“Voices of the Restoration: Gathering to Ohio,” Come, Follow Me—For Home and Church: Doctrine and Covenants 2025 (2025)
“Gathering to Ohio,” Come, Follow Me—For Home and Church: 2025
Voices of the Restoration
Gathering to Ohio
Kirtland Village, by Al Rounds
Phebe Carter
Among the many Saints who gathered to Ohio in the 1830s was Phebe Carter. She joined the Church in the northeastern United States in her mid-twenties, though her parents did not. She later wrote of her decision to move to Ohio to unite with the Saints:
“My friends marveled at my course, as did I, but something within impelled me on. My mother’s grief at my leaving home was almost more than I could bear; and had it not been for the spirit within I should have faltered at the last. My mother told me she would rather see me buried than going thus alone out into the heartless world.
“‘[Phebe],’ she said, impressively, ‘will you come back to me if you find Mormonism false?’
“I answered, ‘yes, mother; I will.’ … My answer relieved her trouble; but it cost us all much sorrow to part. When the time came for my departure I dared not trust myself to say farewell; so I wrote my good-byes to each, and leaving them on my table, ran downstairs and jumped into the carriage. Thus I left the beloved home of my childhood to link my life with the saints of God.”
In one of those farewell messages, Phebe wrote:
“Beloved Parents—I am now about to leave my paternal roof for a while … I know not how long—but not without grateful feelings for the kindness which I have received from my infancy until the present time—but Providence seems to order it otherwise now than it has been. Let us commit all these things into the hands of Providence and be thankful that we have been permitted to live together so long under so favorable circumstances as we have, believing that all things will work for our good if we love God supremely. Let us realize that we can pray to one God who will hear the sincere prayers of all his creatures and give us that which is best for us. …
“Mother, I believe it is the will of God for me to go to the west and I have been convinced that it has been for a long time. Now the way has opened … ; I believe that it is the spirit of the Lord that has done it which is sufficient for all things. O be not anxious for your child; the Lord will comfort me. I believe that the Lord will take care of me and give me that which is for the best. … I go because my Master calls—he has made my duty plain.”