Israel Barlow (September 13, 1806 – November 1, 1883) was one of the founders of Nauvoo, Illinois and a noted early member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Early life and conversion
Israel Barlow was born in Granville, Massachusetts on September 13, 1806 to Jonathan Barlow and Annis Gillett. After the death of his father in 1820, his family moved to Mendon, New York. About the age of 24, Barlow first heard the preaching of missionaries of the Church of Christ, the original name of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In late 1831 or early 1832, Barlow traveled about 250 miles to Hiram, Ohio to meet the founder of the new faith, the Prophet Joseph Smith. After talking with him for two or three hours, Barlow said he knew Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. In May 1832, Barlow was baptized into the Church in Mendon by Brigham Young, a recent convert himself and boyhood friend.
Zion's Camp and Kirtland Temple
Israel Barlow and his mother, brothers, and sisters moved from New York to Ohio late in 1832 or early 1833 to join with other Latter-day Saints gathering in the Kirtland area. Barlow participated in the 1834 Zion's Camp march led by Joseph Smith, from Kirtland, Ohio, to Clay County, Missouri, in an unsuccessful attempt to regain land from which the Saints had been expelled by non-Mormon settlers. In 1835, Barlow was ordained a seventy by Sidney Rigdon and was called as one of the inaugural members of the First Quorum of the Seventy. Barlow participated in the construction of the Kirtland Temple and attended its dedication on March 27, 1836.
Battle of Crooked River and Haun's Mill massacre
In 1837, Israel Barlow and his family moved to Far West, Missouri. Confrontations arose between local citizens and the new Latter-day Saint settlers in Missouri during 1838. On October 25, 1838, Barlow was present at the Battle of Crooked River near Far West where three Latter-day Saints were killed or mortally wounded, including Apostle David W. Patten. Barlow was one of the stretcher bearers who carried Patten back to Far West, where he died that night. During the next week, the circumstances of the Latter-day Saints in Missouri deteriorated even further. On October 27, Missouri Governor Lilburn W. Boggs issued the infamous extermination order, which stated that “the Mormons must be treated as enemies and must be exterminated or driven from the state, if necessary for the public good.” Three days later, on October 30, a Missouri mob killed 17 men and boy and severely wounded several others, including women and children, at Haun’s Mill, a small settlement. That same day, more than two thousand Missouri men from mobs and a military unit began driving the Latter-day Saints from Far West, and on the next day, took captive Joseph Smith and other Church leaders.
Seeking refuge
In late 1838, Brigham Young counseled Israel Barlow and 32 other Latter-day Saints to leave Far West to search for a place for more than 12,000 homeless Saints to find refuge. While journeying in exile, Barlow would separate from the group and eventually make the acquaintance of Dr. Isaac Galland, the owner of properties near Montrose, Iowa, and Commerce, Illinois. After hearing of the dire plight of the Saints, Galland offered Barlow to sell the Saints the properties on good terms, an offer that Barlow relayed to Church leaders. The Church purchased the properties from Galland and the dispersed Saints once again began to gather together, particularly along the Mississippi River at Commerce, which they renamed Nauvoo in 1840.