Anyway, I’m clearing up a few last details and saw that William H. Kimball mentioned in comment 5 was another of the handcart rescuers. He was a son of Heber C. Kimball and Vilate Murray and a full brother of David P. Kimball, one of the three boys mentioned in the legend of the handcart rescuers. (Which, as we all know, is not strictly true; see the Orton article from BYU Studies.)

It looks like a significant number of the rescuers may have been family members or missionaries of the converts stranded on the plain. Perhaps the question of these relationships is addressed in one of the handful of books about the handcart company rescue.

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*DUP materials can be very helpful in providing family memories, but users of the collection have to remember that the histories have been created for a very specific purpose by an enthusiastic but largely untrained group of descendants, so the quality of the histories varies widely, and every history must be approached with skepticism and fact checked as much as possible. Additionally, the identity of the original author of the submission should be considered; what connection did they have to the pioneer; what sources did they use to assemble the story; what biases might the author have.

The first place the song seems to show up in print is the 1857 Millennial Star, and that is an account of the Saints setting sail on the George Washington:

During the meeting several hymns suitable to the occasion were sung by the Brethren and Sisters in a spirited manner, one of which was—
“Ye Elders of Israel come join now with me,” &c.,
with the Chorus
“O Babylon, O Babylon, we bid thee farewell,
We’re going to the mountains of Ephraim to dwell.”
All hearts seemed to be filled with joy, peace, and praise to their Heavenly Father for His goodness in giving them an understanding of the Gospel, for making known to them that the hour of His judgments (upon Babylon) were at hand, and for making a way for their deliverance.

I haven’t checked many 20th century hymnbooks, but it had all five verses as late as 1918.

This is the first time I’ve seen this version of the lyrics.

Cyrus served as a missionary in Vermont, three times in England (at a vital time in the missionary work there), and then was called to the Northern States Mission. When I started to read his diaries, I wondered how he could have possibly written “Ye Elders of Israel,” but then I started reading his letters and reading notes about his preaching, and this song very much describes his experience and his use of language. There’s one story about Cyrus that is a perfect illustration of verse 3 of this hymn that I’ll have to pull out and share.

I do hope someone will write a biography. It probably won’t be me; I’m going to get back to the Eminent Women project; but I really have been impressed and touched by Cyrus’s life story.

And second, it is upbeat and entirely positive: Let’s go do to this thing, fellow laborers, and bless the lives of the righteous. There’s no schadenfreude about the coming sufferings of the wicked, no looking forward to a day when enemies will be conquered, no defiance of persecution. It’s all an enthusiastic acknowledgement of the blessings of the gospel, so who wouldn’t want to jump in with all his might?

And until today I never gave a thought to the man behind the words.