Life of Heber C. Kimball, an Apostle. Orson F. Whitney

Church in Heaven

      CHAPTER LXV.

      Gems from Heber's Words Continued—His Striking View of Time and

       Eternity—His Words and Works at the Last Conference Preceding his

       Death—His Last Sermon

      CHAPTER LXVI.

      Death of Vilate, the Wife of Heber's Youth—President Brigham Young

       Preaches her Funeral Sermon—His Feeling Tribute to her

       Memory—Heber Prophesies of his Own Death

      CHAPTER LXVII.

      Death of Apostle Kimball—All Israel Mourns—Expressions in Honor of the Illustrious Dead

      CHAPTER LXVIII.

      Obsequies of President Kimball—Tributes and Testimonies of his

       Brother Apostles—"He was a man of as Much Integrity as Any Man who

       Ever Lived"—Earth Returns to Earth and the Spirit Unto God Who Gave

       it

      APPENDIX.

      A Glimpse of the Great Beyond—Thrilling Experience of David Patten

       Kimball—Lost in the Desert—Communing with the Spirits of the

       Departed—David Predicts his own Death and the Death of Four

       Others—The Fulfillment

CHAPTER I.

       Table of Contents

      A PRE-EXISTENT GLIMPSE—GOD'S NOBLE AND GREAT ONES—HEBER C. KIMBALL A PREDESTINED PROPHET—OPENING OF THE LAST DISPENSATION—HEBER'S BIRTH AND PARENTAGE—EARLY INCIDENTS OF HIS LIFE—CLOUDS AND SUNSHINE.

      Men like Heber C. Kimball are not accidents. They are emphatically and in the truest sense, children of destiny. If we seek their origin, and would know their truth, we must not halt beside the humble cradle which "lulled their infant cares to rest." We must rise on spirit wings above the mists and vapors of mortality, and survey them in the light of an eternal existence, a life without beginning or end. Says one of old:

      "Now the Lord had shown unto me, Abraham, the intelligences that were organized before the world was; and among all these there were many of the noble and great ones; and God saw these souls that they were good, and he stood in the midst of them, and he said, 'These I will make my rulers'; for he stood among those that were spirits, and he saw that they were good, and he said unto me, Abraham, thou art one of them, thou wast chosen before thou wast born."

      Again, unto Jeremiah:

      "Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations."

      What is true in this respect of ancient prophets, is true also of modern prophets, for verily are their origin, their mission and their destiny the same.

      It devolved upon the subject of this writing to come forth at a time which has no parallel in all the ages of the past. The day of God's power and of Zion's glory was about to dawn. The Sun that set in blood behind Judea's hills was soon to rise o'er Zion's mountain-tops and flood the world with light. The latter-day dispensation was opening. All things in Christ were to be gathered in one. The curtain of history had risen on the last act of the tragedy of Time.

      Would God leave the world without "great and noble ones" at such an hour?

      ——

      Heber Chase Kimball was born into this life June 14th, 1801. The same soil produced him that in colonial times brought forth an Ethan Allen, the hero of Ticonderoga, and in later years the wondrous twain of spirits known to the world as Joseph Smith and Brigham Young.

      A far greater work than the capture of a British fortress was in the future of this Mormon triad of "Green Mountain boys," who went forth "in the name of the great Jehovah" to invade the strongholds of Satan, and plant the banner of gospel truth above the ramparts of his conquered citadels.

      Heber's birthplace was the town of Sheldon, Franklin County, Vermont, ten miles from the shores of Lake Champlain. He was the fourth child and second son in a family of seven, the order of whose birth was as follows: Charles Spaulding, Eliza, Abigail, Heber Chase, Melvina, Solomon and Daniel Spaulding, the last named of whom died in infancy. These were all born in Sheldon.

      His father's name was Solomon Farnham Kimball, a native of Massachusetts, where he was born in the year 1770. He was "a man of good moral character," and, though he professed no religion, taught his children correct principles. His mother's maiden name was Anna Spaulding; she was a strict Presbyterian, lived a virtuous life, and, according to her best knowledge, reared her family in the ways of righteousness. She was the daughter of Daniel and Speedy Spaulding, and was born in Plainfield, New Hampshire, on the banks of the Connecticut river.

      The Kimballs were of Scotch descent, their ancient name, it is believed, being Campbell. Heber's grandfather and a brother came from England, in time to assist in gaining the independence of the colonies. In America his ancestors and those of the Prophet Joseph Smith were related by marriage.

      Heber derived his given name from a Judge Chase, of Massachusetts, by whom his father was reared from a boy, and who chanced to visit his former protege soon after his son was born. The judge himself proposed the christening, and the parents being nothing loth, Heber Chase Kimball became the infant's name.

      This Judge Chase, though presumably "learned in the law," like many of his class in those primitive, common sense days was not above following the humbler pursuits of life. He was a blacksmith, and taught Heber's father that trade, and when he had married, helped him to establish his smithy in the town of Sheldon.

      "At the close of the Revolutionary War," says Heber, "my father was thirteen years old, and I can remember his rehearsing to me some of the scenes of the war.

      "He was captain of a company of militia in Sheldon, and wore a cocked hat of the old English style, a straightbodied coat, and short breeches with a knee buckle, long stockings, and Suwarrow boots with a pair of tassels.

      "He was partly bald, had dark-brown hair, blue eyes, sandy whiskers and light complexion; he was five feet, eleven inches high, and weighed two hundred pounds and upwards.

      "He engaged in farming and clearing land, burning the wood into coal and ashes; he had also a forge and trip-hammer, in the manufacture of wrought iron.

      "About the time of the embargo, before the last war with England, my father lost his property, as it was invested in salts, potash and pearlash; the embargo, having shut down the gate of commerce between the United States and England, left his property in his hands without much value."

      In February, 1811, the Kimballs migrated from Vermont, and settled in West Bloomfield, Ontario County, New York, five hundred miles from their former home, where the head of the family reengaged in his occupations of farmer and blacksmith, to which he now added that of builder. He was aided in his new venture by Judge Towsley, of Scipio, Cayuga County, who had employed him for several months as foreman in a blacksmith shop.

      Heber thus describes the journey from Sheldon to West Bloomfield, with incidents of their subsequent experience in that then new country:

      "My father took my mother and six children in a sleigh, with one span of horses, a change of clothing for each of us, and some blankets to wrap us in; when we reached St. Albans, my father bought each of his boys a hat, which was the first hat I ever had on my head. We traveled on Lake Champlain, on the ice, and the wind being very high, my hat was blown off and