In fulfillment of prophecy, on April 25, 1839, after dark had fallen, members of the twelve apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints converged at the Far West, Missouri home of my fifth great grandfather, Timothy Baldwin Clark. Often referred to as “Father Clark”, Timothy had two months earlier buried his wife of 37 years, was a grandfather many times over from his six married children and had four sons and a daughter still at home along with a daughter and her three children whose husband was incarcerated with Parley P. Pratt in Columbia, Missouri.
The twelve gathered In the early morning hours of the next day, at the temple lot where Wilford Woodruff and George A. Smith were ordained apostles and the twelve began preparations for their mission to England. As the apostles left Missouri, the Clark family followed, settling in Montrose, Iowa across the river from what would become the city of Nauvoo.
In tenuous circumstances, Wilford Woodruff bade farewell to his wife, Phebe, who was expecting their second child, and their young daughter. At what point “Father Clark” noticed Phebe’s need we do not know but by December of 1839, Phebe had moved into a small house on the Clark property. Phebe wrote to Wilford, “I am now at Father Clark’s…he has made me welcome to stay here until you return; would it not be for the best think you? They are a very kind family…He says to tell Br. Woodruff that he will take as good care of me as he can and he wants you to get as many souls as [you] can…” (Letters of Phoebe Woodruff July 2, 1840, September 8, 1840) As Wilford served as an apostle and missionary, the Clark family sustained him by caring for his family.
On Sunday, two bishoprics sat on the stand in our sacrament meeting, one had just been released and one had just been sustained and I felt great gratitude for the gift of being surrounded by the strength of my ward family. We each have different roles and different circumstances but we are all the same in our desire to serve God. As we do so, He will bless us to learn to love each other “having [our] hearts knit together in unity and in love one towards another.” (Mosiah 18:21)