Ezekiel Johnson: My ancestor, the first martyr of a church he didn't believe

He was just another bastard son  
of the great American revolution,  
raised by a step-father whose daily solution  
was beating the shameful boy for not being his own.  
He grew up wearing his pain in long, thick stripes  
under an overcoat of stubborn indifference,  
and at the tender age of 14 he left his loving mother,  
giving up everything to escape the abusive monster.  
 
As far as records go, he fell off the face of the earth  
until the day he tenderly met the woman he'd die for.  
Living in the woods, he cherished the freedom of space;  
when anybody else would move within a mile away  
he'd sell it all to go live in a brand new place.  
But his love for his wife and kids forced him into "society"  
where one by one the members of his family  
succumbed to the teachings of a new old philosophy;  
 
lead by a man who claimed to have talked with God,  
who preached to get to heaven by holding onto an iron rod.  
Zeke had a hard time shaking the feeling it was all a fraud  
but let his family join with a weary, unenthusiastic nod.  
Many of his children became important to the latter-day cause  
while Ezekiel took to a life of drink, refusing to give up his sin.  
He felt the church stole his family, his wife left with little pause  
until he ended up alone, his children taking turns to take him in.  
 
As the years went by the Mormons gained many enemies  
for teaching their churchie teachings quite a bit differently,  
and the neighboring communities, as is human tendency,  
formed into angry groups in the night to react violently.  
But not just once that night, but a brave two times  
75 year old Zeke held back the mobs in the street,  
all alone with the roar in his throat and fire in his eyes,  
and his trusty shotgun, "Old Bess", against a small army.  
 
But not long after the heroic events of that long dark night,  
he was noticed by a group who recognized him by sight.  
They beat him and left him for dead in the middle of the street  
for protecting his family for the things that they believed,  
becoming the first martyr of a religion with which he didn't agree,  
though he worshiped potent spirits in his times of need.  
And the man that couldn't convince him gave him a share of grief,  
two daughters wooed and wed to the great American prophet king.