Description

William Morley Black

William Morley Black was born in 1826 in Vermilion, Ohio. The son of a farmer. His father passed away when William was just 13 and William Morley Black went to work to support his seven siblings. He gave his entire wage of 37 cents a day for them.

In 1843, William moved to Illinois where he built a tidy two-roomed house and married Margaret Ruth Banks and moved her in. In 1848, William was elected sheriff of Cuba, Illinois. It was while he was serving there, as sheriff in Cuba, Illinois, the word reached the town of gold found in California and William said, “The discovery of gold in California created quite a fever in town and I caught the fever.”

So William joined up with 12 other men and formed a stock company of sorts, intent on going to California to dig for gold. Each man in the company put in 100 dollars for the equipment and supplies they would need. That’s a fair bit of money in 1848.

William described their departure this way:

“I resigned as the sheriff of Cuba on April 3, 1849 and with hearts and high ambitions, we kissed our wives and children and parents goodbye and took the trail for the El Dorado of the West.”

I love this part. One hundred (100) miles later, William’s company happened to pass through Nauvoo, Illinois. They decided to stop. William describes walking the streets of Nauvoo, viewing the empty homes and the desolation of the city. He was told while he was there that the city had once belonged to and been built by quote, ”a lawless set” who for their crimes had been driven out. They were a terrible people.

Well, William and his company continued on across the plains. Eventually, (you guessed it) arriving in Salt Lake City, July 24, 1849. Having heard how evil these Latter-day Saints were, William said, “We were all anxious to see what kind of civilization the Mormons would exhibit to us.”

Well they were mildly surprised at the order and the culture that they observed in the city. It did not at all look like an uncivilized lawless set of people. Well, William and his group passed on through the city and camped out near the Jordan River. William happened to ask one of the local guys he ran into, a man named Buck Smithson, if he might purchase some food. I guess they expected to be rebuffed but William says to their surprise, Buck Smithson invited them all to dinner at his home.

William later recounted:

“Before we ate, Smithson asked for quiet and then gave thanks for the food and asked the Father to bless it for our use. This was the first time in my life that I had heard a blessing asked on our daily food and this prayer fell from the lips of an uncultured Mormon.”

William was so impressed that he began to ask questions that very night which were graciously answered by the Smithson family. In the end, William was invited to go to church with them the next day. So he went to church and in his journal dated July 25, 1849, William recorded this:

“This is a day ever to be remembered by me. Services opened with singing and prayer and the sacrament of the Lord’s supper was blessed and passed to all in attendance. Then a man of noble, princely bearing addressed the saints. His name was John Taylor. One of the two men with the Prophet Joseph Smith that has martyred him in Carthage Jail. The word apostle thrilled me”, William said, “the powerful sermon and testimony that followed filled my soul with joy and satisfaction that I never felt before. I said to one fellow, if this is Mormonism then I am a Mormon! How do I become a member of your church?”

Well that Sabbath night, William was too happy to sleep. “A revelation had come to me,” he said, “and its light filled my soul. I had found the pearl of great price and resolved to purchase it, let it cost what it would”.

Accordingly, William’s companions went on to California without him. William stayed behind in the Salt Lake Valley and lost, not only his entire investment, but all the gold he could have made by being one of those first comers to California.

A few days later, he was baptized. He summarized the experience as follows:

“I had lost the world and become a Mormon.”

This would be only the beginning of the sacrifices William Morley Black would make. After that he returned to Illinois and brought his family west and after that, he accepted call after call to colonize and build different areas along the territory.

In 1874 William Morley Black consecrated everything he owned his considerable property to the United Order at Orderville. In 1888 William was forced on the run to escape federal marshals who were prosecuting polygamists.

He moved his families, finally, to the colonies in Mexico where he lived and prospered until 1912 when Mexican revolutionaries drove the saints out of the country. William, once again, gave everything for his faith.

As the end neared for the venerable patriarch, he sagely observed:

“The expulsion from our home in Mexico is almost forgotten in the joy I find in my affectionate and loving children. It makes me feel that while I may have been a failure financially, yet I have had the power and blessing to found a patriarchal family and a name that shall last in Israel after I have passed away and that knowledge comforts me.”

And indeed, it has been so. William Morley Black has a numerous posterity who remember and honor him down to the present day. This is a life that exemplifies what it means to live the law of sacrifice. William said,

“I failed financially but when all is said and done, in every sense of the word, he is the wealthiest of men because he gave it all away for the sake of the Savior.”