The following was given me by Sister Shirley Whitlock of Gilbert, Arizona, who over the years has given many seminars in schools and churches on the founding of America.

Have you ever wondered what happened to the men who signed the Declaration of Independence?
 

Five signers were captured by the British as traitors, and tortured before they died. Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. Two lost their sons in the Revolutionary Army, another had two sons captured. None of the 56 fought and died from wounds or the hardships of the war.

What kind of men were they? Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists. Eleven were merchants, nine were farmers and plantation owners, men of means: well educated. But the signed the Declaration of Independence, pledging their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honour knowing that in so doing they might lose all because the penalty would be death if captured.

Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw is ships swept from the seas by the British Navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts and died in poverty.

Thomas McKean was so hounded by the British that he was forced to leave his family almost constantly. He served in the Congress without pay, and his family was kept in hiding. His possessions were taken from him and poverty was his reward.

Vandals, soldiers or both looted the properties of Ellery, Clymer, Hall, Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Rutledge, and Middleton.

At the Battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson Jr. noted that the British General Cornwallis had taken over the Nelson home as his headquarters. He then quietly urged General Geroge Washington to open fire. The home was destroyed, and Nelson died bankrupt.

Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. The enemy jailed his wife, who died after months of terrible deprivation and suffering.

John Hart was driven from his wifes bedside as she was dying. Their 13 children fled for their lives. His fields and grist mill were laid waste. For more than a year he lived in forests and caves, returning home after the war to find his wife dead, his children vanished. A few weeks later he died of exhaustion and a broken heart. Norris and Livingston suffered similar fates.

Such were the sacrifices of the patriots of the American Revolution. These were not wild-eyed, rabble-rousing ruffians. They were soft-spoken men of means and education. They had security, but they valued liberty more.  They gave us an independent America. Can we keep it?

54 of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence appeared to Wilford Woodruff in August 1877 asking that their temple ordinance work be performed for them by proxy, and it was done.