Chapter 47

The Saints Leave Missouri

Winter 1839

While Joseph Smith was in jail, much of the responsibility for leading the Saints was placed on Brigham Young, one of the Apostles. He held a meeting to tell the Saints they must begin preparing to leave Missouri. Many of the Saints were poor and didn’t have wagons or horses. The men at the meeting said they would help the poor Saints move.

The Saints began to leave Missouri in February 1839, when it was very cold. They were told that people in the state of Illinois might be friendly to them, so they traveled about 200 miles to western Illinois. Many of them went to the town of Quincy, where people were kind and gave them shelter, food, and jobs.

Governor Boggs and his friends were glad the Saints had left Missouri.