--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - John M. Horner collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 7 number: 7 published: 1904-05 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'John M. Horner, "Adventures of a Pioneer," *Improvement Era* 7, no. 7 (May 1904): 510–514.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0707unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera0707unse start_page: 510 end_page: 514 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1904-05) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0707unse publication_year: 1904 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1904, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Adventures of a Pioneer — ADVENTURES OF A PIONEER. EMBRACING THE STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS OF A LONG AND BUSY LIFE. BY HON. JOHN M. HORNER, OF PAAUILO, HAWAII. [The author of the following autobiographical sketch is one of the veterans of the Church who left New York for the west, on the famous ship Brooklyn, in 1846. He is a resident of the Hawaiian Islands, and notwithstanding his 83 years, was hale and hearty when, on solicitation of the Era, through the kindness of Elder A. Milton Musser, he prepared and forwarded this sketch, in December, 1903. Though he has never visited Utah, he delights in reading the conference proceedings of the Church, and keeps closely in touch with the Latter-day Saints, who, as he remarks in his letter of transmission, "are striving for the physical and spiritual well-being of man, and who are endeavoring to make the waste places blossom, to set examples in temperance, and to train the physical, mental, moral and spiritual natures of men, in a way worthy of imitation, and that will surely eventually direct the attention of the world to the glory of Zion?' The letter of Elder A. M. Musser, introducing Elder Horner, speaks for itself. We believe that our readers will be interested as well as in- structed in these adventures of a pioneer, embracing as they do the struggles and triumphs of a long and busy life. In 1898, Elder Horner published a book, in Honolulu, entitled, "National Finance and Public Money," containing a personal history of the author. The preface to this sketch is condensed and adapted from the introduction to the personal history, in that work. Editors], ELDER MUSSER'S LETTER OF INTRODUCTION. Salt Lake City, Utah, March 31, 1904. Editors Improvement Era:— In reference to the munificent gift made by Elder John M. Horner to the forty stranded mission- aries at San Francisco, in the winter of 1852-3, when en route to ADVENTURES OF A. PIONEER. 511 the fields assigned them, I will give you some details which may be of interest to your numerous readers. At a special general conference of the Church, convened in this city, August, 1852, there were over one hundred elders called on missions to the United States, Canada, Europe, the Orient, etc. All were counseled to travel without purse or scrip. Out of the total number, forty were deputed to go to China, Siam, Hindoo- stan, Australia, the Hawaiian Islands, and South America. On reaching San Francisco, via San Pedro, the elders were practically stranded. The oceans lay between us and our destinations. Transportation was the great desideratum. We vainly tried to raise the necessary funds in the chief city of the Golden State. At this time, Elder John M. Horner, who was one of the ship Brooklyn emigrants from Nauvoo, who was living at San Jose, came promptly to our relief. He sent us word to ascertain what the cost of transportation would, be to our several fields of labor, and that he would soon meet with us. We learned that the elders destined for China needed $1,000; for Siam, $1,200; for Hindoostan, $1,800; for Australia, $1,250; and for Hawaii, $1,000; total, $6,250. Of this sum, the elders had collected $750. The balance, viz., $5,500, Brother Horner voluntarily furnished us, and we all were soon sailing for our respective destinations, gratefully and prayerfully thanking the Lord and his big-hearted servant, Elder John M. Horner, for the beneficent en- dowment. In my lectures before the Saints, on the subject of my having circumscribed the earth, without purse or scrip, 1852-1857, it always gives me very great pleasure to refer to this grand offer- ing made in the interest of the forty elders, over half a century ago. Respectfully, etc. A. Milton Musser. Ex-Missionary to Hindoostan. PREFACE. There are doubtless cases of hopeless despondency; but there should not be among young men who possess the wealth of youth, 612 IMPROVEMENT ERA. health, strength and education— qualifications which, coupled with energy and honesty, should make a man more valuable to his country than his physical weight in gold. To counteract this feel- ing of despondency in some young men, I once thought of writing and pointing to the acts of noted Americans, who have risen to distinctioa, as examples to pattern after. I further thought, how- ever, that it would be unwise to speak of Webster, Lincoln, Grant and Sherman who attained eminence as soldiers; or of Astor, Gould, Vanderbilt, Child and others, who reached the heights as money-getters, because in these cases there were unusual and rare opportunities coupled with their excellent and sterling qualities, which made them eminent. Then I concluded to refer to another and more numerous class of successful men who raised themselves from poverty to wealth and influence, by sheer force of brain, brawn, and honest industry. To this, almost any ordinary American boy, having health and being thrifty, may attain, by pursuing a and straight-forward course. I knew studious, diligent, honest, many such men; but in looking for an example, I was not satisfied as to whom to refer to by name. A friend of mine, not thinking of my modesty, suggested: "Take yourself; you know more about him than any one else." After some reflection, I reluctantly con- sented, and said, "All right." So, I pen this: 1.— EARLY LIFE AND MISSIONS. I was born on a New Jersey farm, in Monmouth county, June 15, 1821. There I continued to live until the end of my twenty- first year, when I was expected to shift for myself. I was without money, and had only small business experience. I had good health, however, and was industrious and ambitious. These qualifications impelled me to strive to be the best workman on the farm, to run faster, and jump further, than anyone else; to be the best ball- player, and to always strive to be at the head of my classes at school. I did not always succeed, but was awarded a premium, by my teacher, for "trying harder to learn than any other scholar in school." My star of hope arose early, promising me many things, as well as time to acquire them. My youthful hopes of earthly ADVENTURES OF A PIONEER. 513 wealth have been more than realized. I never thought myself a pauper, or a dependent upon father or friends. I fully realized that I must rely upon myself and the Great Father for success, that I must take my chances among thirty million others, and await my opportunity. Industry, honesty, and perseverance, were my guiding stars to success. I found them in demand everywhere I went. I had never thought of success coming to me from other sources; it never did. After becoming my own boss, which all young men were supposed to be in New Jersey at the age of 21, nothing better presenting itself, I hired to a farmer to work during the summer and fall, for nine dollars per month, with board and washing. In the win- ter, I taught a district school. Thus passed my twenty- second year, as happy a year as has ever fallen to my lot to enjoy. I was just as content working for thirty-five cents per day, as I was in after years, when my time for overseeing my business netted me seventy-five dollars per day, — or when my net income exceeded sixty thousand dollars per year. During the previous three or four years, I had been wrought up over the subject of religion. The Methodists were the most per- sistent, in my neighborhood, and my preference was for them. In these days came ministers of a new sect, calling themselves Latter- day Saints, with a new revelation, preaching the gospel of the New Testament, with its gifts and blessings. It attracted much attention; people listened, and some obeyed, thereby enjoying the promised blessings. Members of the Methodist, Baptist, and Pres- byterian faith, as well as non-professors, began to join them. Among the latter class were my father, mother and sisters. I was the first of the family to obey, being baptized by Erastus Snow, in the Layawa Creek, on the second day of August, 1840. In the spring of 1843, 1 went up to Nauvoo. Here I was intro- duced to and shook hands with the Prophet Joseph Smith. I stopped in Nauvoo during the summer, and was one of the four men who laid the brick in David Yearsley's three-story house, and in the Masonic brick lodge, under guidance of Brother George Wood- ward, who was one of the four. Mixing mortar, handling the trowel, the square, the saw, the plane, etc., was new work for me, but, as in the case of using farm tools, I found it a great help in after years; not only in the days of my poverty, when I did all my own work, but later, this knowing how to handle tools and do things enabled me to build up and superintend the comparatively large business I afterwards con- trolled. In viewing my strenuous, eventful, and comparatively long and busy life, the wise counsel of our present president of the Church and the twelve apostles, given to the young men to learn mechan- ical trades, as well as book knowledge and book theories, etc., strikes me with great force, and I believe that every young man heeding this counsel will double, and perhaps treble, his value in the world. Not less wise is the move now being made in some of the Church Schools to instruct their students in manual and domestic, as well as brain, labors. We are taught that man has at least four natures: mental, moral, spiritual and physical; and, of course, if only one or two of his natures are schooled, he is not a fully developed man. But to proceed. There being no labor to be had in Nauvoo, in the fall Iwent home to the school which I had left, and in the following spring, I returned to Nauvoo, where, at the suggestion of Brigham Young given at a meeting of the Seventies, my name was placed upon their books as one of their number. Things were exciting in Nauvoo in those days. The Laws, Fosters, Higbees and other apostates and enemies, were doing all the injury they could to the Church, and apparently were seeking the life of the Prophet. About this time, a convention was called for the purpose of making a nomination of some one for President of the United States. The Prophet was unanimously chosen, and many delegates were appointed to electioneer in a number of the states, to en- deavor to elect the Prophet president. I was sent back to New Jersey; I ordered a thousand or so of the Prophet's "Views of the Powers and Policies of the Government of the United States," printed, and took these with me. One night while speaking to a full house of attentive listeners, I invited all to speak who wished my lecture. One gentleman got up and said: "I to, at the close of have one reason to give why Joseph Smith can never be President of the United States; my paper, which I received from Philadelphia