The following is from Sarah Jane Rich Tobin Miller (1839-1926) and was reproduced in Jeremiah Stokes, Modern Miracles (2d ed.; Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1945), 121-23
Knew
the Prophet Joseph Smith as “Uncle Joseph” and Beheld the Mummies From Which the
Manuscript of the Book of Abraham Was Translated
Author’s Note: Sister Sarah Jane
Rich Miller, a sister of the late Mission President, Ben E. Rich, was the
eldest child of Apostle Charles C. Rich, friend of the Prophet Joseph Smith and
a member of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles under President Brigham Young. I became
very well acquainted with Sister Miller during her stay at the Mission Home at
Chattanooga, Tenn., during the years of 1905-6, and frequently visited her at
her home in Salt Lake City after my release and until her death. Several times
she related to me the incidents referred to in her statements below recorded,
which I reduced to writing and preserved over her signature. These statements
are recorded in this volume because of their historical and faith-building
nature.—Author.
I am now 81 years old. I was born
in Quincy, Ill., four weeks after my mother fled from the mobs in Missouri. My
father, Charles C. Rich; Hosea Stout and Samule Smith, the Prophet’s brother,
also had fled from the mob several months before mother fled. I was born on
March 4, 1839, when she moved to Commerce, afterwards called Nauvoo. We lived
in Nauvoo until February of 1846. Mother and father lived on Mulholland Street
in Nauvoo. The Prophet Joseph and his brother Hyrum came to father’s house in
Nauvoo, very often and we children were taught to call the Prophet “Uncle
Joseph.” I remember the Prophet and his brother Hyrum very well as a child. One
time mother took me down to visit the Prophet’s mother, and he, the Prophet,
invited mother to go in and see the mummies from which the manuscript of the
Book of Abraham was taken. We went down in the basement and there we saw the mummies
in a box. There were three of them, and all three in one box. The sight of
these mummies made an impression upon me which I have never forgotten.
The last time I remember seeing
the Prophet Joseph Smith was a few days before his martyrdom. I was standing
out in the yard in front of father’s house when I saw a number of men riding by
on horseback. The Prophet and his brother Hyrum were with them. As the Prophet
passed I called out “Uncle Joseph.” He reined up his horse with his left hand
and motioned to me with his right hand to come to him. He took hold of my hand
and told me to put my foot in his foot, which was in the stirrup, and pulled me
up and kissed me and told me to go in the house and be a good girl. I lifted my
brother Joseph up that he might too be kissed, and the Prophet and his brother
rode away. Two or three days after his incident happened mother told me that
the Prophet and his brother had been killed and that a company was going out to
meet the bodies, which were being brought to Nauvoo. I stood watching at the
window and saw the procession pass. The bodies were in a wagon box covered with
green boughs. Father had gone to the Nauvoo mansion, the residence of the
Prophet Joseph, to assist in receiving and carrying for the bodies.
Another incident of Church
history to which I was a witness, was the confession of Martin Harris after he
came to Salt Lake City, which I relate as follows:
Some time in the early fifties I
attended a service in the old tabernacle which stood on the grounds now
occupied by the Assembly Hall in the Temple Block. It was on a Sunday
afternoon. The building was fairly well filled. President Brigham Young was in
attendance. President Young announced that Martin Harris was present and
desired to make a few remarks. I was able to hear all that Mr. Harris said. As
nearly as I can remember the following is the substance of his remarks:
“I desire to make a confession of
my mistakes in leaving the Church. I want to be forgiven and be reinstated in
the Church. I never have denied by testimony in the Book of Mormon. That is
true. I saw and handled all of the golden plates from which the Book of Mormon
was transcribed by the Prophet Joseph Smith through the power of God. And I
testified to the truth of the Book of Mormon as I was commanded to do by an
angel of the Lord. I have never gone back on that testimony. My testimony as
one of the three witnesses to the truth of the Book of Mormon is true. I want
to return to the Church and be one among the Saints.”
Many times in my life, trials
have come, but the thought of the testimony of Martin Harris has strengthened
me in the Church more than anything else, and I am now eighty-one years of age.
Sarah
Jane Rich Miller
Dated April 13, 1920
Witness, Jeremiah Stokes
