Footnotes
Historian’s Office, Journal, 7 June 1853; Wilford Woodruff, Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, to George A. Smith, 30 Aug. 1856, in Historian’s Office, Letterpress Copybooks, vol. 1, p. 364.
Historian’s Office. Journal, 1844–1997. CHL. CR 100 1.
Historian’s Office. Letterpress Copybooks, 1854–1879, 1885–1886. CHL. CR 100 38.
See the full bibliographic entry for Brigham Young Office Files, 1832–1878, in the CHL catalog.
Footnotes
Hedlock sent a letter to church leaders on 4 October, shortly after he arrived in Liverpool; this second communication provided a more comprehensive overview of the challenges facing the church in the British Isles. (Letter from Reuben Hedlock, 4 Oct. 1843.)
There were approximately eight thousand members in Great Britain by October 1843; this figure does not include the thousands of British Saints who had already migrated to Nauvoo. (Letter from Thomas Ward and Hiram Clark, 3 Oct. 1843; “General Conference,” Millennial Star, July 1843, 4:36.)
Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star. Manchester, England, 1840–1842; Liverpool, 1842–1932; London, 1932–1970.
Morris, “Emergence and Development of the Church . . . in Staffordshire, 1839–1870,” chaps. 3–5; Allen and Thorp, “Mission of the Twelve to England, 1840–41,” 499–500, 503–521.
Morris, David Michael. “The Emergence and Development of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Staffordshire, 1839–1870.” PhD diss., University of Chichester, 2010.
Allen, James B., and Malcom R. Thorp. “The Mission of the Twelve to England, 1840–41: Mormon Apostles and the Working Classes.” BYU Studies 15, no. 4 (Summer 1975): 499–526.
“General Conference,” Millennial Star, July 1843, 4:33–36; see also Allen and Thorp, “Mission of the Twelve to England, 1840–41,” 522–523.
Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star. Manchester, England, 1840–1842; Liverpool, 1842–1932; London, 1932–1970.
Allen, James B., and Malcom R. Thorp. “The Mission of the Twelve to England, 1840–41: Mormon Apostles and the Working Classes.” BYU Studies 15, no. 4 (Summer 1975): 499–526.
Woodruff, Journal, 20 Apr. and 19 May 1841; Hiram Clark, “Extract from Elder Hiram Clark’s Journal, and Address to the Saints in the British Islands,” Millennial Star, Feb. 1844, 4:145–148; Letter from Thomas Ward and Hiram Clark, 1 Mar. 1843; “From P. P. Pratt,” Millennial Star, Apr. 1843, 3:206; Letter from Thomas Ward and Hiram Clark, 3 Oct. 1843.
Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.
Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star. Manchester, England, 1840–1842; Liverpool, 1842–1932; London, 1932–1970.
Kemper College, Catalogue of the Officers and Students, 9.
Catalogue of the Officers and Students of Kemper College, for the Year 1842–43. St. Louis: Ustick & Davies, 1843.
Caswall, City of the Mormons, 5, 35–37, 43–45, italics in original; “Caswall’s Prophet of the Nineteenth Century,” Millennial Star, Apr. 1843, 3:195–199.
Caswall, Henry. The City of the Mormons; or, Three Days at Nauvoo, in 1842. London: J. G. F. and J. Rivington, 1842.
Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star. Manchester, England, 1840–1842; Liverpool, 1842–1932; London, 1932–1970.
“Reward of Merit,” Times and Seasons, 15 Oct. 1843, 4:364–365. Speaking of Caswall’s 1842 visit to Nauvoo, John Taylor later recalled, “I saw Mr. Caswell in the printing office at Nauvoo; he had with him an old manuscript, and professed to be anxious to know what it was. I looked at it, and told him that I believed it was a Greek manuscript. In his book, he states that it was a Greek Psalter; but that none of the Mormons told him what it was. Herein is a falsehood, for I told him.” (Taylor, Three Nights’ Public Discussion, 5.)
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
Taylor, John. Three Nights’ Public Discussion between the Revds. C. W. Cleeve, James Robertson, and Philip Cater, and Elder John Taylor, of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. . . . Liverpool: [By the author], 1850.
Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Minutes, 21 Nov. 1842; Letter from Thomas Ward and Hiram Clark, 1 Mar. 1843; Letter from Reuben Hedlock, 4 Oct. 1843; Letter from Thomas Ward and Hiram Clark, 3 Oct. 1843. Though Ward halted the newspaper’s operations for two months, he resumed publishing the paper in July 1843. (Letter from Reuben Hedlock, 4 Oct. 1843; “Editorial,” Millennial Star, May 1843, 4:13.)
Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Minutes, 1840–1844. CHL.
Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star. Manchester, England, 1840–1842; Liverpool, 1842–1932; London, 1932–1970.
The Britannia was a steamship built in 1840 by the Cunard Line, a steamship company that transported passengers and mail across the Atlantic Ocean between Liverpool and Boston. (“Duties on Imports by British Steamers at Boston and New York,” 377; Gibbs, Passenger Liners of the Western Ocean, 48; Smith, Coal, Steam and Ships, 102.)
"Duties on Imports by British Steamers at Boston and New York." Hunt's Merchants' Magazine and Commercial Review 25, no. 3 (Sept. 1851): 377–379.
Gibbs, C. R. Vernon. Passenger Liners of the Western Ocean: A Record of the North Atlantic Steam and Motor Passenger Vessels from 1838 to the Present Day. London: Staples Press, 1952.
Smith, Crosbie. Coal, Steam and Ships: Engineering, Enterprise and Empire on the Nineteenth-Century Seas. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018.
This possibly referred to high priest George Simpson, who represented the Staffordshire conference of 370 members in early 1844. The “Stafford shire pot[te]ries” refers to the Staffordshire towns Tunstall, Burslem, Hanley, Stoke, Fenton, and Longton, England, which were collectively the center of the country’s renowned pottery and porcelain manufacturing industry. Like others in the region, Latter-day Saints in the potteries struggled with unemployment and poverty. (“General Conference,” Millennial Star, Apr. 1844, 4:195, 197; “Conference Minutes,” Millennial Star, Apr. 1841, 1:303; Shaw, History of the Staffordshire Potteries, x, 1–3; George A. Smith, Journal, 12 Dec. 1840 and 16 Feb. 1841; see also “News from the Elders,” Millennial Star, Mar. 1841, 1:285.)
Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star. Manchester, England, 1840–1842; Liverpool, 1842–1932; London, 1932–1970.
Shaw, Simeon. History of the Staffordshire Potteries; and the Rise and Progress of the Manufacture of Pottery and Porcelain; with References to Genuine Specimens, and Notices of Eminent Potters. Hanley, England: By the author, 1829. Reprint, London: Scott, Greenwood, & Co., 1900.
Smith, George Albert. Journals, 1839–1875. George Albert Smith, Papers. 1834–1877. CHL.
Located along the River Irwell, Manchester was considered “the first industrial city” in England. Manchester, often referred to as “Cottonopolis,” employed several hundred thousand workers in textile factories that used raw cotton imported from the United States. By 1843, just over 1,500 Latter-day Saints lived in Manchester, most of them from the working class. (Hall, Cities in Civilization, chap. 10; “Manchester Warehouse,” 269; Arnold, History of the Cotton Famine, 38; Chapman, Cotton Industry in the Industrial Revolution, 60; Harris, “Mormons in Victorian England,” 121–135; “Manchester Conference,” Millennial Star, Feb. 1843, 3:175.)
Hall, Peter Geoffrey. Cities in Civilization. New York: Pantheon Books, 1998.
“A Manchester Warehouse.” Household Words 9, no. 215 (6 May 1854): 268–271.
Arnold, R. Arthur. The History of the Cotton Famine, from the Fall of Sumter to the Passing of the Public Works Act. London: Saunders, Otley, and Co., 1864.
Chapman, S. D. The Cotton Industry in the Industrial Revolution. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 1972.
Harris, Jan. “Mormons in Victorian England.” Master’s thesis, Brigham Young University, 1987.
Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star. Manchester, England, 1840–1842; Liverpool, 1842–1932; London, 1932–1970.
Reuben Hedlock previously proselytized in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1840. In November 1843, he returned to Glasgow and reported that “notwithstanding the many false reports that are in circulation against the Saints, I found them strong in the faith.” At that time, the Glasgow conference comprised approximately 770 members. He also visited with Latter-day Saints in Edinburgh, home to around 350 church members. In a later letter to JS, Hedlock noted that there was considerable division in the Edinburgh conference and that over 100 individuals were cut off from the church. (Reuben Hedlock, “Extract from Elder Hedlock’s Journal,” Millennial Star, Jan. 1844, 4:129–130; Glasgow Conference, General Minutes, 1840–1846, 16–17; Reuben Hedlock, Liverpool, England, to JS and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, [Nauvoo, IL], 10–21 Jan. 1844, p. 4, JS Collection, CHL; see also “General Conference,” Millennial Star, Apr. 1844, 4:195, 197.)
Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star. Manchester, England, 1840–1842; Liverpool, 1842–1932; London, 1932–1970.
Glasgow Conference. General Minutes, 1840–1856. CHL.
Latter-day Saint missionaries began preaching in northeast Wales in October 1840. Though about 150 individuals in the area joined the church by February 1841, the missionaries encountered tremendous opposition. In December 1840, James Burnham reported, “The Lord is with us, and the Devil is here also. I have been stoned twice since I came to this place.” Missionaries in southern Wales also faced hostility from local clergy but established several branches between 1841 and 1843 (part of the Birmingham and Merthyr Tydfil conferences). (“Progress of Reformation in England,” Millennial Star, Nov. 1840, 1:192; “News from the Elders,” Millennial Star, Jan. 1841, 1:238–239; James Burnham, Overton, Wales, to “Dear Brother,” 10 Feb. 1841, in Millennial Star, Mar. 1841, 1:284; “General Conference,” Millennial Star, Apr. 1844, 4:195–197; “Editorial,” Millennial Star, Apr. 1844, 4:203; William R. Davies, Fort Harmony, [Utah Territory], to George A. Smith, [Great Salt Lake City, Utah Territory], 12 May 1855, George Albert Smith, Papers, CHL.)
Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star. Manchester, England, 1840–1842; Liverpool, 1842–1932; London, 1932–1970.
Smith, George Albert. Papers, 1834–1877. CHL. MS 1322.
In October 1843, the Preston branch had 417 members; the rest of the Preston conference, comprising an additional ten branches, had 169 members. Though it is unclear to what contentions this refers, an April 1844 report noted that the Preston conference was “the subject of the attacks of the enemy in an extraordinary manner; many had also emigrated, and Satan appeared to have singled some of them out for his victims, through whose influence, at times, much evil had been done.” (“Preston Conference,” Millennial Star, Oct. 1843, 4:85; “General Conference,” Millennial Star, Apr. 1844, 4:196.)
Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star. Manchester, England, 1840–1842; Liverpool, 1842–1932; London, 1932–1970.
At a 19 April 1843 meeting of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, JS suggested sending missionaries to various countries around the world, including India. (Minutes, 19 Apr. 1843.)
See Daniel 2:31–45; and Revelation, 30 Oct. 1831 [D&C 65:2].
In contemporary journals and letters, Latter-day Saint missionaries in England recorded experiences with or accounts relayed by visionary women or prophetesses who were members of the church. In 1840, Brigham Young wrote to his wife, Mary Ann Angell Young, about the vision of Manchester church member Ann Booth, who claimed she saw the deceased apostle David Patten preaching to and baptizing individuals in spirit prison. In 1840, Wilford Woodruff recorded the dreams, prophecies, and visions of Eliza Bromley as well as the conversations he had with “Sister Katherine Beter the Prophetess” (or “Catherine the Prophetess”). In February 1843, the Millennial Star published an account of a dream, which was replete with religious symbolism, conveyed by a Sister Robinson from the Isle of Man. (Brigham Young, Manchester and Lancashire, England, to Mary Ann Angell Young, Commerce, IL, 26 May 1840, George W. Thatcher Blair, Collection, CHL; Woodruff, Journal, 31 Aug. 1840; 11, 13, and 15 Oct. 1840; 12 Feb. 1841; “Dream of Sister Robinson, of the Isle of Man,” Millennial Star, Feb. 1843, 3:172.)
Blair, George W. Thatcher. Collection, 1837–1988. CHL.
Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.
Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star. Manchester, England, 1840–1842; Liverpool, 1842–1932; London, 1932–1970.
See 1 Samuel 10:10–12; 19:24.
This likely referred to a general conference held 4–6 June 1843 in Manchester, England, as well as other smaller conferences held in Manchester, Clitheroe, Worcestershire, London, and Preston in September 1843. (“General Conference,” Millennial Star, July 1843, 4:33–36; “Minutes of the Manchester Conference,” Millennial Star, Oct. 1843, 4:81–83; “Minutes of the Clitheroe Conference,” Millennial Star, Oct. 1843, 4:83–84; “Worcestershire Conference,” Millennial Star, Oct. 1843, 4:84; “London Conference,” Millennial Star, Oct. 1843, 4:84–85; “Preston Conference,” Millennial Star, Oct. 1843, 4:85.)
Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star. Manchester, England, 1840–1842; Liverpool, 1842–1932; London, 1932–1970.
See Letter from Thomas Ward and Hiram Clark, 3 Oct. 1843; and “General Conference,” Millennial Star, July 1843, 4:36.
Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star. Manchester, England, 1840–1842; Liverpool, 1842–1932; London, 1932–1970.
In June 1843, Missouri sheriff Joseph H. Reynolds arrested JS, intending to extradite him to Missouri to face charges of treason. JS was detained for a week before being discharged. (Historical Introduction to Letter from Edward Southwick, 7 Aug. 1843.)
Bennett, who had served as an assistant in the church’s First Presidency and as mayor of Nauvoo, was excommunicated for sexual misconduct in May 1842. In June and July 1842, he sent a series of letters to the Springfield, Illinois, newspaper Sangamo Journal accusing JS of committing adultery and orchestrating an attempt to assassinate former Missouri governor Lilburn W. Boggs. Newspapers in the eastern United States later recirculated the letters, and in October, Bennett published a virulent exposé titled The History of the Saints; or, An Exposé of Joe Smith and Mormonism. News of Bennett’s accusations and writings spread to England by late summer 1842. (“Joseph Smith Documents from May through August 1842”; see, for example, “Trouble in the Mormon Camp,” New-Bedford [MA] Register, 27 July 1842, [3]; “Important from the Far West,” New York Herald [New York City], 21 July 1842, [2]; “The Mormons, or Latter-Day Saints,” Liverpool Mercury, and Lancashire General Advertiser, 19 Aug. 1842, [3]; “Caution.—The Mormonites,” Liverpool Mercury, and Lancashire General Advertiser, 21 Oct. 1842, [5]; and Advertisement, Times [London], 9 Mar. 1843, 10.)
New-Bedford Register. New Bedford, MA. 1839–1843.
New York Herald. New York City. 1835–1924.
Liverpool Mercury. Liverpool. 1811–1904.
Times. London. 1785–.
In July 1842, eighteen-year-old Martha Brotherton signed an affidavit asserting that JS, Brigham Young, and Heber C. Kimball confined her in a room in Nauvoo and told her that it was God’s will that she marry Young as a plural wife. Though Kimball and Young denied Brotherton’s allegations, her affidavit was published in the 22 July 1842 issue of the Sangamo Journal and was later reproduced in John C. Bennett’s 1842 exposé The History of the Saints. News of Brotherton’s accusations appeared in the British press by August 1842, and Bennett’s exposé was republished in England by March 1843. (“Miss Brotherton’s Statement,” Sangamo Journal [Springfield, IL], 22 July 1842, [2]; “Affidavit of H. C. Kimball,” and “Affidavit of Brigham Young,” in Affidavits and Certificates [Nauvoo, IL: 1842], copy at CHL; Bennett, History of the Saints, 236–240; “The Mormons, or Latter-Day Saints,” Liverpool Mercury, and Lancashire General Advertiser, 19 Aug. 1842, [3]; “Caution.—The Mormonites,” Liverpool Mercury, and Lancashire General Advertiser, 21 Oct. 1842, [5]; Advertisement, Times [London], 9 Mar. 1843, 10.)
Sangamo Journal. Springfield, IL. 1831–1847.
Affidavits and Certificates, Disproving the Statements and Affidavits Contained in John C. Bennett’s Letters. Nauvoo Aug. 31, 1842. [Nauvoo, IL: 1842]. Copy at CHL.
Bennett, John C. The History of the Saints; or, an Exposé of Joe Smith and Mormonism. Boston: Leland and Whiting, 1842.
Liverpool Mercury. Liverpool. 1811–1904.
Times. London. 1785–.