Pioneer Spotlight

m _ V- A , I

Pioneer

By Rachel Matheson

ne ofthe great traits ofpioneering I people throughout the ages is that they are positive. They have a belief, a hope, and a confix dence that ifthey are true and faithful all will be well.

Nearly seven years before the pioneer exodus to the mountains ofUtah, William Clayton, with a positive zeal he would tap into often, wrote to his fellow Saints in England, urging them to come to Zion, not realizing that “Zion'’ would soon be in wagons and handcarts moving west* William had learned through experience that all is well and there is nothing to fear when you are following the pioneering path of the Lord. He wrote:

‘Although we are . * . distant from each other I do not forget you. . . . But to the praise of God be it spoken, all I have endured has never hurt or discouraged me, but done me good... . We have sometimes been almost suffocated with heat . . . , sometimes almost froze with cold. We have

had to sleep on boards, instead offeathers. . . . We have had our clothes wet through w ith no privilege ofdrying them or change ing them,. . had to steep . . . out ofdoors, in very severe weather, and many such things which you [have] no idea of . . . [Yet] we have been * . , healthy & cheerful, * . . Ifyou will he faithful, you have noth¬ ing to fear from the journey. The Lord will take care ofhis saints/4

As Latter-day Saints all over the wTorld sing the powerfully moving hymn, “Come, Come, Ye Saints,” many do not stop to think about the history ofthe song and the writer behind it. Although some know William Clayton wrote it, and others know it was written while crossing the Great Plains to the Rocky Mountains, their knowledge ends there. Hcber J, Grant's father-ln-1aw, Oscar Winters, stated, “I believe that the young people of Zion do not thoroughly appreciate what Brother Clayton’s hymn meant to us, as we sang it, night after night, crossing the plains,”2

The son ofa teacher, William Clayton was born in 1814 in England. In his early years, he was taughtgood penmanship and writing skills, which later proved to be of great value to Joseph Smith and Brigham \bung. He was also an accomplished musician, and was able to play the violin, horn, drum, and pianoforte. Around 1837, when he was twenty-three years old, William met the Mormon missionaries, led by Heher C. Kimball. He was taught by the missionaries and baptized soon after. William moved with his wife to

Nauvoo a year later.

In Nauvoo, William worked for Joseph Smith and other leaders ofthe Church as a scribe, on occasion tran¬ scribing revelations under the Prophet*s direction. After Joseph and Hyrum Smith were murdered in Carthage, the Twelve began urging the Saints to prepare for the journey west. The original plan was to leave in the spring of 1846, but with mobs and persecu¬ tion growing, Brigham Young and the Twelve packed their wagons and started west in February 1846. At the time, William’s wife, Diantha, was little more than a month from deliver¬

ing her first child. William finally con¬ cluded that he should go with Brigham Young, and so he left Diantha in Nauvoo and started west as well.

The first weeks on the trail were hard

on all the pioneers. The weather was bit¬ terly cold; it rained or snowed almost con¬ stantly, making the dusty trail turn to thick mud that was hard to travel through; and sickness was widespread- Many families hadn’t come with sufficient supplies or animals, and were depending on the Twelve and other leaders to help them along. To lift the camp’s morale, Brigham

No tes

/ Letter from Commerce, 10 Dec. 1840, William dayton Collection, LDS Church Archives; punctuation mod¬ ernized and emphasis added,

2 HeherJ. Grant, Conference Report 1919, p. 6.

3 William Clayton ’s Journal, The Deseret News, Salt Lah;e City, Utah, 1921,

4 David B, Haightr 1997 Church Sesquicentatnial Celebration Address*

5 Robert L, Bachjnan, You and Your World, “The Pioneer in Each of Us, "18 July 1982. Young called for a band to be formed, and William was asked to be part of it. The band also played at nearby settlements for money and much needed supplies.

By April, the company had only come three hundred miles from Nauvoo. William

Clayton was the clerk for the entire Camp of Israel and supervised all of the clerks of the groups of Fifty. Additionally, he was the pri¬ mary scribe for President Young and Church councils, and assisted other brethren in keep¬ ing their journals. In his clerical role, be was responsible foroverseeing his own wagons, as well as fifteen additional wagons and team¬ sters carrying property of the Church. His responsibility wras to ensure that there was food for the teamsters and fodder for the draft

animals, and that the goods remained dry.

The weight of responsibility upon his shoulders was great on the predawn morning ofApril 15th as he had found that cattle and horses, without proper guard during the

A H-fli' Uf!n fijT K If ¥n m t Itp trt _ _ __

lliam Clayton traveled the trail five times made three transatlantic crossings to bring to Zion, t “Come, Come Ye Saints” was performed by the Winter Quarters band on Christmas Eve day, 1847, in the log tabernacle,

Kanesville, prior to the sustaining ofthe new7 First Presidency. “Come, Come Ye has been in

hymnal since 1851. impossible to pinpoint where this hymn was cornborder ofIowa and Missouri

disputed from 1816 until about 1895. Evidence

suggests it wras prob¬ ably composed about five miles southeast

of Sewell, south where road

J54 crosses

cust Creek. night, had broken into the tents and wagons. The weather had been miserable, causing many to sleep on wet ground, where they were pelted with continual rain and wind that toppled the tents. Many of the Saints were sick, due to the harsh weather and inad¬ equate living conditions of leaky tents and wagons. Some were even dying.

William, himself, had been sick with first a cold, then aches and horrible chest pain and discomfort for over two weeks. Nevertheless, as he records, “yet the camp seems in good spirits.” In the midst of such suffering, the positive pioneering spirit pre¬ vailed.

Then, almost as a gift, William received word that Diantha had given birth to a “fat” and healthy baby boy on 30 March. In his journal, he wrote, “Truly I feel to rejoice at this intelligence.” The next day, w ith the per¬ spective that he and the Saints were in the Lord’s hands as they made their way toward a Zion they had not seen, William composed a song, which he called ‘All Is Well!” He then wrote, “This morning I composed a new song,... I feel to thank my Heavenly Father for my boy.”5

His song became an anthem to the Saints. It put to words the compelling feeling in their hearts to press forward and not lose faith, for God was watching over them.

During the 150th anniversary celebra¬ tion of the pioneers entering the Salt Lake Valley, Elder David B. Haight ofthe Quorum ofthe Twelve Apostles shared this commen¬ tary on the positive vision William Clayton has given to the world:

“Then he wrote those wonderful lines, ‘Well find the place which God for us pre¬ pared, / Far away in the West.’ Even though we’re stuck here in the mud and discouraged, this will all change. If we have the courage and the faith the Lord will answer our

prayers; it will all come about. It gave them hope and encouragement. . . . "And then the last verse . . . And should

we die before our journey’s through,/ Happy day! All is wrell!’ So ifwe die, we’ve done our best. We’re going to die sometime, as we all know: So ‘Happy day! All is well!’

“‘But if our lives are spared again / To see the Saints their rest obtain.’ We’ll see if

the wagon wheels will stay on and ifthe rims will stay on the little handcarts and ifwe can keep up that courage and the strength