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At Harmony, in southern Utah, John D. Lee performed such prodigies of farming and building that within a few years he was patriarch of a mighty family numbering some 50 souls. Patriarch Isaac Morley exclaimed: "Why, Bro. Lee . . . You have Houses & Habitations, Flocks & Heards, wives & children in every direction. I Marvel when I see what the Lord has accomplishd through you."
Wives & Bishops. Most of Lee's wives lived with him in Harmony, where his children required a school all to themselves. But soon he had well-stocked homes, each headed by a trusty wife or two, in several other settlements. He did his rounds of them regularly and earnestly. But he took care never to ask his wives' advice, for Brigham Young had forbidden it, saying roundly: "All their council & wisdom . . . don't weigh as much with me as the weight of a Fly Tird. Excuse me for my vulgarity ..." Lee was kinder and more considerate than his leader. His pen portraits of his wives are among his most vivid.
¶ Wife No. 1, Aggatha Ann,* marched beside him for 33 years. In 1866 she fell ill, and as "Mortification" set in, Lee "watched with her all Night, lifting & turning her in Bed about every 5 minits." As in an Old Testament tale, the huge family assembles at the deathbed to hear the dying injunction, while son Joseph rides to the mountain for a "Bucket of Snow" to cool his mother's lips. Meanwhile, "the Lumber previously dressed up" stands ready for the coffin—for this is a pioneer story in which prayer and practicality are never far apart.