“Last month . . . commenced
‘Life of Heber C. Kimball’ for which I am to get $1000 from the Kimball boys
[children of Heber].”[1] Shortly thereafter, he
“Received of Sol. F. Kimball $250, first payment on Life of H. C. Kimball.”[2] In a letter to President
Joseph F. Smith he wrote: “I am now writing the Life of Heber C. Kimball. The family hold a reunion on his 86th
anniversary June 14—at Fullers Hill. . . . I will write a sketch for the
reunion, simply, and finish the history afterwards.”[3] To do the work, he
borrowed some items from his mother, Heber’s daughter: “Orson called at evening
to get some of the items from my writings in the [Women’s] Exponent; took
home one book and some of father’s small journals.”[4]
By June Orson had prepared
his sketch far enough on the life of Heber C. Kimball to read an outline of it
at the Kimball family reunion.[5]
Ort also received another
payment for his work writing the biography of Heber C. Kimball for the Kimball
family.[6]
Regarding her death, he
wrote: “Aunt Eliza R. Snow Smith died at 5 minutes past 1 am in the Lion House,
this City. I was in to see her a few days ago and blessed her at her request,
and the power of the Spirit was upon me. . . . Sister Eliza was a great and
noble spirit, a poet and a prophetess. She predicted to me several months ago
that my History of H. C. Kimball would be a standard work of the Church, and a
blessing to the Saints and his posterity” (OFWJ, December 5, 1887; see also
December 7, 1887). Whitney’s biography of Heber would indeed become a standard
work of the Church for some years, until around 1900 when the term “standard
works” was redefined to refer only to the Mormon cannon of scripture.
During spare moments, Orson
was able to continue working on Heber C. Kimball’s life story: “Orson had
father’s history uppermost in his mind,” Helen Mar wrote, “and searched through
some of the bound [Woman’s] Exponent’s for my historical sketches,
taken from my father’s journal.”[7] The work was progressing
well.[8]
That same day, Orson wrote of
finishing his first lengthy historical project: “I also celebrate today the
completion of my book—Life of Heber C.
Kimball—my first literary work issued in book form, upon which I have been
engaged for about one year. I have received for it $1000 from the Kimball
family. This has been no adequate payment, but I agreed to do it for that and
have kept my word. It has been a labor of love, not of money, and I dedicate it
to His memory of my noble grand-father and the great Cause of Truth for which
he lived and died.”[9]
The book became a classic, then and today. Ort felt pride in its reception, and
noted special compliments: “My uncle, Solomon F. Kimball, tells me that Pres.
Joseph F. Smith told his brother Andrew Kimball, that whenever he had the
‘blues’ or felt dejected, he picked up the Life
of Heber C. Kimball and read in it; he said it always gave him a good
spirit. This is one of the highest compliments my book has had.”[10] Also, “My friend George
C. Parkinson from Franklin, Idaho, is in town. He told me that during a recent
visit to his stake of Apostles John H[enry]. Smith and H[eber]. J. Grant; these
brethren, speaking of the respective merits of the Life of Joseph the Prophet and Life
of Heber C. Kimball, said they would lay down the former (George Q.’s book)
any time, to take up the other. [Text removed] told George C. [text removed]
been brought into prominence, not particularly on his merits, that Ort Whitney
had got there on his own merits. I thought this was very generous of Bro.
Grant.”[11]
Some fifty-five years later,
when Andrew Kimball’s son, Spencer W. Kimball, became a member of the Quorum of
the Twelve Apostles, he was also elected president of the Kimball family
organization. As part of that responsibility, Elder Kimball’s biographers
stated: “he set about reissuing the long out-of-print Life of Heber C.
Kimball, which had been out of print for some years, hoping with this book
‘to bring the immense Kimball family together . . . that they will lean to the
Lord and his work as they follow grandfather.’ Although the many miracles,
prophecies, and visions in the Life were thought by some to be too
loosely documented and by others too sacred for general publication, Spencer
decided that, except for a handful of changes, it was ‘wise to leave the new
[edition of the] book in the masterful form given it’ by his cousin Orson F. Whitney
in 1888.”[12]
On November 10, Orson Whitney
was proud to see the first copies of his book Life of Heber C. Kimball come from the bindery.[13]
[1]
OFWJ, April 6, 1887.
[2]
OFWJ, April 20, 1887.
[3]
Correspondence, Orson F. Whitney to Joseph F. Smith, May 18, 1887. Church
History Library.
[4]
HMWJ, March 24, 1887. Helen’s diary also indicates that the Kimball family sold
part of a graveyard they owned in order to help pay for Orson’s work writing Life of Heber C. Kimball (see HMWJ,
April 9, 1887).
[5]
See OFWJ, June 14, 1887.
[6]
“Received from S. F. Kimball $50 on acct History H. C. K. making $300 in all,
so far paid to me. Receipted for $300 to S. F. K. as agent of Kimball family, and
he to return my receipt for $250 issued to him as a private individual” (August
6, 1887). Later in September Ort wrote: “I have received in all from the
Kimball family Committee for writing the history of H. C. K. $950. They still
owe me $50” (OFWJ, September 27, 1887).
[7]
HMWJ, April 18, 1888.
[8]
Helen Mar also wrote of the history: “My Father died 20 years ago tomorrow. His
history, which Orson is writing, will be finished in a few days” (HMWJ, June
21, 1888).
[9]
OFWJ, July 1, 1888.
[10]
OFWJ, May 22, 1889.
[11]
OFWJ, June 3, 1889.
[12]
As quoted in Spencer W. Kimball, 223.
Eighty years later, a great-great-grandson of Heber’s, Stanley B. Kimball,
wrote the biography Heber C. Kimball:
Mormon Patriarch and Pioneer (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1981).
More academically oriented and wary of the spiritual, one wonders what Ort
would have thought of it.
[13]
See OFWJ, November 10, 1888.
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