Heber C. Kimball's Conversion and History

Heber C. Kimball was born in 1801, baptized in 1832, and ordained an apostle in 1835. He was a simple and unassuming man, but had a great gift - Brigham Young said once, "I am not a visionary man, neither am I given much to prophesying. When I want any of that done I call on brother Heber -- he is my Prophet, he loves to prophesy, and I love to hear him." (JD 1:132-3). This address by Elder Kimball was given on April 12, 1868, just a few months before his death, at a conference in Bountiful:


"I will now refer you to a little of my history. I was born in Vermont, and brought up very poor, and when nine years old I laid in my bed and in a vision saw those things that I have since passed through. Soon after I was baptized, brother Orson Pratt came to my house. I was standing in the door yard when he came in, and at the time I felt much of the holy Spirit upon me. I was then a potter at my wheel. While brother Pratt was talking with me a voice spake to him and said "Orson, my son, that man will one day become one of my apostles." I did not know this till afterwards. A voice also spoke to me and told me my lineage, and I told my wife Vilate that she was of the same lineage, and she believed it. I told her also that we would never be separated.

"I could tell you a thousand things that happened in that early day. I have been, as I have already told you, to where Adam offered sacrifices and blessed his sons, and I felt as though there were hundreds of angels there, and there were angels there like unto the three Nephites. I have also been over the hill Cumorah, and I understand all about it.

"I remember the time when I was baptized into the church, and how after I was baptized, Alpheus Gifford said he felt impressed to ordain me an elder. I was on my knees and jumped up and told him to hold on that I was not a learned man, and I thought that my ordination would injure the work. But presently the Holy Ghost came upon me till I thought that I should be burnt up. I could speak in tongues and prophecy, and I understood the scriptures.

"And now let me tell you that I was never made to die, that is spiritually; but that I am an inhabitant of this earth and will never destroy my right to it. It is my Father's and I know it, and His angels administer to men. This you can read in the Book of Mormon.

"Cleave now to the truth, and remember that a limb separated from a tree is not much, and so we are not much when separated from the truth. Therefore honor God and honor those you know; for if you do not honor those you know you will not honor God. If my children will not subject themselves to me they will not subject themselves to God; and so with our wives, they cannot honor God unless they honor us."


(_Journal of Discourses_, 12:191)
Compiled and written by David Kenison