Mormon Musings

"Dan Jones was born 4 August 1810 in Halkin, Flintshire, Wales. . . . In 1840 he came to America. . . . By 1842, when he was thirty-one, the short, stocky Welshman owned a half interest in the Maid of Iowa, a boat large enough to carry three hundred passengers. "While engaged in river traffic, Dan learned of the Mormons, who had been driven from Missouri and had found temporary refuge in Quincy, Illinois, and then had gone on to establish 'Nauvoo the Beautiful.' . . . He wanted to learn more about these people. He met them, was taught, and accepted the truth. In January 1843, he was baptized in the cold waters of the Mississippi River. . . . "In June of the following year, Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum were arrested and taken to Carthage. Dan Jones was among those who accompanied them and was locked in jail with them. On the last night in Carthage, when apparently the others had gone to sleep, Joseph Smith whispered to Dan Jones, 'Are you afraid [to die...