As soon as the "Word of Wisdom" was made known to him, he quit the use of tobacco, tea, coffee and also the use of liquor, and never used them again during the remainder of his life. In the Spring of 1834 he fitted out his two sons, John J. and Nathan and sent them up to Kirtland, where they joined Zion's Camp and went up to Missouri, with team, wagon and a first class outfit. A little later in the season he fitted out seven families, and sent them to Kirtland or to Missouri. In the Fall of the same year he sold two large farms and two thousand and two hundred acres of timber land, preparatory to moving to Missouri in the coming Spring. About the middle of December he received an impression by dream or vision of the night, that he was needed and must go immediately to the Church in the West. He told his family of the instruction he had received and forthwith made preparations for the start, while his neighbors, with deep regret at what they considered an insane purpose, tried their utmost to dissuade him; but he knew the will of God in the present crisis and nothing could deter him from doing it. On Christmas day he commenced his journey with all his earthly effects, and in the dead of Winter traveled the distance of five hundred miles, to Kirtland where he arrived about the 20th of January, 1835, on the Sabbath. On his arrival in Kirtland, he learned that at the time he received the impression that he must move immediately to the Church, the Prophet Joseph and some of the brethren had met in prayer-meeting and asked the Lord to send them a brother or some brethren with means to assist them to lift the mortgage on the farm upon which the temple was being built. The day after his arrival in Kirtland, by invitation from the prophet, he and his son, Sidney, met with the High Council, and were informed that the mortgage of the before mentioned farm was about to be foreclosed. Whereupon he loaned the prophet two thousand dollars and took his note on interest, with which amount the farm was redeemed. He loaned to the Temple Committee, Hyrum Smith, Reynolds, Cahoon and Jared Carter, thirteen thousand dollars in merchandize at cost prices in New York, and took their note for the same. This amount, and that loaned to the prophet, were not included in his liberal donations to the building of the temple, from time to time. He also signed a note with the Prophet Joseph and others for thirty thousand dollars for goods purchased in New York, in which he had no pecuniary interest. The foregoing is substantial proof of his confidence in the prophet and in the validity and importance of the work he had embraced. Here follows a copy of his Elder's certificate: