BIOGRAPHY: Prescendia L. (Huntington) Kimball; state of Utah

Transcribed by W. David Samuelsen
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EXPIRED COPYRIGHT (1884)

REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN OF DESERET

A BOOK OF BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES TO ACCOMPANY THE PICTURE BEARING THE SAME
TITLE.

COMPILED AND WRITTEN BY AUGUSTA JOYCE CROCHERON
PRESCENDIA L. KIMBALL

     In attempting a brief sketch of this noble woman's life, it is not
necessary for me to state in regard to her ancestry, more than to say she is
the elder sister of Mrs. Zina P. Young, the same genealogical references will
suffice for both.

     "Prescendia Lathrop Huntington was the fourth child of her parents, and
was born in Watertown, Jefferson County, New York, September 10th, 1810. Mrs.
Kimball is said to be the exact counterpart of the Eliza Huntington whose
likeness is in the book, the record of the Huntingtons, as a type of the race.
Sister Prescindia is a woman to see once, is to remember always. She reminds
one of the dames of olden times, large, tall, grand and majestic in figure,
dignified in manner, yet withal so womanly and sympathetic that she seems the
embodiment of the motherly element to a degree that would embrace all who came
under her influence."

     "Prescendia Huntington was married at the age of seventeen to Mr. Norman
Buell. Their first child, George, was born in Mannsville, December 12th, 1823.
Soon after they moved to Pinbury, Lewis County, where they made a comfortable
home. Here their second son was born, December 25th, 1831, and in November
1833, by an accident was so severely burned that he died. In 1835, her mother
came to visit her, and brought her the first intelligence of the Prophet
Joseph and the record from the hill Cumorah. They sold their property the
following winter and by spring reached Kirtland, Ohio. June 1st. 1836, Sister
Prescendia was baptized and confirmed by Oliver Cowdery, and on the 9th her
husband received the same ordinance. April 24th, 1838, her first daughter was
born in a tumble-down dwelling on the Fishing River, Clay County, Mo., but
lived only four hours. Here on two occasions she without protection,
encountered an armed mob, but was saved from their hatred; they left her. Her
husband had by this time apostatized. The Huntingtons were obliged to leave
Far West at the time of the driving of the Saints from Missouri in the spring
of 1839, and Sister Prescendia felt entirely alone and forsaken. She says,
'there was not at this time, one Saint in Missouri, to my knowledge.' About
this time was born her son Oliver, just after the dreadful outrages
perpetrated against the Saints in Missouri. In the fall of 1840 Mrs. Buell
moved from Missouri and settled between Quincy and Nauvoo. During the ensuing
five or six years she made frequent visits to the Saints, among others the
families of Joseph and Hyrum, and Father and Mother Smith. Joseph himself
taught her the principle of plural marriage. The sisters who had entered into
these covenants were in one sense separate and apart from all others. No
tongue can describe, or pen portray the peculiar situation of these noble,
self-sacraficing women, who through the providence of God helped to establish
the principle of celestial marriage The crisis came when the Prophet and
Patriarch were foully murdered.

     "The time came for the performances of the ordinances in the Temple at
Nauvoo. Sister Prescendia availed herself of the privilege to go and receive
her blessings. Hereafter we recognize her as the wife of the Apostle, Heber C.
Kimball. The next great event in the history of this people was the exodus
from Nauvoo. The Saints had nearly all left for the West; Sister Prescendia
felt as if she were at the mercy of the mob, and indeed, plans were laid to
destroy her. As if in answer to her prayers, her brother, William, sent her a
messenger telling her to leave all and come. On the 2nd of May, 1846, she
walked out of her house leaving all behind her, taking her little boy who was
sick and not able to be up but she was flying for her life. With the help of
her son, George, she got away. She traveled all night, and reached a friend,
Dr. Spurgeon, by daybreak. Took some refreshment and went into the woods with
her little boy, staying all day, fasting and praying for deliverance. She
says: 'I picked flowers for him and gave him water from the running stream. At
night I went back to the doctor's, sleeping with my sick boy on a little bed
on the floor. Next day I hid in a wagon. When we arrived at Nashville, I saw a
man whom I knew, looking for me. I learned afterward he intended taking my
child from me. My brother, Dimick, sent his sons to see me safely out of
Illinois. I stayed in a deep ravine while some things were brought to me, and
slept on a buffalo robe on the ground at night with my little child. No tongue
can tell my feelings in those days of trial; but I had considered well, and
felt I would rather suffer and die with the Saints, than live in Babylon as I
had Ii ved before. We arrived at Bonaparte. The excitement and exposure
brought on fever and I was very ill.

     We at last arrived at Mt. Pisgah; there I found my father, my sister,
Zina, and her children. They were in a log house without chimney or floor;
sickness prevailed. Very soon men were sent by the Government to get
volunteers to march to Mexico; to fight for a Government that had suffered us
to be driven out at the point of the bayonet. * * I saw the five hundred men
enrolled as volunteers to take up the line of march to Mexico. My brother,
Dimick, brave-hearted and strong, with his family, among the number. His wife,
Fanny, had a daughter born under most trying and painful circumstances. I was
left behind at what was then called Cutler's Park. My father and Zina were at
Mt. Pisgah. My brother, Dimick, in Mexico, my brother, William, in St. Louis,
my brother, Oliver, on a mission in Europe; then came the news that my father
had died at Pisgah; my friend, my coun selor, my own dear parent, to whom I
had looked for counsel for the future that stretched out before me like a
great, unknown desert, unrelieved and barren. I had only my Heavenly Father
left, and I reached out in faith to the One above to open the heavens for me
a.nd aid me in my loneliness. I was in a new, wild country without means.
Joseph and Henry Woodmansee wanted me to keep house for them. As soon as I was
settled their father wrote for them, and I was left in charge of their house.
I started a school which was a great blessing to the children. The house was
built of logs and covered with dirt and straw, with a little straw upon the
floor.

     "Here Sister Preseendia toiled with scanty fare, teaching the children,
and when school was closed for the night her voice would leave her, from
weakness, but she loved the children and gained their affection. It was an
ague country, provisions were scarce, lack of vegetables and fruit caused
sickness. After a painful and dangerous illness, Sister Prescendia recovered
her health. About this time three brethren who went with the Mormon Batallion,
came back to Winter Quarters, having been sent on special business from
Pueblo. Says Sister Prescendia, 'I never saw such a pitiful sight before as
these poor, worn-out travelers presented. Their clothing hung in rags, their
faces burned, and with sun and snow they were nearly blind. Their feet were
wrapped in rawhide from the buffalo. I sat and heard them tell how fearfully
they had suffered crossing the prairies in the dead of winter, and all this in
defence of a Government that had driven us defenceless women and children into
a strange wilderness. I could not refrain from weeping when I looked upon
these my brethren and realized how they had suffered.'

     "Early in the spring a few pioneers left to search out a haven of refuge
for the Saints. The sisters left almost alone, lived near to God. They used
often to meet together and pray. The gifts of tongues, interpretation and
prophecy were given them at this time for their consolation. In May, 1846,
Sister Prescendia and her little son, Oliver, left Winter Quarters. She, like
many others, had to drive team, yoke cattle, &c., though in delicate health.
She arrived in Salt Lake Valley September 22nd, and moved into the old Fort.
January 6th, 1848, Sister Prescendia had born to her a daughter. The baby was
a great comfort to the lonely mother who had left her home and come thousands
of miles away. No daughter was ever more fondly loved than this little one.

     "She was named Prescendia Celestia, and was rightly named Celestia, for
she was more like a celestial being than a mortal one. President Young once
asked her name; quick as thought, he said, 'Celestial Prescendia.' Coming here
as the Saints did provided with only the barest necessities, there was much
privation to contend against. The families of Brigham and Heber shared in
these respects equally with the others. When Sister Prescendia's babe was
quite small, she had to put up an umbrella over them in bed to protect them
from the rain. Sister Prescendia was patient and thanked her Father in heaven
that he had permitted her to gather to the Rocky Mountains, and also that she
had been permitted to become a mother under the new and everlasting covenant
of marriage." Nothing could be more affecting than her story of the loss of
this lovely child. She dressed her for a visit, and gave her in charge of her
brother, while she finished her preparations. He took her to the family of
President Young, and as they were seated at table, each gave her a kiss,
admiring her beauty, President Young last.

     "Returning to the mother, he sat her down a moment to cut a willow from
the water's edge, and turning to her - she was gone. The sweet face, that
going out smiled such a tender good-bye, was brought in cold in death. Vilate,
the first wife of Heber, said, "The flower of the flock is gone." Years have
passed since then, but the beauty of that little face is undimmed in her
mother's memory."

     Sister Prescendia was for fifteen years secretary of the Sixteenth Ward
Relief Society.

     Sister Prescendia's labors have been in the House of the Lord, and
annointing and administering to the sick. Hundreds have asked for her presence
at their bedside - the name, Prescendia - has been almost like that sweet
word, mother. I reflect upon the lonely, trial path that she has trod, the
wounds her heart has borne; and listening to the tender pathos of her voice,
the sublimity of her words; the nobility of her life commanding my love and
reverence.

     If I could choose the picture which should be historical, it should be
as I have seen her; standing, her grand figure becomingly wrapped in a large,
circular cloak, a handsome, large black bonnet shielding her venerable and
beloved face from the falling flakes of snow. Looking upon her I thought her
the very picture of a Puritan exile, a revolutionary ancestress, and a
Latter-Day Saint veteran and pioneer. I shall always rcmethber her thus, it is
an ineffacahie picture in my memory.

     Since writing the above, the following appears in the Desera News of
September 11th:

MANIFESTATION OF RESPECT.

     "Yesterday being the anniversary of the birthday of Sister Vresceudia L
Kimball, a party of ladies numbering about thirty, of her personal friends,
mostly of very long standing, assembled at her residence. A lunch was partaken
of about noon, and subsequently the gathering took the form of a meeting, at
which all present expressed themselves appropriately to the occasion. The
sisters also presented the venerable and respected lady, a handsome black
satin cloak, trimmed with fur and lined with crimson plush, for winter wear.
We are pleased to be able to state that Sister Kimball's health has
considerably improved during the last few days."