The area of Pike County was known to have very fertile soil, and it was an ideal place for these industrious people to settle. The very title of Pleasantvale indicates its character, and we suppose that they had thriving farms–that is, if they could procure seeds for crops for both themselves and their animals. In those days folks kept animals not only for work and transportation, but so they had their milk, cheese, eggs, meat, and butter. By raising grains and vegetables, and gathering the local wild fruits and berries, they would have enjoyed a very healthful and satisfying existence.
We learn from William Jrs.’s own autobiography he was not part of Kirtland Camp and wasn’t in Pleasantvale until 1840. The Prophet Joseph Smith had called him on a mission to go take charge of a Branch of the Church, and he had gone to Missouri in the spring (before the camp was organized). He was among those expelled from the Far West area during the dreadful extermination in the fall of 1838. He ended up in Pleasantvale with his Draper relatives on their farms, where they are shown on the 1840 Census of Pleasantvale, Pike County, Illinois.29 In 1841 William Jr. was living at Green Plains, Hancock County, Illinois.
By dropping out from the Kirtland Camp and going to Illinois, the William Draper Sr. group avoided one of the most disastrous and cruel occurrences at that time—that of Governor Boggs’ wicked extermination order. However, within a few years their group was definitely in the midst of its aftermath.
29- The Mormon Drapers, pp.63-65 – Wm. Jr. came later
No comments:
Post a Comment