681. The Election Day Fight, 178 years ago today, with my 2nd great grandfather John Lowe Butler, bodyguard to the Prophet Joseph Smith.

It was 178 years ago when the "Election Day" fight happened in Gallatin, Missouri.  The Brother John Butler, mentioned in the history below, was my 2nd great grandfather on my mother's line.   Read to the bottom, and I have included an entry about him I posted on January 14, 2014.  He was a bodyguard to the Prophet Joseph Smith, and quite a colorful character!  His wife, Caroline Farozine Skeen Butler also was a true pioneer woman.  In the  "labels" you can find more stories about them.

Latter Day Light DAILY DEVOTIONAL August 6, 2016  Stand Fast

SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY  Doctrine & Covenants 9:14 "Stand fast in the work wherewith I have called you, and a hair of your head shall not be lost, and you shall be lifted up at the last day. Amen."

QUOTE OF THE DAY Joseph Smith "Stand fast, ye Saints of God, hold on a little while longer, and the storm of life will be past, and you will be rewarded by that God whose servants you are, and who will duly appreciate all your toils and afflictions for Christ's sake and the Gospels" (History of the Church 4:337).

DAILY READING SCHEDULE  Read the Book of Mormon in a year by following our Daily Reading Schedule. Alma 43:39 - 44:3

TODAY IN CHURCH HISTORY August 6    1831 - Polly Knight, wife of Joseph Knight, Sr., dies in Jackson County, Missouri. This was the first death of a Latter-day Saint in Missouri. She had been very ill during the travel to Missouri and had expressed a desire to "set her feet upon the land of Zion" before she died.  1833 - The Prophet Joseph Smith receives the revelation known as Doctrine and Covenants 98, instructing the Saints on how they should react to persecution. (History of the Church, 1:403-406) 1836 - The Prophet Joseph Smith receives the revelation known as Doctrine and Covenants 111 while in Salem, Massachusetts, where he was seeking funds to help get the Church out of debt and doing missionary work. (History of the Church, 2:465-466) 1838 - The citizens of Far West met in the afternoon at the schoolhouse for the purpose of organizing a weekly newspaper with Sidney Rigdon as editor. It was also voted that a petition be circulated to locate the county seat at Far West. The Prophet Joseph spoke and encouraged their efforts and also encouraged the farmers to come into the city to live while continuing to work their farms outside the city "according to the order of God." Meanwhile, to the north of Far West, in Daviess County, fifty to one hundred Missourians refuse to let approximately thirty Latter-day Saints vote in the state and county elections at Gallatin, Missouri. There was a fist fight for several minutes and several were injured. When the mob left to get weapons, a few brethren were able to vote. They were determined to exercise their right to vote and Brother John Butler spoke and said, "We are American citizens; our fathers fought for their liberty, and we will maintain the same principles." The County offices then asked the brethren to withdraw to avoid further problems. The brethren gathered just outside of town where they witnessed armed men gathering into the town. The unarmed brethren decided to quickly head for home to gather their families and hid them in the fields in case the mob decided to raid the country side. This attack on the Saints is known as the "Election Day Battle" and becomes one of the events leading up to the Saints' expulsion from the state later in the year. (History of the Church, 3:56-58) 1842 - While visiting Montrose, Iowa, the Prophet Joseph Smith prophesies "that the Saints would continue to suffer much affliction and would be driven to the Rocky Mountains, many would apostatize, others would be put to death by our persecutors or lose their lives in consequence of exposure or disease, and some of you will live to go and assist in making settlements and build cities and see the Saints become a mighty people in the midst of the Rocky Mountains" (History of the Church, 5:85). 1843 - The Prophet Joseph Smith spoke to the Saints concerning politics, the upcoming election, and faith. (History of the Church, 5:525-526). 1844 - Brigham Young, and the Apostles traveling with him, arrived late in the evening at Nauvoo, Illinois, returning from their missions after learning of the death of the Prophet Joseph. Elder Wilford Woodruff records, "When we landed in the city a deep gloom seemed to rest over the city of Nauvoo, which we never experienced before." A majority of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, with their Quorum President, Brigham Young, were now in the city. (History of the Church, 7:228) 1851 - The first branch of the Church in Hawaii is organized on the island of Maui. 1955 - Elder Gary E. Stevenson, of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, is born in Ogden, Utah. 1981 - The first satellite sending and receiving station in the Mountain West was put into service after a ribbon cutting ceremony attended by President Spencer W. Kimball. A 10-meter dish located in City Creek Canyon was owned by Bonneville Satellite Corporation, a subsidiary of Bonneville International, and provided the Church and other clients access to the "space-age communications" system of the future. (Church News, August 8, 1981) FRIDAY, JANUARY 10, 2014 66. Colorful ancestor, John Lowe Butler, Bodyguard to Joseph Smith My second great grandfather on my mother's side lived quite an amazing life.  He had many health problems in his life, and yet he became strong enough to be one of the Prophet Joseph Smith's bodyguards in the last years of the Prophet's life.  His  Gallatin , Missouri, fight incident is well known in Church  history.           John Lowe Butler, was born Apr, 8, 1808, in  Kentucky, to James and Charity Lowe Butler.  He was not a healthy child.  When he was seven years old he was stricken with inflammatory rheumatism which spread over his body from his toes to his fingertips.  This disease returned once or twice a year until he was 20.  When he was 19, the pain settled in his left side and his thigh and his arm began to fail him. John became so frail that his mother could carry him about in her arms.  In spite of his long, continued illness, he stood six feet tall when he was 22. His extensive autobiography shows he had adequate schooling during his youth.  He himself taught school in his early twenties, and as dictionaries weren’t often available, he spelled words as they sounded. His early life was plagued with bad health, at times almost fatal.      Before John was four, terrible earthquakes jolted the region.  Tremors on December 16, 1811, and January 23 and February 7, 1812, followed by many aftershocks were called the New Madrid earthquake.  This suddenly created an eighteen-mile-long Reelfoot Lake, where land sank not far away.  It is said that the Mississippi River flowed backwards for 10 to 24 hours to fill it. Young John, a son of farm parents, spent more time farming than doing anything else.  Most farms had a hog, a few chickens, and a small orchard.    John was born two months before Jefferson Davis and forty miles southeast of his birthplace.  He was born ten months before Abraham Lincoln and seventy miles southwest of  his birthplace.  John, being of Virginia and North Carolina heritage, grew up within a system of patriarchal, clannish families, common in the South.  Family allegiance was very important, and anything that threatened their clan was to be shunned.  Thus, when John and Caroline joined the Church, they were going against their traditions. He married Caroline Farozine Skeen, February 3, 1831.  Her father presented the young couple two slaves when they were married.  John accepted them graciously, then promptly freed them.  The Butlers didn't agree with slavery.  Twelve children were born to John and Caroline. His occupation was that of a school teacher, a farmer, a blacksmith, and a wheelwright.  John’s family were Methodist but he could not accept that religion and he joined the Baptist church, but he was still unhappy.  John was so discouraged that he decided not to read the Bible anymore and he told this to the Lord one night in his barn.  Thunder shook and lightning flashed and he heard a voice speak:  “I shall put you through a refiner’s fire.”  He looked around and he was alone at the time.  Mormonism was introduced to Kentucky the first part of March, 1835.   John read the Book of Mormon and he heard a voice say “This is the truth that you’ve been hearing, now choose or refuse.”  He and his wife were baptized March 9, 1835. The Butler family started for Missouri in April of 1836 by ox team, a distance of three hundred miles.  They lived in Caldwell County two years then started to build a home in Davis County.  Though John Lowe Butler’s health had been delicate in his youth, after he joined the Church he became a broad strong man.  He was married at age 22, and by the time he was 27, he had grown two and a half inches and felt he could handle any two men on the earth.      Trouble broke out in Gallatin, a small town in Davis County.  It was election Day, August 6, 1838.  A man by the name of Peniston, who had been one of the mob that was instrumental in driving the Mormons from Jackson County, was a candidate for the legislature.  Knowing his fate with reference to the Mormon vote, he harangued against them and influenced the crowd gathered at the polls to prevent the Mormons from voting.  A fight followed.  The mob, according to Church history, numbered about 100 men, the Mormons present numbered twelve.  So in this time of stress and need, John’s unusual physical strength and his righteous anger enabled him to handle not only two men but many.  He said, “Come Brethren, we will vote, our fathers fought in the Revolution for freedom.  We will exercise our rights as citizens.” With a large stick, as John had no other arms, they cleared the way to the polls and cast their ballots.  The account of this conflict was exaggerated and made an excuse for almost a general uprising against the Mormons throughout the State.  Before going home from the election, he rode to Far West to see the Prophet, who, because of the experience of the day, counseled him to move his family from Davis County immediately.  He  hurried home, arriving after dark.  He and his wife set to work, packing their belongings and left with their last load just before daybreak and went to a Brother Taylor’s home.  At sunrise, a neighbor said, about 30 men surrounded the house so recently vacated.  They later saw the house go up in flames, and thought John and his family had been killed. John took his family to Far West where they suffered the persecutions of the Saints.  Part of the time John was in hiding because there was a price on his head.  He was taken prisoner but he escaped by swimming across the river in icy temperatures.  John and others went into Illinois ahead of their families to prepare a home for them.  He spent the winter of 1838-1839 teaching school in Commerce.  John and his wife, Caroline, had many experiences which in future blogs I will mention.  This one goes to the fight at Gallatin, Missouri. When the city of Nauvoo was organized, he was appointed one of the twelve bodyguards to "General" Joseph Smith.  He was with the Prophet constantly until the Prophet and his brother were taken prisoner at Carthage.  The bodyguard begged to stay and lay their lives down for them, but the Prophet sent them home to get some rest.  The bodyguard traveled the entire distance from Carthage to Nauvoo waithout saying a word.  They all felt that the Prophet of God was about to be taken from them.  What faith and stamina these men had!  To even imagine how they felt is humbling to me!