The efforts of these men, who had formerly been trusted members of the Church, soon convinced Anson that the Prophet had many enemies who were determined to destroy him, and among them none more bitterly vindictive than some who had formerly been bound to him by the most sacred fraternal ties, but were now ready to betray him to his death. CHAPTER III. REMOVAL TO ILLINOIS--A PERILOUS JOURNEY--OVERTAKEN BY THE PROPHET WHILE ESCAPING FROM MISSOURI PRISON--ANSON AND WIFE VISIT IN OHIO--LOCATE IN MACEDONIA--REMOVE TO NAUVOO--MISSION TO OHIO--PROPHET'S VISION AND PREDICTION AS TO SAINTS LOCATING IN WEST--JUDGE THOMAS' ADVICE--SERVICE AS A DELEGATE. Not long after this a team animal which had been stolen from Anson was found, and this enabled him to remove his family and such of their effects as were left from the State, and they were soon on their way to Illinois. The snow was about a foot deep and the weather extremely cold, it being about the middle of February, 1839, and not at all favorable for travel even if they had been well provided with clothing and bedding, and in their destitute condition their suffering was intense. The first night out their wagon tipped over in the creek and the next day they traversed a bleak prairie in a raging blizzard, during which they almost perished. The Missourians, though ordinarily generous and hospitable, were so embittered against the Saints that they furnished them no supplies or shelter unless paid well therefor, and then they did so grudgingly, and evinced no pity because of their suffering. One day while traveling towards Warsaw they were overtaken by Joseph and Hyrum Smith, who after more than six months imprisonment in Missouri had made their escape and were on their way to Illinois. They were in such a hurry in consequence of their enemies pursuing them that they took only time for a few hasty words, but inquired where Anson expected to locate, and promised to pay him a visit after they reached their destination. This promise they faithfully kept, in company with Sidney Rigdon and Vincent Knight. They took dinner with the Call family and spent much of the afternoon in relating the circumstances of their escape from Missouri. The prophet also told them that he had purchased a tract of land in Illinois--the same upon which Nauvoo was afterwards built--as a gathering place for the Saints. In October, 1839, Anson with his wife and youngest child made a trip into Ohio to visit her mother, leaving his two older children in the care of Miss Hannah Flint, Mrs. Call's sister, who had for some time shared the home of the Call family. They returned to Illinois in the Spring of 1840, in company with Chester Loveland and Jeremiah Willey, and soon afterwards Anson and Chester Loveland rented a farm in Carthage, where they were fairly successful, and interspersed their labors on the farm with preaching in the Carthage court house.