John Fleming Wakefield – Missionary Extraordinaire
John Fleming Wakefield was born 12 September 1812 in Brush Valley, Indiana, Pennsylvania.
John Fleming was released to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-working day Saints (also known as the Mormon Church) by a missionary of the Church named Erastus Snow as he preached the gospel in western Pennsylvania. Evidently the Wakefields had been of the Methodist faith and a number of users of the Wakefield family members performed a prominent component in building up the Methodist Churches in that space.
After listening to the preaching of Erastus Snow, John Fleming was baptized a member of the Church on 25 Oct 1836 at age 24.
John Fleming Wakefield then became a missionary for the Church and accompanied Erastus Snow to Brush Valley, Pennsylvania.
At that time, there was a loved ones living in Brush Valley whose father was David Garlick. The title Garlick was basically an Americanized version of the German family title.. When the Pennsylvania Dutch family came to The united states, they chose an American name that was the closest to their German family members title. Elizabeth was David’s spouse and they experienced the pursuing small children Hannah (1818-1892), Susannah (1820-1890), Mary Jane (1822-1900), Talitha Cumi (1824-1902), Joseph Gastin (1827-1915), Sarah, Elizabeth (1830-1904) and Eliza Elizabeth (1835-1841).
1 night, the wife, Elizabeth, had a aspiration that two youthful men came up the route to their house and there was a indicator about their heads that explained, “These are the accurate messengers of God, hear and obey.” The following working day Elizabeth told the aspiration
to her relatives.
The next week, two younger men arrived up the walkway to their house. Elizabeth exclaimed, “Individuals are the two youthful males I noticed in my desire.” The two adult males were being John Fleming Wakefield and William Bosley. They had been missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-working day Saints.
Elizabeth and two of the young children were baptized, but David and the other little ones ended up not.
After his mission was over, John Fleming went back to Brush Valley and married Susannah Garlick on 5 August 1838 in Pennsylvania.
John and Susannah moved to Nauvoo, Illinois, wherever they took an energetic portion in the Church. John was just one of the “unique missionaries,” sent to several counties in Illinois to disabuse the community intellect about the Prophet Joseph Smith, his arrest, and alleged crimes.
Because of to significant persecution, the associates of the Church in Nauvoo which include John and Susannah and their household were making ready to go away Nauvoo to find rest from persecution.
John died on 13th of January 1854, around Nauvoo ahead of he could guidebook his spouse and children to the Salt Lake Valley in what is now Salt Lake City, Utah.
In the words of his son, John Fleming Wakefield II, “Who is familiar with but that father is now laboring in the missionary discipline in continuation of the labor he was doing when here on earth.”
