Sunday, September 19, 2010

Isaac Hill, True to the Faith


Isaac Hill, has been for me a remarkable example of what so many of the pioneers were made up of- faith, obedience, hard work, ingenuity, resiliency, hope, sacrifice. I’ve tried to reduce his life to a few bullet points, but he simply covered too much ground in his 73 years of life. If you don’t get anything more out of this post know this: Isaac Hill joined the church when he was 27 years old with his wife and daughters and he never looked back. He was there to see it all, live through the good, the sad and unspeakable and the joyful moments of the beginnings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. What makes him different is that he kept a journal so we know where he was and what he was doing during those remarkable years.
Sometime ask me what happened to him in the graveyard when he was running away from the mob, it makes for a great story.
THE VERY SHORT VERSION: ISAAC HILL,
True to the Faith
· Born near Penn State University in 1806 (Brighton, Beaver, Pennsylvania to be exact)
· His father died when he was four years old, together with his older sister and mother moved in with his maternal grandparents, younger brother born shortly after
· Bound to a blacksmith at age 12
· Married at age 22 to Mary Bell. They have four children.
· 1833, “I joined the Saints”
· Worked on Kirtland Temple, Far West Temple foundation, Nauvoo Temple
· Lived through, and wrote about many experiences during “the persecution period”
· Mary dies, gets married to Eliza Wright.
· 1839 “Sold out my farm for a horse”
· Body guard to the Prophet Joseph Smith
· Brick maker in Nauvoo
· Serves three missions “In Penn., Beaver Co., preaching. Baptize first converts in this month.”
· 1843 “Give to the poor. Some excitement this winter on account of plurality.”
· 1844 Jun “Great excitement. The mobbers begin to collect at several places and on 27 Joseph and Hiram Smith murdered at Carthage Jail.”
· 1845 Jul 10 “The inhabitants rise in mass to burn out the Mormons.Great trouble in the land. Some killed on both sides.”
· 1845 “Received endowment”
· 1846 “Leave N for the wilderness”. Family experienced many mishaps and hardships along the way. Worked as blacksmith, brick maker.
· 1850, September 4 enters Salt Lake with children. Wife had died of cholera along the way.
· Builds home in SL 2nd ward, becomes a counselor to Bishop Joseph C. Kinsbury.
· 1851, married Martha Ann Miller in Brigham Young’s office. They have three children.
· 1852, married in polygamy Mary Jane Miller, Martha’s sister in Brigham Young’s office. They have 10 children.
· 1854, ordained as Bishop of Second Ward, served for 10 years.
· 1857, Served mission to Canada. Kept daily journal, very insightful.“Preach on lakeshore in woods”
· Returned from mission to angry wife (Martha Ann), granted divorce.
· 1862, sealed to Amelia Rassmussen
· 1863, sealed to Margaret Faulkner
· 1864 called to colonize Bear Lake region of Idaho, moved on September 5th. Set up residence in St. Charles, many trials and hardships
· Died June 25, 1879 in Fish Haven Idaho. Buried in St. Charles, Idaho



A two room log house that Isaac's sons built for Mary Jane Miller Hill as it is today


To read Isaac Hill's full journal/diary entries go here. Terry Smith has written a history of Isaac Hill with more details of his life. It can be found on his site by clicking here.

1 comment:

  1. Cristie,
    Is the story about Isaac Hill supposed to be in a foreign langauge? Like russian? I really want to read it but am confused!

    Thanks for putting all this up.
    Cyndi

    ReplyDelete