John Jacques
John was a most interesting and colorful pioneer. He was born January 7, 1827 in Market Bosworth, Leicestershire, England. He said his father was a little gruff but a very honorable man and his mother never had any faults at all (that he was aware of). When he was 13, he was sent to be a cabinet maker and upholsterer as an indentured apprentice. He wrote, "most of the men where I worked when apprenticed and after were corrupt. As a religious boy, I was consequently unmercifully plagued and made the butt of ridicule. These were not good moral schools for boys. I always had the highest regard for truth and virtue...no matter who is the tempter nor what is the temptation, your virtue is worth more than them all, it is the pearl of great price. It is beyond all price...no offer involved is worth a moment's consideration. The unfailing motto should "Never Surrender"."
He joined the church as a teenager and both his master and his father tried to get him to give up the new religion. He was called to serve as a traveling missionary when he was 20. He became the assistant editor of the Millenial Star and wrote religious study for children. He married Zilpah Loader and had a baby girl named Flora before he immigrated to Zion. When President Young requested John come to the valley, he began to prepare. he got a gun and practiced shooting.
He gives a very detailed account in his journal about his trip and it is well worth reading about. But the story to think about this week is this:
John has written about preparing to leave Iowa City with the Martin Handcart Company. He says, "As only a very limited amount of baggage could be taken with the handcarts, during the stay in the Iowa camping grounds, there was a general lightening of such things as could best be done without. Many things were sold cheaply to residents of that vicinity, and many more things were left on the camping ground for anybody to take or leave at their pleasure. It was grievous to see the heaps of books and other articles thus left in the sun and rain and dust, representing a respectable amount of money spent therefore in England, but thenceforth a waste and a dead loss to owners."
Tell My Story Too, page 230
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