Brigham Young Counsels Eastern Saints to Sail to California — Horner Obeys and Becomes California's First Farmer
Published March 25, 2026 at 12:19 AM
Contributed by
Todd Morgan
Beaumont, CA, 92223
In late 1845, when the Saints were preparing to leave Nauvoo, Brigham Young gave counsel to the eastern Saints to charter a ship and sail around Cape Horn to California. John M. Horner, then 24 years old, was among those who obeyed. He sailed on the ship Brooklyn from New York in February 1846 — newly married the day before departure.
Horner later reflected on the divine chain of events set in motion by this counsel:
'I fully realized it was my obedience to the counsel of his servant in sending me to California and his continual blessings, that had placed me in the enviable position I then enjoyed.'
He became the first Anglo-Saxon settler of Alameda County, California, and the first person to successfully farm the territory commercially. His obedience to prophetic counsel placed him in precisely the right position at precisely the right time — when hundreds of thousands of gold-rush immigrants flooded California and desperately needed food. Within a few years of following that counsel, he had built a farming and business empire that netted him over $60,000 per year.
In Their Own Words
“For one year or so thereafter, in the meantime reading the Nauvoo papers eagerly. Finally word came that the Saints were going to leave Nauvoo for California then a province of Mexico, and counsel was given to the eastern Saints to charter a ship and go around the Horn to California. I was then twenty-four years of age, and had been married but one day to Elizabeth Imlay. We were living in New Jersey. We concluded to go with the company. We went to New York, and on the 4th of February, 1846, we set sail on the ship Brooklyn, with about two hundred and thirty-eight souls on board, mostly Saints. We were six months on the voyage, arriving in San Francisco bay, July 31, 1846. We found the country in a state of war, the United States having taken possession of it. We were disappointed in not finding the main body of the Church there, as we expected. We were left to shift for ourselves. I had but little money, but I had a strong constitution, and a willingness to work. I engaged in farming, and by the blessing of the Lord, I succeeded beyond my most sanguine expectations. I fully realized it was my obedience to the counsel of his servant in sending me to California and his continual blessings, that had placed me in the enviable position I then enjoyed.”
— John M. Horner, Life Story, published in The Improvement Era 1903-4
Sources & References
John M. Horner, Life Story, published in The Improvement Era 1903-4; compiled by Elaine Justesen A.G. 1991; josephsmithsermons.org/Early-Saints/John_Horner.html Full first-person account: John M. Horner, Life Story, published in The Improvement Era 1903-4; via Doctrine and Covenants Central https://doctrineandcovenantscentral.org/history/john-m-horner Full first-person account: John M. Horner, Life Story, published in The Improvement Era 1903-4; via Doctrine and Covenants Central https://doctrineandcovenantscentral.org/history/john-m-horner
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