Bent, a member of the council, had previously volunteered for the proposed 1844 expedition to find a new home for the Saints in Oregon or California. (Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Minutes, 23 Feb. 1844.)
Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Minutes, 1840–1844. CHL.
Daniels accompanied George Miller to the Wisconsin River during their negotiations with Chief Oshkosh in early 1844, and evidently he had some additional experience with American Indians. (Council of Fifty, “Record,” 10 Mar. 1844.)
Spencer departed Nauvoo on 28 February on his previously assigned mission with Amasa Lyman to reclaim the members of the church who had left the area the previous summer with James Emmett. However, the pair encountered difficulties trying to cross the Mississippi River and returned to Nauvoo on the afternoon of 1 March to await a 2 March river crossing. On the evening of 1 March, Spencer saw his brother, Orson, who “informed me that I had ben appoin[te]d a mission to explore the contry in company with 8 others,” which was to take place after Daniel Spencer returned from his earlier assignment. (Spencer, Diary, 28 Feb.–1 Mar. 1845; see also Council of Fifty, Minutes, 27 Feb. 1845.)
Spencer, Daniel. Diaries, 1845–1857. CHL.
Fullmer, an officer in the Nauvoo Legion, had volunteered for the proposed 1844 expedition to Oregon and California. (Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Minutes, 23 Feb. 1844.)
Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Minutes, 1840–1844. CHL.
Shumway had volunteered for the proposed 1844 expedition to Oregon and California. (Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Minutes, 23 Feb. 1844.)
Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Minutes, 1840–1844. CHL.
On 14 February 1845, when several members of the council met with a few other church and civic leaders to discuss the situation in Nauvoo and the surrounding branches of the church, they also had “some conversation on the subject of sending six brethren with brother Lewis Dana to the West, and especially to Texas.” (Clayton, Journal, 14 Feb. 1845.)
Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.
Carrington, a graduate of Dartmouth College, had moved to Nauvoo from Wisconsin Territory the previous summer. (Albert Carrington, “Record of Family Kept by A. Carrington,” in Albert Carrington, Notebook, CHL.)
Carrington, Albert. Notebook, 1844–1850. Photocopy. CHL. Original in private possession.
Heber C. Kimball wrote in his journal that nine men had been “chosen to go in serch of a Land fore the saints.” (Kimball, Journal, 1 Mar. 1845.)
Kimball, Heber C. Journal, Sept. 1842; May 1844–May 1845. Heber C. Kimball, Papers, 1837–1866. CHL. MS 627, box. 3, fd. 4.