It was the 8th of August that he left Montrose to fill his mission. He dedicated his wife and family to the care of the Lord, and blessed them in His name: "The thought of the hardships they had just endured," he remarks, "the uncertainty of their continuing in the house they then occupied--and that only a solitary room--the prevalence of disease, the poverty of the brethren, their insecurity from mobs, together with the uncertainty of what might take place during my absence, produced feelings of no ordinary character. These solicitations, paternal and conjugal, were enhanced also by the time and distance that was to separate us. But the thought of going forth at the command of the God of Israel to revisit my native land, to unfold the principles of eternal truth and make known the things that God had revealed for the salvation of the world, overcame every other feeling." In Nauvoo Elder Taylor joined Wilford Woodruff, who was scarcely able to drag himself along, and who remarked that he felt and looked more like a subject for the dissecting room than a missionary. After taking leave of the Prophet and his counselors, Sidney Rigdon and Hyrum Smith, Elder Taylor and his sick companion left Nauvoo. On the outskirts of the settlement they passed Parley P. Pratt and Heber C. Kimball, who were building a log house. Parley, who, it will be remembered, had carried the gospel to Elder Taylor, was stripped--bare headed and bare footed. He hailed the brethren as they were passing and gave them a purse, it was all he had. Elder Heber C. Kimball, who was but a short distance away, stripped as Elder Pratt was, came up and said, "As Brother Parley has given you a purse, I have a dollar I will give you to put in it." Then mutually blessing each other, they said farewell. Elders Taylor and Woodruff were the first of their quorum to start on their mission. At Macomb they found Brother Zebedee Coltrin, who proposed taking them as far as Cleveland, Ohio, in his wagon, a proposition they gladly accepted. At this place a Brother Miller, whom Elder Taylor baptized while there, gave them a horse, and another a saddle and bridle. At Springfield a broker sold his horse for him, and with the proceeds he published a pamphlet on the persecutions of the Saints in Missouri. The edition was 2,000. A portion of these pamphlets were left in the hands of Elder Coltrin to dispose of, the proceeds to be given to Sisters Taylor and Woodruff.