Dear Pack Family,
4briefhistoriesJohnPack
JohnPack
JohnPackJournalTranscript
transcriptofJohnPackletter
Dear Pack Family,
4briefhistoriesJohnPack
JohnPack
JohnPackJournalTranscript
transcriptofJohnPackletter
Please click on the photo for a larger view.
Tombstone Inscriptions…Rahway Cemetery…
“Pack, Job, d. April 13, 1750 (verse), in 60 y.
Elizabeth, wife of Job, d. April 13, 1750, in 56 y.
John, son of Job and Elizabeth, d. April 13, 1750, in 14 y. “
The Job, Elizabeth & John Pack headstone in Rahway, New Jersey is halfway gone.This is our only known ancestral Pack headstone in New Jersey.  Please help us replace thestone by contributing to the John Pack Family Association by June 2012.  Please send your donations to:
The John Pack Family AssociationÂ
c/o Ben Pack, [email protected]
1097 N 910 EÂ
Orem, UT 84097
Or you can donate online using PayPal here:
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This is a talk presented by Phylis Tonks (a John Pack Descendant) at a ‘Daughters of Utah Pioneers’ meeting in St. George in the spring of 2011
JOHN PACK
John Pack was my great-great grandfather. He was born to George Pack and Phylotte Green on May 29, 1809 in St. John, New Brunswick, Canada. He was one of twelve children. When John was eleven years old, the family moved to a farm at Hounsfield in New York State. It was close to Watertown, which was an active industrial center, and like many farm families, they visited the town as often as once a week on market day.
In October 1832, John, then twenty-three years old married Julia Ives, my great-great grandmother, in Watertown. John had purchased the farm from his father and as part of the transaction, agreed to care for his parents, who were now in their sixties.
By this time, Joseph Smith had received his revelations, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was officially organized. Missionaries were being sent all over from Kirtland, and John and Julia probably had heard of the âMormonites,â of the âgolden Bible,â and of âJoe Smith.â By 1835, traveling missionaries found Johnâs parents, George and Phylotte Pack, and they believed, and were baptized. Once in the Church, they could not resist the attraction of gathering with the Saints at Kirtland, Ohio, so John helped them âfit outâ–get together the wagon, animals and whatever they could take with them and they left for Kirtland in the fall of 1835.
John and Julia had been married nearly four years now, and were still living on the farm in Hounsfield. They had had several discussions with visiting Elders, including Heber C. Kimball and Joseph Smith, Sr., but because of Johnâs strong-mindedness, he was not easily converted. Once converted, though, Johnâs and Juliaâs lives would never be the same. They were baptized in March of 1836, and in the early spring of 1837, they sold their farm, packed all their goods and headed for Kirtland to be with Johnâs parents, George and Phylotte. It was here that they renewed friendships with Heber C. Kimball and other apostles and personally met Joseph Smith.
John Packâs year in Kirtland – the spring of 1837 to the spring of 1838- was a terrible time for them because of the persecutions. John purchased a farm on the Chagrin River outside of Kirtland, intending to build a sawmill, but it was not to be. The Packâs attended meetings in the Kirtland Temple, and they were loyal to the prophet and his defenders like Brigham Young.
In April, after selling the farm at a loss, John and Julia headed for Missouri with their two children, four-year old Ward Eaton and baby Lucy, less than a year old, and Johnâs parents, George and Phylotte. This was a difficult 500 mile trip in a wagon, and it took a month to arrive in Far West. They bought a farm on the Grand River, some thirteen miles away.
It was going to be a long, hot summer with many terrible things going on. Oliver Cowdery, David and John Whitmer, W. W. Phelps, and Lyman Johnson had been excommunicated and were very vocal dissenters. It seemed as if the whole area was in turmoil. Milling around were anti-Mormon mobs and Danite bands organized by a Mormon to fight fire with fire, along with bands of militia trying to keep peace.
One day, a company of immigrants came, bringing word that Johnâs sister, Phoebeâs husband had just died at Huntsville, Missouri, and that Phoebe was deathly sick. John and Julia headed out the next day to go get her.
Before they reached the ferry, a company of about 30 armed men met them and asked if they were Mormons. John answered with a simple âyes,â and they were told to follow them to the groupâs camp. Immediately they were accosted by Sashiel Woods, a Methodist minister and leader of this mob force. He told Julia âWe take you for a spy,â and âYou can bid your husband goodbye; you will never see him again.â
Julia was told to go to a nearby log house, but strongly protesting, she said she would die with John. John leaned over and whispered, âStay with the wagon and take care of the horse. I am not afraid. I will be back soon.â Led by Woods, a group of five or six men took John through the brush to a grassy clearing. Woods then delivered an ultimatum: âHere will be your grave. We are going to kill you unless you deny Joseph Smith.â
John swallowed hard. He was not one to be cowed. âJoseph Smith is a prophet of God,â he said. âReverend Woods, you claim to be a preacher of the gospel. So do I, and I will meet you at the day of judgment.â
At that point, no one seemed willing to shoot him, and finally one of the men standing by the wagon called out, âLet that damned Mormon go.â John was brought back to the wagon, and the entire group escorted them to the ferry with the warning, âIf we ever find you around here again, you wonât get off so easy.â
Arriving at Huntsville, they found Phoebe near death, so they left her three oldest children with another family and brought Phoebe and her six-month old baby back to their own home on the Grand River. Things were not much better there. Rufus, Johnâs brother was down with the chills and fever, and Johnâs 69 year- old father George was seriously ill. Sometime in October he died and was buried in Far West.
Fear of the mobs drove John to move his family into Far West. He purchased some logs and on the edge of town put up a one-room structure. It was in this âpoorly lighted and poorly heated roomâ that twenty persons lived during the winter of 1838-39. After a number of mob encounters and the Battle of Crooked River, Governor Boggs issued the infamous extermination order that stated âthe Mormons must be treated as enemies and must be exterminated or driven from the state.â
Conditions deteriorated rapidly with mob violence everywhere. After the Haunâs Mill massacre, the state militia descended on Far West, and Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon, Hyrum Smith, Lyman Wight, George Robison and Parley P. Pratt were taken prisoners and escorted to Liberty Jail. Brigham Young was left in charge.
Finally, in February of 1839 John Pack and his family left for Illinois. He settled in Perry, Illinois for about a year and then moved to Nauvoo in April of 1840. By this time, Joseph Smith and the other leaders had escaped and come back to Nauvoo. John had served a ten month mission, preaching in southern Illinois. The Nauvoo Legion was organized, and John became a captain and then a major in 1843.
Nauvoo grew rapidly, the first story of the Temple was built, John and Julia received their endowments and were sealed, and many new doctrines were introduced, including baptism for the dead and polygamy.
John Pack was called on another mission to New Jersey along with Ezra Taft Benson. They were to preach the gospel and also to promote Joseph Smithâs plans to run for president. While on this mission, in June of 1844, Joseph and Hyrum Smith were killed.
Finally, after hearing of their deaths, John returned to Nauvoo. Here, he became a member of the âCouncil of Fiftyâ and he worked in the Temple with Julia where they received all their endowments, and in January of 1846, John added three wives to his family. He was now 36, and Julia was 29, with five children of their own.
Opposition to the Mormons was now fierce, and on February, 1846, John and his entire family left for the Rocky Mountains. Their 10-month old Julia died and they moved into Winter Quarters.
In the spring of 1847, John was called to be one of the pioneers to the Rocky Mountains and they were led by the Twelve, Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball. After many trials, they reached the valley in July, where Brigham Young became very sick with mountain fever, and had to rest a few days while others pushed ahead. John Pack was in charge of the main company, bringing it into Emigration Canyon.
On the morning of July 22, he joined a small party of eight to go into the valley by horseback. Some in this group were Orson Pratt, George A. Smith, Erastus Snow and Porter Rockwell. âThis is the Place Monumentâ has one panel showing John Pack in this group.
John Pack and the other pioneers returned to Winter Quarters in the fall of 1847 to get their families, and by April of 1848 the entire company started across the plains, reaching the Salt Lake Valley in September of 1848 after suffering many great trials.
John served seven missions, including a three -year mission to France and the Channel Islands. He died April 4, 1885, leaving many descendants. He had married eight wives and had 43 children.
New John Pack Writings Found
In the September 1851 issue of âLâEtoile du Deseretâ (The Deseret Star), the informative magazine published by John Taylor during the time that he and John Pack were in northern France founding a mission, there was an account of a joyous excursion on July 24th, 1851, on the Isle of Jersey, with John as president of a group of Saints, to celebrate the fourth anniversary of the entry of the Pioneers into the Salt Lake Valley. John gives an impressive address, of which the following is an excerpt (translated from the French):
âI am happy to be here amongst you, under such favorable circumstances, to celebrate with solemn ceremony the day when the Pioneers, of whom I am one, entered the valley, today the place where the Saints of God Most High live in peace. Already seven years have passed since the martyrdom of the Prophet of the Lord, since the earth drank the blood of this just and sainted man, he whose heart, filled with love for humanity, did not abandon his friends even at the moment of death, thus giving himself in sacrifice for his brethren. . . . I give thanks to God for having given me the privilege of living in these times, for having permitted me to see this day, after [many miles] of journeying with my brethren, who, like me, had left their families, their homes, to come and declare the Gospel of Christ. . . . I thank God for permitting me to see his Kingdom progress among the nations; for many prophets and patriarchs have desired to see such things, but have died without doing so.â
You will be able to read the entire speech in the new biography of John Pack when it is published. Completion of this major work is still in hand; we look forward to being able to report a publication date in a future issue of the Newsletter.
~Alison Pack, JPFA Treasurer and VP-Lucy Giles
A New Era in Family Research: “Those who may be mourning the closure of 24 family history centers in south Salt Lake Valley need only to step inside the new Riverton FamilySearch Library to appreciate the high-tech benefits of consolidation. The library conveniently duplicates nearly all the offerings of the Church’s larger, well-known Family History Library in downtown Salt Lake City.
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Special Pricing on The Redoubtable John Pack hardbound book!
Now just $12.50, the perfect gift for your family members!
The Redoubtable John Pack: Pioneer, Proselyter, Patriarch by Davis Bitton (hardbound, 232 pgs text, maps, photos) through PayPal by clicking on the book below (You can now order more than one book, $10/each, shipping/handling IS included in the price, and you do NOT have to join PayPal to buy the book):
We are working on updating our John Pack Genealogy.
Look for cool new features like:
a Pedigree Chart – to easily see how you are related to John
Google Maps – to see birth, death, gravestone, locations. Click here to see a list of the locations with “castle” in their name in the UK associated with John Pack’s ancestors – just click on the magnifying glass at the end of each listing to see them on a google map.
and more – keep checking back here and we will let you know what’s new!
One area just for fun: John Pack’s In the News. It is interesting to me to see what people with the same name as John Pack are up to.
Thank You,
Brad Pack
Webmaster
JohnPackFamily.com