Lucy and the Strangers

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LUCY AND THE STRANGERS

October 10, 1830, in a small town in Ohio, 15 year-old Lucy sat in the home of her employer, a Mrs. Abigail Daniels, tending to her weaving, when there came a knock at the door. When young Lucy opened the door there stood “three well-dressed, nice looking gentlemen.” Lucy invited them in, got them some chairs, and took their hats. As soon as they were seated, the young men began to share a remarkable message that the Gospel of Jesus Christ had been revealed anew. Angels had appeared and given authority for the Gospel to be preached once more upon the earth.

Suddenly, the lady of the house turned on her loom bench, shuttle in hand, and shook it in their faces. She told them to leave her house immediately, as she would not have her children polluted with such doctrine. She called them impostors and deceivers and ordered them to leave. They tried to reason with her, but to no avail. They then explained that they were very hungry and had eaten nothing all day. Notwithstanding the unspoken rules of frontier hospitality she said “I have plenty, but nothing for you.”

At this point, Lucy could take no more. “ I had been sitting there all this time listening to her foul tongue. I could stand it no longer, for I felt that they were the servants of God as they said they were. Gentlemen,” she said, “My father lives one mile from here. He never turns anyone hungry from his door. Go there and you will be fed and cared for. At that, Lucy gave them their hats and led them outside. She showed them the road to her father’s house and they were soon out of sight.

When Lucy went back in the house Mrs. Daniels turned her anger on the girl, but no matter. Those missionaries went to Lucy’s father, and indeed, he welcomed them, fed them and listened to them. His household, including Lucy, along with many others, were converted and baptized, becoming some of the earliest converts to the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ in Kirtland, Ohio.

The three young strangers were Oliver Cowdery, Parley P. Pratt, and Ziba Peterson. Lucy was Lucy Diantha Morley, daughter of Isaac Morley, the founder of the settlement of the San Pete in Utah, and the great patriarch in the faith of a numerous posterity.

SOURCE: Autobiography of Lucy Diantha Morley Allen, available at the Church History Library in Salt Lake City.