| 399 CHAPTER 15.
1834.
THE year 1834 opened with gloomy surroundings for Zion, yet a hopeful and determined people met the situation with courage born of conviction that right would triumph.
On January 1, 1834, a conference was held at the house of Elder Parley P. Pratt, in Clay County, Missouri, Bishop Edward Partridge presiding. In addition to other business, Lyman Wight and P. P. Pratt were sent as special messengers to Kirtland, Ohio, to represent the situation in Zion to the Presidency and ask advice. For the account of this journey and the circumstances and preparation preceding it we refer you to the Autobiography of P. P. Pratt, pages 114-116:-
"After making our escape into the county of Clay, being reduced to the lowest poverty, I made a living by day labor, jobbing, building, or wood cutting, till sometime in the winter of 1834, when a General Conference was held at my house, in which it was decided that two of the elders should be sent to Ohio, in order to counsel with President Smith and the church at Kirtland, and take some measures for the relief or restoration of the people thus plundered and driven from their homes. The question was put to the conference: 'Who would volunteer to perform so great a journey?'
"The poverty of all and the inclement season of the year made all hesitate. At length Lyman Wight and myself offered our services, which were readily accepted. I was at this time entirely destitute of proper clothing for the journey;
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