MosesClawson.com

Fort Laramie, August 7,1853.

President Brigham Young:

Dear Brother: I now have the pleasure of forwarding you herein e enclosed a statement of the persons and teams composing the St. Louis Company, over which I was appointed Captain at Keokuk, by Brother Eldridge and Brother Haight. The company Left Keokuk for Kanesville in small companies, as they got ready and I started in company with 20 wagons on the 16th of May, and arrived at Kanesville on the 11th of June.

This speech was first delivered at the Charles Moses Clawson Jr. family reunion in Sierra Vista, Arizona on July 5, 1997. It was given by proxy by Rodney E. Clawson, a great great grandson, and repeated at the Moses Clawson reunion in Shelley, Idaho on August 2, 1997. The speech is a summary of some major events of Moses Clawson's life.

Documents of the 1833-1838 Missouri Conflict

Edited by Clark V. Johnson

Volume Sixteen in the Religious Studies Center Monograph Series
Copyright 1992 by Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University.

Chapter 6 INDIVIDUAL AFFIDAVITS FROM THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES A-L

Moses Clawson's speech delivered on the deck of the ship "Ellen Maria" on Sunday morning the 27th of February 1853.

My dear brethren and sisters, we have met together this morning to offer up unto the God of Israel our songs of praise, and to speak of things which pertain to eternal life, and which are of value unto us. It is with very peculiar feelings and under very peculiar circumstances that I stand before you this morning. I have not had a well day, and scarcely a well hour during the whole time I have been on this ship, and I want you to come close together so that all may hear, as my voice is no very strong; but I will do my best under our present circumstances. I want to repeat a few words, which the Savior said, says He: "I came not to do my own will but the will of Him that sent me."

Note: Moses Clawson's original 1853 autobiography is preserved in the BYU library, where copies are available for study. His original diary covers a short period from Sept. 1855 through Dec. 1856 in the Ogden area, tithing records from his mission in England, a speech he gave on the ship Ellen Maria, Salt Lake Second Ward school building trustee accounts, and a few southern Utah accounts. It is in the possession of Eldon R. Clawson. No other original writings of Moses Clawson are known, but much information on him and his relationships have been gleaned from the writings of Warren Foote, his cousin.

Born 8 Oct. 1801 in Dryden, New York to Ebenezer and Lowly Foote Clawson, shortly after their move there with her brother David Foote, her mother, Rebecca Barker, and step-father, Ezekial Sanford. Ebenezer Clawson died 12 Aug. 1806 and Lowly remarried a few years later to Josiah Richardson.