the Twelve was all whom Joseph wished to tarry with him at Nauvoo when he
sent the whole of the quorum besides on mission and in that dreadful day of martyrdom
the Lord preserved him scatheless and in the absence of the rest of the Twelve
the direction of the affairs of the Church in Hancock County fell upon him
in that dreadful hour and in the midst of the mob at Carthage with
the mangled bodies of the martyrs and the care of Elder John Taylor his letters
and counsells held in check and tempered the grief and wrath of the community
of his brethren in Nauvoo

In the Spring of 1847 he was enrolled in the
memorable Band of Pioneers under President Young and in the Spring
of 1848 he was unanimously elected by the voice of the Church as
Second Councillor in the Presidency of the Church.

He was secretary in the State Government of Deseret
and President of the Council of the Legislative Assembly after our
Territorial Organization, besides being Postmaster for Great Salt Lake
City up till his death and a member of the Perpetual Emigrating
Fund Company.

He was also the Editor and Proprietor of the Deseret
News from its origin and General Historian of the whole Church and
Church Recorder

I have travelled with brother Willard Richards both
in England and America many miles and we have been warm
associates many times. He was a great Counsellor in the
Church and I as well as the body of the Saints have received much
excellent Counsel from him. He was the first man who had
a natural death in the Church from the First Presidency or the
Twelve Apostles. All who had died of them before had been
martyred.

On the day after the death of President Richards
in company with his brother Levi Richards and George A. Smith
I called upon President Brigham Young at his room for
he was not able to get out. We conversed with him
conscerning the burial of Brother Willard and he advised us to

the Twelve was all whom Joseph wished to tarry with him at Nauvoo when he sent the whole of the quorum besides on mission and in that dreadful day of martyrdom the Lord preserved him scatheless and in the absence of the rest of the Twelve the direction of the affairs of the Church in Hancock County fell upon him in that dreadful hour and in the midst of the mob at Carthage with the mangled bodies of the martyrs and the care of Elder John Taylor his letters and counsels held in check and tempered the grief and wrath of the community of his brethren in Nauvoo

In the Spring of 1847 he was enrolled in the memorable Band of Pioneers under President Young and in the Spring of 1848 he was unanimously elected by the voice of the Church as Second Councillor in the Presidency of the Church.

He was secretary in the State Government of Deseret and President of the Council of the Legislative Assembly after our Territorial Organization, besides being Postmaster for Great Salt Lake City up till his death and a member of the Perpetual Emigrating Fund Company.

He was also the Editor and Proprietor of the Deseret News from its origin and General Historian of the whole Church and Church Recorder

I have travelled with brother Willard Richards both in England and America many miles and we have been warm associates many times. He was a great Counsellor in the Church and I as well as the body of the Saints have received much excellent Counsel from him. He was the first man who had a natural death in the Church from the First Presidency or the Twelve Apostles. All who had died of them before had been martyred.

On the day after the death of President Richards in company with his brother Levi Richards and George A. Smith I called upon President Brigham Young at his room for he was not able to get out. We conversed with him concerning the burial of Brother Willard and he advised us to