178 William Smith Early Life and Missionary Experiences I, William Smith, was born in Macclessfield, Cheshire, England on the 12h day of April, 1874. My father's name was William Smith and my mother's name before she was married was Mary Etchels. I never knew my father. He died when I was very young. I have heard those that knew my father say that he was a very good man. He belonged to what was catted the old Methodist and was the leader of a class in the society and well respected. Mother also belonged to the same society and was a class leader for many years until she became so poor that she could not meet her payments, then they turned her out. She said, "Although they have turned me out of the society they cannot turn me from my God, nor him against me. Thank God for that." Mother taught me the same religion and would send me to the meeting on Sunday and gave me strict orders to notice who there was that got converted, I was a little late and when I got in and saw what I did, I said then in my heart, "lf that was the way they served the Lord, I never would serve him in that way." and I never did, for my heart turned against all religions. I remember well mother asking me when I was going to serve the Lord. I told her when I was about 21. "Witt you not turn unto the Lord before then?" I said no, I would not. In 1838, there came a man of the name of Ralph Wittle to see mother about getting me to go and learn to be a silk weaver, for me to be a bound prentice to him for four years and he would learn me all he knew about it. I went and was bound prentice to him. I had not been there long before l was taken sick with quinsy in my throat and nearly died. My boss came to see me. When he saw me, mother asked him what he thought of me. He said it was impossible for me to get better, so with that he left. My throat and tongue and gums were all swollen so that mother had to feed me with a teaspoon to keep life in me. Mother was crying about me when a man by the name of Hyrum Clark came in (now this man was sent from Manchester to Macclessfield on a mission to preach the gospel. He came from America in August 29, 1839.) He had been in our house before and had talked with mother about the work of God. She had not obeyed it and there were no Saints in Macclessfield. He asked mother what was the matter with me. She told him that I was sick and likely to die. He asked her if she believed that God could save the sick. She said, 'yes.' "It says in James, if any are sick among you let him send for the Elders and anoint with oil and lay their hands on them and the prayer of the faithful shall save the sick. Do you believe this?" She said she did. He said ‘Let me see the boy.’ She came upstairs where I was in bed and told me that there was a man downstairs that wanted to see me. Mother helped me down and placed me before the fire on a chair. He took a bottle of oil out of his pocket and put some on my head and anointed me with it in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Then he laid his hands on my head. When he did this, then was the time that I did laugh in my mind and think what a fool he must be to think that he could cure me, but I thought if praying would help him any I would pray too. While his hands were on my head, I felt the swelling of my throat go down and l was healed instantly. My mother raised her hands towards heaven and praised the God of Heaven for his goodness and mercy towards her son. This was done in the morning after my boss had been to see me and given me up for dead. Mother asked me if I would not go to work in the afternoon, "No, I won't go this afternoon, I will go in the morning." She says, “Wilt you go and show yourself to your boss?" My younger brother, Tom and I went in the afternoon and when he saw me he cried out, “ls that thee Bill, or your ghost?" I told him it was I. He asked me how it was that I got better so soon. I told him but he did not believe it. Why did he not believe it? Because he did not believe there was a God. He was an infidel. This was done in the fall of 1839 if my memory serves me right. I did not join the church until 1840 on the 28th day of Submitted by Email to Morgan Daughters of Utah Pioneers by Randy Rounds, April, 2017. Added to D.U.P. archives with humble appreciation for the sharing of these records of Morgan County pioneers.179 April. I was baptized by a Brother Robert Oaks and was confirmed by James Galley. I have written this from memory; nevertheless, it is the truth. When I was a boy I had a bleeding cancer on my right cheek. It caused me to be somewhat disfigured on my right cheek. Mother got a Brother of the name of Heath to attend to the ordinance and he blessed me and said it should become heated and it did from that time. Mother asked him if the swelling would go down. He said he would not promise that but he would promise that it should get better and it did, although the swelling remained for some time. William Boile, a brother in the church who was somewhat of a doctor said to me one night at a meeting, “Bill, if you will come to my house on Sunday I will take that lump out of your cheek." I went and he put a plaster on it. He told me when to go again. He said about next Sunday that lump will be ready to take out. I went the Sunday following and he took the lump out. In about a week after it was healed up. I have a scar on my cheek today; nevertheless, I know that I was healed of a bleeding cancer. This took place in the latter part of 1840. I have seen the sick heated many times and under my administration. There is one case of a sister whose babe was very sick and Brother Boile was doctoring it. He told her that it could not live because its mouth was closed and it could not be opened. She brought it to me. It was on Saturday. I had just come to dinner when she came with her babe. I asked her what was the matter with her child, she said it was sick and Brother Boile said it was going to die, that it would be impossible for it to get better. I told her it would not die, that it would get better and when I had had dinner I would attend to the ordinance. After I had taken the child in my arms and looked at it I then thought of what I had said for its mouth was closed tight. I got my mother-in-law, Mrs. Ormandy to come and force its mouth open so that l could give it a little oil. She came and pressed its mouth open and I administered the oil and blessed the babe. I gave it to its mother and told her that it would sleep all afternoon. This bothered me all afternoon; I quit work about 4:00, it being Saturday. I went to see the child. Its mother had just taken up the child. She said that it had slept all afternoon and that she had just given it the breast and let it nurse. Before I attended the ordinance to the child it could hardly breathe it was so stuffed at its chest. It got well and lived. This is one testimony of God's power. This was done when I was living in Macclessfield in a place catted Cockstoolpit Hill in the year 1845. White I was living there my mother was taken very sick. She had sent for me several times but I did not like to go. I went one evening to see her. I found that she was very sick. My grandfather was living there and there were two men boarding there. They never thought that she would get better. This was on Thursday night that I went to see her. She scolded me for not going when she sent for me because she had all her work to do. She took in washing; this she had to do. I anointed her with oil that had been blessed and set apart for that purpose. I laid my hands on her in the name of Jesus Christ and rebuked the disease to leave her. In the morning she got up and did her work. When the men came in the morning to their breakfast thinking that they would hear of her death, to their great astonishment they found her around and doing her work. Mother was then living in what was called the Old Nags Head Row Waters Green, Macclessfield. God heard my prayer and raised the sick and we gave Him glory. While sitting alone and thinking of my younger days and how the Lord has blessed me in dreams and visions of the night, I will relate one here as near as I can and give the interpretation of the same. I think it was in the year of 1842, I dreamed a dream. I thought there was quite a number of Saints gathered together on the top of a hill. I knew most of them that were there. I saw a Temple there and there came down a black cloud and covered this Temple, only the spire showing. I said to the saints, look here at this 180 Temple how it is covered in darkness. White we stood gazing up at it I saw as it were, a man’s head come down out of the clouds on the north side of the Temple. He had gray hair but short. His whiskers seemed to stand out but they were short, seeming to be about one and a half inch long and gray. He was also blind of the right eye. He seemed to have seven stars in his head. Some were bright and some not so bright. He came down and hovered over our heads. He seemed to weep and shed tears and then went through the thick cloud to the Temple. I awoke and the next day I told mother about it. She told me to take notice of it and watch for its fulfillment. It was not long after this that we heard of one father Goodfellow being sent from Manchester to take charge of the affairs in Macclessfield. When we went to meeting on Sunday who should I see there but this head that I saw in my dream. I told mother that was man that I saw in my dream, 1842. Now for the interpretation: The Temple that I saw represented Macclessfield branch and the seven stars were seven elders, some bright and some not so bright. Father Goodfellow had a deal of trouble while he was in Macclessfield. I remember one time there was a tea party got up. It was one shilling a ticket. Orson Pratt and I believe Orson Spencer came with him. The party that was at the door would not let them in unless they paid their shilling, although they were invited; so they paid it. There was trouble at the party. I would not go to it. Among the trouble, Orson Pratt ordered Father Good fellow to cut the whole branch off and those that wanted to come in again and be re-baptized. Father Goodfellow begged and cried like a child for them to spare it. Orson said, "No, if you don't you will be sorry for it." Father Goodfellow did not do it and he himself was cut off from the Church. This was sometime after he left Macclessfield and went home to Manchester. That one dream I saw fulfilled and also a prophecy fulfilled. Now I will write another one... I was ordained to the office of a teacher in Macclessfield Branch, Staffordshire Conference. I think it was in the year of 1842. I don't remember who it was that ordained me, but I was appointed to labor with a brother by the name of George Hanson. Where we had to labor there was a sister that was very sick. I have forgotten her name. I had great faith in the ordinance myself, but my fellow laborer did not seem to have such faith in it. I prayed to God that He would over-rule that I might go alone and attend the ordinance myself. When l went to Brother George's he told me that he could not go with me this time and that I would have to go alone. I felt thankful to God for it. I went to the sister’s house and found that she was very sick. She was alone. I sat down alongside of where she lay and talked to her about the gifts and blessings and asked her if she would not like to have the ordinance attended to her. She said she would. So I anointed with oil and gave her some inwardly. I laid my hands upon her head and rebuked the disease in the name of Jesus Christ. I went to see her on the day following which was Sunday and I found her walking around. I was surprised to see her so well. In the summer of 1848 I was called to labor with Brother James Jackson on Sunday and our field of labor was to a country village about twelve miles from Macclessfield. The name of the place was Rainier. We had been there several times when Brother James backed out from going one Sunday, so I went alone. I sang and prayed. There was not much of a congregation but I preached on the first principles of the gospel and then bore my testimony that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. White I was standing on the sidewalk a man came to me and told me where I was to go to dinner. He told me that they had told him to tell me to go there, so I started off to the place. I thought maybe there would be a crowd there so I asked God to be with me and help me to overcome. It was a farmhouse that stood away off in the fields. As I going towards the house the people let a very large brown dog out of the house. As soon as it saw me it came running and growling toward me. I kept on towards the house and when the dog came to me, I spoke to it. It came and licked my hand and waked along by my side until I got to the house. They asked me what I wanted. I told them I had been told that you sent for me. They said no they had not sent for me so I walked back to the village. When I got there the man that sent me to the house came to me and asked me if I had been to the house. I said yes. "Did they turn the dog out?" Yes. “Did it 181 bite you?" No, it came and licked my hand. "And it did not bite you?" No, it came and licked my hand. He said no more but walked off. It seemed to me that it was a trap that had been laid that I might be hurt by the dog. God’s hands were with me at the time and preserved me from it. This was another time that I saw the power of God made manifest. I saw in my travels that God has been with me and enabled me to come and blessed me in my undertaking. When J.D. Ross was placed over Staffordshire Conference, Macclessfield was the headquarters and Brother Ross put me to preside over the lesser Priesthood. We would get together and locate where we should go and preach at night out of doors. We selected a place on what was called Banktop near the new church that had been built there. There were quite a number of people that lived there and some of them were pretty rough. Not only that, but there were some that were very religious. We went there according to appointment. The first time we got a very good hearing and after the close of the meeting we gave it out that we would be there next Wednesday night. We went next week according to promise. We sang and prayed and Thomas Haddy was the first one called on to speak. He spoke on the first principles of the gospel. After he was done I got up and while I was speaking my brethren had made a bargain to go into a house. There were certain parties that wanted to ask us questions. When I came down and heard what they had done I told them that they should not have done so without speaking to me about it first, for I knew there would be trouble if we did not mind what we were doing. We went to the house and got in. The house was soon filled and a man took charge of the door with a fire poker in his hand. It was a large iron bar and he swore the first man that attempted to go out of the house he would knock him in the head with that poker. The door was also locked and no one was allowed in or out. The brethren that were with me were Benjamin Goodwin, Thomas Haddy and another; I have forgotten his name. Goodwin was the first one to speak. I soon found that he would get our heads broke if he must go on. He was talking too plain. So I got him to sit down and I got up and kept the floor. They had got the clerk of their church there, one of the best men they could find to prove our doctrine false; but they found their mistake. All the arguments they brought up against us I turned it on themselves, They got so plagued that they did not know what to do with themselves to get the best of me. They asked me to let them see my Bible. I gave it to them to look at so they kept it. I said that it did not matter to me. I knew the clerk of the church. He knew that I had had no learning and that was the reason he took the Bible from me. He found that he was mistaken for when he got the Bible it did not trouble me; for every argument that he brought up against the church I turned it upon them. When they found that they could not over throw us in their arguments they got a sick man there and they wanted us to heal him. I told them that we were not Elders, we were only Priests and the Book says, "lf any are sick among you let him send for the Elders and be anointed and the prayer of the faithful shall save the sick." They said they did believe and they wanted a sign. I told then where an Elder lived and if they believed it would be done according to their faith. We were kept in there for several hours. We learned that there were hundreds around the door outside. They said that the Mormons got away with them. Now I will tell you how they got along. The man that they had there with a lame leg, he lived about two days. The man that said they did believe, in two weeks I saw him begging his bread with a bad hand. He was an object of pity. I gave him a few coppers to help him along. The clerk soon lost his place and had to go and work for his living. These fared like all those that oppose this work. In the year 1848 James Jackson and I were appointed to go to Prestbury, a small town about five miles from Macclessfield to preach. There we had to start from home about eight o'clock on Sunday morning to be there before the people went to church. If we happened to be late and the police saw us in the streets they would march us in the church and there we would have to stop until the services were out. 182 The people were very religious. There was only one church in the place and all the people were supposed to go there. It was a very old church; it had in its graveyard grave stones marked as the year 900 and 1000. This I saw myself. It was said that it was built by the Catholics and taken from them by the Protestants as the Church of England. It was then called the Church of England. If we did not get a chance to preach to them in the morning before they went to meeting there would not be much chance until afternoon services were over. They were so exact in the time you had to be in the church, half past ten in the morning and the church doors would be shut. You saw neither man nor beast in the street. There was a beer saloon across the street from the church. You would see the owner of it walk from it to the church and those that were left in the house would shut the door after him and lock it. When the clock struck 12 the church doors would be opened and also the beer house. So that if the sermon was very dry you could wash it down with beer. There was one time Brother Jackson did not go with me and I thought I would take some tracts with me and deliver them out. I remember going to one house where they gave me an invitation to go in. I found there was an aged man and taking on the first principles of the gospel; he said it was what he had believed in alt the days of his Life. He knew they were true. Those of his family said he was so childish that they did not take any notice what he said. He gave them to understand that he knew what he said was true and if he was able he would go and be baptized. He was not able to walk much. I understood that if any of the houses joined any other religion they would have no work and they would have to leave the house. This was the case with nearly all the inhabitants. The poor class in particular. They told me not to go anymore for they did not want to have any trouble. Another time Brother Jackson was to have met me at mothers on Watersgreen. He never came so I thought I would go and hear the old Methodists preach. They preached every Sunday morning in every public place called Waters Green. So this Sunday morning I thought I would go and hear them. There was about a dozen class leaders and preachers. The one that was preaching was one that was learning to become a minister of the gospel. I stood right in front of him and got my Bible out so I could ask them questions. When they saw this they said, “There's a Latter Day Saint." I looked around to see if I could see any more of my Brethren. I did not see any so I asked God to be with me and help me. The man that was preaching was showing and telling the people that if they did not come to Christ they would go to hell and be damned. After he had done I asked him if he would allow me to ask him a few questions. He asked me what they were. I said, "You have been preaching hellfire and damnation to the people and never told them what to do to escape it.” He told me to come and test them. That was just what I wanted, so I stood on the sidewalk and preached the first principles of the Gospel and showed them what to do to escape that which he had been preaching. It seemed as though all hell was let loose on me. There were very soon thousands of people there. There was only one thing that I was fast in. There were two pious men with their white cottars on who said it did not say in the Bible anywhere that He went to preach to the spirits in prison. I could not think of the passage. There was an infidel there. He told me where to look. I found it for them and read it to them. They said it did not mean what it said. “I thought you said you believed in the Bible; now it is opened to you and read. Now you say it doesn't mean what it says.’‘ It caused quite a laugh and they had no more to say. Others would cry out, “You can't tell me what salvation is." This they kept crying out. They put me in mind of an auctioneer selling his goods. There was a stranger who came and told me that I had better quit and go away for they had gone for the police, so I left them. I saw a stranger holding an argument in another place. I went and told him that he had better quit for they had gone for the police. This stranger turned out to be Brother Simson from Pottoray [possibly the area where they did pottery]; he had come in on a visit. He told the brethren that he never heard the gospel explained in all his life as he had that morning.