A Word of Advice by Freeman Ramsey

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jan 18, 1870

A Word of Advice.

By Freeman Ramsey

DEAR BRO. ANDREWS: I have thought for sometime past that it might be duty for me to say a few words through the REVIEW to the brethren at large—concerning this part of Missouri. I know that many brethren think of emigrating to Missouri. This is wrong, for several reasons. This is a very poor farming country—the crops fail nearly every year, causing untold suffering by the poor class of people where taxes rate so high. The soil in Missouri is very deceptive. It looks rich and productive, but it will not produce as well as the land in Ohio, Michigan, or Indiana, and I do feel like telling my brethren that it would be to their advantage and add much to their enjoyment both religiously and temporally, not to come. This is the hardest place for poor brethren I ever saw; and I am satisfied that brethren that are well situated in the East, better stay there. All the brethren that have come here have got into deep trial and want to get away. You have learned from Bro. Lawrence and Matteson that it is a hard place to present the truth. I never saw such an amount of prejudice as there is here. I hope the Lord will direct his people and not suffer them to be influenced by reports sent from here to the East by unprincipled men. I have been here nearly two years, and the longer I stay here the more I am convinced that this is not the place for my brethren to emigrate to. FREEMAN RAMSEY.

Civil Bend, Daviess Co., Mo.