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How the Clarks came to join the church A letter started the whole process. Early in the summer of 1831, Morris Phelps received a letter from his home region of Kirtland, Ohio telling of a new religion that emphasized a prophet and had a new book of scripture. Phelps, who had married Laura Clark---third child of Timothy Baldwin and Polly Keeler Clark, was visiting his former neighbors in the south central region of Illinois (Peoria) when the letter came. The letter's contents reached into his core and touched him. Morris Phelps "She wrote concerning a new book called: 'The Book of Mormon' that was translated from writings on plates---said to be done by the gift and power of the Holy Ghost. The plates were of pure gold, found by the direction of an angel in York State. Several families had moved on to Morley's farm and had commenced a new Church, and this was under the direction of a Prophet. Very respectable men and women had joined their Church such as Isaac Morley and Edward Partridge. They had all things in common among them. Several preachers will soon leave for the West: perhaps you may see some of them.i" Who wrote the letter remains a mystery. One account has Laura writing the letter to her spouse ii, but that seems dubious given her lack of experience in Kirkland. The two had met in Illinois and spent their married life in that region. More likely it was written by a sister, who still lived in Ohio that could have been forwarded by Laura. Regardless the letter hit the inner core of his soul, and opened up parts of him that were sealed before hand. A former business partner, Sanford Porter, had shared portions of a visioniii he had earlier in his life where the Lord has indicated that the true religion of God was not on earth and that it would be restored at some point in his life. That vision seemed to have greater bearing on the events that would unfold in the coming weeks. Porter considered himself almost an agnostic at the point of the visioniv. "The next day I read the letter concerning the New Book to Charles C. Rich. He was anxious to learn more concerning the New Book, the Church, and the Prophet. Several years after he spoke of the peculiar sensation of feeling that penetrated his whole system, that made his spirit buoyant and full of joy, but he knew not what it meant. He said, 'But I know that it was the Spirit of God testifying to me of the truth of the Prophet and the Book of Mormon.' Porter and Baldwin Clark had a relationship that dated back to Ohio and he apparently shared this insight and view with others and the influence of that experience would weave its way into the conversion process of Baldwin and several of his children. Phelps noted of Porter's vision that it left him troubled. "In the rehearsal of this vision I discovered an honest sincerity that he had seen a vision. I was in more trouble of mind than before. I read the Bible much, yet my mind was veiled and I was afforded no relief. My mind about three-and-a-half years was thus afflictedv." The contents of Morris' letter were shared freely with Porter and a neighbor, Charles Rich, both of whom reveled in the possibilities the communiqué outlined along with Phelps. Letter leads to tears "Reading of this new Church and a Prophet created such a curious anxiety, mingled with joy, that I could not refrain from weeping," Phelps records. "I also read the letter to Mr. Porter who was enthusiastically overjoyed. I having been acquainted with Edward Partridge and Isaac Morely from a boy, and must write to them for further information of the Book of Mormon and the Prophet." Phelps did write that letter, but only days before the missionaries came into his life. Porter's journal shares a few more details about the letter in regards to spiritual gifts that were not recorded by Phelps. "They said they had a prophet and apostles, as they had in ancient days, and they had the same gifts that the ancients had…"vi The sequence of events that followed receipt of the letter, suggests that it was written by his sister in Kirtland, who was not only eager for her brother to hear detail of the new religion, but also to test it for himself. Such a possibility would speak volumes of the regard that the family held for Morely and Partridge and for the curiosity that the church had stimulated in the Greater Kirtland region. Lyman Wight In Section 52 of the Doctrine and Covenants, the Lord, through the Prophet Joseph Smith, called for the building of Zion in Jackson County, Missouri and called missionaries to make their way to Zion, "preaching along the way." In verse seven the Lord instructs Lyman Wight and John Correll to take their "journey speedily." Section 52 was given to Joseph Smith June 7, 1831 and by July of the same year Elders Correll and Wight made their way to northern Illinois and the Plainfield region where they found a small group of people who were receptive to the message. Plainfield is located on the Dupage River, nine miles northwest of Joliet and thirty-five miles southwest of Chicago. Plainfield was very sparsely inhabited. The first real settlement of white men took place in 1830 in the region, and Baldwin Clark and his family were among those few white residents in the territory.vii The fact that Wight and Correll made their trek to Missouri through northern Illinois to Will County, directly to the place where the Timothy Baldwin Clark family resided along with his son-in-law John Cooper (he married Rhoda Clark) and Phelps, suggests the meeting was anything but coincidence. The added possibility of such a sparse audience at the other end only enhances that possibility. Perhaps the person who had penned the original letter had shared an address or location, so that Correll and Wight had a specific destination in mind. In July of 1831, Phelps records the following of meeting the elders of Zion. "I returned home early in July and faithful to my promise went to writing my letter of inquiry. As I finished I saw two men passing through the field on foot in traveling costume, knapsack and valise on their back. About the same instant a man on horse appeared and rode up to the house, who I readily recognized to be James Emmett. After passing the customary compliments of the day he inquired whether I had seen what was called The Book of Mormon. 'No sir, only heard of it by a letter.' Taking the Book of Mormon from his pocket and gave it to me I saw it was the Book. He further said, 'Those two travelers are Mormon preachers. May they preach at your home?' 'Certainly.' They were invited in: when all told about twenty souls. They preached in the evening and the next morning at ten o'clock. In the afternoon they baptized Mr. Emmett and ordained him an Elder."viii The elders did not stay in the region very long, after baptizing Emmett. They left the next day, but not before getting a significant piece of paper from Phelps. Letter of introduction Porter's vision apparently left Phelps eager to see how his friend, and a former business colleague, would react to the message. He wrote a letter of introduction for the elders and directed their efforts south to Tazwell County and Sanford Porter. Baldwin Clark had helped settle Tazwell County several years earlier (1828-29)ix and both Cooper and Phelps had been business partners in a saw mill with Porter in the region for a brief time.x One historical record notes that upon hearing of Porter, Elder Wight prophesied that the man would hear the gospel and join the church and return to baptize people there. "We shall baptize Mr. Porter and ordain him an Elder, and he will come here four weeks from today and will preach here and will baptize all four of you."xi The prophecy was given in front of both the Phelps and Cooper families. Porter did join the church as Wight outlined, but only after again receiving a heavenly prompting about his need to join, on the day both Wight and Correll were scheduled to leave the community.xii Charles C. Rich, who would later become an apostle, joined the church the next year. Shortly after being baptized, Porter was called on a mission in the vicinity of his home and he traveled north, approximately 60 miles, where he preached the gospel to members of the Clark family in the company of Jonathan Sumner. This time Morris and Laura Phelps and John and Rhoda Cooper joined the church. Sanford's son, Nathan, gives a few glimpses of the missionary effort in his journal. He writes of a church meeting in which his father was called to preach the gospel and then of the subsequent missionary effort. "My father being in attendance was much pleased to know that he was not left entirely alone to set forth and defend the gospel he had embraced, and more so, as Mr. Sumner was a former neighbor and intimate acquaintance. They were instructed to unit their labors together preaching the gospel in the country round about for a season until the land of Zion should be designated, which as the object of their mission to the western boundaries of the State of Missouri, in connection with the Prophet Joseph Smith and others. My father returned to his home rejoicing in the light and liberty where in he now felt free. His whole soul seemed to be fired up by the Holy Spirit which he now took for his guide. Thus he went forth with his fellow laborer whether so ever they were led. After laboring a short time in the neighborhood around, they felt impressed by the Spirit to take their journey in a northern direction. Thus they went forth pursuing this course until they came into the neighborhood where Mr. Baldwin Clark and Morris Phelps resided, of whom I have before made mention, being some 60 miles distant. Here they labored a short time, baptizing Mr. Phelps and wife, brother-in-law John Cooper and wife, with several other families whom they organized into a branch of the church and returned home to rest for a season."xiii The visit would suggest that Baldwin and his wife Polly would also hear the message from their long-time friend, but despite conflicting reports xiv, it appears they did not join. One of Porter's accounts says Baldwin was baptized in 1831, while another key church document lists 1832xv as his baptism date, but most data and evidence points to a baptism date in 1835. The parents of 12 children, Baldwin Clark was 53 years of age at the time of his first contact with the church and his wife Polly was 45 with a number of children still at home. Children at home included David Keeler, Barrett Bass, William Ogelsby, Homer Baldwin, Ezra Thompson (then just eight), and Mary Ann Clark. Of those children all but David and Barrett would join the church . The 12th member of the family, Isaac Clark, had died only months before in September of 1830. Several months after preaching the gospel in Will County, Porter met missionaries en route to Jackson County who informed him that it was the Lord's will that members should gather to Zion there. He informed the greater Clark family and on Dec. 1, 1831, the Porters, Phelps, Coopers and Emmett, William and John Allredge and a Mr. Berry all head south for Missouri.xvi The record of dealings between Baldwin and his in-laws in Missouri goes silent for several years. It is clear from their inner contact in Illinois that the Phelps' had lived closed to their in-laws from their April 28, 1826 marriage and that the Coopers, who were married in 1828, had done the same, previous to their relocation to Missouri. Religious family The Clarks were a family of religious tradition, even without the church, however. Baldwin had been an original member and class leader of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Vienna, Ohio in the early 1800s.xvii He had continued that tradition in Illinois. One account lists him as a deacon in the church in Illinois. "My remembrance of what I have heard my parents say of Timothy Baldwin Clark is that he was kind-hearted, generous and of a religious mind. He was a deacon in the Methodist Church and maintained a religious atmosphere in the home.xviii Several years passed before Phelps and another former Illinois neighbor, Charles C. Rich, then felt compelled to take the gospel north to Illinois and the home of the Clarks in the spring of 1835. The mission was initiated in March during a difficult season and the pair traveled 133 miles in five days to an area that was still described as thinly populated at the time.xix Rich records that he baptized three people on the trip, including Father Clark. The title bestowed by Rich in his account of Father Clark is something that would become synonymous with Baldwin Clark the rest of his life.xx William O. Clark was baptized by his brother-in-law, Morris Phelps in the Dupage River on April 12, 1835, during the same mission.xxi It appears this could have been the baptismal date for Baldwin and Polly as well as William O. and several of his siblings. Rich's account also shows a pragmatic part of his character and of the man he baptized. While in the region, he proselyted among non-Mormons most of the time and also gained experience working with the Saints. He planted corn and cut potatoes with Baldwin Clark, and helped Father Clark plow some potatoes, and hoed potatoes for Brother Donty.xxii It appears that circumstances and persistence had prepared the family to join the faith but there could have been another factor in the timing of the baptism of the family as well. Close relationship with minister In northern Illinois, Baldwin Clark seems to have had an unusually close relationship with the Rev. Jesse Walker, the first preacher in Plainfield, who also set up the first sawmill in the region.xxiii As Plainfield began to grow Rev. Walker had a concern for Methodists and others who might congregate near what is today Chicago. It was Timothy Baldwin Clark who hauled a load of provisions by ox-team express to Chicago to meet this emergency.xxiv (That trip may have set the stage for a business that Baldwin established in which he ran a stage line from Chicago to Ottawa, Illinois, through Plainfield.xxv ) William O. Clark It may be pure coincidence but Rev. Walker died in 1835 at the age of 69 and it was the same year that Baldwin was baptized. Rev. Walker's passing may have removed the last obstacle to hearing the gospel with renewed interest for the Clarks. Months after being baptized, September specifically, Baldwin and Polly Clark moved their family to Missouri.xxvi Ezra Thompson, the 10th of 12 children, was 12 years of age at the time of his parents' baptism and why he did not join at that time is unclear. It is clear, however, that his brother William would become a key figure in his church life---especially in the early years. William O. Clark was sent east by his father to secure the inheritance left by the passing of his grandmother--$1500--- in Connecticut. William passed through Kirtland on the way east and again on the return trip west. Being with the Prophet Joseph and church leaders had a marked influence on him. He yearned to fellowship with the church leaders and to attend the School of the Prophets. His desire was strong enough that he "bought" himself freedom from his father's farm chores by splitting approximately 2,000 rails and could then be released to follow his heart.xxvii Shortly after going to Kirkland, William O. was called on a mission, where he served with Charles C. Rich, among others and baptized nine relatives in Trumbull, Ohio.xxviii He would serve missions for six years in various parts of the Midwest and became intimate with the Prophet Joseph Smith and other leaders of the church. Following his brother's example, Ezra Thompson Clark joined the church less than a year after his parents did. He was baptized by his brother William O. In Fishing River, Missouri in March of 1836. It was the beginning of an odyssey with the church that continues to spread day-by-day even a century after his passing. Morris Phelps, Autobiography, MS, page 17. Valiant Hearts With Undaunted Faith and Devotion, page 4 Porter Family History, Vol. 1, pages 86-90 "Perhaps a sketch of my religious tendencies in my early manhood, and before being converted to the Mormon faith may be interesting to some of my descendants. Although my children and grandchildren are most all religiously inclined, I am inclined to think they did not inherit it from their grandfather. Prior to a few years before I joined the Mormon Church, I was very near, if not quite, an atheist or infidel. I believed in what I could see and feel and hear, and maintained that there was no life after death. I looked upon all churches as a scheme of ministers to make an easy living by plying their trade on the minds of the ignorant, and weak-minded. But about the time Mormonism was revealed---though I had heard nothing of it at that time, I became disturbed in my mind, and something was telling me there was a God and a life after death. I pondered upon it, then tried to put it from my mind, but it would not leave me. I did not speak of it to anyone---nor could I satisfy my own mind as to any cause why I should be thus disturbed in my ideas of atheism. But I realized that some unseen power was holding a stubborn argument with me upon the existence of a God, and a life after death; and while I became so much disturbed as to break my rest. While at work, it would be continually on my mind, and after my family were all asleep, I would get up and walk the floor, and at last I came to the point of extreme, and I spoke out in an audible voice and said "Oh! Is there a god? If so, may I know the way that is right?" "And then, I was answered by an audible voice which said, "There is a God, and three times this night thou shalt know the way the way that is right, and thou shalt doubt no more." The voice was a mild one, but it went through me like a shock, and I trembled in every limb, but in a few minutes, I gathered myself, and I thought someone had learned of my state of mind, and had been standing at the door and heard me speak, and had answered me in these words, thinking I would believe it was a supernatural being that had spoken. So I opened the door. A light snow had fallen, then cleared away. It was light enough so anyone could be tracked, but a track of anything could not be seen. So I went back into the house, thinking someone may have gotten into the house and sprung a trick on me. Then I lit a candle, and made a thorough search, but I found no one, so I seated myself before the fire to await developments. I knew I heard an audible voice and understood plainly the words "three times this night," and it filled me with fear to hear it again, that I might be overcome, but I waited a while, and all was quiet, so I thought I would lie down, and rest while I waited. But my head had no sooner touched the pillow than I was caught away from things of the earth. Whether I was in the body or out of the body, I could not tell, but I felt of myself, and said, "It is no dream. I am awake." But a guide was with me, and we passed through a cloud of darkness. Then we came to a world of light, and the light surpassed the light of the large body of light. The body of light reached up so high I could not see the top, but close around the large body of light were many people, and they were all bowing to the big body of light in an attitude of worship and praise. And their countenances showed they were most happy. They were in pews or boxes formed like honeycombs. The sides of one formed the sides of the others. In those that were occupied there was a male and a female. There was none with a single person in. Some were empty, and behind the first circle was another large circle of people who looked happy, but not so supremely happy as the first, and they also were in an attitude of worship and praise, and still farther back from the second were the third host of people. But they were in darkness, and in torment, so much so that they were wringing their hands, and going into contortions of bodily pain, until I turned from the sight. "Then I asked my guide what the body of light was that seemed to be filled with moving life, and he said, "It is God. And I asked him who the people were that were so happy, and he said "They are those who have kept the commandments of God, and have gone through great trials, but have proved faithful. Then I asked, "Who are those that are in darkness and in such torment?" He said, "They are the commandment-breakers and doers of all kinds of sin." Then I asked if their torment would ever have an end. He quoted scripture in answer to all my questions, giving chapter and verse. Then he said, "There is no true Church upon the earth at the present time." Then I said, "Will there ever be a true Church?" He said, "There will," I said, "Will I live to see it?" He said, "You will." Then my guide said, "Let us go." Then I looked back the way we came and saw only darkness. Then I said, "Oh, let me stay." He said, "You are not good enough." Then I said, "Will I ever be any better?" He said, "You will." Then he said, "When your work is done on earth, you will occupy this mansion, pointing to one by which we stood. Quoting scripture again, "In my Father's house there are many mansions," etc. Then he said, "Now when thou art converted, then strengthen thy brethren," to which I replied, "They will not believe me if I should" to which he replied, "What is that to thee? Do as thou art bid. Some will believe." "Then the guide said, "Come let us go." So we went back through the darkness, and I came to a full sense of realization with a prickly feeling all over my body, but only for a short time until I was carried away again and shown the order of the spiritual life, and what mortals must do to gain an entrance into our Father's kingdom---and as the voice had said, three times that night, I was shown the things of heaven, and told the way that was right, that I need never doubt more, and so it has ever been since that time. "I am convinced that if I lose my inheritance in the Kingdom of God, it will be by my own negligence." IBID Mormon General and Western Frontiersman, page 15 Guide to Mormon Diaries and Autobigraphies History of Will County, Illinois, Wm. LeBaron Jr. & Co. 1878, page 21 Valiant Hearts With Undaunted Faith And Devotion, pages 4-5. Porter Family History, Vol. 1, page 85. Porter Family History, Vol. 1, page 86. Valiant Hearts With Undaunted Faith And Devotion, page 5 Porter Family History, Vol. 1, pages "It was not until July 1830 (1831) that I learned anything of the new church. Then two elders came to our town on their way westward---preaching, converting and baptizing. Those elders were Lyman Wight and John Correll---men well known in the early church history. I went to all of their meetings, and their doctrine appealed to me, but still I was skeptical, or rather felt that I should be cautious, as this might not be the one my guide had spoken of, but I felt confident he would come and let me known if this was the right church. The elders asked me if I would let them know if I got notice that this was right. I told them if I got assurance that they were right, I would follow them to the ends of the earth if need be. The time drew near that their labors in that vicinity would close. The day before they were to leave, they came to my house to hold a family meeting, and I received them cordially and the best of feelings prevailed, but I felt that I should wait. But very early in the morning as I lay pondering, I heard the same mild voice as before. He said, 'THIS IS RIGHT, ARISE AND BE BAPTIZED." So I lost no time in finding the elders. They held a meeting at my house again, and we went to the place prepared, and the ordinance of baptism was performed for myself, my wife, and eldest daughter (Malinda Porter)---and I was ordained an Elder, and set apart to labor as a missionary in and around the vicinity where we lived. The elders then went to the home of Nathan Sumner, about six miles from our place, whom they also baptized and ordained an Elder, and set him apart also to labor with me as a missionary in the adjoining towns." Nathan Porter Journal, pages 8-9. Porter Family History, Vol. 1, page 78. Membership of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: 1830 to 1848, Susan Easton Black, Vol. 10, page 253. Porter Family History, Vol. 1, page 90. History of Trumbull and Mahoning Counties, Ohio, H. Z. Williams & Bro., 1882. Autobiography of Edward B. Clark. Mormon General and Western Frontiersman, Leonard Arrington, page 48 Mormon General and Western Frontiersman, Leonard Arrington, page 48 Biography of William O. Clark, Julia R. Short, page 134 Rich Journal, 29 April 1835 to 24 Jan. 1836, under dates May and June 1835. History of Will County, Illinois, Wm. LeBaron Jr., & Co., page 21 History of Will County, Illinois, Wm. LeBaron Jr., & Co. Biography of William O. Clark, Julia R. Short, page 134 Biography of William O. Clark, Julia R. Short, page 134 Biography of William O. Clark, Julia R. Short, page 134-35 Mormon General and Western Frontiersman, Arrington, page 52.