Now, back to our story. Later in the same year of 1833 after the Drapers had embraced “Mormonism,” Zemira’s father George Jr. died, leaving his mother Phebe a widow at age 36.
His death was a great blow to the family. Zemira was just over two years of age, so wouldn’t have felt the intensity of the loss of a father and husband which his mother and the older children felt. At that time however, the family had a better understanding of the principles of the gospel of Christ, of the purpose of life and the eternal nature of the family ties, which would provide comfort and hope in this time of grief and sorrow.
The very next year a great change for the Palmers and Drapers presented itself. New converts to the Church were advised by their leaders to gather with the main body of Saints in the United States. The goal of the latter-day Church, as in the former-day Church, was to build up the Kingdom of God on the earth. They accomplished this by sending missionaries to other nations, preaching the restored gospel, gathering the honest in heart from other lands, and preparing them to become a Zion people, where as true followers of Christ they could live in love and harmony and peace. They could only do this effectively when the Saints were gathered together in groups.
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