ALLEN Jr., Daniel: A Life of Consecration

Having completed their assignment, Daniel and his committee returned to Nauvoo, only to find buildings burning, mobs raging, and the saints gone. Daniel hurried to his home to find that his family was still alive, but his wife Mary Ann had just had a new baby and was very ill. He pled with the mob to let him stay a few days so his wife could recover, but they said they would kill them all if they weren’t gone by the next day. They hurriedly loaded what they could in the wagon and made a bed for Mary Ann and the baby. The Allen wagon was one of the last three to leave Nauvoo. They traveled together for a short distance, but couldn’t keep up because of Mary Ann’s grave condition. Being left alone with only one other wagon, they trudged through the mud and snow as best they could until they reached the head of Soap Creek (it looks like this might be less than 100 miles from Nauvoo). Mary Ann had struggled so valiantly, but could endure no more, so she whispered her last words to her loving husband…”We’ll meet again dear love in a better world and I shall wait your coming”. She died on the trail in May, 1846, along Soap Creek, Davis County, Iowa with no one but her family and the angels in heaven to mourn her passing.
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ANDREWS, Amos Betts

They were surrounded by an armed cavalry of vigilantes who asked for the leader of the group. Amos Andrews stepped forward. The leader of the vigilantes asked if they were Mormons and Andrews confirmed his question. The leader then told them to prepare to die. Andrews looked around and saw that they were out-numbered and out gunned. Andrews then requested if he'd be permitted to sing a song. He sang the whole song to "A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief "then sang another song and another. Andrews wife, Keturah, was nursing an. 18 month old baby, the baby stopped nursing and joined its father in singing the song. Overwhelmed with emotion at seeing the baby do such a thing, a member of the mob lowered his rifle, and swore an oath saying, “They all can sing, even the child at the breast." The mob removed their hats and rode away. The story is an example that "the hymns of the righteous are a prayer unto me."
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