Harvey Woodyatt

  Harvey Woodyatt, my great grandfather, came to the United States at the age of 17. He was not a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, but had taken some of the missionary lessons in his native England. He came to stay with his uncle, Robert Holmes, his mother's brother. Robert had joined the church in 1840 and emigrated to Nauvoo, Illinois, and eventually settled in Willard, Utah.
   Harvey was christened in the church of England and at the age of 10 was asked to join the choir at St. James church of West Malvern. He enjoyed going to Sunday School and considered himself to be a religious boy. At the age of about 13 or 14, he had an unusual experience before going to bed.
   
   "I knelt down by my bed side and repeated the Lord’s prayer and at the close of the prayer for the first time I added to the Lord’s prayer by asking the Lord to show me how to live the way that would be acceptable to him and also to make me a good boy. I got into bed and was lying on my back when I saw the heavens open directly in the center of the sky, one part going to the north and the other to the south, I saw a host of heavenly beings, but what impressed me most was I saw God. There were no words spoken, but he was in the very form of man, and although there was a great number there, yet it was so impressed upon my mind, and the vision was so clear that I   knew beyond any doubt which being was God. They were all in the form of man, yet I was able to distinguish our Heavenly Father from all the others, whether it was through the spirit of the Lord that this was made so plain to my understanding, I don’t know. But one thing I do know - that my simple childlike prayer had been answered and when I think that God our Heavenly Father would condescend to notice one so insignificant as I, I am almost overwhelmed with gratitude and I think of the words of the Prophet Isaiah - “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” In the 88th Section of the Doctrine and Covenants 63rd verse, the Lord says - “Draw near unto me and I will draw near unto you; seek me diligently and ye shall find me; ask, and ye shall receive, knock and it shall be opened unto you.” I had proof beyond a doubt that the promises of the Lord are sure."
  
   Not long after arriving in Utah, Harvey became homesick and intended to return to England. In the spring of 1880, he left Willard and went to Salt Lake City, where he got a job with Joseph F. Smith.  In about two months he was converted to the church and was baptized. Harvey died in 1935, in Willard, Utah.  

For a more complete history see:

Personal History of Harvey Woodyatt