Benjamin Steed was called to serve as a member of the building committee and began to play a more and more prominent role in the erection of the structure. By now one of the leading land developers in Geauga County, Benjamin had purchased several blocks of property around the city, as well as two farms, one out south of town beyond the stone quarry, and the other east on the Chardon Road. When Nathan and Lydia returned from Palmyra, Benjamin persuaded them to leave their little homestead out on the Morley farm and manage both of Benjamin’s farms. This freed Benjamin so that he could spend his time developing his town properties into prime building lots. It also left him considerable free time, all of which he spent at the temple.
Mary Ann was nearly as involved, for it was not just the men that labored on the Lord’s house. The women gathered frequently to sew, knit, and weave: first they concentrated their efforts on making clothes for the temple workmen; then later they made the carpets and the long curtains, or veils, that were designed to partition off the large assembly rooms into smaller compartments.
By November of 1835 the plastering of the exterior began. Crushed glassware was added to the stucco to make the walls glisten in the sunlight. Under the direction of Brigham Young, who was a skilled carpenter and glazier, the interior was finished during February of 1836. The large assembly rooms were furnished at each end with elaborate and beautifully crafted pulpits for the presidencies of the priesthood quorums.
The settling of affairs in Missouri freed many of the brethren for missionary work. They fanned out in every direction, carrying copies of the Book of Mormon in their knapsacks and the fire of testimony in their hearts. In 1830 the Church had been organized with six official members. By the end of 1835 there were nearly nine thousand Latter-day Saints.
Nathan Steed was one of the many who contributed to this missionary effort. He and Lydia returned home in time to help his father harvest the fall crops, then he left on a two-month mission to Pennsylvania. He left for a month in the early spring of ’35 and visited the nearby settlements in Ohio, then left again the following fall, this time traveling more extensively through New York, Connecticut, Vermont, and Massachusetts. In his journal he recorded that, in all now, he had walked over two thousand miles, preached seventy-nine times, laid hands on the sick and blessed them over one hundred times, blessed over fifty children, and baptized nearly a hundred converts.
This eighteen months was a time of many important developments in the Church. Changes in organization were made, additional scriptures published, new doctrines revealed. In February of 1835 the Three Witnesses to the Book of Mormon, following the Lord’s instructions, chose twelve men to form a Quorum of Twelve Apostles. Two weeks later Joseph organized the Quorum of the Seventy. Some said that Zion’s Camp had been a failure, but it was interesting to Nathan to see that of the Twelve, all but three had marched to Missouri to redeem Zion; of the Seventy, without exception every one had been a member of Zion’s Camp.
In the summer of 1835, Kirtland was electrified by a visitor from the East who brought some Egyptian mummies and some scrolls of papyrus filled with the mysterious hieroglyphic writing used by the ancients. Desirous to know what the writings contained, the Saints purchased the mummies and the scrolls for twenty-four hundred dollars, and immediately Joseph began work on the scrolls. To his joy, the Prophet discovered that they contained the writings of Abraham and of Joseph of Egypt.
Later that same year the Saints received a second work of latter-day scripture to serve as companion with the Book of Mormon. A revised and expanded version of the Book of Commandments was published; it was called the Doctrine and Covenants. The first section of the book contained seven lectures on faith prepared by Joseph Smith and others and given at the School of the Elders. This section was called “the doctrine.” The second and much larger section contained “the covenants and commandments,” or the revelations Joseph had received from the Lord over the previous seven years. More than a hundred were included.
But while these developments were exciting and gave the members much to talk about, for the most part life went on in the daily routine of making a living and raising families. For the Benjamin Steed family, it was a much-needed time for restoration as well. When Nathan accepted the task of running his father’s two farms, his mother persuaded him to move with Lydia and the children into town rather than live on one of the two farms.
It proved to be one of the wisest things Nathan could have done, for it not only kept them in the mainstream of Church life but also united the family in an unusual way. Jessica and her young daughter moved into a small cabin next door to Benjamin and Mary Ann’s place, and was quickly welcomed and fully accepted into the Steed family circle.
A month or two after Jessica’s arrival, Melissa prevailed upon her husband, Carl, to let Jessica work at the livery stable keeping the books. Carl at first agreed only reluctantly; but Jessica’s previous work experience with Joshua’s freight company in Independence proved invaluable, and thereafter Carl was pleased to have her work for him.
When Lydia and Nathan returned from New York and agreed to live in town, the circle was completed. Jessica had dreaded this time, the time when she and the legendary Lydia met face-to-face. But any fears she had were quickly put to rest. Jessica understood now why Joshua had continued to nurse his fantasies about Lydia, but she also knew they had been nothing more than that.
Mary Ann was thrilled with the way things worked out, of course. To have both of her daughters and both of her daughters-in-law around her was wonderful. And then there were the grandchildren! There were six now. Jessica’s little Rachel, a sober child with wide, vulnerable eyes and a pensive spirit, quickly became her grandfather’s favorite and went everywhere with him, her tiny little hand always reaching up to grasp his. Melissa had two sons now—young Carl, who had taken her dark hair and eyes, and David Benjamin, destined to be as redheaded and freckle-faced as his father. Lydia and Nathan’s oldest, young Joshua, would turn five in May of ’36. He was a frequent visitor to his uncle’s livery stable, where he and young Carl had the most wonderful romps. Little Emily, who had fully inherited her mother’s beauty, took a special liking to her Grandmother Steed, and they became fast friends. The baby, born in the fall of ‘35 and named Nathan Joseph, was a strapping youngster with an insatiable appetite and, as long as he was fed, a wonderful disposition.
It was a frequent occurrence to have all the Steeds gather at Grandma and Grandpa’s house for a cornhusking, or to work on temple projects, or for dinner. There was not a day that went by but what Mary Ann and Benjamin gave thanks to the Lord for the blessing of having their family around them.
Things were looking up for Nathan and Lydia; not only had they weathered their crisis, but their marriage entered a phase now in which their relationship deepened and was strengthened. Part of that stemmed from the promises Lydia had made to herself and to Nathan. Part of it came from the more reflective and mature Nathan who had returned from the experience of Zion’s Camp. When Joseph opened the Kirtland School in the winter of 1834-35, William E. McLellin was hired to teach geography, penmanship, arithmetic, and English grammar to the more than one hundred students—old and young, male and female—who enrolled. Nathan went to McLellin one day and suggested he consider Lydia as a substitute on those days when he got sick or had commitments he could not set aside. McLellin liked the suggestion, and Lydia took to teaching as if she had been born to it.
Then, in January of ‘36, when Joseph hired a professor from Hudson, Ohio, to come to Kirtland and teach the brethren Hebrew, Nathan immediately enrolled in the classes. Each night, when he wasn’t on guard duty at the temple, he would bring his notes home, sit Lydia down, and teach her what he had learned. At first it was just Lydia. But quickly Jessica and Rebecca and Mary Ann were part of these evening “classes” as well. Lydia and Becca were especially quick to pick up the Hebrew words and constructions, and soon were going around the house reciting: “Aleph, bet, gimmel, dalet, hay...” They would almost never make it clear through the Hebrew alphabet without breaking into gales of laughter.
Worship was another thing that bound the Steed family together. No meetinghouses were constructed while the work went forward on the temple, so the Saints met wherever they could. During the winter it was usually in homes or in the school. In more pleasant weather they preferred to gather outdoors in some shady and grassy spot. Since Benjamin and Mary Ann had one of the larger homes in Kirtland, theirs was often the site of Sabbath services. Sunday meetings were simple. They would begin, usually at ten o’clock, with a hymn and a prayer, followed by sermons, then another hymn and a prayer of closing. The afternoon service was the same, only it also usually included the administration of the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper.
Weeknights were often filled with priesthood quorum meetings or other preaching services. The first Thursday of the month was “fast day.” The food saved by fasting was brought and distributed to the poor, then they had a “testimony meeting.” These meetings lasted much longer than Sabbath meetings, sometimes as long as six hours. The members would rise to their feet and bear testimony of their beliefs, or tell of manifestations of God’s good will in their lives. Often they would exhort one another to live more Christlike lives. “Physical fasting, spiritual feasting,” was the way Mary Ann described the fast meetings.
There was another meeting of a more unusual nature that was held from time to time. In the first months of the Church’s organization, many people began to ask Joseph to petition the Lord for their own personal revelations. He did so, but as the Church grew in numbers this became more and more difficult for him to keep up with. In December of 1833, while giving blessings to his own family, Joseph was inspired to call his father as the Patriarch to the Church. In Old Testament times, the patriarchs—Adam, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph—gave blessings to their children and others. These blessings gave the person counsel from the Lord, promised blessings if the individual was faithful, and warned about weaknesses or problems that the person should avoid.
Soon Father Smith was traveling to the various branches of the Church, where he would hold special “blessing meetings.” He would gather a group of Saints together and, one by one, give each a patriarchal blessing.
On the night of February second, 1836, while a winter storm raged outside, Nathan and Lydia Steed, along with Jessica and Rebecca, sat in a blessing meeting inside the home of Joseph Smith, Sr. For over an hour Joseph’s father, white haired and dignified, now in his sixty-fifth year, had stood in his place behind the chair placed in the center of the room. One by one, each person went to that chair. He would lay his hands on the person’s head and in quiet reverence, speaking slowly so his wife or son could transcribe the words, pronounce the blessing upon the individual. He had now gone almost all the way around the circle. Lydia was next.
“You go first,” she whispered to Nathan, as Father Smith finished and the other person stood and shook his hand. For some reason, she was suddenly nervous.
Nathan smiled and shook his head.
“Sister Steed,” Father Smith said, beckoning to her.
Nathan squeezed her hand, then gave her a gentle push. “Go on.”
She went to the chair and took her place, then turned and looked up into the kindly face. “Lydia McBride Steed,” she said. He always asked for the person’s full name. He nodded. As she turned back to the front and bowed her head, she felt the gentle hands with their long slender fingers come upon her head.
“Sister Lydia McBride Steed, in the name of our Lord and Savior, even Jesus Christ, and as a patriarch called of God and ordained to that office by one of the Lord’s anointed, I lay my hands upon your head and give unto you a blessing.”
He paused for a moment, to listen to that still, quiet, inward voice that was prompting him. His voice deepened. “Sister Steed, you have been called of God to enter his church and kingdom in this the last of the dispensations, the dispensation of the fulness of times, even that dispensation that shall bring about a restoration of all things in preparation for the coming of him who is Lord of lords and King of kings.
“Sister Steed, the Lord is pleased with your willingness to enter the waters of baptism and take his name upon you, and he will bless you throughout your life with a multitude of blessings as long as you continue faithful to his word.”
A
multitude of blessings? They have already come.
Her heart sang with joy as a list quickly ran through her mind: Nathan and their love. Three beautiful children. Good health. A comfortable home. The Steed family. Membership in the Church.
“Sister Steed, you are a member of the house of Israel, coming through the loins of Ephraim, who was the son of Joseph, who was the son of Jacob. This is a noble lineage, and you have been born into it because of your faithfulness.
“The Lord would have you know that your calling in this mortal life is to be a righteous mother in Zion. You have already chosen a good and faithful man as your husband. Stand by his side in his endeavors, and you shall be the queen in your home. You have already been blessed with children, and you shall yet be blessed with sons and daughters. These spirits that have now and will yet be entrusted into your care come from the presence of God, where they lived with him. Take them into your home with love and care. Train them in the way they should go, teaching them the principles of the gospel and the importance of serving Jesus Christ. This is a sacred and holy trust that you are given. If you fill it well, you shall come forth in the morning of the first resurrection with all the holy angels and there behold the face of God.”
A thrill shot through Lydia as the image of his words filled her mind.
Sons and daughters! The first resurrection!
Her mind was reeling with the wonder of it.