| 693 ZENAS H. GURLEY.
We are under the necessity of omitting the biography of Z. H. Gurley. We solicited him to write it but he declined to do so, expressing his wish that his name should occur only incidentally in connection with events in the body of the work.
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JOSEPH R. LAMBERT.
I am the second child of Richard and Jane Lambert, born in Rock Creek Township, Hancock County, Illinois, October 4, 1845. The place of my birth is located about nine or ten miles southeast of the celebrated city of Nauvoo.
My parents were born in England, received the gospel there, and because of their faith and hope, came to America-father in 1840, at the age of eighteen, mother in 1841, at the age of sixteen. They were married on April 10, 1843. As a result of this union fifteen children were born unto them, twelve of whom are yet living, six boys and six girls.
My parents uniformly testified that there was much corruption in the church at Nauvoo, but that "exposers of Mormonism," so called, misrepresent and falsify the events of those times, rendering their works unreliable. I have also heard them say, at different times, and to different persons, that while at Nauvoo, they perceived a soundness and spirituality connected with the preaching of Joseph Smith, the Seer, that did not characterize the preaching of Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, and others. However they claimed (especially mother) that Young, Kimball, Hyde, and Fielding, were humble, God-fearing men when they did their first missionary work in England.
I was a puny, frail child, and mother was frequently told that she could never raise me.
My parents did not follow the fortunes of Brigham Young and company; they were permitted to remain at their humble home without any compromise with the enemies of the Saints. Having had their confidence greatly shaken in those whom they had trusted as servants of God, they gradually drifted into the world. The result of this was that, we older
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