Produced by the Mormon Texts Project,
http://bencrowder.net/books/mtp. Volunteers: Hilton
Campbell, Byron Clark, Ben Crowder, Meridith Crowder,
Cameron Dixon, Brian Jarvis, Ted Lee.
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It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion; it is easyin solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who, in themidst of the crowd, keeps with perfect sweetness the independence ofhis character.—Emerson.
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1888.
TO THE MEMORY OF
My GRANDFATHER;
AND TO THE GREAT
Cause of Truth,
For which he lived and died; and to all who love that
Memory and that Cause,
This Volume is reverently Dedicated by
THE AUTHOR.
In presenting this work to the public, I not only fulfill the desiresof my own heart and those of my kindred who have undertaken to publishwhat is here written and compiled, but likewise, I am persuaded, thewish of our departed ancestor. Laying the foundation for such a workwhile living (as the copious selections from his own writings willtestify), he left its bringing forth as a sacred legacy to hisposterity.
For many years this duty, unenjoined in words, but accepted by all inthe light of a behest, was permitted to lie dormant. The death ofPresident Kimball, on the 22nd of June, 1868, was a calamity so suddenand heavy in its effect upon his family, as to almost paralyze thoughtand effort. Though trained to independence and self-reliance, underhis wise government, and never pampered in ease and luxury, they hadever looked to him for guidance and support, and had never known theweight of responsibility resting upon him as their parent andprovider, only as from time to time he had taken certain ones into hisconfidence and permitted them to share his burdens.
In his absence they were as sheep that had lost their shepherd. "Whowill provide for us now, and what shall we do to earn a livelihood?"Such were the thoughts presented to their minds, and the questionsasked of their secret souls, as they looked around upon their temporalsituation. The division of the parental estate had left themcomfortable, though far from rich, None of his sons had trades, butall had been brought up to work. Realizing that a city life was nolonger their lot, they resolved to separate, and, following theexample of their ancestors for generations, go forth and colonize newregions. Some moved north, and others south, but few remaining in thecity of their birth, and at the expiration of fifteen years, many hadbecome almost as strangers to each other.
About the year 1883 a spirit of inquiry commenced to manifest itselfamong the members of the Kimball family, causing them to "feel after"and evince more interest in each other's welfare. This sentimentincreasing, some of the elder members at length opened acorrespondence on the subject of a family reunion. By many this wasdeemed impracticable, owing to their scattered condition; some livingin Idaho, some in southern Arizona, and others in California; andnearly all in circumstances which, it was thought, would hardlyjustify the necessary outlay. But the de