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Azariah Smith

It was in Ecclesiastes that this piece of wise counsel was offered, “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man”

Now, obedience is the first law of heaven and often it brings unexpected blessings, as illustrated: (Ecclesiastes 12:13)

Azariah Smith was 18 years-old when he left his mother, sisters, and brother encamped in a wilderness on the Missouri River in the summer of 1846. He and his father had been reluctant to enlist in the United States Army in the war with Mexico, but when President Brigham Young asked for 500 Mormon men to form a battalion, the first and only U. S. battalion ever formed on the basis of religion, well, they agreed.

In one of the longest infantry marches in U.S. history, Azariah and his father, and the other Latter-day Saints journeyed some 2000 miles to San Diego, California, enduring unspeakable privation along the way. Finally in July of 1847 they were released from service in Los Angeles. Azariah recorded in his journal as follows, “We drew $31.50 to the man yesterday and are now our own men.”

Well, Azariah and his father joined up with others intent on going east to find their families. However, finding their families was a problem. Where were they? Were they on the Missouri River where they left them, or in the Saints’ new home in Salt Lake City, or somewhere in that thousand miles in between? They did not know.

Nonetheless, the men journeyed from Los Angeles into the Sierra Nevada Mountains east of Sacramento. They met messengers from Salt Lake City. Church leaders asked the Battalion boys to stay in California and work until Spring unless their families were in the Salt Lake valley. There was just simply not enough food in Salt Lake to feed everyone.

Now, Azariah has not seen his family for over a year. Notwithstanding his desire to see them, this 19 year-old young man turned back to California as he said “to work and fit ourselves out ready for Spring.” And then he added this, “Father took four of the animals and most of the provisions and went on.” Azariah was alone in the wilderness of California.

He went back and found work for a man building a mill on the American River. Sick and “lonesome” of-time, Azariah nonetheless remained obedient to counsel working for the day when he could go home. “My heart leaps” he wrote, “with the expectation of getting home in the Spring,” This is one homesick boy!

Then on January 24, 1848, the world was forever changed. Azariah wrote of this day the following, “This week Mr. Marshall found some pieces of gold and has gone to the fort for the purpose of finding out. It is found in the raceway in small pieces.”

That’s right. Azariah Smith was working for John Sutter, and was one of those legendary men who discovered gold in California. But, unlike so many others, Azariah cared less about gold than his family and his faith. While so many others rushed feverishly west in search of gold, Azariah took the gold he had picked up and left California, headed east to find his family.

And then, Thursday, September 28, 1848, he wrote this, “About 2:00pm I arrived in Salt Lake City: and after riding about considerable, I found Father, Mother, Sisters, and Brother, and they were all well…. My heart feels to rejoice that I once more have arrived home.”

Azariah Smith lived out his days in Utah with no regrets.

From the Journal of Azariah Smith LDS Church Archives, Salt Lake City, Utah