Albert King Thurber: Click
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Born:7 April 1826
Foster, Providence, Rhode Island, United States
Baptized: 1 Sept 1849
Died:
21 March 1888 Ephraim, Sanpete, Utah, United States
Buried: Click
here for find a grave link
Albert's story is great, here is an excerpt from his personal journal recording his conversion. He was in a company traveling to California for gold, and here is what happened:
Conversion Story:
IN GREAT SALT LAKE CITY
Arrived in Great Salt Lake City, July 19, 1849. As I was riding along the street I spoke to
an aged man. "Well," says he, "We are glad to see you if you did drive us out of Missouri,"
which was all Greek to me as I knew nothing of Mormons or their history. I had gone to see John
W. Hess on the road as a Mormon curiosity—I found him calm, confident in regards to getting
ahead, although he said, "I cannot move from where I am until I get another yoke of oxen. I
studied much on this man's assurance, while almost all others were filled with discontent and
uncertainty. I also saw Eph Hanks and Lamoreaux at Green River Ferry. It was reported that they
would steal from us and we must watch close, but they treated us like gentlemen. I saw Hanks
lasso a horse and considered it quite an exploit. In passing through the streets in Salt Lake, I
talked with a number of men and was astonished to find them possessed of an unusual amount of
general information, astonished, for I had imagined them to be a class of ignorant dupes with a
few smart men as leaders, who made a good living out of the many after the spirit of the world.
14 Autobiography of Albert King Thurber
We went down onto the banks of the Jordan River and camped. I did not feel satisfied
and went and saw Bishop Smoot and got the privilege of pitching our tent in the old fort and
moved up that night. It was after dark when we got camped and after we all got settled, I turned
around to a man, whose name I since learned to be Willie Norton, and asked him the question of
what kind of God do you Mormons believe in? He replied, "In a God with a body, parts, and
passions, who can see, hear, walk and talk—an exalted being." I felt thunderstruck and
humiliated at this answer. It seemed that I ought to have known all this without asking. I could
see immediately that the Scripture bore out this assertion. I talked with this man until 10:00
o'clock, went into the tent and told my comrades that whenever they got ready to leave, they
might do so, but that I was going to learn something more about these Mormons before I left.
I assisted them to get ready to leave. Captain Weber was continually saying that we could
not divide or draw out my share of property to 1 1/2 mules. I told him we could arrange it and
when they got ready to start, I said to Edgely and Creighton that they had been my friends, that
they needed all the animals they had to insure their safety to California and that I would give
them my interest in the stock, and in order to pay off Weber for some stunts about me about
means, I made provision that he was not to have the use of them. We parted after they, my
friends, gave me a number of articles that they did not wish to take with them, among which was
an overcoat from Edgely, $25.00 in Boston, which afterwards was of great benefit to me. They
also gave me an order to take what articles that they had put into ox teams which a member of
the company had bought and hired a stranger to drive to California. The team went the Fort Hall
route and the man proved an honest man, as I had sent all articles that I thought I should not need
via Cape Horn, I found myself with a fine black coat, one pair of pants, two flannel shirts, and a
pair of turned pumps which about constituted my wardrobe, but no money. I went to work
immediately for Benjamin F. Johnson and in company with Jacob D. Burnham, cut and threshed
with a flail, 11 acres of grain at Mill Creek, just below Gardner's Mill.
STUDIES AND ACCEPTS MORMONISM
Mormonism was my study. The plurality of wives revealed itself to me while cradling
wheat and on another 10 acre lot from where we were working I saw some one lay their hands on
the head of James Holman, and although I had never thought or heard of such a thing before, I
immediately understood the principle and what it was for.
I worked hard for $20.00 per month, camped out, used to get milk from Gardner's and
while after some, heard Brigham Young's name mentioned for the first time by Abigail Gardner.
I studied much for two weeks about Joseph Smith being a prophet. Thought a prophet must be
something super-human. As long as I viewed it in this light my mind was cloudy. At last, I began
to reflect if it would not be perfectly consistent with God if he wanted a prophet on the earth, to
get as good a mortal as he could and endorse him with all the qualifications necessary. I then
looked back to the old prophets and saw that they were mortal men. I secretly prayed for a
knowledge of the right way and soon my mind was satisfied in regard to the Kingdom of God
and the duty of honest men toward the Kingdom.
Here, my separation from my parents and friends, my promise to my mother in regard to
returning home in twelve months and my promise to myself years before, to do as near right as I
knew how, had something of a warfare, until one day, I said to Burnham that I wanted him to
baptize me. He said he was willing, but, that there was order in the church and he would have to
speak to his Bishop, Hickenlooper, about it. This was Saturday. On Sunday, September 1, 1849, I
was baptized by Jacob D. Burnham and confirmed by Burnham and Hickenlooper and B. F.
Johnson, who was mouth and prophesied on my head that which has since come to pass. On the
Autobiography of Albert King Thurber 15
24th of July, I joined the celebration and thought it as pretty a scene as I had ever beheld as the
24 young men and women, came into the Bowery, singing "We are the True Born Sons of Zion."
I was much pleased with the whole proceedings and had found a religious society who believed
in natural enjoyment. The next Sunday heard Parley P. Pratt preach on the progression of men
