John Fleming Wakefield – Missionary Extraordinary

John Fleming Wakefield was born on September 12, 1812, in Brush Valley, Indiana, Pennsylvania.

John Fleming was introduced to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (also known as the Mormon Church) by a Church missionary named Erastus Snow while he was preaching the gospel in western Pennsylvania. Apparently the Wakefields were of the Methodist faith and various members of the Wakefield family played a prominent role in building the Methodist churches in that area.

After hearing Erastus Snow preach, John Fleming was baptized into the Church on October 25, 1836, at the age of 24.

John Fleming Wakefield later became a missionary for the Church and accompanied Erastus Snow to Brush Valley, Pennsylvania.

At the time, there was a family living in Brush Valley whose father was David Garlick. The name Garlick was actually an Americanized version of the German surname. When the Pennsylvania Dutch family came to America, they chose an American name that was closest to their German last name. Elizabeth was David’s wife and they had the following children; Hannah (1818-1892), Susannah (1820-1890), Mary Jane (1822-1900), Talitha Cumi (1824-1902), Joseph Gastin (1827-1915), Sarah, Elizabeth (1830-1904), and Eliza Elizabeth ( 1835-1841).

One night, the wife, Elizabeth, dreamed that two young men were walking up the road to their house and there was a sign above their heads that read: “These are the true messengers of God, listen and obey.” The next day, Elizabeth told him about her dream.

To his family

The following week, two young men came up the driveway from his house. Elizabeth exclaimed, “Those are the two young men I saw in my dream.” The two men were John Fleming Wakefield and William Bosley. They were missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Elizabeth and two of the children were baptized, but David and the other children were not.

After his mission was over, John Fleming returned to Brush Valley and married Susannah Garlick on August 5, 1838, in Pennsylvania.

John and Susannah moved to Nauvoo, Illinois, where they became active in the Church. John was one of the “special missionaries” sent to various counties in Illinois to disabuse the public of the Prophet Joseph Smith, his arrest, and his alleged crimes.

Due to severe persecution, Church members in Nauvoo, including John and Susannah and their family, were preparing to leave Nauvoo to seek rest from persecution.

John died on January 13, 1854, near Nauvoo, before he could lead his family to the Salt Lake Valley in what is now Salt Lake City, Utah.

In the words of his son, John Fleming Wakefield II, “Who knows, but that father is now working in the mission field as a continuation of the work he was doing while he was here on earth.”

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