Anson Call

[10] Anson witnessed, on 8 August 1844 during the Mormon succession crisis, the 'mantle' of the Prophet Joseph Smith fall upon his successor, Brigham Young.

[11][12] It had been in 1837 that Anson, who himself later suffered severe mob violence in Missouri, secured the release of the Prophet Joseph from a Kirtland jail by posting a $500 bond.

And it was Anson who, at the Prophet's bidding, raced 80 miles to Knoxville on 17 June 1844 to secure by letter the aid of Judge Thomas on behalf of a mob-threatened Nauvoo.

When, only a few days after its infamous martyrdom, Carthage Jail was visited by Call, a grieving Anson told its 'gaoler' that he desired that the stained blood upon the floors and doors 'remain as an everlasting testimony against the murderers.

'[13] Call, who would ultimately go on to receive with his four wives Mormonism's sacred Second Anointing ordinance on 5 March 1867,[14] reported that three days after the martyrdom of the Smith brothers, in the dreams of the night he beheld the Prophet Joseph in visional discourse to the Saints, wherein he declared: Brethren, I have been killed in Carthage jail, and it will not make any difference with you, if you do as you are told.

He settled in Bountiful, Utah Territory, where he served as a bishop, beginning in 1850 and established a homestead a half mile north of "Session's Settlement".

Among those whom he and others rescued were English immigrants Margaretta Unwin and Emma Summers, whom Call later wedded in February 1857, at the suggestion of President Young.

[19][20] Other areas of the West that Call helped to colonize were Iron County, Utah and Carson Valley in Arizona Territory (now part of Nevada).

And later, he was among that elite group of leading priesthood holders (nine in all, including Anson, Lorenzo Snow and his sister Eliza) who were sent by President Young in 1872 to rededicate the Holy Land for the return of the Jews.

But because President George A. Smith discovered in London that he lacked sufficient funds to complete the journey, Anson stepped forward with his own $800, opting to stay behind in England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales (visiting church conferences), so that President Smith might continue on to participate in the solemn dedicatory services at Jerusalem's Mount Olivet.

Anson never issued complaint for that personal loss of sacred experience and money (which, in fact, he insisted that President Smith never repay him), going even further during his 5-month stay in the British Isles by providing funds for nine Saints in England to immigrate to Utah.

[29] Despite the wide range of settlements in the intermountain West which Call helped to found, he maintained as his primary residence at Bountiful UT, where he died peacefully in 1890, at eighty years of age.

[40] As for Mariah's relationship with first wife Mary, they forged an unbreakable bond of love for one another like a true mother and daughter[5] But it was upon Mariah's 1857 return to Bountiful (driving her cattle herd over 400 miles of desert) from her settlement efforts in Carson Valley, as she was suddenly introduced to Anson's two new British-immigrant wives, that the initial contrasts must have appeared stark: Beyond their shared familiarity with hardship, the similarities [between Anson Call's wives] seem to have been few.

Both Margaretta and Emma gladly settled into the domestic life of housework, cooking, spinning, knitting, etc., and looked forward to having children of their own.

Beyond Call's Fort, Bountiful, Parowan and St. George, she helped to colonize Carson City and Callville in Arizona Territory (now part of Nevada), and also Fillmore, Utah, where she served as the town's first postmaster.

[44] Her son, Anson Bowen Call[4] (1863–1958), who went by the name of 'Bowen' (to distinguish him from his father), was also a Mormon colonizer in Colonia Dublán, Mexico, where he served for more than 40 years as a bishop and patriarch (ordained by President George Albert Smith).

[5] Having wed four times — being among the last of the Latter Day Saints to practice plural marriage with the Church's blessing — Bowen's earthly sojourn, before his death at age 94, bridged two centuries and saw the administrations of 19 Presidents of the United States (from Abraham Lincoln to Dwight D. Eisenhower) and 8 Presidents of the LDS Church (from Brigham Young to David O. McKay).

Through his indomitable love, sacrifice, and long years of devoted service (having also served a mission to the British Isles, 1895–97), Bowen Call — who in 1938 received an Apostolic promise that his 'calling and election'[46] was sure[47] — fully lived a consecrated life of discipleship to the Lord Jesus Christ and His restored gospel.