After the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, Newell Knight described them as two of the best men that had ever lived. They were his friends, and he had known them since Joseph was a teenager. Newell Knight had many first in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was a firsthand-eye witness of many pivotal and important events that took place in the first 25 years of the church. He witnessed the church grow from a membership of 6 to over 34,000 members, before he passed away while he led the first group of Saints fleeing from Nauvoo. This episode gives his refreshing personal description as he watched Joseph develop from the boy that worked in his father’s yard into the Prophet of God that opened this last dispensation.