I was called and set apart by the Prophet Joseph Smith to give aid to those who were ill. I stayed after the main exodus of the Saints and gave active support to the defenders of Nauvoo during the mobbings and administered aid to the men who were injured. I was frequently the only woman on the scene of battle. During my life I delivered over 3,000 babies and never lost a mother or baby, a direct fulfillment of Brother Joseph's blessing upon me.
We left Nauvoo with the poorest of the Saints in September 1846, while my husband was in Canada to draw his yearly pension. When we were encamped along the river, "a posse of the mob rode up, surrounded our wagons, and demanded our fire arms. I had a pistol which I drew out and replied, 'Captain, I am serving notice on you that I intend on using this pistol before handing it over. Do you still want it?'" They wisely decided they didn't!
"I borrowed a tent from Elder Johnston and had women who were being delivered of child put in it. It was a terrible night, and the things that took place tried the hearts and souls of the strongest. I was the midwife and delivered 9 babies the first night. There were a great many sick, and we had nothing to eat except one-half bushel of corn meal and a half-dozen cucumbers…until the Lord sent quails amongst us, which supplied our needs. They were so tame some of them would light on the beds of the sick, and they could reach out their hands and catch them. We had nothing to sweeten anything until the Lord sent honey dew, which we gathered from the bushes until we got all the sweets we wanted."
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