James Joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Traveled to Missouri - In his own Words

In 1831, James Lewis was a young man of 17 living in Randolph County, Indiana, presumably with his older brother Joel (often referred to as Joel Jr. to differentiate him from their father also named Joel Lewis.)  His life was forever changed when he heard the message of Mormon missionaries.  This is how he described the event later in his life.

"When about seventeen years of age, a man, an ex-preacher, came near where I was staying, late in the evening, did not dismount but said he had rode forty miles that day to overtake two mormonite preachers that have a golden Bible taken out of the earth, that they were preaching the ancient apostolic doctrine and that next Sunday they would preach in Mock's barn. All of this was said almost without taking a breath. My own thoughts I cannot explain, but my first thought was that this is the very thing I have thought would come in the course of my days. The words I had heard went through me in every part of my system. I remembered the Bible, also what I had learned of the ancient peoples of America, and above all the secret whispering now settled more strongly than ever before."

James went to hear the speakers: Thomas B. Marsh who spoke about the prophecies of Isaiah and Selah J. Griffin who explained the coming forth of the Book of Mormon and the testimony of the three and eight witnesses to the Book of Mormon.

James also wrote: "Squire Jones, an ex-preacher, was put forward to talk to them. . . .Squire Jones could ask questions they could not answer, but they answered many questions he had never heard answered before. And my father-in-law, Squire John Jones, went home a wiser and better man than he came, for he never raised his voice against their doctrine." John Jones wasn't James' father-in-law in 1831, but he would become so two years later.

He described his own conversion and baptism this way: "Soon after, two other Elders came, Levi W. Hancock and Zebedee Coltrin, and began baptizing my associates and many others. . . .Of myself, I think I was better prepared to endure than many of my own age. The Elders quoted liberally from the scriptures. I was careful to see every one of them with my own eyes and knew they were in my mother's Bible. . . .Taking in all of my evidences of scripture . . . and above all those secret whisperings that no human could give, the last of the baptisms in our place was Sister Jackson, her sister Anna Jones, and myself. I was baptized by Levi W. Hancock in water and the Holy Ghost before I set my feet on dry land, where I was confirmed by Zebedee Coltrin July, 1831, Randolph County, State of Indiana." Anna Jones, of course, was James' future wife. Her sister would be Elizabeth Jones Jackson who was the wife of Henry S. Jackson.

Mississinewa River in Randolph County, Indiana.
This river is near the farm of James' brother Joel.
 James was probably baptized in a river much like this, 
perhaps even this one.

James doesn't mention exactly where he was baptized. Presumably it was one of the rivers in Randolph County. The Mississinewa runs west in the northern part of the county and is not far from the farm of James' brother Joel. The White River runs north and then west through the middle of the county not far from the county seat of Winchester. The Whitewater River starts its southward journey in the southwest part of the county.

Thus began James' devotion to a church which would require him to travel to numerous states and territories - and not always of his own choice. But he seems never to have wavered or doubted the spiritual witness he felt at the time of his baptism. He worked to help spread the word of his new-found religion. In December of that year, James traveled with an Elder Fallis as a missionary in Ohio. I don't know who this Elder Fallis was, but think he was probably a relative of James. James' brother Joel was married to Mercy Fallis and his sister Rachel was married to William Fallis. I have found reference to an Isaac Fallis living with the Saints in Missouri, but I don't know if this is the same man. If anyone has any information on this, I'd welcome it. In March, 1832, James also traveled with Levi W. Hancock as a missionary in Greenville, Ohio. Then in April, 1832, he went with Elder Jackson to the White Water River area to hold church meetings. (The Whitewater River is a tributary of the Miami River; one of its branches starts in Randolph Co., Indiana.) James noted that some who were baptized at that time crossed the plains with him in 1852. Possibly the Elder Jackson mentioned was James' future brother-in-law Henry S. Jackson.

James decided to join the Latter-day Saints who were congregating to Jackson County, Missouri. "In June, 1832, I started to gather with the saints in Missouri on foot and alone, going by Logansport [Indiana] on the Wabash River to see my sister and continued down the river and joined a company of saints also going to Missouri. Fortunately for me, as I was coming into camp, Brother Rawson, a man I had never seen before, met me and asked me if I would go with him and help him with his team.  At once, I told him yes, as I wished to go with someone. On going to the tent, to my surprise, there was sister Anna Jones. She was engaged to help Sister Rawson on the way to Missouri. I was of some benefit to the company as a kind of commissary to go ahead and purchase supplies and have them ready by the time the teams came up."

"In going to Missouri the company traveled pitching their tents by the way, stopping over Sunday and having a meeting. . . .Arrived at Independence September the 2nd day of 1832. I now set about finding a place to get work. Went to Big Blue River, worked for Father Rockwell and Porter Rockwell. Stopped over Sunday and went on to Lyman Wight's and seen him once on a mission. He directed me to the Whitmer settlement."

Obviously, James and Anna were acquainted in Randolph County, Indiana. We are left to wonder how well they knew each other, however. Did their romance blossom before they each left Randolph County, on the trail to Missouri with the Rawson family, or after they arrived in Missouri. There are various family traditions about the matter, but no specific mention as far as I know in James' writings. We do know that on May 10, 1833 James and Anna were married in Jackson County, Missouri by W. W. Phelps.

From Marriage Records of Jackson County, Missouri, the third entry is the marriage record of James Lewis and Anna Jones of Blue Township.

Ten months later they were living in Clay County, Missouri when their first son, Joel Jones Lewis was born on February 27, 1834. Anna's sister Elizabeth Jackson died in July 1835 and was buried on Shoal Creek west of Liberty. Their second son John Alma Lewis was born 22 August 1836 (that date is sometimes given differently.) James wrote that he "settled in 1837 on Crooked River, Ray County, Missouri, in what was known as the Dutch settlement of Mormons." Their next son James Ammon was born February 6, 1838; I have seen his birth given as Ray County and as Cass County.

The time James and Anna spent in Missouri was tumultuous. Here is one incident he described: "Late in December of 1832, the house that I was in, Brother Fallises, was assailed on the outside around the doorway and on top, unroofing and pitching the timbers on the inside where were three beds - all occupied and asleep, at the first. Any of the pieces pitched in would have crippled or killed any that it might have hit. Those at the doorway shot through, there being only a quilt hung up, the walls in the opposite side of the house. Was just opposite the pillow where Brother and Sister Fallis lay and about eighteen inches from it. Providentially I lay on the floor. Had I raised on my knees as naturally I would attempt to go under one of the beds, would have been shot through the body. Thanks to a kind providence no one in the house was injured."
(I would love to know more about this Elder Fallis. James' sister Rachel and brother Joel both married into the Fallis family. Was this a relative-in-law? Is that one reason JSL lived with this family before his marriage?)

This is how James described his Missouri experience in 1900: "In Jackson County, Missouri, I made a very fair start - cleared and fenced a small field, built a good log house, raised and gathered a crop just in time to be obliged to leave it to a mob. At Crooked River I rented a farm and leased land for a term of years. After putting in my crop, I surprised my employer and his neighbors by hiring some help, clearing my lease, and putting it in and raising a fine crop on it too; thus, paying my rent for several years in advance. I barely sold enough to a mobocrat friend to pay my hired help. . . .Many strong men were apostatizing, and among the number were the best friends that I had in the world, such as Oliver Cowdrey, the Whitmers, David and John, Jacob Hiram Page, a brother-in-law [Henry S. Jackson]. Some of the twelve staggered and some fell. Times were precarious. . ."