Martyrdom of Jospeh Smith

“Anson spent the winter in Nauvoo and preached in the surrounding area. When mob dissension grew, the Prophet Joseph Smith and Hyrum, his brother, were martyred on 27 June 1844 in nearby Carthage, Illinois. The last time Anson saw the Prophet alive was when the latter rode up to tell the Nauvoo Legion good-bye. Anson wrote of the event: ‘He [Joseph] turned himself upon the saddle, waved his hand, and said, ‘… Be faithful and true, and you shall have your reward. Farewell!’ He then started for Carthage. I little thought it was the last time I should see him alive.’

“The bodies of Joseph and Hyrum were brought back from Carthage and placed at the Mansion House in Nauvoo. Much distraught, Anson took his family to view the bodies. He recorded: ‘Sleep and the desire of food had left my body. I shall not attempt to describe my feelings. What was to be done I knew not. I cried mightily unto the Lord that I might know what to do.’

“After the Martyrdom, the mob burned many homes of the Saints, including those of Anson’s father, his brother Harvey, and his brother-in-law Chester Loveland. All stayed temporarily with Anson’s family in Nauvoo.”

Source: http://lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=2354fccf2b7db010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD&locale=0&sourceId=b7e2759235d0c010VgnVCM1000004d82620a____&hideNav=1.

More Persecution

“Lacking sufficient means to remove his family from the state, Anson decided to return to Three Forks to reclaim some property, though Joseph Smith Sr. and Brigham Young advised him against it. When Anson arrived in Three Forks, he discovered that a man by the name of George Washington O’Neil had taken possession of his farm and property.

“Anson went to Mrs. Day, a neighbor, who told him that O’Neil and a man named Culp said they would shoot Anson if they ever saw him again. While Anson was conversing with Mrs. Day, O’Neil and Culp showed up and said they supposed Anson had come to get his property but that there was none for him. Seeing that it was useless to retrieve his property, Anson left the house and walked toward his horse. O’Neil and Culp followed him, and O’Neil picked up the end of a hoop pole from pieces of a barrel lying nearby and struck Anson on the head.

“Anson wrote of the event: ‘He [O’Neil] repeated the blows, and my having on my head a thick woolen cloth cap saved my skull. Mrs. Day threw the door open. … I started for the door. He then hit me in the face and repeated the blows two or three times before I reached it. … I clenched the door post, when he gave me a blow over the eye, the scar of which I carry to this day.’

“Once Anson got inside the house, Mrs. Day shut the door and, seeing the men run past the window, said they had gone to get their guns. Anson opened the door, quickly mounted his horse, and escaped.

“Describing what happened upon his return to Far West, he wrote: ‘I … made up my mind that I would not let anybody know what had happened to me from the fact that Father Smith and Brigham had told me not to go. … In the morning I sprung out of bed, and I instantly found myself lying on the floor. … I then returned to bed and found myself under the necessity of telling [my wife] what had happened but sought to keep it from my family. Father Smith soon found it out and came to see me, telling me it would do me good but he was glad they didn’t kill me.’

“This beating was only one of several that Anson suffered at the hands of mobbers in Missouri.”

Source http://lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=2354fccf2b7db010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD&locale=0&sourceId=b7e2759235d0c010VgnVCM1000004d82620a____&hideNav=1 .

Moving Through the Mobs

“In 1838 Anson (Call, Anson Vasco’s father) and his family moved to Three Forks of the Grand River near Far West, Missouri. On one occasion not long after this, the Prophet Joseph visited Anson and some other brethren in Three Forks, telling them that there would be difficulties in the days ahead and that they should leave and go to Far West or Adam-ondi-Ahman.

“The next day the brethren of Three Forks counseled together and decided that Anson should make a trip through Ray, Daviess, and Caldwell Counties to see if any trouble was brewing. When he returned and reported no apparent sign of trouble, they decided they had sufficient time before they left not only to secure the crops but also to go on a bee hunt. Arriving home after seven days with wagonloads of honey, they found all quiet and decided to go out again to gather more honey. Upon their return, they decided to take their families to Adam-ondi-Ahman, about 30 miles away. However, the weather turned stormy, and when they returned home, they found that mobbers had been put into position to prevent the Latter-day Saints from going to and from Far West and Adam-ondi-Ahman.

“Intent on getting to Adam-ondi-Ahman, Anson Call’s family and some others slipped past the mobbers under cover of night. They arrived safely in Adam-ondi-Ahman, and eventually Anson and his family made their way to Far West, despite the terribly cold weather. Anson’s children nearly died because of the extreme cold. His three-year-old son, Moroni, lost part of his fingernails when his fingers froze.

Source: http://lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=2354fccf2b7db010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD&locale=0&sourceId=b7e2759235d0c010VgnVCM1000004d82620a____&hideNav=1.

Marrying His Pretty "Cousin"

“It was a stroke of luck, or perhaps it was planned for Anson to be home when son Anson Vasco married Charlotte Holbrook married them in his home. Young Anson and Charlotte had known each other since early childhood. They undoubtedly met in Kirtland where their fathers became friends. They played together as their families associated in Far West, Three Forks of Grand River, and Nauvoo. They left Nauvoo together and trudged the rainy miles across Iowa, wintered with the Ponca Indians in northern Nebraska, then retreated back to Missouri to camp a year before starting a second time for the Rocky Mountains. They finally settled a few miles apart, but not so far that Anson could not go to Aunt Hannah’s school again with his pretty ‘cousin.’”

Source: Anson Call and the Rocky Mountain Prophesy, p. 205.

Mission Abruptly Ends in War

“There was other excitement for the Calls besides weddings. During April Conference, 1857, Church leaders called Anson Vasco on a mission to the Sandwich Islands, presently Hawaii. As his father had done before him, Anson Vasco made preparations for his family which now lived in Bountiful closer to parents and a supporting web of aunts and uncles and cousins. He and his wife Charlotte had two small children, Charlotte and Anson Vasco Jr. Charlotte was almost due to deliver her third child. Anson Vasco had also married Eliza Catherine Kent the previous November. The young husband and father said goodbye with hope in his heart, and no doubt, some concern. Then he left them and traveled to San Francisco. He was apparently waiting for ocean passage when Brigham Young sounded the alarm for all Saints and missionaries to come home to Salt Lake City because U.S. President James Buchanan had sent an army against the Mormons. …

“Anson Vasco came back in November to talk of troops marching toward Utah. Troubles had begun three years earlier when Brigham Young’s term of office as territorial governor was about to expire in 1854. … Anson (Call the first) wrote in his journal that Anson Vasco returned from his interrupted mission in November. He and Chester and Anson joined in the preparations against the army. Anson and Chester worked on fortifications in Echo Canyon for four weeks, whereas, Anson Vasco moved on to Fort Bridger for seven weeks to discover the movements of the enemy.”

Source: Anson Call and the Rocky Mountain Prophesy, p. 277-278, 281.