Jedediah M. Grant's Two-Night Vision of the Spirit World on His Deathbed (1856)

In late November 1856, Jedediah M. Grant — Second Counselor in the First Presidency under Brigham Young and the first mayor of Salt Lake City — lay dying at the age of 40. What he experienced in his final days became one of the most detailed and documented accounts of the spirit world in LDS Church history.

Heber C. Kimball visited President Grant on his deathbed and laid his hands upon him and blessed him. Shortly after, Grant rallied and spoke for about an hour, describing with remarkable clarity what he had witnessed.

Grant told Kimball:

'Brother Heber, I have been into the spirit world two nights in succession, and of all the dreads that ever came across me, the worst was to have to again return to my body, though I had to do it.'

He described the order and organization he witnessed:

'When in the spirit world, I saw the order of righteous men and women; beheld them organized in their several grades, and there appeared to be no obstruction to my vision; I could see every man and woman in their grade and order. I looked to see whether there was any disorder there, but there was none; neither could I see any death nor any darkness, disorder or confusion. The people were organized in family capacities.'

Then came a deeply personal moment. His deceased wife Caroline — who had died from the hardships of the pioneer trek to Utah — was the first person to come to him in the vision. She carried in her arms their baby daughter Margaret, whose body had been left on the plains and devoured by wolves.

Caroline said to him: 'Mr. Grant, here is little Margaret; you know that the wolves ate her up, but it did not hurt her; here she is all right.'

Grant also beheld the beauty of the place:

'I have seen good gardens on this earth, but I never saw any to compare with those that were there. I saw flowers of numerous kinds, and some with from fifty to a hundred different colored flowers growing upon one stalk.'

He asked his wife where Joseph Smith, Hyrum Smith, and Father Smith were. She replied: 'They have gone away ahead, to perform and transact business for us.'

Of the buildings he saw, Grant said that the temple Solomon built was 'much inferior to the most ordinary buildings he saw in the spirit world.'

He also noted a sobering observation: 'When I looked at families there was a deficiency in some — families that would not be permitted to come and dwell together, because they had not honored their calling here.'

So perfect, harmonious, and glorious was everything that Grant 'was loathe to return to his mortal body.' He died on December 1, 1856, just days after sharing this vision. He was 40 years old. His son Heber J. Grant would later become the seventh President of the Church.