. . . We left our home, father, mother, brothers and sisters and all that was dear to us on the 2nd of March 1843, and on the 8th of March set sail on the ship Yorkshire for New Orleans, U.S.A. We had a terribly rough voyage at sea. We left our native land in obedience to the command of the Lord through the Prophet Joseph Smith to come to the gathering place of the saints, namely, Nauvoo. The day I left home I had no money to pay our railway fare to Liverpool, but as good luck would have it, I met a lady who was going to the same place, Nauvoo, and she was kind enough to lend me the money to pay the railroad fare. In crossing the sea, just as we were entering the Gulf of Mexico about 2 o'clock in the night, we were struck by a tornado which carried mast, rigging and sailors down to the sailor's deck, sweeping sailors on the deck overboard. As it was very hot, my wife and I were sleeping at the foot of the main mast when it fell. Thank God, no one was hurt. A good stiff breeze sprang up and we reached New Orleans without delay.

Arrived at New Orleans May 1st of 1843. Our company was under the management of Thomas Bullock and Richard Rushton who chartered a steamboat to take us up the river to Nauvoo. We were in a strange land and in a hot place and with no money to buy our provisions nor to pay our fare on the steamboat. My wife wept like a child at our humiliating circumstances. Nevertheless I did not feel discouraged. Another ship load of Latter-day Saints arrived on the morrow after us, and I went on board and found a man going to Nauvoo. I borrowed the money from him to pay our fare by giving him my clothes for security. Thomas Bullock loaned us money to bring our provisions to Nauvoo. So by hard struggling and the blessing of the Lord I accomplished the desire of my heart in getting to Nauvoo and seeing the prophet of the Lord and shaking hands with the man who had seen God face to face. Yes, with a man who had talked with God and his son Jesus Christ, who declared to him (Joseph) that all the religious sects of the day were wrong, that all had gone astray and for him to join none of them. But that he (Joseph) if faithful should be an instrument in the hands of God to establish his church and kingdom on the earth never more to be thrown down and given to another people. Yes, a man that had the glorious privilege of being visited by angels - men who had lived on the earth hundreds and thousands of years ago, such as Moroni, John the Baptist, Peter, James and John, the Apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ, Elijah the Prophet, also Moses and others. . . . [p.40]

BIB: Spilsbury, George [Autobiography], IN Brown, Viva Skousen, comp., The Life and Posterity of Alma Platte Spilsbury (privately printed, 1983) p. 40. (CHL)
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