Pioneer Stories - Joseph Elder

Joseph Elder: "I'll Go Where You Want Me to Go"

Joseph Elder, age 21, had joined the Church in the Midwest in 1855. In 1856 he was attending McKendree College in Lebanon, Illinois. On April 11 of that year he wrote, "Today I left McKendry College with peculiar feelings and started to visit the saints in Saint Louis." Heeding those "peculiar feelings" led to some unexpected changes in his life. His four-day absence from college in April 1856 occurred because “peculiar feelings” had prompted him to visit Church leaders in St. Louis. While he was there, leaders proposed ordaining him to the office of elder and asked him to express his feelings. “I esteem it as a high and holy privilege to be an elder of the Church,” he said, “and I am determined by the help of God to perform every duty and bear every burden that God through his holy priesthood is willing to lay on my shoulders.”

When Joseph was ordained, he felt the Spirit in his heart and sought the counsel of Church leaders about what he should do. He recorded their response—and his—in his journal:

Their opinion and decision was that I should return home and arrange my business the best I could and leave old McKendree [College] and go to the valley of the great S. Lake, or rather that I should return as soon as possible and accompany Brothers Grant and Kimball in buying cattle, horses, mules, etc., for the emigrants to cross the plains with, and this seemed to me just to be my duty, and I accordingly determined to set about it in good faith.

Joseph promptly showed his “good faith” by leaving college the next day, returning home to settle his business, and leaving 10 days later on a journey that would change his life. His feelings were especially tender as he said good-bye to his family:

I bade adieu to my sisters and mother, and oh how my heart did almost break to leave them when they with tears and sobs and entreaties pled to the last for me to stay. But God had use for me in other places, and I must go, so I spoke a few kind words to them and embraced them and parted, not knowing when we should see each other again, and I took up my line of march for the valleys of Ephraim 2,000 miles distant.

Two days later, Joseph Elder was back in St. Louis, and three days after that he was on his way across Missouri to meet up with Elders Grant and Kimball. After finding them, he helped buy cattle and herd them to Florence, where he stayed to assist the handcart companies. He planned to remain in Florence until early September and then join with President Franklin D. Richards and most of the emigration leaders for the rest of the journey to the Salt Lake Valley. Soon after the Willie company arrived on August 11, however, plans changed again for Joseph Elder. Emigration officials wanted to provide the Willie company an extra wagon to carry provisions and supplies for the first part of their journey. On August 15 they approached Joseph Elder in the corral and asked him to leave immediately with the Willie company and drive this wagon. Joseph Elder's response, written in his journal, reflects a model of willing obedience:

"They proposed my starting with the present handcart company on the morrow and drive their team until they overtook us on the plains. Short notice. However, I determined to start for Utah."

In less than two days, Joseph Elder was on the trail with the Willie company. During the journey across Nebraska, he quickly proved faithful and competent, prompting Captain Willie to give him important assignments. For example, he was one of the men who was asked to keep searching for the lost cattle when the rest of the company moved on. During the search, Joseph Elder met President Richards's group, which was moving homeward after concluding the season's emigration business in Florence. He traveled with this group until they caught up with the Willie company two or three days later.

Originally emigration leaders asked Joseph Elder to stay with the Willie company only until President Richards overtook them. When President Richards arrived, however, Joseph Elder received a third abrupt change of plans. Sensing that the Willie company would continue to need help, President Richards asked him to remain with the handcarts for the rest of the journey.

Again Joseph Elder agreed to what was surely a difficult request. He must have been disappointed that he would not finish the journey with Elders Grant and Kimball. Many people would have resented being left behind with the plodding handcarts while their friends hurried ahead in relative comfort and ease. Many would have sulked, feeling left out or taken advantage of. But in his journal, Joseph Elder does not indicate any of these feelings. Rather, he again shows a simple, understated willingness to serve at any time, in any place, and in any way his leaders felt he was needed:

"I had made arrangements such as to go on [to the Salt Lake Valley] with them, that is, the missionaries, but owing to the advice of Brother Franklin and others, I chose to remain with the handcart company and assist them all that I could."

William Kimball would later praise his friend's selfless service, as Joseph Elder recorded in his journal:

"He said that I had not only been a talker but an actor, that I had imparted freely of all that I had, both money, property, time, and talent to the emigration, and that every word and action proved that I was determined to do the will of God and do all that I was able to help build up the kingdom of God in these last days."

Joseph Elder was not a person who viewed Church assignments as a buffet from which he chose only what suited him at the time. He was not a person who set conditions in serving the Lord, accepting only certain assignments, fulfilling them only for so long, or working only with certain people (or not with others). He was not a person who was prone to negative feelings when an assignment changed and became more demanding or difficult than when he accepted it. Because he served willingly wherever the Lord needed him, he would soon play a pivotal role in the survival of most of the Willie company.

Doing their best to press forward with diminished wagon teams, the Willie company traveled more than 400 miles during the next five weeks, reaching what is today central Wyoming. Because the people were running out of flour, they walked more than 200 of those miles on reduced rations. Even with rationing, their flour supply dwindled until it was gone on October 19, when they were nearly 300 miles from Salt Lake City. They were desperate for help, and some were losing hope. “We had not yet heard whether there was any help coming to meet us or not, but we were determined to do all we could,” Joseph said.

After issuing the last ration of flour on October 19, the Willie company had only a one-day supply of crackers remaining. That day they had to travel 16 miles to reach the next place they could camp. “It was severe, for the people were weak, having been on short rations,” Joseph wrote. Their plight became even worse when the first snowstorm blew in later that morning. The squall lasted less than an hour, but the starving, poorly clothed Saints suffered terribly from the cold. Even if they could rally the strength to get to camp, many wondered how long they could survive with no food and threadbare clothing.

At about noon, a break in the storm allowed the Willie company to resume their travel. After going a short distance, they looked ahead and saw a long-awaited answer to their prayers. Joseph recorded:

Lo and behold, we saw a wagon coming, and it was close. Such a shout as was raised in camp I never before heard. ... What made them shout? ... It was that the Spirit of the Lord bore testimony that they were saviors coming to [our] relief, and truly it was.

These “saviors” were four men from the first group of rescuers sent by Brigham Young. Five days earlier they had hurried ahead of the rest of their group to find the late handcart companies and let them know help was coming. “They brought us glorious news,” Joseph wrote. “They [and] many of their brethren [were bringing] teams and provisions to help us.” The express riders were not carrying enough provisions to feed the Willie company, but they revived hopes with their message that supply wagons were only a day or two away. After staying briefly and giving encouragement, they hastened on to search for the Martin company.

The Willie Saints continued their march and finally reached camp at dark. Four people died along the way, in addition to one who had died that morning. The wagons did not arrive until sometime between 10:00 and 11:00 p.m.

Snow continued to fall through the night. “The next morning when we got up we found the snow about 6 or 8 inches deep,” Joseph said. The people were in no condition to travel. “The camp was hungry, naked, and cold,” Joseph continued. “To rush them into the snow would be certain death to a great many of them.”

Rather than wait for the rescuers, Captain Willie determined to go find them and urge them to hurry forward. He asked the ever-willing Joseph Elder to accompany him. Of all the assignments Joseph had fulfilled since driving cattle from Missouri that summer, this would be the most important. Hundreds of lives depended on getting the rescuers and their wagons to camp as quickly as possible. Joseph described the arduous day:

We started ahead in search of our brethren. We rode 12 miles [to the base of Rocky Ridge,] where we expected to find them, but they were not there. We ascended the Rocky Ridge. The snow and an awful cold wind blew in our faces all day. We crossed the Rocky Ridge and upon the west bank of the North Fork of the Sweetwater we found a friendly guidepost which pointed us to their camp down upon the Sweetwater in amongst the willows. When they saw us, they raised a shout and ran out to meet us. Great was their joy to hear from us, for they had long been in search of us. They could scarcely give us time to tell our story they were so anxious to hear all about us.

Early the next morning, the rescuers started toward the Willie company’s camp. When they arrived later that day, they were greeted with shouts and cheers. Women embraced and kissed them, and even the men wept. The rescuers distributed lifesaving food, clothing, and bedding. The Willie Saints knelt in the snow and gave thanks to God.

The next day, October 22, the rescuers divided. Several men and six wagons stayed with the Willie company, and the rest continued east to find the Martin company. The Willie Saints labored 10 or 11 miles and camped near the base of Rocky Ridge.

When they arose on October 23, they faced the hardest day of their journey. They had to climb Rocky Ridge and travel about 16 miles to reach the next camp. They had to do it in another snowstorm with freezing wind. Joseph Elder’s heart could hardly bear what the company of nearly 400 people suffered pulling their handcarts over Rocky Ridge:

That was an awful day. Many can never forget the scenes they witnessed that day—men, women, and children weakened down by cold and hunger, weeping, crying, and some even dying by the roadside. It was very late before we all got into camp. Oh, how my heart did quake and shudder at the awful scenes which surrounded me.

The last wagons rolled into camp at 5:00 a.m., having been on the trail for 20 hours. Thirteen people died from this ordeal. “We buried [them] all in one deep and wide grave,” Joseph wrote.

The Willie company resumed their journey the next day, October 25, still 250 miles from Salt Lake City. Joseph said that “it snowed and blew and sometimes seemed as though we would be overwhelmed in the storms in the mountains.”  By November 2, enough rescuers had arrived to allow the people to ride in wagons the rest of the way. A week later, on November 9, the Willie company finally entered the Salt Lake Valley. Joseph had been eagerly anticipating this day since he was ordained an elder in St. Louis six months earlier. Describing his first sight of Salt Lake City, he wrote:

At last we emerged from amongst the mountains, and the beautiful valley with all its loveliness spread itself out before our view. My heart was filled with joy and gratitude. The lovely city of G. S. Lake lay about 5 miles distant in full view. We entered it. The houses at first looked odd, being built of adobes or sundried brick. Truly it is unlike anything I ever before had seen. The journey was over at last, and the people were soon distributed amongst the several wards, and I put up with my old friend Wm. Kimball.

Joseph Elder’s service to the handcart Saints wasn’t finished. Two weeks later he went to the Old Tabernacle and heard Brigham Young make another call for rescuers to help the Martin company. They had fallen three weeks behind the Willie company, and their condition was even worse. Again showing his courage and commitment, Joseph volunteered to help, and he started east that very day. After a week in “snow that sometimes would almost blind us and our teams,” he arrived back in Salt Lake City with the Martin Saints on November 30. “I returned home feeling first rate glad that I had gone,” he said.

Seriously…what an amazing example of service and obedience.