| 108 transcript from any of them. After his return from the city of New York he was employed as scribe to the Prophet Joseph in the translation of the records of the Book of Mormon.
After the translation was completed he was called by divine revelation to be one of the three witnesses of the Book of Mormon. The testimony of the three witnesses forms part of the preface to the book. He paid for the printing of five thousand copies and labored as proof-reader of the book. He traveled some two thousand five hundred miles in its interest before the book was printed, and bore his own expenses.
He was one of the six members at the organization of the church on April 6,1830. He was one of the members of the first High Council. He attended the first public meeting, at which Oliver Cowdery preached the first public discourse on the principles of the gospel as revealed through the Prophet Joseph Smith in this dispensation. He attended the first conference of the church held at Fayette, Seneca County, state of New York.
He moved with the church to Kirtland, Ohio, where the first temple was built. He went up to Missouri in company with the Prophet Joseph Smith and others, at the time when they were afflicted with the cholera, and was one of those who were afflicted, but was healed instantly by the power of God. He was one who witnessed the dispersing of the mob by a terrible storm, which, while it proved fatal to many of the mob, brought salvation to the Saints. He was one who assisted in purchasing land in Missouri for the gathering of the Saints, he having paid Bishop Partridge the sum of one thousand two hundred dollars. He was present at the dedication of the Kirtland Temple, and witnessed the powerful manifestations of God on that memorable occasion. He figured conspicuously in nearly all of the early movements of the church, and was one who never withheld his substance or means when it was required to establish and forward the interests of the church. He always thought and said that his mission was to stay in Kirtland, where the first temple was built, so he did not move with the church, but remained in Kirtland till the year 1870, when he came to Utah.
Since coming to Utah he has resided with his son, Martin Harris, Jr., in Cache County. He was in his eighty-eighth year when he came to this Territory. He has enjoyed good health and a good appetite, and has been industrious; all the time since his arrival. He would never be idle so long as there was anything that he could do. He has always borne a faithful and undeviating testimony to the divinity of the Book of Mormon, whether in Kirtland, in the midst of the wicked and ungodly, or in Utah, or any of the different places where the Saints have resided. He was in his happiest mood when he could get somebody to listen to his testimony, and he never appeared to get tired of talking about the coming forth of the Book of Mormon, and testifying to its truth. And if at any time he felt dull or tired from any cause whatever, and he could get an opportunity of testifying to the truth of that book, he would revive immediately.
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