Career
Born in Galloway Township, New Jersey to Isaac Higbee and Sophia Somers, Higbee joined the Latter Day Saint church in 1832 in Ohio. He and his family joined the gathering of Latter Day Saints in Kirtland, Ohio, later that year. In 1833 the Higbees and other Latter Day Saints attempted to settle in Jackson County, Missouri, but were forced to return to Kirtland in 1835.
They again tried to settle in Missouri in 1836, this time in Clay County.
While in Missouri, Higbee was a Caldwell County judge and a leading officer of the county militia. In 1838, Higbee became the official historian of the church, and in 1840 he became the church"s recorder.
In 1839 and 1840, Higbee traveled with Joseph Smith to Washington, District of Columbia to submit a petition for redress to United States. President Martin Van Buren. On October 8, 1840, Higbee was appointed by Smith to the committee charged with organizing the construction of the Nauvoo Temple.
Higbee unexpectedly died of cholera in 1843 in Nauvoo.
Questions by Elias Higbee: What is meant by the command in Isaiah, 52d chapter, 1st verse, which saith: Put on thy strength, O Zion—and what people had Isaiah reference to? He had reference to those whom God should call in the last days, who should hold the power of priesthood to bring again Zion, and the redemption of Israel. And to put on her strength is to put on the authority of the priesthood, which she, Zion, has a right to by lineage. Also to return to that power which she had lost.
What are we to understand by Zion loosing herself from the bands of her neck.
2d verse? We are to understand that the scattered remnants are exhorted to return to the Lord from whence they have fallen. Which if they do, the promise of the Lord is that he will speak to them, or give them revelation.
See the 6th, 7th, and 8th verses. The bands of her neck are the curses of God upon her, or the remnants of Israel in their scattered condition among the Gentiles.