Israel Barlow

Israel Barlow (September 13, 1806 – November 1, 1883) was one of the founders of Nauvoo, Illinois and a noted early member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.[1]

Barlow was born in Granville, Massachusetts in 1806 and died in Bountiful, Utah Territory in 1883.[2] In May 1832, Barlow was baptized in Mendon, New York by Brigham Young into the Church of Christ, the original name of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, founded by Joseph Smith. In 1835, Barlow was ordained a seventy by Sidney Rigdon and was called as one of the inaugural members of the First Quorum of the Seventy. Barlow was also a member of Zion's Camp in 1834 and was a missionary in New Hampshire in 1844.

In Nauvoo, Israel Barlow was one of the bodyguards of Joseph Smith. Shortly before his martyrdom in June 1844, the Prophet Joseph Smith asked Barlow to deliver a message to a certain man who lived a considerable distance away in a neighborhood of enemies of the Church. The Prophet directed Israel to deliver the message, then accept the hospitality which would be extended to him. “But,” said Joseph, “let them put your horse up for you and eat supper with them, but when it becomes sundown, saddle your horse and leave. They will be insistent and try to persuade you to remain overnight. But if you value your life, do not stay, but leave, and listen to the direction of the Spirit.” Israel left the morning he was instructed. He found the man hospitable, just as Joseph indicated. At sundown, the man was persistent to have Israel stay, but recalling the Prophet’s admonition, he mounted his horse and set for home as instructed. He “rode along the country road until it became dark,” reads the Israel Barlow biography. “Just before he came to the river bridge, a voice said to [him], ‘Ride faster.’ He sped up his horse and the voice repeated again and with more emphasis, ‘Ride faster.’ Again he increased the speed of the animal when the voice said to him, ‘Ride for your life.’ He then sped for all the animal’s strength. As the horse’s feet clattered across the bridge he could hear the mob, which had gathered in the brush to intercept him, cursing at the top of their voices. He had crossed the bridge but a short distance when the voice said to him ‘Turn to the right.’ He turned his horse off the road into the brush toward the river. There he stood in silence as the mob who had mounted their horses, came racing over the bridge at break-neck speed, and down the road they went, supposedly after him. After they had gone by, he wound his way from the river’s edge to the bed of the stream and on through the willows. In the darkness he made his way along the river in the opposite direction from which the mob had expected him to go. Finally, when he thought it was safe, several miles away, he emerged from the river and made his way over the country back into Nauvoo, just as the day was breaking. There he saw the Prophet Joseph walking up and down the street in front of his home. As [Israel] approached and alighted from his horse, he began to tell the Prophet of his experience. The Prophet stopped him and told him he need not tell him, for he already knew. The Prophet told him that he had been up all night waiting for his return, and stated, ‘I saw it all; you have no need to tell me.’ Thereupon, the Prophet laid his hand upon [Israel’s] shoulder and gave him a blessing and said: ‘Thee and thine shall never want.’”[3]

After Smith's death, Barlow was a Mormon pioneer and traveled with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to the Salt Lake Valley in 1848; he settled in Bountiful. He was a missionary in England in 1853–55, where he was president of the Birmingham Conference of the Church, where he met his third wife, Lucy Heap.

With four wives and twenty-one children, Barlow today has more than 10,000 descendants.

When his first wife, Elizabeth Haven, was nine years old, her mother died. She learned to braid straw hats, pin-laces, and other delicate trimmings to earn money to pay for her education. Elizabeth graduated from Amherst College as a teacher in 1836. Soon afterward, her cousins, Brigham Young and Willard Richards came to Holliston, Massachusetts, on their mission for the new Church. She and her brother, Jesse, were converted and baptized members of the Church. She and Jess moved to Quincy, Illinois, where she met Israel Barlow. They were married in February 1840. They soon moved to their new home in Nauvoo. Elizabeth taught school in Nauvoo having among her students the children of Joseph Smith, Hyrum Smith, and Brigham Young. The Prophet Joseph Smith was aware of Elizabeth's ability of writing and knew she was corresponding with her cousin Elizabeth Bullock. He asked her to save all of her letters. She did, and her writings of those early days of the Church, their operations, movements, and missionaries have been preserved in the family book, 'The Israel Barlow Story and Mormon Mores.' Elizabeth and Israel were driven from Nauvoo. She carried on alone while Israel was away on missions. She consented to the practice of plural marriage and shared her husband with three other women. Their family came west in June, 1848 with the Brigham Young Company. After their arrival in Salt Lake Valley, they spent their first winter in the old Pioneer Fort. Later, they lived in West Bountiful.

One of his wives, Lucy Heap, was British and came from Lichfield, Staffordshire.[4]