(12) Kirtland Temple

http://www.lds.org/Static%20Images/rane-kirtland-temple_MD.jpg

Phebe’s brother, William Draper Jr. who was Zemira’s uncle, wrote that when he was 27 years old he helped with the construction of the Kirtland Temple, and then went back to Canada as a missionary for the Church.¹³   He was back in Kirtland in 1836 where he witnessed the great heavenly manifestations which accompanied the dedication of the Kirtland Temple on March 27. He recorded, “My pen is inadequate to write or my tongue to express what happened there. Many present spoke in tongues and had visions and saw angels and prophesied.”¹⁴

Joseph Smith’s description of this event stated: “. . . a noise was heard like the sound of a rushing mighty wind, which filled the Temple . . . many began to speak in tongues and prophesy, others saw glorious visions . . .  The people of the neighborhood came running together (hearing an unusual sound within, and seeing a bright light like a pillar of fire resting upon the Temple.)”¹⁵

This is very similar to the Bible account of what happened back in the time of Jesus Christ on the day of Pentecost, Acts 2:1-8. “And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting . . . And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them . . . And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance . . . Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language.”


More information concerning miracles at Kirtland was written by Milton V. Backman:  “During a fifteen-week period, extending from January 21 to May 1, 1836, probably more Latter-day Saints beheld visions and witnessed other unusual spiritual manifestations than during any other era in the history of the Church.¹⁶ What wonder, joy and gratitude would fill the hearts of the Saints who witnessed these things!  Knowing that the Drapers and Palmers were there at Kirtland at that time, we suppose that Zemira’s family knew about, and experienced, some of these wondrous occurrences.

13- The Mormon Drapers, pp. 62, 63 – Wm. Draper Jr. works on Kirtland temple.

14- Ibid, p. 63 – Wm. Jr. witnesses Kirtland temple dedication miracles.

15- History of the Church, vol. 2, p. 428 – Joseph Smith describes Kirtland temple miracles.
16- Milton V. Backman, The Heavens Resound, A History of the L.D.S. in Ohio, 1830-38 – Miracles.


Click the "Read More ... Sources" link below for 11 more paragraphs from Lenna Cox's history about Kirtland and this period of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

(15) Pike County, Draper/Palmer family avoids Boggs' extermination order

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

(36) William Draper Sr. joins family in Draperville from Nauvoo

We have followed Zemira and some of his Draper relatives until they reached Utah. Let’s return to Nauvoo in 1845, to where we left William Sr. and Lydia Lathrop Draper.

* * * * *

“William and Lydia had by then passed the age of 70.  The great body of the Saints had left Nauvoo, and only a remnant remained, composed of the poor, the weak, the aged and afflicted, who had been unable to get away.  They were all anxious to depart, and were exerting all their energies to obtain means for that purpose.”—(Quote by Janael Hendricks)  They remained in Nauvoo until August 1846, but by the time they reached the west side of the great Mississippi, Lydia, worn down by the relentless persecution, could bear no more.  There she died.   “She was buried on the bank of the Mississippi River, in a brown dress and a calico apron.”—(Quote by Estella Draper Magnus)

Their son Zemira Draper and his wife Amy Terry had stayed with them and cared for them. William remained in a camp near his beloved companion’s  grave until the spring of 1847, when in a company with his son Zemira and wife, he moved on to the Missouri River Camp.  That same year William went on to Council Bluffs, Iowa, and there he married Marie or Mary Louise Allard.  In 1848, William was ordained a Patriarch of the Branches of the Church in the Pottawattamie Lands of Iowa, under the hands of Elder George A. Smith.— (Estella Draper Magnus)

In July 1852 he went to Utah where he rejoined some of his family in Draperville, Utah, thus adding to the Draper group already there.  While living there he gave more than 250 Patriarchal Blessings before his death at the age of 80 in 1854.  He blessed the lives of many people, and he is to be honored and loved for the great man that he was.

Eventually, it will be interesting to follow the lives of each of William Draper Sr. and Lydia’s children, and also those of George Palmer Jr. and Phebe.  We know that some of them came to Utah.

William Draper's headstone.

Www.findagrave.com, photo John Warnke