Book # 29

Stories From the Life of Porter Rockwell

By John W. Rockwell and Jerry Borrowman

John Rockwell is the great, great, great grandson of Porter Rockwell, and the other author's ancestors were friends and business partners with Rockwell, so they were both interested in telling these stories from his life.

It was interesting because they are pretty honest about this man; didn't try to pretty him up, and even shared some of the stories that anti-mormons and his enemies told about him. But despite that, it was obvious that Porter Rockwell was an impressive man.

He was a neighbor and friend to Joseph Smith from the time he was 6 years old, and Joseph was about 13. They were friends despite the age gap, partly because they had something in common. They both limped. Porter was there when Joseph began to share stories about the angel and believed in him unwaveringly throughout his life. He was there when the church was organized and was the 9th person to be baptized. He was a fairly normal, peaceful man until they lived in Far West, when his home was destroyed and his family terrorized by a anti-mormon mob, while he watched helplessly from the woods. He decided that he would never allow that to happen again. He began to practice his marksmanship skills and soon became an excellent shot. As Mormon history progressed, he was always at Joseph Smith's side, always willing to help and protect him. At one point, during the Nauvoo period, he was imprisoned for 9 months, charged with the attempted murder of Governor Boggs. He was nearly starved to death. Even after being acquitted by a Missourian jury, he still wasn't released in an attempt to lure Joseph Smith back to Missouri and into their murderous plans. They even tried to bribe Porter with gold and a life of luxury among them if he would only help them to get Joe Smith. But Porter remained loyal. He attempted to escape several times, and would have been successful on one of those attempts, if he had not gone back to help a fellow escapee, who was caught on a fence. Eventually he was released and made his way back to Nauvoo, where he arrived at Joseph Smith's home on Christmas Eve, where there was a party underway. He hadn't washed, shaved or changed his clothing in 9 months and the guests told Joseph that there was a dirty drunk attempting to crash the party. Joseph went to throw him out and discovered that it was his dear friend Porter Rockwell. He was invited to stay and everyone gathered around to hear the story of his long incarceration. Joseph was touched by his faithfulness and endurance, and gave him a blessing right there on the spot. He promised him that "as long as he was true and faithful to his covenants, to the church and to his God, that no bullet or blade would ever harm him. As a token of his acceptance of this promise, he was never to cut his hair again." After that, he became well known as Joseph Smith's personal bodyguard. At the time of Joseph Smith's incarceration in the Carthage jail, he asked Porter to stay behind in Nauvoo, knowing that Porter would be killed if he went with him to Carthage, and wishing him to remain alive to help the church continue on. Which he does. He was in the advance scouting party to the Salt Lake valley. He made several trips back and forth across the plains to help the saints make it to Utah. He traveled throughout the west to make trails and discover places for the saints to settle. He developed and fostered better relations with the Indians. He also became a deputy sheriff, a rancher, a saloon and hotel owner. He had 3 wives (not a polygamist) and had 15 children. One story I liked was when he made a trip to California, on the trail he helped to blaze through the west desert. When he reached the coast, he found the saints, and among them was Agnes Smith, the widow of Don Carlos, Joseph Smith's younger brother. She was recovering from typhoid fever and had lost all her hair. Porter went and had his hair cut, which he hadn't done for about 16 years, and had it made into a wig for her. It was said that he went into hiding for a while until his hair grew back.

There were a lot of tall tales and legends about Porter Rockwell. One being that he was the person responsible for the failed assassination attempt on Governor Boggs of Missouri. There was no proof and it was generally felt that if Porter had tried to kill the Governor, he would have succeeded. There were tales of gunslingers seeking him out to test the legend that bullets couldn't kill him. None of them survived. Legend or not, Porter Rockwell was not killed by gun or knife. He died at age 65 of a heart attack....with his boots on.

Until Next Time ;o)