be fulfilled. And in order to do this, 
 to this messenger must be given the dispensation of the 
 fulness of times according to the prophets. For Paul 
 says again, in speaking of the dispensation of the fulness 
 of times; Ephesians 1, 9 : "Having made known unto us the 
 mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which 
 he has purposed in himself, that in the dispensation of the 
 fulness of times, he might gather together in one all things 
 in Christ, both which are in Heaven and which are on 
 earth, even in him." And Isaiah says in the llth chapter 
 and llth verse, "And it shall come to pass in that day, 
 that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to 
 recover the remnant of his people/' Now, this is the time 
 that the deliverer shall come out of Zion, and turn away 
 ungodliness from the house of Israel. 
 
 Now, the Lord has said that He would set His hand 
 the second time and we ask for what ? but to recover the 
 house of Israel. From what have they fallen? most as- 
 suredly they had broken the covenant, that God had made 
 with their fathers, and through their fathers with them. 
 
 For Paul says, Eomans, 11: 19, 20: "Thou wilt say 
 then, the branches were broken off, that I might be 
 grafted in. Well, because of unbelief they were broken 
 off, and thou standest by faith. Be not high minded, but 
 fear/' 
 
 Now, it is evident, that the Jews did forsake the Lord, 
 and by that means broke the covenant, and now we see the 
 need of the Lord's setting His hand the second time to 
 gather His people, according to Eph. 1 : 10, '-That thp dis- 
 pensation of the fulness of times," etc. Now I ask, What 
 is a dispensation? I answer, it is power and authority to 
 
LIFE OF DAVID W. PATTEN. 57 
 
 dispense the word of God, and to administer in all the ordi- 
 nances thereof. This is what we are to understand by it, 
 for no man ever had the Holy Ghost to deliver the Gospel, 
 or to prophesy of things to come, but had liberty to fulfill 
 his mission; consequently, the argument is clear, for it 
 proves itself; nevertheless, I will call on the scriptures to 
 prove the assertion. Ephesians 3 :2, "If ye have heard of 
 the dispensation of the grace of God, which is given me to 
 you ward. How that by revelation he made known unto 
 me the mystery; as I wrote in a few words." And also in 
 Colossians 1: 25: "Wherefore I am made a minister, ac- 
 cording to- the dispensation of God which is given to me 
 for you, to fulfill the words of God." It is evident then, 
 that the dispensation given the apostle, came to him by 
 revelation from God. Then by this we may understand, 
 in some degree, the power by which he spake, as also the 
 dispensation of the fulness of times. 
 
 Now, this at first thought, would appear very small to 
 some, who are not acquainted with the order of God from 
 the beginning; but when we take into consideration the 
 plan of God for the salvation of the world, we can readily 
 see that plan carried out most faithfully in all its bear- 
 ings. See after the fall of Adam, the plan of salvation was 
 made known to him of God himself; who in like manner, 
 in the meridian of time revealed the same', in sending His 
 first begotten Son, Jesus Christ: who also revealed the 
 same to the apostles, and God raised Him from the dead to 
 perfect that plan. And the apostles were made special wit- 
 nesses of that plan; and testified that "in the dispensation 
 of the fulness of times, that God would gather together in 
 one,all things in Christ,whether they be things in Heaven, 
 or things on earth." Now the thing to be known is, what 
 the fulness of times means, or the extent and authority 
 thereof. It means this, that the dispensation of the ful- 
 ness of times is made up of all the dispensations that 
 ever have been given since the world began until this time. 
 
58 LIFE OF DAVID W. PATTEN. 
 
 Unto Adam first was given a dispensation. It is well 
 known that God spake to him with His own voice in the 
 garden, and gave him the promise of the Messiah. And 
 unto Noah also was a dispensation given. For Jesus said, 
 "As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be at the coming 
 of the son of man." And as the righteous were saved then, 
 and the wicked destroyed, so it will be now. And from 
 Noah to Abraham; and from Abraham to Moses, and from 
 Moses to Elias; and from Elias to John the Baptist; and 
 from John to Jesus; and from Jesus to Peter, James and 
 John. The apostles all having, received in their time, a 
 dispensation by revelation from God, to accomplish the 
 great scheme of restitution, spoken of by all the Holy 
 Prophets since the world began, the end of which is the 
 dispensation of the ulness of times. In the which, all 
 things shall be fulfilled, that have been spoken of since the 
 world was made. Now the question is, unto whom is this 
 dispensation to be given ? or by whom to be revealed ? The 
 answer is, to the deliverer that was to have come out of 
 Zion, and given to him by the angel of God. Eev. 14 : 7. 
 "And I saw another angel flying in the midst of Heaven, 
 having the everlasting gospel to preach to them that dwell 1 
 on the earth, and to every nation, kindred, tongue and peo- 
 ple, saying with a loud voice, fear God, and give glory to 
 him for the hour of his judgment is come; worship him, 
 that made heaven, and earth, and sea, and the fountains 
 of water." Now observe, this angel delivers the gospel to 
 man on the earth, and that too when the hour of the judg- 
 ments of God had come on the generation, in the which 
 the Lord should set His hand the second time!, as stated 
 above. Now we have learned that this deliverer must be 
 clothed with the power of all the other dispensations, or it 
 could not be called the fulness of times, for this is what it 
 means, that all things shall be revealed, both in Heaven 
 and on earth. For the Lord said, there was nothing secret 
 that should not be revealed, or hid that should not come 
 
LIFE OF DAVID W. PATTEN. 59 
 
 abroad, and be proclaimed upon the housetop. And this 
 may, with propriety, be called the fulness of times. The 
 authority connected with the ordinances, renders the time 
 very desirable to the man of God, and renders him happy, 
 amidst all his trials, and afflictions. To such a one, through 
 the grace of God, we are indebted for this dispensation, as 
 given by the angel of the Lord. But to what tribe of 
 Israel was it to be given? We answer, to Ephraim, be- 
 cause to him were the greater blessings given. For the 
 Lord said through his father, Joseph: "A seer shall the 
 Lord raise up of the fruit of my loins; yea, he truly said; 
 Thus saith the Lord, a choice Seer will I raise up out of the 
 fruit of thy loins, and he shall be esteemed highly; and 
 unto him will I give commandment, that he shall do a work 
 for the fruit of thy loins his brethren, which shall be of 
 great worth unto them, even to the bringing of them, to 
 the knowledge of the covenants which I made with their 
 fathers. And I will give unto him a commandment that 
 he shall do no other work, save the work which I shall 
 command him; and I will make him great in mine eyes, for 
 he shall do my work, and he shall be great like unto Moses ; 
 and out of weakness he shall be made strong, in that day 
 when my work shall commence among all people, unto the 
 restoring of the house of Israel, saith the Lord." 
 
 And thus prophesied Joseph, saying, "Behold, that 
 seer will the Lord bless, and they that seek to destroy him 
 shall be confounded. Behold, I am sure of the fulfillment 
 of this promise, and his name shall be called after me; and 
 it shall be after the name of his father; and he shall be like 
 unto me, for the thing which the Lord shall bring forth 
 by his hand by the power of the Father, shall bring my peo- 
 ple unto salvation.'"' Thus prophesied Joseph "I am sure 
 of this thing, even as I am sure of the promise of Moses." 
 2nd Book of JSfephi, 2nd chapter. 
 
 And again, Jesus says, as recorded in the Book of 
 Mormon, 526th page, 2nd edition: "Behold my servant 
 
60 LIFE OF DAVID W. PATTEN. 
 
 shall deal prudently; he shall be exalted, and shall he 
 esteemed, and be very high. As many as were astonished 
 at thee, so shall he sprinkle many nations. Kings shall 
 shut their mouths at him, for that which had been told 
 them shall they see; and that which they had not heard 
 shall they consider." 
 
 Upon this servant is bestowed the keys of the dispen- 
 sation of the fulness of times. That from him, the Priest- 
 hood of God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, might be 
 given to many, and the order of this dispensation estab^ 
 lished on the earth. And to the church he has said by 
 commandment (See Book of Covenants, 46th section, 2nd 
 paragraph) "Wherefore, meaning the church, thou shalt 
 give heed unto all his words, and commandments, which he 
 shall give unto you as he receiveth them, walking in all 
 holiness before me; for his word ye shall receive as from 
 mine own mouth; in all patience and faith, for by doing 
 these things the gates of hell shall not prevail against 
 you." Now, my readers, you can see in some degree, the 
 grace given unto this man of God to uswards. That we, by 
 the great mercy of God, should receive from under his 
 hand, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and having the promise 
 of partaking of the fruit of the vine, on the earth with 
 him, and with the holy prophets and patriaichs,our fathers. 
 For those holy men are angels now. And these are they, 
 who make the fulness of times complete with us. And 
 they who sin against this authority given to him (the be- 
 fore mentioned man of God) sin not against him only, but 
 against Moroni, who holds the keys of the stick of Eph- 
 raim. And also against Elias, who holds the keys of the 
 bringing to pass the restitution of all things. And also 
 John, the son of Za^harias, which Zacharias Elias visited, 
 and gave promise that he should have a son, and his name 
 should be John, and he should be filled with the spirit of 
 Elias, "which John I have sent unto you, my servant Jo- 
 seph Smith, and Oliver Cowdery, to ordain you to this first 
 
LIFE OF DAVID W. PATTEN. 61 
 
 Priesthood even as Aaron/' and also Elijah who holds the 
 keys of committing the power, to turn the hearts of the 
 fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to 
 the fathers, that the whole earth may not be smitten with 
 a curse. And also- Joseph, and Jacob, and Isaac, and Abra- 
 ham, your fathers, by whom the promises remain. And also 
 Michael or Adam, the father of all, the Prince of all, the 
 Ancient of Days. And also "Peter and James and John, 
 whom I have sent unto you, by whom I have ordained you, 
 and confirmed you to be apostles, and especial witnesses of 
 my name, and bear the keys of your ministry, and of the 
 same things I revealed unto you: unto whom I have com- 
 mitted the keys of my kingdom, and a dispensation of the 
 gospel for the last time, and for the fulness of times, in the 
 which I will gather together in one all things, both which 
 are in heaven and which are on earth." 
 
 Therefore, brethren, beware concerning yourselves, 
 that you sin not against the authority of this dispensation, 
 nor think lightly of those whom God has counted worthy of 
 so great a calling, and for whose sake He hath made them 
 servants unto you, that you might be made heirs of God, to 
 inherit so great a blessing, and be prepared for the grand 
 assembly, and sit there with the* ancient of days, even 
 Adam, our father, who shall come to prepare you for the 
 coming of Jesus Christ, our Lord : for the time is at hand, 
 therefore, gather up your effects and gather together upon 
 the land which the Lord has appointed for your safety. 
 
 D.AVID W. PATTEN. 
 
 The summer of 1838, found the Saints gathered into 
 Far West, and located in the surrounding settlements, to 
 the number of not less than twelve thoii^and souls. The 
 old spirit of mobocracy began to show itself again . An oc- 
 casion was afforded for an outbreak by the August election 
 at Gallatin in Caldwell County, where the Saints were un- 
 
62 LIFE OF DAVID W. PATTEN. 
 
 ] awfully prevented from voting. From that time forward 
 until their banishment from the State the following win- 
 ter, the Saints in the outlying settlements and on their 
 farms, were kept in constant fear. Bands of lawless men 
 roamed the country over, destroying crops, burning houses, 
 ravishing women, and driving the objects of their hatred 
 into Far West, their only place of safety. 
 
 Wherever assistance or defense was needed, Apostle 
 David W. Patten was to the rescue among the foremost, 
 and his bravery soon won for him the title of "Captain 
 Fear Not." In his presence the oppressed found a cham- 
 pion, and at his approach the wicked were filled with ter- 
 ror. 
 
 About the middle of October David was placed in 
 command of nearly sixty men, and ordered to disperse a 
 mob in the vicinity of Gallatin. Of this expedition it is 
 recorded : 
 
 "When Patten's company came in sight of Gallatin, 
 he found a body of the mob, about one hundred strong, 
 who were amusing themselves by mocking, and in various 
 ways tantalizing a number of the Saints" whom they had 
 captured. Seeing the approach of Patten's men, and know- 
 ing the determination of the leader, the mob broke and 
 ran in the greatest confusion, leaving their prisoners be- 
 hind them." 
 
 Probably the last manifestation of David's power 
 with the Lord, at any rate the last of which any account is 
 given, occurred about this time. 
 
 With others he had gone to the relief of an isolated 
 family in the line of the mob's course, and had found the 
 
LIFE OP DAVID W. PATTEN. 63 
 
 mother with several children homeless and destitute. Pain- 
 fully the party were making their way on foot to Far West 
 across the prairie, when from the fright she had received, 
 the mother, in a delicate condition before, was threatened 
 with severe sickness. To add to the distressing situation, 
 a heavy storm seemed impending and the rain commenced 
 to descend. 
 
 Always full of sympathy for the sorrowing, David at 
 once called the party to a momentary halt, and, stepping 
 aside into the tall grass, he commanded the storm to cease 
 until the woman should be conveyed to a place of shelter. 
 
 Immediately, it is related, the rain was stayed, the sky 
 began to clear, and the party went forward to their desti- 
 nation without further hindrance or discomfort. 
 
 Of the terrible conditions now confronting the Church 
 Bishop Orson F. Whitney writes: 
 
 "The fall and winter of 1838, was one of the darkest 
 periods of Church history. Mobocracy on one hand, and 
 apostasy on the other, dealt the cause of God cruel blows, 
 such as no human work could have hoped to withstand. 
 The tempest of persecution, briefly lulled, burst forth with 
 tenfold fury; no longer a city or county -a whole State 
 rose in arms against God's people, bent upon their destruc- 
 tion. 'The dogs of war 5 were loosed upon the helpless 
 Saints, and murder and rapine held high carnival amid the 
 smoking ruins of peaceful homes and ravaged fields. 
 
 "Then fell the mask from the face of hypocrisy. 
 Treason betrayed itself. Apostles, Presidents, and Elders 
 fell from the faith and joined hands with the robbers and 
 murderers of their brethren. Satan laughed! The very 
 
(54 LIFE OF DAVID W. PATTEN. 
 
 mouth of hell seemed opening to engulf the Kingdom 
 which He who cannot lie has sworn shall stand forever." 
 We quote President George Q. Cannon: 
 "Unable to bear the pressure and to face the terrors 
 of the times,, Thomas B. Marsh had apostatized and had 
 joined with McLellin and other evil men to act the part 
 of Judas against the Prophet. The faith of others also 
 failed,, and,, thinking by apostasy to save themselves from 
 the destruction which seemed impending,, they came out 
 against Joseph and the Church and went over to their en- 
 emies." 
 
 Such was the condition of the Church, when Apostle 
 David W. Patten, then the senior member and President of 
 the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, performed the last 
 heroic act of his noble career. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 His last call to arms Battl of Crooked river David mortally 
 wounded The closing scene Wilford Woodruff's testimony 
 Testimony of the Prophet Joseph His place behind the veil 
 revealed. 
 
 On the 24th of October, a messenger came into Far 
 West bringing news of a band of invaders under command 
 of Eev. Samuel Bogart, who had boasted that, if he had 
 good luck in meeting Neil Gillum, another mobocrat lead- 
 er, he would give Far West thunder and lightning before 
 noon next day. Joseph Holbrook and David Judah were 
 at once dispatched to watch the movements of the despoil- 
 ers. Near midnight these -brethren returned, and reported 
 that the mob, after plundering the house of Father Pink- 
 
LIFE OF DAVID W. PATTEN. 65 
 
 ham, west of the city, had made prisoners of Nathan Pink- 
 ham, William Seely and Addison Green, whom they had 
 declared their intentions to kill that night. 
 
 "On hearing the report," the Prophet Joseph Smith 
 records, "Judge Higbee, the first Judge of the county, or- 
 dered Lieutenant Colonel Hinkle*, the highest officer in 
 command in Far West, to send out a company to disperse 
 the mob and retake their prisoners whom it was reported, 
 they intended to murder that night. 
 
 "The trumpet sounded, and the brethren were assem- 
 bled on the Public Square about midnight, when the facts 
 were stated, and about seventy-five volunteered to obey the 
 Judge's order, under command of David W. Patten, who 
 immediately commenced their march on horseback, hoping 
 to surprise and scatter the camp, retake the prisoners, and 
 prevent the attack threatened upon Far West, without the 
 loss of blood." 
 
 Apostle Parley P. Pratt, who was among the volun- 
 teers , thus graphically describes that midnight march : 
 
 "The company was soon under way, having to ride 
 through extensive prairies, a distance of some twelve miles. 
 The night was dark, the distant plains far and wide were 
 illuminated by blazing fires, immense columns of smoke 
 were seen rising in awful majesty, as if the world was on 
 fire. This scene of grandeur can only be comprehended 
 by those acquainted with the scenes of prairie burning; as 
 the fire sweeps over millions of acres of dry grass in the 
 fall season, and leaves a smooth surface divested of all 
 vegetation. Bancroft , Library 
 
 "A thousand meteors blazing in the distance like the 
 
66 LIFE OF DAVID W. PATTEN. 
 
 camp fires of some war host, threw a fitful gleam of light 
 upon the distant sky, which many might have mistaken 
 for the Aurora Borealis, This scene, added to the silence 
 of the midnight, the rumbling sound of the tramping 
 steeds, over the hard and dried surface of the plain, the 
 clanking of the swords in their scabbards, the occasional 
 gleam of bright armour in the flickering firelight, the 
 gloom of surrounding darkness, and the unknown destiny 
 of the expedition, or even of the people who sent it forth 
 all combined to impress the mind with deep and solemn 
 thought, and to throw a romantic vision over the imagina- 
 tion, which is not often experienced, except in the poet's 
 dream, or in the wild imagery of sleeping fancy. 
 
 "In this solemn procession we moved on for some two 
 hours, when it was supposed we were in the neighborhood 
 of danger." 
 
 Dismounting here the company tied their horses to 
 the field fence of Randolph McDonald, and, leaving a few 
 men to guard the horses, pro>ceeded on foot across the 
 country by three different routes to the "Field house," 
 where it was thought the mob were encamped. David, with 
 a third of the party, took the way around the field to the 
 right, sending Apostle Charles C. Eich, in charge of an- 
 other company, to the left; while a third, under James 
 Durfee, went directly across. All were to meet at the house 
 of Mr. Field. and take the enemy by surprise. When the 
 forces reached the point of meeting, however, no foe was 
 in sight. 
 
 It was now concluded that the mob must have camped 
 at the ford below on Crooked river, and after a short ex- 
 
LIFE OF DAVID W. PATTEN. 67 
 
 hortation from Captain Patten to trust in the Lord for 
 victory, a march was ordered along the road to that point. 
 As the party neared the river in the early morning just at 
 day-break, a voice was heard calling, "Who comes there ?" 
 and at the same instant a shot was fired, when a young 
 man, P. O'Bannion, reeled and fell from the ranks mor- 
 tally wounded. Captain Patten at once ordered a charge 
 and the company rushed forward only to see two men, who 
 had heen on guard, running into the camp of the enemy 
 on the river bank below. Immediately all was confusion in 
 the camp, but it was still so dark that nothing could be 
 seen with distinctness by the brethren looking to the west, 
 while their forms could be clearly outlined in the eastern 
 light by the mob, who were soon in position behind the 
 river bank below. David has just ranged his company in 
 line, not more than fifty yards from the camp, when a 
 deadly fire was opened upon them from behind the em- 
 bankment. An answering fire was immediately ordered 
 and with the watch-word "God and liberty," on his lips, 
 David, ordering a charge, ran forward. 
 
 The mob fled in confusion before the rush that fol- 
 lowed and the field was quickly won; but as David led the 
 pursuit down the river bank, a mobber who had taken 
 refuge behind a tree for a momentary pause before taking 
 to the river, turned and shot him in the abdomen. 
 
 The mob routed, his brethren gathered about their 
 wounded leader in deepest sorrow, and everything possible 
 was done tb minister to his comfort. Word was dispatched 
 to Far West for medical assistance to ineet the party, the 
 wagons of the mob were pressed into service, and the vie- 
 
(jg LIFE OF DAVID W. PATTEN. 
 
 torious, but sorrow-stricken company took up their dreary 
 march toward Far West. Seven of the brethren were 
 wounded, and one, Gideon Carter, had been killed out- 
 right. 
 
 After riding a few miles in a wagon, David's suffering 
 became so intense he was placed on a litter and carried by 
 his brethren. 
 
 Without delay, on receiving the mournful intelli- 
 gence, the Prophet Joseph Smith with his brother Hyrum, 
 Apostle Heber C. Kimball and Elder Amasa M. Lyman, 
 with others, as also David's grief-stricken wife, made all 
 haste to meet the sorrowful cavalcade. 
 
 President Heber C. Kimball describes the closing 
 scene : 
 
 "Immediately on receiving the intelligence that 
 Brother Patten was wounded, I hastened to see him and 
 found him in great pain, but still he was glad to see me; 
 he was conveyed about four miles to the house of Brother 
 Stephen Winchester; during his removal his sufferings 
 were so excruciating that he frequently desired us to lay 
 him down that he might die ; but being desirous to get him 
 out of the reach of the mob, we prevailed upon him to let 
 us carry him among his friends. We carried him on a kind 
 of bier, fixed up from poles. 
 
 "Although he had medical assistance, his wound was 
 such that there was no hope entertained of his recovery, 
 and this he was perfectly aware of. In this situation, while 
 the shades of time were lowering, and eternity with all its 
 realities opening to his view, he bore a strong testimony to 
 the truth of the work of the Lord, and the religion he had 
 
LIFE OF DAVID W. PATTEN. 69 
 
 espoused. He was perfectly sensible and collected until lie 
 breathed his last, which occurred at about ten o'clock in 
 the evening. Stephen Winchester, Brother Patten's wife, 
 Bathsheba W. Bigler, with several of her father's family 
 were present at David's death. 
 
 "The principles of the Gospel which were so precious 
 to him before, afforded him that support and consolation 
 at the time of his departure, which deprived death of its 
 sting and horror. Speaking of those who had fallen from 
 their steadfastness, he exclaimed, '0 that they were in my 
 situation ! For I feel that I have kept the faith, I have fin- 
 ished my course, henceforth there is laid up for me a 
 crown, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me/ 
 Speaking to his beloved wife, he said, 'Whatever you do 
 else, do not deny the faith.' He all the time expressed 
 a great desire to depart. I said to him, 'Brother David, 
 when you get home, I want you to remember me.' He re- 
 plied, 'I will.' At this time his sight was gone. A few 
 minutes before he died, he prayed as follows, 'Father, I 
 ask Thee in the name of Jesus Christ, that thou wouldst 
 release my spirit, and receive it unto Thyself/ And he 
 then said to those who surrounded his dying bed, 
 'Brethren, you have held me by your faith, but do give me 
 up, and let me go, I beseech you/ We accordingly com- 
 mitted him to God, and he soon breathed his last, and 
 slept in Jesus without a groan. 
 
 "This was the death of one who was an honor to the 
 Church, and, a blessing to the Saints; and whose faith, 
 virtue and diligence in the cause of truth will be had in 
 remembrance by the Church of Jesus Christ from gener- 
 
70 LIFE OF DAVID W. PATTEN. 
 
 ation to generation. It was a painful way to be deprived 
 of the labors of this worthy servant of Christ, and it cast 
 a gloom upon the. Saints; yet the glorious and sealing 
 testimony which he bore of his acceptance with heaven and 
 the truth of the Gospel was a matter of joy and satisfac- 
 tion, not only to his immediate friends, but to the Saints at 
 large/'' 
 
 Of the death of his friend, President Wilford Wood- 
 ruff writes : 
 
 "Thus fell the noble David W. Patten as a martyr for 
 the causa of God and he will receive a martyr's crown. He 
 was valiant in the testimony of Jesus Christ while he lived 
 upon the earth. He was a man of great faith and the power 
 of God was with him. He was brave to a fault, even too 
 brave to be preserved. He apparently had no fear of man 
 about him. 
 
 "Many of the sick were healed and devils cast out 
 under his administration." 
 
 In closing his account of the tragedy, the Prophet 
 Joseph says: 
 
 "Brother David W. Patten was a very worthy man, 
 beloved by all good men who knew him. He was one of 
 the Twelve Apostles, and died as he lived, a man of God, 
 and strong in the faith of a glorious resurrection, in a 
 world where mobs will have no power or place." 
 
 With David's wish, formerly expressed to him, to die 
 as a martyr, no doubt in mind, the Prophet Joseph, at the 
 funeral on October 27, 1838, pointing to his lifeless body, 
 testified: 
 
LIFE OF DAVID W. PATTEN. 71 
 
 "There lies a man that has done just as he said he 
 W0 uld he has laid down his life for his friends/' 
 
 And one mightier has said.: 
 
 "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay 
 down his life for his friend." 
 
 A fit ending of a glorious career! 
 
 The remains were laid to rest with military honors at 
 Far West, and the grave is now unmarked and unknown, 
 but of the noble spirit, the Lord, in a revelation a few years 
 subsequent to his departure, vouchsafed this intelligence: 
 
 "David Patten I have taken unto myself; behold, his 
 Priesthood no man taketh from him; but verily I say unto 
 you, another may be appointed unto the same calling." 
 
 And again, in speaking of Lyman Wight, who suc- 
 ceeded David in the Apostleship, the Lord says : 
 
 "That when he shall finish his work, that I may re- 
 ceive him unto myself, even as I did my servant David 
 Patten, who is with me at this time." 
 
 If, then, to repeat, we say that great men are the 
 Lord's object lessons to the world by whom He holds out 
 to mankind the truths committed to their generation, what 
 of the life before us? 
 
 From the time David heard the Gospel, his earnest 
 nature entered with full purpose of heart upon the work 
 he was sent from the courts on high to perform, his whole 
 soul was given over to faithfully bearing the message of 
 his life: 
 
72 LIFE OF DAVID W. PATTEN. 
 
 GOD GIVES US ALL THE POWER WE HAVE, 
 
 and though in the one desire to give his life as a martyr, 
 it may be said he fell short of the ideal : 
 
 THY WILL NOT MINE BE DONE; 
 
 yet, without doubt, in making up the roll of his noble and 
 great ones, Time will place next to those of the Prophet 
 and Patriarch martyrs, Joseph and Hyrum Smith, the 
 name of the first Apostolic martyr, David W. Patten.