Benjamin Freeman Bird (1778-1862) and Marabah Reeves (1784-1833)
In the winter of 1832, Benjamin Freeman Bird and his wife Marabah Reeves lived in a comfortable home in Southport, New York with eight of their nine living children. As the snow blanketed the New York country side, a single Elder from the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints knocked on their door. He asked for admittance and keep, since he was a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and was preaching without purse or script. Benjamin and Marabah were touched by the testimony that he bore. Over the next few weeks, by reading the Book of Mormon, they became convinced that his message was true. Since the Elder had moved on, the Bird’s grasped at the only link that would tie them to the glorious message that they had received, they subscribed to the Star. Because the Church was in its very early infancy, having been only 31 months since the Church was organized, the Bird family had no where else to turn for additional information.
In the first addition of the Messenger And Advocate printed at Krtland, Ohio in October 1834, Oliver Cowdery, then Second Elder in the church, published the following except: “Mr. Benj. F. Bird, of Southbport, Tioga Co, N.Y., writes under date of Now. 14 (1833) and says : ‘I have received your papers almost one year: and because I held the Book of Mormon as sacred as I do the bible, the Methodist (though I had been a regular member almost 37 years,) turned me out; but I bless God for it; for though they cast me out Jesus took me in.’
“He further adds, that he does not know as he shall ever have the privilege of uniting with his church, as he never saw but one elder, whom he solicited to preach twice; that it caused a great stir and noise among the people, & c.’
“If any of the elders are passing near, would they not do well to call? We circulate some few papers in that place, the most of which is through the agency of our aged friend of whom we have been speaking, and from whom we acknowledge the receipt of money for the same.”
Before a team of Elders could respond to Benjamin’s request, he lost his sweetheart Marabah in the winter of 1833, leaving him with a heavy heart and the responsibility of raising eight children. As he shared his testimony of the truthfulness of the church of Jesus Christ with his friends, many mocked, but a few hearts were touched. One who came to know by the Spirit that Benjamin’s testimony was true, was a woman named Margaret Crain. After a short courtship they were married on the 25th day of April, 1833. A year later, Margaret bore Benjamin a beautiful daughter whom they named Margaret Jane. Finally in June of 1834, a team of Mormon elders came to the area and having the necessary authority, Benjamin, his wife Margaret, and several of the married children of Benjamin and Marabah, with their spouses, were baptized.
Shortly after the birth of their next child, Benjamin, his unmarried family, and three married sons with their families, moved to Kirtland, Ohio, as part of the gathering of Israel. Upon their arrival they found the spiritual condition of the Church to be very gloomy indeed. Several members of the Quorum of the Twelve, including two of the three witnesses, ahd spoken out against the Prophet. Secret meetings were being held, which finally culminated in Joseph having to escape from Kirtland in the dead of the night in January of 1838. The Bird families were convinced that the Prophet was in the right and that those who had come out in open rebellion against him had “the waging tongues of apostate devils.”
Charles Bird represented his father’s large family at the meeting of the Counsel of the Seventies in the attic story of the Kirtland Temple. He pledged the support of the Bird family in what later was to be known as the Kirtland Camp. By commandment from the Lord, this camp of Saints, who were faithful to the Lord’s Prophet, took the wearysome treck to Jackson County, Missouri ending their seven month march by camping at the site of Adam-Ondi-Ahman.
In January, 1839, the Bird families were residing at Far West, Missouri, and were aggrieved participants in the maleficent scenes of murder, rape and pillage which have since proved to be one of the worst persecutions ever imposed upon any people; the so-called Far West War. Benjamin Freeman Bird and his son Charles Bird had signed the affidavit wherein they covenanted with the other inhabitants of Far West to stand by and assist one another “to the utmost of our abilities in removing form the state of Missouri.” They bound themselves to the extent of all of their available property to be disposed of by a committee for the purpose of providing means for the removal of the poor and destitute from the state. Their covenant was in vain when they were ruthlessly driven from Far West. As they left Far West, the Bird families looked back and saw their homes in flames. They left Missouri with only the clothes on their backs in the dead of winter, with nowhere to go, after having suffered the Far West holocaust.
While at Kirtland and Far West, the Bird families and particularly Charles Bird and his wife Mary Ann Kennedy, became personal, close acquaintances with the Prophet Joseph Smith and his wife Emma. They gathered at Nauvoo with the rest of the Saints. In January, 1840, Benjamin purchased the property now known as the Bird-Browning Site on Main Street from the Prophet Joseph Smith for $300.00. They built a nice two room log cabin with a root cellar, which has been restored by the Church, and dug a well which is now on the south side of the property. In the spring of 1843 they built the two-story brick structure. (Later, they sold the property to Johnathen Browning, who then added-on the first story of the middle section and even later, the gunsmith and blacksmith shops. Browning lived in the brick home approximately a year, then it was occupied by Lucy Mack Smith, the mother of the Prophet Joseph Smith. It was while she was living here that she wrote her autobiography which included the biography of her son. This is one of the most popular histories on the life of the Prophet Joseph even to this day (1980). Subsequent owners are thought to have added the small second story onto the middle section, the kitchen and probably even later individuals with German architectural liking, added the porch onto the back of the original two story living quarters.)
Benjamin and his family lived in the log cabin for three years and in the two story brick structure for a few months. During the time they enjoyed all of the special cultural events that have come to mark the Nauvoo period as being one of the most unique in history. Since converts from all over the world came to Nauvoo and established their homes during those years, there was a great mixing of cultures and arts. Bound by oneness, all being Latter-day Saints, there was a friendly blending of a variety of cultures and a feeling of personal pride and friendliness. These people, who had been persecuted and driven from Ohio and then Missouri, now lived in relative peace. They enjoyed a pronounced zest for life, which enabled them to enjoy and appreciate the unique cultural advantages that were theirs.
The Bird families traded at the store of the Prophet Joseph Smith, and often attened parties and socials at the Mansion House. There were several occasions where Benjamin played a friendly game of croquet with his friends and neighbors, which included Joseph, Hyrum, Wilford Woodruff and Heber C. Kimball.
While living in the log cabin, Benjamin and Margaret were blessed with a baby daughter ,who being born in this time of relative peace and prosperity, brought a great deal of joy and happiness into their lives. Also at Nauvoo, Benjamin enjoyed the association of several of his children and many of his grandchildren. His sons Phinias, Charles, James, and Samuel all had their families at Nauvoo, and he still had living at home with him two sons by Marabah and the three children by Margaret.
In the fall of 1843, disruptions, both internal and external to the Church, were caused by John C. Bennet and William Law, who were at one time counselors to the Prophet Joseph in the First Presidency. Benjamin with his home on Main Street was in the middle of all of the excitement and persecution. Because Benjamin was now 65 years old and had three children at home under the age of 9, he desired to move to a quieter location. As mentioned earlier, he sold the property and the
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the Nauvoo Temple in the twelve and a half hour ceremony. This included washings and annointings, the endowment and the sealing of families. The ceremony was basically done as it is today(1890) except it was acted out on platforms, sheets were hung from the ceiling to make rooms or compartments, and there were several lengthy discussions instructing the candidates on the covenants they were entering into.
Emma was so concerned that the mobocrats would dig up the body of her husband, the Prophet Joseph, and desecrate his grave for the $1,000 reward that was pending for him “dead or alive,” that she had ten men bury the remains of her husband and Hyrum in the basement of the Nauvoo House. Because at least ten people knew that they were buried under the Nauvoo House, her concerns continued to mount, until the night she appeared at the home of Charles Bird and asked that he be one of Four trusted men to help her re-bury the bodies in a secret tomb near the Old homestead. Charles used his team and wagon. They loaded the dirt from the floor of the cellar of the Old Spring House into the back of Charles’ wagon. Charles then drove his wagon ou as far as he could into the Mississippi River and unloaded the dirt, thereby leaving no evidence that the martyers were buried there. Then, Charles, Emma and the three loyal friends, dug up the coffins from the Nauvoo House, put them in Charles’ wagon ,drove them across the street to the Old Spring House, and secretly reburied them.
Emma’s trust and confidence in those four men was so complete that she did not tell anyone, not even her own children, where Joseph was buried, until on her death bed some fourteen years later. What a special tribute to the integrity of Charles Bird, and his reciprocal love toward Joseph, Hyrum, and Emma!
Benjamin and his sons and their families were present after the martyrdom when Sidney Rigdon claimed that he was to be the guardian of the Church. They witness President Brigham Young transfigured into the voice, appearance, and personality of the Prophet Joseph Smith and felt the Spirit bear witness to their souls that the twelve should preside.
In January,1846, the presiding Brethren decided to move West. President Brigham Young, knowing that Charles had one best teams of horses in the City of Nauvoo, asked Charles if he would be the first person to cross the Mississippi river on the ice. On February 25, 1846, Benjamin Freeman Bird stood under the old tree at the end of Teardrop lane and watched his son drive his loaded wagon across the frozen river to see if the ice was firm enough for the Saints to cross.
Because several of the Bird’s were wavers by trade, Benjamin and his sons and their families were asked to remain at Council Bluffs and Winter Quarters and assist in the outfitting of the emigrant Saints. May had been driven out of their homes without opportunity to take the necessary clothing and other items that they would need to make the long trek into the wilderness to they knew not where. The Bird family set up a wollen mill, or sorts, similar to theo ne that they had at Nauvoo, and thereby assisted in the emigration of the thousands of homeless Saints. In 1850 the Brethern invited the Bird families to come West. They emigrated with the Milo Andrus Company. There were 206 persons and 51 wagons in the Company. On this train with Benjamin Freeman Bird were his wife and small children, and Richard and James with their families. This was the first company of the emigrating Saints for the season, leaving Missouri in June of 1850. They took the pioneer trail over which the year before trains had passed which had been stricken with cholera. As the pioneers moved along and saw the bones of their dead comrads, as their bodies had been ripped out of their shallow graves by wolves and other scavengers and scattered over the country side.
Benjamin’s son, William, marched with the Mormon Battalion in the historic trek that has come to be known as the symbol of dedication and patriotism of the Latter-day Saint people. To show the magnanimity and noble characters of the Bird’s and their spouses, and the love the Bird’s felt for their spouses, the sacrifices of Charles’ wife, Mary Ann Kennedy Bird, is illustrative. Mary Ann, after leaving her comfortable home in Hampton, New York, experienced the apostasy of the Kirtland era and of the Far West War with six children under the age of 11 and at the same time was six months pregnant. She bore a child while destitute in the wilderness before reaching Nauvoo, bore three children at Nauvoo, one at Winter Quarters, one while crossing the plains at Council Point and another at Salt Lake City, Utah. That means that she bore children at or near every major church historical site during these periods of driving and persecutions. She was pregnant and had a small family to care for during those times of serious trial when so many people of lesser character left the Church. Mary Ann recalled having seen her home being burnt to the ground by the mobs, four times during her life time she was fleeing with her family for their lives. On one occasion, Charles and Mary Ann and their small family found themselves in the middle of the wilderness in the snow. They had to abandon their wagon containing all that they owned in this world. Mary Ann, pregnant, so over-extended herself in the care of her small family, that her toes on one foot became so seriously frost bitten that she had to have them amputated while in the wilderness and without anesthesia. When the Charles and Mary Ann Bird family eventually arrived in Salt Lake City, they had only the clothes on their backs as possessions, but were grateful to be alive. The Bird families had paid a dear price indeed, to be gathered in the tops of the mountains to worship the God of Abraham.
Soon after arriving in Salt Lake City, Benjamin had the privilege of being present when Apostle George A. Smith called his son James Bird to be the first Bishop of the Provo Second Ward and was also present when Elder Smith ordained him to that office.
Because of his advancing age and the trials he had been subjected to for the last fourteen years, Benjamin found the peaceful seclusion of the Rocky Mountains particularly delightful. Several of the Bird families settled in the beautiful area of Springville and there Benjamin enjoyed the associations of many of his numerous grandchildren and watched them wax strong in the Gospel. Benjamin crossed over into the spirit world a content and happy man in 1862 and is buried near the home of his dreams in Springville, Utah.
References:
Family Bible of Benjamin Freeman Bird
LDS Temple Records
Stake and Ward Records in the possession of Clifford J. Stratton
The Documentary History of the church
Numerous family histories and family records in the possession of C.J. Stratton.
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