David Cluff Family - Divine Preservation Through Sickness in Springfield, Illinois

When the Cluff family was forced to leave Kirtland due to persecution and decided to gather to Jackson County, Missouri, they began their journey. However, a miraculous providence of the Lord intervened. Harvey Harris Cluff wrote: 'On the family arriving at Springfield, Illinois all but two were prostrate with the chills and fever. The detention of the family at Springfield resulted in an escape of the family from being in the Missouri persecution and driving from Jackson County.' What appeared to be a calamity—a severe illness affecting nearly all family members—was actually the Lord's protection. The sickness that detained them in Springfield caused them to miss the terrible persecutions and driving out of the Saints from Jackson County, Missouri. This was divine protection working through providential circumstance.

Fuller account of this event (as retold in The Cluff family journal):

Their departure westward; this time their faces were turned toward Jackson County, Missouri, to which place many were gathering. But on reaching Springfield, Illinois, all the members of the family except two were prostrated with chills and fever, which necessitated some months' delay. The protracted stay at Springfield resulted in an escape from the persecution and final expulsion of the Saints from the State of Missouri. The almost universal feeling throughout the land was to exterminate the Mormons; which led men to act more like demons than like human beings or Christians.

Fuller account of this event (as retold in The Cluff family journal):

Their departure westward; this time their faces were turned toward Jackson County, Missouri, to which place many were gathering. But on reaching Springfield, Illinois, all the members of the family except two were prostrated with chills and fever, which necessitated some months' delay. The protracted stay at Springfield resulted in an escape from the persecution and final expulsion of the Saints from the State of Missouri. The almost universal feeling throughout the land was to exterminate the Mormons; which led men to act more like demons than like human beings or Christians.