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We'Ll Make the Air With Music Ring
William Clayton's Journal might well serve as a textbook for the ups and downs, the highs and the lows, of Mormon migration. Most of William Clayton's existing portraits make him appear as a man ready to vent his anger against the ills and misfortunes of life. The biography that accompanies his journal agrees with this appraisal. It reads: "As will appear from his portrait on the frontispiece, William Clayton did not tend to frivolity or mirth, but rather to seriousness and earnestness."
The fall and winter of 1846-47 were filled with illness for William Clayton. On Tuesday, September 15, he wrote: "This evening I copied a letter to Joseph P. Herring, and having no one to send it by, I took it to council myself. Before I got half way there my knees failed me, and it was with difficulty that I got there and home again." Four days later, he wrote: "Since Tuesday, I have not been out of bed, but today I feel somewhat better again."
Before the end of September, he had managed to join others in the move from Cutler's Park to Winter Quarters, where he started to build two houses for his families. Then, during the month of October, this faithful record keeper failed to make a single entry in his journal. In a simple entry on November 1, he explained that he had been alternately sick and well during the past month, but one house was nearing completion and would soon be occupied. Another month went by without an entry, and still another. When he resumed his diary, beginning with the new year, 1847, William Clayton seemed a new man. He wrote:
Friday, January 1, 1847. Morning at the store. At 2 P.M., went with Diantha to her father's and partook of a roast turkey for dinner. At 4:00, met the band at the basket shop and played about an hour and a half. The basket makers made each of us a present of a new basket and showed their gratitude various ways. At 6:00, met with the band at Father Kimball's and played for a party until after one o'clock. Presidents Young and Kimball danced considerable, and all seemed to feel well.
On January 7 he reported: "Went to Leonard's and played for them, with Hutchinson and Smithies until 12:00." The next day, he wrote: "The band met at my house and played some." And on January 12, he recorded the birth of a son to his wife Ruth: "She had a hard time, but is comfortable as can be expected. The boy is named Newel Horace. Evening, I met with the band at Johnson's and played until 11:00."
William Clayton obviously prized his membership in William Pitt's band. He had faithfully recorded the triumph as the band made its way across Iowa, entertaining the countryside and even making some ready cash to help pay the travel expenses. The band was present on an important day, that of April 15, 1846. William Clayton's journal entries for the preceding days had been filled with gloomy reports on the weather and the mounting difficulties of travel. A violent windstorm, accompanied by heavy rain, had blown over all but two of the tents in his company. The ground had frozen, and then it had rained again. Horses and cows had broken into some of the tents to find food. Some members of the band reported they had no meat and no flour. He was worried about the condition of his pregnant wife, Diantha, whom he had left in Nauvoo. Then, on April 15, he reported some joyful news: