John Benbow: The Herefordshire Farmer Who Opened the Way for 600 Converts (1840)

John Benbow was a prosperous farmer of Castle Frome, Herefordshire, England, into whose home Elder Wilford Woodruff was led in early March 1840 by the Spirit of the Lord. There Woodruff found approximately six hundred members of the 'United Brethren'—a body who had been praying for apostolic authority and the restoring of the primitive Church. At the Benbow farm and the surrounding villages, Elder Woodruff baptized the Benbows and hundreds of the United Brethren into the restored Church; many of them then gathered to Nauvoo and to Utah. John Benbow's life is a faith-promoting witness of the Lord preparing, among the humble of the earth, a people ready to receive the restored gospel when His servants came.

John Benbow was born on April 1, 1800, in Grendon Warren, Herefordshire, the son of Thomas Benbow and Anne Jones. He married Jane Holmes in Worcester on October 16, 1826. Following his baptism on March 6, 1840, at Hill Farm, John was ordained an elder by June 21, 1840, and was given charge of the Church branch at Fromes Hill. He immigrated to Nauvoo later in 1840, where he assisted others with their passage, and was later ordained a high priest by Hyrum Smith on February 2, 1842.

Fuller account of this event (in the witness’s own words):

In the morning, I went in secret before the Lord, and asked Him what His will was concerning me. The answer I got was that I should go to the south; for the Lord had a great work for me to perform there, as many souls were waiting for the word of the Lord. I therefore took leave of my friends and brethren, and started on my journey, without purse or scrip, taking the coach, and travelled thirty-four miles to the city of Worcester, where I stopped for the night. The next morning I walked sixteen miles to the house of Mr. John Benbow, a wealthy farmer, who cultivated three hundred acres of land, in Castle Frome, Herefordshire. I spent the day at Mr. Benbow's, and preached at his house, and had the testimony that there were many present that would be Saints. I found a people in that region who had been praying for the ancient order of things, and were anxiously looking for the manifestations of the Spirit. They opened their doors for me to preach, and searched the Scriptures daily to see if the things which I taught were true; and on finding that the word and spirit agreed and bore record of the truth of the fullness of the everlasting gospel, they embraced it with all their hearts. I baptized six hundred persons in that region of country, including all the preachers of the United Brethren, except one.