The Quorum of the Twelve’s year-long mission in England proved to be an ideal laboratory for honing Young’s leadership skills and for developing the competence of the Twelve as a group. The very distance from their American colleagues forced Young and the apostles to rely on their own abilities. However much they wished to share their responsibilities with Joseph Smith, they could not wait for counsel from Nauvoo but had to plunge ahead. It seems likely that Young’s reliance on his fellow apostles, as well as the intensity of their fellowship, was partly a function of this isolation from other priesthood councils. Also, removing them from a familiar environment where they had less prestige and responsibility and where their energies might have been fragmented, and placing them instead in a foreign land under difficult circumstances where the people looked up to them and the responsibilities weighed heavy, tended to focus their every energy on successfully meeting the challenges of their mission.
The English setting also helped the Twelve gain confidence in themselves as apostles. The lower-class English with whom the Mormons had most success found attractive these foreigners from America who had left everything to bring them a message of truth. [427] Specifically, the English members had learned respect for the office of the apostleship. The two years of unspectacular results since their departure led the English Mormons to eagerly anticipate the return of the apostles and prepared them to expect men of ability and power. If the Twelve could interject new energy and get the work rolling immediately, the psychology was right for a mushrooming of enthusiasm among the English Saints in support of their labors. Not only would this enhance their position as leaders, it also would make easier and more successful the missionary labors they had arrived to promote.
The English experience provided Young with a mixture of challenging and supportive circumstances, allowing him confidence even as he grew. His own background of poverty and experience as a laborer gave him empathy for the working man. Apparently that shared background, along with Young’s lack of pretension, helped endear him to the English working class. At the same time, extensive business dealings with the more sophisticated taught him to operate in those circles and gave him confidence in his ability to do so. Perhaps for both groups his native practical competence, coupled with his “foreigness,” especially his roots in America’s rural west, held a certain attraction. Because of the severe inequities he observed in English society and the fact that so many of the people he contacted suffered poverty and loss of freedom as a result, he approached his missionary labors in England with supreme assurance that he was offering them not only the way of salvation, but a way of life infinitely more promising on this earth than what they had experienced. [428]
If Zion’s Camp was an important preparation for the calling of the original apostles, as they came to believe, the English experience of unity, success and a sense of power after sacrifice was essential to the reorganized Twelve. The mission fostered a pattern for relationships with each other, set a tone for the quorum, and prepared them to receive new responsibilities soon afterward. Under Young’s leadership, their responsibilities encompassed both spiritual and temporal dimensions. Their shared experiences increased their trust in Young as a leader and in each other. The mission also increased the confidence of Joseph Smith and the Church in the apostles.
These labors of the Twelve in England under Young’s direction marked the beginning of the quorum functioning as a united and effective entity. Here Young first presided over a quorum of apostles engaged in a common labor. Here, for the first time, he had the opportunity to be a different kind of leader and shape the quorum into a different kind of council than he had experienced under Thomas B. Marsh. No doubt his memory of the earlier quorum experiences combined with his common-man background and the stress placed on unity by Smith to reinforce his propensity toward consulting and working with his associates. Young carefully nurtured harmony and the full participation of his associates in the decisions and labors of the Quorum. In England he labored diligently and with success to shape the Twelve into a quorum capable of functioning with united strength and wisdom rather than merely as a collection of individuals.1 [429]
During their initial mission in 1837–1838, Elders Kimball and Hyde had succeeded in establishing thriving Mormon branches in several parts of the island nation. When they departed for America, they left the presidency in the hands of Joseph Fielding, Willard Richards, and one of their converts, William Clayton. Spread between presiding over the members and directing the preaching, the men were unable to extend the work significantly; probably as many left the immature branches as came in during the two years before the return of the apostles. Anticipating that the arrival of the apostles would bring a renewal of the work, they warmly welcomed Elders Woodruff and Taylor—the latter an Englishman returned home—in January 1840. With the aid of two other American elders who arrived with them, the two apostles quickly infused new energy and enthusiasm into the work. Optimism and a sense of excitement animated the Saints by the time Young and his associates arrived in early April.2
News of the arrival of Young’s party of apostles spread quickly among the British Saints. By 12 April, their first Sunday in England, more than five hundred church members had assembled to greet the apostles. Kimball reported that the apostles testified to the Saints that Sunday “with power, for the Lord was with them.” According to Joseph Fielding, the arrival of the apostles, especially the return of Kimball, greatly revived the spirit of the English Saints.3 Later in the week the Twelve held their organizing council as well as several days of conference with the Saints. [430]
On 15 April, the day following Richards’s ordination, a general conference of the Saints in England convened in Preston. In recognition of his special relationship with the English Saints, Young deferred to Kimball, who “presided” or chaired the conference. This was the beginning of a rotating chair or presidency of the conferences, similar to the pattern of the first mission of the Twelve in 1835. In the same spirit, Kimball had called Joseph Fielding to conduct the first Sunday meeting with the Twelve in England, a gesture Fielding recognized as “his desire to support me in my office.” From this beginning, the apostles under Young worked to build the confidence of the Saints in all their leaders.4
Those Saints present at this first conference represented nearly sixteen hundred English Mormons. After they voted to sustain Willard Richards as an apostle, the conference approved Hiram Clark to replace Willard Richards in Fielding’s presidency of the mission. Apparently the apostles concluded to leave the local presidency in place for a time, to work with them and build them up in the eyes of the members.5 The conference also approved the publishing of a hymn book and, as soon as sufficient subscribers could be obtained, a monthly periodical—thus authorizing what would become one of Young’s central preoccupations in the months ahead.6
On 16 April the Twelve met together in council. They accepted Willard Richards’s suggestion that the proposed publication be called the “Latter Day Saints Millennial Star” and Brigham Young’s nomination of Parley Pratt as the editor, with authority to determine content, size, and price.7 The Twelve [431] assigned a committee to select hymns for publication (Young, Pratt and Taylor) and another to obtain copyrights (Young, Kimball, and Pratt). They concluded to ordain Peter Melling “an Evangelical Minister” so that the Saints could receive patriarchal blessings. They also discussed the emigration of English Mormons to America, a pressing matter because President Fielding, not instructed to preach the gathering, had declined to authorize emigration until the Twelve arrived. Though not yet ready to make a public declaration, the Twelve concluded to issue recommends to groups large or small who would emigrate quietly except, following Young’s suggestion, “we recommend no one to go to America that has mon[e]y without assisting the poor according to our council from time to time.”8 Anticipating dispersing to various fields, the apostles ended their council with an agreement to reconvene in Preston 6 July 1840.
To conclude their days of conferences and councils, the apostles spent a relaxing day 17 April enjoying each other’s company and visiting with the Saints on their Good Friday holiday. That evening they met at the Moon residence—son John had assisted Elder Taylor in Manchester—and Sister Moon, to mark the commencement of their labors, brought out a bottle of wine dating from her marriage forty years before. They then held a council to ordain Patriarch Peter Melling and finalize their assignments. Kimball would go to the churches he had built up on his first mission, Orson Pratt to Scotland, John Taylor to Liverpool, where Parley Pratt would also be headquartered for publishing, and George A. Smith to the Staffordshire Potteries. Elders Young and Richards [432] would accompany Woodruff to the rich field he had opened several weeks before in Herefordshire.9
On the seventeenth, the Twelve also prepared a report and packet of letters to send to Joseph Smith in Nauvoo. William Clayton, clerk of the conference on the fifteenth where Kimball presided, worked with Young and Kimball to prepare copies of the minutes. A brief report that prefaced the meetings perhaps captured the apostles’ feelings of anticipation as they launched their labors:
The gospel is spreading, the devils are roaring . . . the priests are howling, the tares they are binding up, the wheat is gathering, and nations are trembling, and kingdoms are tottering: “men’s hearts are failing them for fear, and for looking for those things that are coming on the earth.”10
Of more significance is the note to the Presidency that Brigham Young appended to the minutes, stressing a theme that he would repeat many times during his mission:
If you see any thing in, or about the whole affair, that is not right: I ask, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, that you would make known to us the mind of the Lord, and his will concerning us. I believe that I am as willing to do the will of the Lord, and take counsel of my brethren, and be a servant of the church, as ever I was in my life.11
Young closed the note with expressions of friendship for Joseph Smith and his other Nauvoo associates.
Following the Preston conferences, Wilford Woodruff summarized in a lengthy diary entry his earlier labors in Herefordshire where he had commenced in early March working among the United Brethren, a Methodist offshoot. The direction they had taken in their independent movement prepared them to be open and receptive to Woodruff’s message. Already he had baptized more [433] than 150 people, including nearly fifty lay preachers and their superintendent, Thomas Kington. These men brought with them control of forty-two licensed preaching places and one chapel. In addition, when Woodruff left the region for Preston, there were nearly two hundred more people “ready to be baptized as soon as an oppertunity offers.”12 It was to this ripe field, and to the labor of preparing, baptizing, and organizing the converts, that Young accompanied Woodruff after the conference, with Elder Richards to join within a few days. No sooner had they arrived than they commenced preaching and baptizing.13
Two of Young’s surviving letters reveal his initial reactions to missionary labor in the Herefordshire region. To George A. Smith he wrote enthusiastically of the press to fill appointments and the “grate caul for Preaching in this regon of contry. there seems to be an opening clear through to Bristel.” He was impressed by the readiness of the people to hear and accept their message. Only the priests, who as Young had anticipated, rejected their teachings, dampening the enthusiastic scene.14 To the Prophet Joseph he elaborated the same themes. “If we could go four ways at a time we could not fill all the calls we have for preaching,” he wrote. Young thought the people very different from Americans. They say that
it cannot be possible that men should leave their homes and come so far, unless they were truly the servants of the Lord; they do not seem to understand argument, simple testimony is enough for them. they beg and plead for the book of Mormon and were it not for the priests . . . the people would follow after the servants of the Lord and enquire what they should do to be saved.15 [434]
Already Young had noted that with few exceptions it was the poor who received their message, but these humble people for whom “simple testimony is enough” pleased him and engaged his every energy on their behalf.
For a month Brigham Young assisted in the delicate task of fully transforming the main body of United Brethren into organized branches of the Latter-day Saints.16 His own simple and direct preaching well fitted the people and his wisdom and experience with people helped facilitate the transition. His organizing skill supplemented Woodruff’s as they gradually molded the conference of co-religionists into a body of the Saints. Nor were the apostles without the gifts of the spirit as a witness to the new Saints that they came with authority. The week beginning Sunday, 17 May proved especially notable and illustrates something of Young’s contribution along with how the three apostles worked as one in this momentous labor. Woodruff preached in the morning, Young in the afternoon. When detractors tried to break up the meeting
Elder Young rose up in the power of the Priesthood & in the name of the Great God & according to the laws of the land commanded order. two of the brethren went to the door to keep order. Elder Richards was one of them & they were enabled to overcome the enemy & peace was again restored. We administered the Lords supper. & confirmed 5. & ordained 4.17
The eighteenth of May had traditionally been a feast day among the United Brethren. But now, because most were receiving the restored gospel, Elder Kington, formerly the United Brethren Superintendent, held a feast for the Saints. The apostles’ day started at 5:00 a.m. with Elder Woodruff baptizing several—and more throughout the day for a total of twenty—and Elders Young and Richards confirming [435] them as they came out of the water. At 4:00 p.m. Elder Young addressed the gathered Saints “clothed with the power of God” as a prelude to nearly one hundred cheerful Saints sitting down to a feast with the apostles. After dinner Young again delivered a short address followed by more confirmations and ordinations and still more baptisms. In his diary Brigham Young tersely noted, “spent the day with the Brothering they had a tea party we had Prayrs confirmed several ordained a nomber there was 20 Baptized.”18
The day’s activities caused Woodruff to reflect humbly on his unprecedented success. Since he first arrived less than three months before, nearly four hundred had accepted baptism and still the work seemed to accelerate. Woodruff thought James Morgan a fitting symbol, for on the same day he was baptized he was ordained and commenced baptizing others.19
Apparently it was also on this day that a “notable miracle was wrought by faith & the power of God.” Sister Mary Pitt had been confined to bed for six years and unable to walk without crutches for eleven years. Writing two weeks later, Woodruff said that the three apostles had blessed her “& her ancle bones received strength & she now walks without the aid of crutch or staff.”20
After Young’s address the next day, Woodruff baptized four more whom Richards and Young confirmed. The following morning, 20 May, the three apostles ascended to the privacy of the beautiful Malvern Hills where, as Brigham noted in his diary, “we had Prayrs [436] and a little counsel.” Characteristically, Woodruff provided more detail:
we united in prayer & held a Council & unitedly felt that it was the will of God that Elder Young should go immediately to Manchester to assist in publishing a collection of Hymns . . . & also to immediately print & finish . . . the Book of Mormon.21
Later that day, with Young on the way to Manchester, apostles Woodruff and Richards resumed baptizing and confirming.
When Woodruff temporarily left the area a month later he could reflect on 541 members organized into thirty-three branches. He gave the Lord credit for preparing the field and leading him to it and his fellow apostles credit for assisting him in the harvest. He and all the Saints benefited from Young’s council and from his “instruction with much wisdom,” wrote Woodruff. Similarly, he praised Richards as a man who had passed through a great school of experience and learned sound judgment.22 Young’s feelings about the month of shared experiences in Herefordshire may be gauged from a note he wrote to Richards a few weeks later: “I want to see the Brothern in that contry I shall never forget my little mision in that contry with Brother Woodruff and with Br Richards.”23 After the Manchester conference in early July, Woodruff returned to labor another month in Herefordshire, eventually leaving nearly eight hundred members when he departed to preach in London.24
Brigham Young left his colleagues in Herefordshire in order to attend to publishing, a matter that had been of concern to the Twelve since before they had set sail for England. From New York Parley Pratt had written to Joseph Smith in November 1839 [437] asking for authorization to immediately publish another American edition of the Book of Mormon, as well as general authorization for the Twelve to publish abroad. Hyrum Smith answered Pratt’s inquiry in Joseph’s absence. While recognizing the need for another American edition, he hoped it could be done in Nauvoo under the Prophet’s direction. He thought the Twelve should be authorized to publish abroad but would not give authorization until Joseph returned.25 A few months later Elders Hyde and Page, still in the United States, requested on behalf of the Twelve permission to publish abroad any book they felt necessary. This time the Prophet gave them full authorization, but it would be months before that word reached England, where the rest of the apostles, confronted with a pressing need for books and impossible import duties, faced an immediate decision.26
While still laboring in Herefordshire with Woodruff, Young wrote a detailed letter to Joseph Smith asking his council about publishing the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants. Apparently the two men had discussed the possibility before but, perhaps thinking it best to import books so that the Twelve could spend their energies in other areas, no final decision had been reached. Now, with importation out of the question, the matter had become urgent. In answer, Joseph Smith sent with Lorenzo Snow on 19 July permission for Young to proceed with both publications—authorization again that would not arrive until the work was far advanced.27 Although Young sought council and obeyed it when received, he was not paralyzed when distance hindered communication. [438] He had already determined to publish the Book of Mormon as soon as he could raise the money.
Brigham Young intended to launch an ambitious publications program. No doubt this had been envisioned since their arrival, for their first meetings saw agreement on a monthly periodical and the hymnal. Time had only confirmed to Brigham Young the urgency of the need. Seeing the proposed Millennial Star as a first step, he was unwilling to wait until it could be financed by subscribers. Young instructed Pratt to proceed immediately with two thousand copies of the magazine and he would see to the bill. It was his intention to return to Manchester to assist in publication—but not without monies to finance the program.28
Not all the new converts were poor. Several families of some wealth joined the Church in Herefordshire and two of them, especially, furnished Young with the money he needed to begin publication. It was with money in hand from John and Jane Benbow and Thomas Kington that the three apostles hiked to Beacon Hill in the Malvern Hills for their important council of 20 May.29 On that date the three apostles “of one accord . . . & after prayer” discussed the proposed publishing program. Willard Richards then recorded their decision on a small slip of paper for Young to take with him:
We having obtained the funds to print a Hymn Book & Also the Book of Mormon [and launch the Star until it became self-sustaining, they might have added] it is our feelings that Broth[er] Young repair immediately to Manchester & join his Brethren previously appointed with him on a committee for the printing of the Hymn Book & that they cause 3000 copies to be issued without delay & Also that the same be a committee to cause 3000 copies of the Book of Mormon to be printed & completed with as little delay as possible & cause an index [439] to be afficed to the same—the form of the Book to be at the disposal of the committee.30
Anxious to operate unitedly and as a quorum, Young asked his two associates to sign the report. On the way to Manchester, where he would consult with Elders Pratt, Taylor and Kimball, Young visited with George A. Smith about the plans: “I perfickley concur with the feelings of my Broetherin abov named,” added Smith to the certificate.
Pratt, meanwhile, had not been idle. By mid-May he had a bid for publishing the Star and had advanced the editorial work enough that the first number came from the press as Young arrived and the second was out by 17 June.31 Young arrived in Manchester on Saturday and the next Monday, 25 May, he and his associates began seeking bids to publish the Book of Mormon. They eventually visited every printing establishment in Manchester and Liverpool before deciding on a firm to print five thousand copies. With the arrival of Taylor on the twenty-sixth and Kimball on the twenty-seventh, the committee began selecting hymns. By mid-June Young reported enthusiastically to Richards the progress of the committee, though noting “my labor has ben such that I am quite unwell. but I keepe going with all my might.” For the next several months Elder Young spent most of his time in either Liverpool or Manchester working on publications or emigration, influencing the tempo and directions of the whole mission of the Twelve through correspondence, and preaching when he could.32
On 1 June 1840, Brigham Young and Heber Kimball met with and organized the first of several Mormon companies to sail for [440] America under their direction. A few individual Saints had sailed previously, but this, a small company of forty-six, was the first organized under the mission with priesthood leaders appointed to preside at sea—a pattern that would endure for decades with thousands of Mormon emigrants to follow. Young gathered a packet of letters from the apostles to those at home and sent them with the emigrants. For his own wife, Mary Ann, he prepared two letters along with some small gifts, and locked them in a little box. A final note with the key to the box went into the packet with the other letters.33 As part of the final preparations, Young and Kimball blessed the departing Saints. The two of them, along with John Taylor, joined the emigrants on the ship to help them get situated comfortably. The ship set sail on 6 June.34
Knowing the general poverty of the Church and of his family, Young sent Mary Ann all the assistance he could. Earlier he sent some means and now, with the emigrants, he sent additional. But he had arrived in England penniless and could send little; he felt that anything he had came by the grace of God and the goodness of the English Saints. Later he wrote of his gratitude to God for permitting him to help his wife and children buy “a morsel of bread, it is not me but the Lord that has done it though through me.”35
Even before the apostles left New York, a letter from Hyrum Smith had informed them that while their families were “generally well,” because of the poverty of the Church they were not “altogether so comfortably situated as I could wish.”36 In fact, during part of the winter the situation of some of the families [441] was nearly desperate. In order to obtain food from the Nauvoo bishops, Mary Ann Young had been forced to cross the Mississippi in an open boat, her baby bundled tight against the cold while the older girls watched the rest of the children. Years later one Nauvoo veteran told how Mary Ann had arrived at her home one stormy November day
with her baby Alice in her arms, almost fainting with cold and hunger, and dripping wet with the spray of crossing the river. . . . I tried to persuade her to stay, but she refused, saying, “the children at home are hungry, too.” I shall never forget how she looked, shivering with cold and thinly clad. I kept the baby while she went to the tithing office. She came back with a few potatoes and a little flour, for which she seemed very grateful, and taking her baby with her parcels . . . weak as she was from ague and fever, wended her way to the river bank.37
By spring, however, the worst times had passed and letters from America began to report “I saw sisters Pratt, Kimball, Young, Woodruff, Turley, Smith. . . . They and their families are well.”38
It is unclear how much of this history of his family Brigham Young might have known by 11 June, but it is certain that they were very much on his mind. The day was so wet and unpleasant that he returned to his room early and soon fell asleep. He dreamed of being home with his family, of embracing his wife and eldest daughter. In his dream his wife told him “you must provide for your own families for the Church are not able to doe for them.”39 The next day he reported this “night vision” to his wife in a lengthy letter, stressing that he thought in his dream that he must take care of his own for the Church would not be able to. He then reported to her the progress of his mission and pledged that he would labor as hard and as rapidly as possible, [442] “for I feele that I with my Bretherin will be wonted with our familes eare long. for if the Lord dont come out of his hiding place before Long I am mestaken.”40
Brigham assured Mary Ann that he was as happy in England as he would be anywhere that he had to be deprived of the company of his family, for the English
are as loving a set of people as ever I saw in my life, y[e]a they are more so in their aperance than the Americans. but my soul says sweet home sweet home. my blesed famely, yes my kind and loving family, how sweet is home.
Lest that sound too much like he was longing for home instead of attending to duty, Young assured her it was not so. He had tested his feelings when the company of emigrants left Liverpool harbor, asking himself if he were ready to join them for America: “I could not bare the thought of going, but when the time has fully com, and the Lord says goe home my hart then will leap for joy.” He thought first they must publish the Book of Mormon and Elder Pratt had to get his family situated in England so he could stay and keep the Star alive. Then “I shall feele perty well satesfyde to com home and see you and the Children and my Brotheren that I love in the Bonds of truth.” In closing, Young repeated again the promise Joseph had given him that his family would not want while he was away, indicating that the promise had sustained him. Joseph said it by authority, wrote Young: “I believe it I have felt satisfied and contented about my famely ever since I left them.”41
Brigham Young’s concerns for his own family made him sensitive to the feelings of others—and anxious to help where he could. He was fully aware that Jennetta Richards, the delicate [443] wife of Willard whom he had married soon after his arrival in England in 1837, had not been well and that Willard desired to be with her. Although Richards had not directly asked for permission to visit, Young wrote him that “I percive more than words in your letter but how to anser the dezire manefested I know not.” After the necessary business and news, he returned to the matter:
Now as to the other question about Jenett[a] thus saith the scripter he that provideth not fore his own house hold has—but perhaps he had not hou[s]e. well has he got a famely yes he has got a wife then let him see that she is taken care of and her hart comforted—but stop say som why doe you not takcare of your famely. I doe when circumstances doe not render it otherwise there is a difference betwene 3 months jorny and afue ours ride. now I say to answer my own feelings com as soon as you can leve things there this is not by revelation nor by commandment so put it not with the anapistles of the new testement but Brigham sayes come and see your wife.42
Young’s sensitivity and compassion did not end with concern for the families. He was also interested in the health, faith, and feelings of his fellow apostles. During this period he labored unceasingly to build that unity of purpose and feeling that should characterize the Twelve—and which he knew could only flow from hearts in tune and concerned with one another. Though many letters have not survived, it appears that he wrote frequently to his brethren. Judging from those extant, he not only kept them informed on progress and mission events, but wrote letters of personal concern and encouragement. He asked his wife to direct his letters to John Taylor, Liverpool, for while Brigham traveled throughout the mission, Taylor’s general responsibilities were there and he “will [k]now whare I am for we are constently wright[ing] to each other.” Hearing news about Page and Hyde’s [444] preparations for Jerusalem, Young expressed delight that they were exerting themselves, but also hoped they would use wisdom and not overdo: “I am glad to see the Bretherin strech them selves. stil, I should hate to see them broake for this dos hurt and it is painful to bare—but the Lord bless the Bretherin.”43 This personal attention helped produce among the apostles the result Elder Young had longed for. As Heber Kimball expressed it to his wife in May, the Twelve drew together as one: “There never was better feelings among the Twelve than at this time; all things go well.”44
In late June the Twelve began leaving their fields of labor to assemble with the Saints for conference and council in Manchester. Their labors had proven productive. While Woodruff’s success in Herefordshire was unsurpassed, others had also found fruitful fields. Especially notable were the labors of Elders Kimball and Fielding who, resuming the companionship they shared in opening the mission in 1837, spread new life and enthusiasm among the members wherever they traveled and “are Baptizing in all the branches whare they goe.”45 Before their tour, many had taunted the faithful that Kimball and the apostles would never return to England, that they had been deluded by a passing fancy without substance. They made many false prophets as they visited branches they had earlier built up. According to their report,
the brethren here expected that when the Twelve came, there would be greater power in the preaching in general, and so it is; many have been added of late, the field is widening, the work is rolling on in the land, the prospect is good. Br. Fielding says he dont know how to express his feelings, he so greatly rejoices to see it, and he is far from being alone in this.46 [445]
On 6 July the Saints met together in a conference to settle difficulties (the Twelve functioning as a traveling high counci1),47 review membership (842 more members than in April), approve and perform ordinations (Thomas Kington was among those ordained high priests), and receive general instruction and encouragement from their leaders. The conference also approved the newly printed hymn book and accepted a number of volunteers to work full time in the ministry.48
The following day Young presided over a “General Council of the Church Officers” in the Star office. Elder Young addressed the officers concerning their duties, then each was assigned a field of labor until the next conference. The Twelve then walked to a warehouse to weigh and pay for the large quantity of paper Young and Pratt had purchased to publish the Book of Mormon, dined with twenty of the elders, then met in council themselves. All of the apostles agreed that Parley Pratt should immediately go to New York for his family; they also agreed on Pratt’s motion that “H. C. Kimball and B. Young take charge of the Star Office’’ until his return. After discussing emigration, the Twelve decided that the Saints should travel in companies and that Theodore Turley, a seventy, should head the next one to depart.49
Following the conference Elder Woodruff reported in his diary the prospective fields of labor. With Elders Kimball and Smith, Woodruff would soon open the work in London, Elder Young would remain in Manchester to oversee the publishing, and Elder Taylor intended to leave Liverpool for a stay in Ireland. “The foundation is now laid in such a manner in this country,” he thought, and [446] with new doors opening “that we have every reason to expect a greater increase for three months to come, than has been in the three that are past. I Pray God to roll on his work in mighty power.”50
It is interesting to contemplate Brigham and Heber, the two craftsmen, editing the Star in Pratt’s absence. It seems strange that Young did not use John Taylor whom he later termed “one of the strongest editors that ever wrote.” Perhaps he thought Taylor, a native Englishman, too valuable to remove from the field and from appointments already arranged throughout the United Kingdom.51 After working in Manchester close to Pratt for two months, Brigham Young certainly knew what was ahead for him. He had written Mary Ann the month before that he had been left to labor nearly alone on the hymn book—“my labor so hard that it scemes as though it would be imposable for me ever to regane my helth”—because Elder Taylor had been ill and Elder Pratt had as much as he could do to attend to the Star.52
It seems likely that only the fact that Willard Richards was also in Manchester near his wife persuaded Young to take on the added responsibility of the Star instead of assigning another. It was Young and Richards who managed the Star, as it turned out, permitting the unusually effective Kimball to remain in the field. Unsure when Pratt would return, the Twelve formalized the arrangement at the next conference by voting—just days before Pratt arrived—that “Elder Richards take charge of the Millennial Star.” From July until October, however, Young ‘‘was much confined to the office . . . conducting and issuing the Millennial Star, Hymn Book [447] and Book of Mormon, giving counsel to the elders throughout the European mission, preaching, baptizing and confirming.”53
When the new season emigration geared up early in 1841, John Taylor would play a key role from his Liverpool headquarters in contracting for passage, organizing the companies, and generally overseeing activities there. But as the next company prepared for an early September departure, Taylor left Liverpool for short missionary journeys to Scotland and Ireland, leaving that endeavor also for Young to oversee.
During lulls in the long hours in the Star office or alone in his room at night, Brigham had time to reflect on his own concerns as well as those of the Saints. In June he had asked Mary Ann to remain in the Nauvoo area, rather than going east for a season as she might have done, because “when I come hom I shall want to be with the Brethern [of] the first Presidency.” To Joseph he had written in May of his dream of living forever
to enjoy each others society in peace. I long to see the faces of my friends again in that Country once more. . . . it is hard for me to be parted from my old friends who I have proved to be willing to lay down their lives for each other. I feel as though the Lord would grant me the priviledge of sometime seeing my old friends in America. . . . I beg to be remembered to Brother Rigdon and family also to Brother Hyrum and family.54
Young missed not just the fellowship and friendship, but also the teachings. As he wrestled with the cares and challenges each day, he especially wanted the Prophet’s council. Although he had several times written for advice, by early September, some five months into his mission, he still had no answers to his queries. [448]
On 5 September, as a company of two hundred Saints gathered in Liverpool to sail to America under Elder Turley, Brigham Young and Willard Richards labored in the Manchester office of the Star to prepare a lengthy report and letter to Joseph Smith and his counselors in Nauvoo. The letter contained many expressions of friendship and of the ever-present desire to receive instructions from the Presidency. The heart of the report was a discussion of the social and economic conditions in England and their impact on the missionary success and lives of the Saints. The apostles were appalled that the priests and factory masters had such control that “many simple souls who believe our message dare not be baptized” because starvation could be the result.55 They were appalled at men out of work, families starving, women and children surviving only by begging. England had a lasting impact on these Americans who visited at a time of economic difficulty, and they returned praising God for the promised land. As George A. Smith wrote to a cousin in Ohio, “I never before realized the value of American institutions.”56
Because of these conditions the Twelve made every exertion to aid the emigration of as many Saints as possible. So many of the poor had come to Liverpool to emigrate that the generosity of those Saints who had means was not enough to pay the passage. Knowing the poverty and distress, reported the apostles to the Presidency, “we . . . have made use of our own credit, among the brethren” to emigrate the poor along with the rest.
Brethren, our hearts are pained with the poverty & misery of this pepole, & we have done all we could to help as many off [449] as possible to a land where they may get a morsel of bread, & serve God according to his appointment; & we have done it cheerfully as unto the Lord. & we desire to ask you have we done right? Or is it a right principle, for us to act upon, to involve ourselves, to help the poor Saints in Zion?57
Their indebtedness and personal responsibility for the emigration weighed on their minds as the ship prepared to depart. But once that concern was penned, the questions would not stop: Are Joseph and Hyrum coming to England as we have heard? Have we done right in printing the hymn book, the Book of Mormon? What about the Doctrine and Covenants? Shall we send to America next season all we can and stay here ourselves? Or should we gather up all the Saints we can and come to America with them in the spring? Is it right for us to stay here and leave our families a burden to the Church? The questions ended with, “Finally, Brothers, how long must we be deprived the company of the Dear Brethren whom we Love?”58
These were important questions—some urgent. Earlier in the letter to the Presidency the apostles had stressed that because they felt weakness in the face of the great work committed to them, and because they desired to receive counsel rather than give council to their leaders, they rejoiced “that the Church has a Moses in these last days (and an Aaron by his side) of whom the Saints may enquire, as in days of old, & know the mind of the Lord.” Nonetheless, the distances were great and they knew they could not await answers.
Our motto is go ahead. Go ahead.—& ahead we are determined to go—till we have conquered every foe. So come life or come death we’ll go ahead, but tell us if we are going wrong & we will right it.59 [450]
With letter in hand, Young and Richards traveled to Liverpool to meet the departing Saints and to assist Taylor in organizing them. They set apart Turley as president and six counselors to assist him. Although William Clayton was to have remained, his family were among those leaving. The whole affair of arranging and departing proved so traumatic to the family, and to Clayton who was ill, that his mother-in-law, “seeing the toil and trouble there was in these things” began to weep and insist he go with them. She took her request to Young and Taylor who, sensitive to the needs of the family, consented. When Willard Richards realized that Clayton was departing, he was not pleased. For nearly three years they had labored together in the ministry, and the apostle felt Clayton was needed more by the mission than by his family.60 On 8 September a steamer towed the ship North America out of port, Young and Richards on board with the emigrants. After the fifteen mile tow, they returned to shore with the steamer, then traveled back to their labors in Manchester.61
On 6 October 1840 the Twelve met in Manchester with the Saints for the third general conference since their arrival. According to the teachings of Joseph Smith, the Twelve functioning as a quorum had the authority to conduct the business of the Church without constant reference to a sustaining vote of the membership. Only when they had less than a quorum was it necessary to conduct business “by the voice of the Church.” Among Young’s questions to Joseph Smith in his letter of 7 May was one about the advisability of keeping the quorum together to do business as a quorum.62 [451] However, even though a quorum of apostles was present at the first two conferences, the Twelve had conducted business by the voice and vote of the Church. By October, Young had concluded to change that, a decision prompted partly by practical concerns and partly, no doubt, by a desire to establish as a precedent the other pattern.
This was only part of Young’s personal agenda for the conference. Still extant is a small folded paper illustrating other aspects of his thinking and preparation for the conference:
Whare shall the Book of Mormon be bound. . . .
Who shall take carge of the Maleneal Star if P. Pratt does not come
is it best for some of the 12 to goe home this fall and come back next Seson
What time shall the next company goe to america and how shall they be organised to goe. . . .
Who shall have athority to ordane officers in the Churches
Will the Church help Brother Richards
Who shall make or prepare the endex to the Book of Mormon63
This agenda was largely followed. In a sense, the October conference, an important conference for establishing policy and new precedents, was President Young’s conference.
Following the earlier pattern Elder Young moved and it was seconded and carried that Orson Pratt—not in attendance in July—be president of the conference. As usual the branches were first represented. Total membership was up 1,115 overall since July and Elder Woodruff marveled to hear of the seventy churches and 1,007 members of Herefordshire.64 George A. Smith spoke on the subject of ordinations, proposing that no more be done except as [452] authorized by a high council or under guidelines they would prepare. After adding his thoughts on the matter, Young proposed that in the future, due to the great expenses involved and the inconvenience to many members, general conferences be done away with, except as the Traveling High Council (the Twelve) should feel necessary. In the afternoon session Elder Richards moved and the conference agreed that, for the time being, all ordinations be under the control of the Traveling High Council. Several disciplinary cases ended the session. Elder Young brought up one case of misconduct and another “opened a wide field for instruction from Elder Young” and also Orson Pratt.65
An evening session of the conference dealt with assigning elders to their places of labor. As before, assignments were “Moved, seconded, and voted” through a list of names and places until
Moved and seconded, that the remainder of the Officers . . . be left to the Travelling High Council, to dispose of, and appoint to such places as they may judge expedient.—Carried.
Moved and seconded, that in consequence of there not being time to transact all the business of this Conference, the Ordination of Officers be left to the Traveling High Council, to ordain from time to time, such Members as they may consider requisite. Carried.
The rest of the business the Twelve, as a quorum, would attend to after the conference. Elders Young, Pratt, Richards and Kimball then led a discussion on the propriety of establishing a fund to aid those called to the vineyard but who had insufficient means to respond. After that carried, the “Conference adjourned sine die.”66 The next conference would be when and where the Twelve [453] would direct, and in the meantime, as a quorum, they would regulate all matters that needed attention.
On 7 and 8 October the Twelve held councils with some of the Saints present. On the last date they voted that Richards take charge of the Star and that the office be moved to London “as soon as circumstances will permit.”67 Except for several matters relating to publishing, the items of Young’s agenda were handled during the conference. Who would index the Book of Mormon? Young would, as it turned out, but not until January. How would the Book of Mormon be bound? Young, with his brethren in Liverpool and Manchester, must decide.
An important series of letters that Young wrote to his wife during the fall and winter have survived. These detailed letters in his own hand contrast markedly with later ones penned by clerks and provide a rare opportunity for insight into his feelings and his thought. In addition, in the absence of a detailed diary, they provide the best information on many of his activities during this portion of his English mission.68
These letters document plainly that the demands of publication continued to occupy a large portion of Young’s time and energy and that, invariably, everything connected with it took longer than he had anticipated. In mid-October he and Kimball, just returned to Manchester, prepared to visit Preston and Liverpool on business concerning the Book of Mormon. If they could finish the business, it was their intention to spend part of the winter in London (where Elders Kimball, Woodruff, and Smith had labored in August to open the work) and perhaps make a short [454] visit to Hamburg, Germany, where one elder labored. If the typesetting and printing started about the time that they purchased paper in July, by this time it should have been far advanced. No doubt one of the matters that still concerned them at this point was finding a low-cost but quality binder. Young also carried the financial responsibility for the Star, in spite of Richards’s editorial assistance. Consequently he was much relieved when he learned 20 October that Pratt had returned the day before from America. Finally, he wrote, he would be at liberty “to goe to other places to Preach and attend to buisness.”
On 30 October, Young expressed his determination to get the Book of Mormon to the people as soon as possible, even though he then knew that it would not be “out of press” as soon as he had expected. As late as mid-January he moaned, “the printing of the Book of Mormon goes slow to what the hymn Book did it is a grate job though it is about don and desposed of.” Since it “rest[s] upon my sholders,” he knew it must be done before he could leave for America. Not until February were the first copies of the book ready, with binding and business details continuing for several weeks after that.69
Publishing was simply a tool of proselyting, however, and proselyting—spreading the message and warning the people—remained the overall concern. To Mary Ann in October, Brigham wrote that he was very anxious to see Elders Hyde and Page because they needed help in the vineyard. He thought the labor would likely be cut short “for nothing but destruction awates this Nation.” Too many elders tended to act independently, he thought, and he hoped for additional elders who would follow counsel and keep within bounds: [455]
I have not herd who is acoming but I trust they will be good men that will be sent, for [s]churely it requires men of strong mind and determined persistence to due all things right, & then due nothing more.
Within his October letter to Mary Ann, Brigham wrote a note to his brother Joseph Young, a president of the Seventy, elaborating on these concerns. Send more elders, he urged, “but for Heven sake due not send men here that is to[o] big to be counsled.” He wanted humble, pliable, tight lipped men who would be discreet. He and his brethren had carefully followed the admonitions of the Presidency to not teach the mysteries, and he wanted other elders who would do as they had: even when new converts “get the spirit of Provisi [prophecy] upon them and . . . tell many things that is about so . . . all we can due is to laugh at them a little and pass it off.” Even without more elders, Brigham wrote in October to Mary Ann, “the work of the Lord is roling on in this contry the Elders are going in every direction to preach the people are reciving there testemony and they are building up Churches in meny parts.” With his brethren, Young worked diligently to do his share:
sence we have ben in Manchester We have don all that we posably could to spread this work we have succeeded in makeing the priest mad, so that they rave like demonds, We keepe Baptiseing every weak which causes much per[se]cution.70
In late October, Elders Young and Kimball took a short mission to Preston and then south to the town of Hardin, Wales. Though they initially baptized few, their preaching elicited a singular response from the people. As Brigham Young wrote to Mary Ann in November, [456]
We have hered from Wales whare Br Kimball and I went, a grate meny of the people was sorry they did not obey the gospel when we ware there the report went out that we had the same power that the old apostles had, it is true we did lay hands on one young man that was quite low with a fevor, we rebuked his fevor and he got well we laid our hands on a woman that had verry bad eyes she emeditly recoverd, they have a gradel [great deal] to say about our preaching. they say that Elder Kimball has such sharp eys that he can look wright through them, and Elder Young Preashes so that every Body that heres him must beleve he preaches so plane and powerful.71
Several months later Kimball wrote of their short mission to Hardin that they preached only twice “and the people almost universally received our testimony.” The power of God was manifested, noted Kimball, both in restoring to sight the one nearly blind and also in the young man “lying at the point of death” who a few days later was baptized. Kimball said that a large church was raised up there after them and many were preparing to emigrate.72
The week after the visit to Wales, Young was back in Manchester for Sunday activities. He had earlier organized the Manchester elders into a preaching corps that occupied some forty stations throughout the city to conduct street meetings and announce the central meeting at the large Carpenter’s Hall. The men would first meet together for a priesthood meeting and then disperse to their assigned stations. On 8 November Brigham felt impressed to send the brethren home rather than to their stations, partly, no doubt, because he was aware the Methodists had complained. Because of the complaints, the mayor that morning instructed the police to arrest all the street preachers. All twenty arrested were quickly released when they proved to be Methodists.73 [457]
In his letters, Young could not help but contrast England with America. The climate of England did not agree with him, nor did the social and economic conditions. Noting in October that Parley Pratt’s family had arrived well and in good spirits, he added for Mary Ann that he thought they would get enough of “old England” within the year and that he was glad that his family was in America. He wrote that there was scarcely a night that he did not dream of being in his own country with some of his old friends. In November he wrote again about the members turned out of work because of their religion adding that he was certain the Lord turned all things to good: “the Priest[s] and leaders drive the people to us . . . they can due nothing aganst the truth, but for it, it all helps to role the worke on to the final crices.” As an example he pointed with delight to the Manchester sectarians who tried to keep their members away from the Mormons by telling them “if you dont . . . you will want to goe again and you will be druv a way by them, they are so intising you cannot keep away if [you] goe once.” The delusion was so powerful, said the preachers, that after joining the Mormons people would even pay their own passage to America “to the promist land.” Young thought such admonitions a great boon to the work. He joked that not all were deluded enough to pay their passage, however, and a few had even said they would not go unless their way were paid.74
These letters also reveal Brigham Young’s deep feelings for Joseph Smith and his continuing concern that all his actions be acceptable to Joseph as well as to the Lord. After the persecutions and apostasies of 1837–1838, Young was concerned [458] for Smith’s safety, as well as for the Church. In October he wrote,
how doe the church feele about Br Joseph Smith . . . is there feelings agan[s]t him I have ben informed he has said the Brotherin would for sake him and some of them would secke his life and he would have to swim the Mississ[ippi] river to get out of their hands, I shall be glad when [the] Church understand things and Lern that the Lord is god and he will takcare of his own work, and moses will doe the work the Lord tells him to do.
He hoped that the Church would not eventually provoke the Lord as the Children of Israel did. He also expressed this prayer: “I aske one thing of the Lord God the Eternall Father in the name of Jesus Christ that is that our Moses that the Lord has given us, may live to . . . go into the promist Caneneon.”75
As far as can be determined, Brigham Young received no letter of advice or instruction from Joseph Smith or the Presidency until 2 November when he met Lorenzo Snow in Liverpool carrying Smith’s answer to Young’s 7 May 1840 letter. Notations in Joseph’s letterbook preserve the gist of the answer “sent . . . by Lorenzo Snow which gave them permission to publish . . . but not to ordain any into the quorum of the Seventies, and likewise some general instructions.” Apparently the letter itself, not presently available, contained a suggestion of dissatisfaction along with the permission to proceed. The letter was not explicit enough, however, that Young fully understood the cause or the extent of the Prophet’s concern. Since he had attempted to learn the Presidency’s counsel on all matters and stood willing to obey when he received it, no doubt the rebuff, mild though it may have been, carried a sting. To his wife Young wrote in November, [459]
in Brother Joseph[’s] letter he sent to the Twelve he said he had something aganst them, acording to whatt I could lern from the letter it was because we did not wright to him upon the subject of printing the hymnbook and the Book of Mormon which we should have been glad to have don if we could, but it did not seeme to be posable, all I have to say about the matter . . . is I have don all that I could to doe good and promote the cause that we are in. I have don the verry best that I knew how, and I think that Br. Joseph will tel us all about things when we return home.
He was willing to wait. And he would have to wait, for it would be more than two months before he and his brethren received the next communication from Smith. Knowing that Mary Ann would see him, Brigham told her to show him the letter “or not, jest as you plese, but tell him at ennyrate to say what he wants me to doe and I will try and doe it.”76
These important letters to Mary Ann in the fall and winter of 1840–1841 reveal much about Young’s relationship to his family, an important aspect of his personality largely ignored and, for most of his life, not documented in this detail. In addition to what has already been noted, he wrote in mid-October,
I trust within one year from this time I shall have the priveledge [of] injoying the society of my famely; I feel as though their faceses would look and voices sound better than ever before. how I long to see my wife and children. When I let my mind meditate upon past scenes and the triels we have past through to gether, I feel as thou I could not concent to be so far from them, and whare I cannot administer to their comfort, but so it is, and I must be content.77
To lighten Mary Ann’s concern for him, he wrote that all of his wants had been supplied: “there has been an efectual dore opened for us sence we left home, would I be sure that my famely fared as well as I due, I would be happy.” He expressed satisfaction that his family had been moved to the Nauvoo side of the river and hope that they could stay there when he returned. [460]
Before he had mailed the above letter, Brigham learned more about his family through a letter from Vilate to Heber Kimball. “I am glad Brother Brigham has sent some assistance to his family,” she wrote, “for they were needy.” She thought their house—though it would soon be improved—hardly a shelter and mentioned that Young’s daughters Vilate and Elizabeth were both sick with the chills.78 This news prompted Young to write:
I aske my Hevenly Father to preserve my family till I returne home, how I long to see my famely or know they are well and provided for so that they doe not suffer for food and rament, and I know that the Church is poor and it is as much as they can doe to attend to without doing enything for my famely I know they woul[d] . . . if they could but th[e]y cannot. . . .
Sister Vilate says your house could hardly be cau[l]d a shelter this makes me fee[l] bad but I will doe [all] I can for you to help you to make you and the Children comfortable while I am in the vinyard. . . . I dremed last night of seeing the house whare you live & that it looked very open and cold, I feele for you.
Once again he assured her not to be concerned for him for “the Brotherin and Sisters would pluck out there eyes for me if it ware nessary they due all they can for my comfort . . . and may the Lord bless them for it and he will.”79
In addition to attending to the requirements of publishing, Brigham Young spent November, December, and early January traveling throughout the mission visiting the elders, preaching, holding conferences, and helping push the work forward wherever he could. In late November he “herd Elder [Lorenzo] Snow preach, he is a nise young man I think”; that marked the beginning of an association in the ministry that would last for many years.80 During this period, Young’s longest stay was ten days in London, where he preached and visited the sites in company with Elders Woodruff and [461] Kimball who, along with George A. Smith, had opened the London work during August. London, they found, was the most difficult place in England to gain successfully the attention of the people. Although they had baptized 130 persons on the way to the city, in London they spent two weeks before winning a single convert. They stayed with the labor mainly, it would seem, because of the symbolic importance of having a presence in the capital city. By February they had forty-six members; by May, seventy-four.81
While Young was generally sensitive to the feelings of his colleagues, his manner could also be curt and abrasive. Not given to circumlocutions, he spoke frankly what was on his mind, probably admonition more often than praise. Sometimes the admonition was recognized as appropriate and taken in good spirit, as apparently happened with George A. Smith in the council in Batavia as they traveled to New York the fall before.82 Other times the comments, even when deserved, must have stung; and if they had not been balanced by fellowship and genuine goodwill they would eventually have caused breaches in the unity of the quorum. One of these encounters occurred in London. While those who labored in London any length of time stressed the inherent difficulties of the place for preaching, Young attributed at least some of the slowness of the work to deficiencies in the labor or approach of the apostles. George A., he thought, simply used the wrong approach for the people of the great city, while Elder Woodruff seemed to Young more intent on writing in his diary than counseling those interested in the gospel.83 Nonetheless, the men worked together harmoniously and effectively in furthering the London work. [462]
While it is difficult to judge the impact of the apostles’ December preaching on the London missionary effort, one can sense something of the impact of the city on the apostles. After the August visit Woodruff called the city “as profitable a school to me as any I have ever met with in my travels.”84 Young joined them in December partly, at least, for school. The three apostles visited the Tower of London, the Thames Tunnel, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, St. Paul’s Cathedral, the National Gallery, the College of Surgeons, and the British Museum. Woodruff wrote in his diary detailed descriptions of each site that he had not thoroughly described in August or October. Judging from his reports, the size of the city, the magnificent architecture and sculpture, the centers of government and learning all impressed them.
Young left London by rail on 11 December and resumed his schedule of visits and conferences. After one such visit he wrote in his diary, “I have had a good time with the Brethrn I find Fathers & mothers sister & Brothers whare ever I goe.”85 On the way to London he had preached two nights in the Staffordshire Potteries with George A. Smith. Christmas day found him back in that area for a conference: “had a good time gave the church much instruction found G. A. Smith not verry well.” Young spent the night with the ill apostle.86 A few days later he returned with Willard Richards to Manchester, where the two prepared for publication a lengthy article titled “Election and Reprobation,” dealing with the ever-present questions of election, faith, and works.87 Replete with biblical references and quotations, the [463] piece served as an answer to Protestant ridicule of the Mormon teachings on these central issues. Twice during the month Brigham preached on the subject. Later in January, Young and Richards prepared the index for the nearly finished edition of the Book of Mormon.
With the new year the apostles realized their stay in England was drawing to a close. In October, Young had written to Mary Ann only that he thought they would arrive home at about the right time for the Lord would indicate when: “I doe not feele as though I could doe enny thing with out him the Lord must guide me or I shall goe rong.” In November he told her that Elder Taylor had begun “to think about going home.” Finally, 15 January 1841, he was prepared to announce to Mary Ann that
on the 6 day of Apriel 1841 we hold a Council of the twelve with the officers of the Church for the purpos of arrangen the affares of the Church so that we can leve, I think we shall start for home then, and make ouer way as fast as we can. I beleve this is the feelings of all the twelve, this is all I can say upon the subject, the will of the Lord be don.88
The labors he had set for himself about completed, Young finally would allow himself to think of returning home. Apparently the heavy demands of young children and her own poor health had prevented Mary Ann from writing often. Just before he wrote to her in January, he finally received a long letter from her, further turning his heart toward home. He expressed sorrow at her illness and awareness of the difficulty of her task even with health. “I pray for you and the children continually,” he wrote; “it is all I can due. I can not help you about your daly work.” He reaffirmed that he felt they were in the hands “of the Lord God [464] of Isreal,” although he also admitted feeling a great desire for them. He was certain that the time went faster for him than for them because of the variety and demands of his mission. His responsibilities weighed so heavily upon him that he had time for little else: “if I would give up my mind to think of my famely it would destract me and I should not be fit for the work the Lord has set me about.” But this time he was distracted and it was all right. Mary Ann had written that “little Mary ann cried the other night and did not want to goe to Bed till she had kneled down and praid for Father.” Deeply touched, Young responded: “bless the little creater [creature] how I want to see hir,” adding a note of love and counsel to each of his six children.89
Immediately after writing to Mary Ann, Brigham penned letters to the other members of the Twelve notifying them of the decision to leave. On 18 January Kimball and Woodruff received notice to be ready to sail in early April. George A. Smith was already generally aware of the plans when Young wrote to him 11 February that Jennetta Richards intended to accompany them to America in the spring. He went on to give more precise information and, characteristically, invite George A.’s response:
the twelve are agoing to meet on the last day of March or the first day of Apriel for . . . such business as will be nessary . . . before they goe home, I believe it to be the minds of all the Bretherin to goe home emed[i]atily after the confrence. . . . what say you about the matter I say I am for home if the Lord will that I goe if this dos not meet your mind you must let me know.90
Because Young had adjourned the previous conference sine die, it was necessary to formally notify the membership of the decision to hold another conference. The February Star carried [465] the announcement that the Twelve would meet in Manchester 6 April as many “officers . . . as can conveniently attend, in general council . . . when much business of general interest will be attended to.” The notice directed the presiding elders to hold local conferences previous to the general gathering so they would have accurate membership information.91
On 15 December, Joseph Smith wrote an important letter that included his advice that the Twelve return to America in the spring. It is unlikely that Brigham Young received the letter until after he had announced to the Twelve his decision to depart. As late as 6 February 1841, Woodruff noted in his diary that a 25 December 1840 letter from Mary Ann to Brigham Young reported Joseph Smith’s intention to instruct the Twelve to “hold a conference in the Spring ordain as many as they thought wisdom & send them to all parts they could” and then return home. Had Smith’s letter already arrived, Woodruff would have commented on that rather than the secondhand notice of what the Prophet intended to do.92 When Joseph Smith’s letter of 15 December finally did arrive, it did contain a paragraph in answer to the Twelve’s earlier query about returning in the spring:
I have reflected on the subject some time and am of the opinion that it would be wisdom in you to make preparations to leave the scene of your labor in the spring. Having carried the testimony to that land, and numbers having received it, consequently the leaven can now spread, without your being obliged to stay. . . . I would therefore say in the mean time be diligent, organize the church and let everyone stand in his proper place, so that those who cannot come with you in the spring may not be left as sheep without a shepherd.93
Brigham Young had already concluded to do precisely what the letter counseled. [466]
This important letter finally provided Smith’s answers to the several letters and numerous questions Brigham Young and his brethren had earnestly penned in May and September. Although Smith acknowledged that some of the questions merited an earlier reply, he in effect gave the Twelve a vote of confidence by suggesting that he trusted them to decide properly the questions while he attended to other priorities. He felt that their mission was as important as any labor then on the earth and admitted to having “some anxiety” that by faith and diligence and charity they would really commend themselves “to one another, to the Church of Christ, and to your Father which is in heaven.” From all the information he had received, however, he felt satisfied that they had not been remiss in their duties and that their diligence and faithfulness must please God and all the Church. The unity and harmony with which they labored especially gave Smith confidence in them. If emulated, he wrote, such unity would bless the whole Church: “The order of the Kingdom will be maintained,—its officers respected, and its requirements readily and cheerfully obeyed.”94
Joseph wrote that he approved of their publishing. He would be particularly pleased to learn that the Book of Mormon was printed “in all the different languages of the earth.” He concurred in the decision to have Parley Pratt, his family at hand, remain longer than the rest of the Twelve, and gave his reasons why. But he did not feel to comment on the long lists of questions. He felt that they had acted in wisdom
and I have no doubt but the spirit of the Lord has directed you. and this proves to my mind that you have been humble, and your desires have been for the salvation of your fellow [467] man, and not for your own agrandizement and selfish interests. As long as the saints manifest such a disposition their councils will be approved of, and their exertions crowned with success. There are many things of much importance, on which you ask council, but which I think you will be perfectly able to decide upon, as you are more conversant with the peculiar circumstances than I am, and I feel great confidence in your united wisdom. therefore you will excuse me for not entering into detail.
In answer to Young’s earlier plea, he promised that if he did see something wrong he would “take the privilege of making known my mind to you and point out the evil.” Although Young several times had asked for specific counsel and advice, time and practical necessities had forced him and his brethren to make their own decisions—and mature in the process. No doubt Young took deep comfort in Joseph’s expression of full confidence in him and in their labors.95
Smith’s epistle revealed that he had some understanding of the probable impact of the mission on the Twelve. He wrote of what they must feel to see their labors assist the spread of truth throughout England “while surrounded with circumstances the most unpropitious,” threatening destruction. Such success, he thought, must increase their confidence in God and in themselves,
like the gallant Bark, that has braved the storm unhurt, spread her canvass to the breese, and nobly cuts her way through the yielding waves, more conscious than ever of the strength of her timbers and the experience and capabilities of her Captain, Pilots and crew.
From contemplating their mission and labors he turned to consider his own, asking the Twelve—perhaps a foreshadowing of their future role—to support him that he might succeed.96
President Smith’s letter also contained news of Nauvoo developments, some of which the Twelve knew by the Times and Seasons [468] and other letters: construction of the Temple, Hyrum Smith becoming patriarch according to Father Smith’s “last directions and benedictions,” importance of Nauvoo as the gathering place. He left the Twelve to decide emigration routes and procedures but advised against New Orleans in the summer, the sickly season. He would not be coming to England but extended the English Saints “a pressing invitation” to come and see him in America. He closed with an overview of baptism for the dead, a new doctrine taught for the first time since they left. They would immediately see its “consistancy and reasonableness,” he thought, but as the ordinance could only be performed in Nauvoo, he declined giving further details until they returned. At the same time, he noted, “I always feel glad to give all the information in my power.”97
The first issue of the Times and Seasons for 1841 printed extracts of the Prophet’s letter to the Twelve and the second published an epistle from the First Presidency titled “A Proclamation to the Saints Scattered Abroad.” For the Saints in England the March Millennial Star reprinted both.98
The proclamation contained additional information about developments in Nauvoo (lands, city charter, Nauvoo Legion, plans for a university) and stressed even more than the earlier letter the importance of the gathering. Whatever doubts had earlier existed about the wisdom of continuing the general gathering had apparently dissipated in the enthusiasm over the new city’s growth and promise: “The persecutions we suffered in Missouri, were but a prelude to a far more glorious display of the power of truth,” read the proclamation. The gathering was essential to the [469] work of the kingdom. Only the united and concentrated efforts of the faithful could build up the new society spiritually or temporally.
Therefore, let those who can, freely make a sacrifice of their time, their talents, and their property, for the prosperity of the kingdom, . . . bid adieu to their homes and pleasant places of abode, and unite with us in the great work of the last days. and share in the tribulation, that they may ultimately share in the glory and triumph.99
Joseph’s long-standing program to establish Zion and build the Kingdom of God was once more in force.
Most of the English Saints needed no convincing. Even before the apostles mentioned the gathering they desired to see the Prophet, to live among the Saints, to go to America. As Brigham wrote to his brother Joseph Young in October 1840,
the Saints have got a start for to gether to america and goe they will, and nothing can stop them. . . . they have so mich of the spirit of gatherin that they would goe if they knew that the mob would be upon them and drive them as so[o]n as they got there they have the spirit of the times here as well as the Church there.100
For the English Saints baptized by the Twelve, it was a gathering not only to America but to the “Land of Joseph.”101 With the publishing firmly in hand, Brigham Young spent the months of February and March attempting to rationalize and improve a system of emigration, and gearing up to transport as many Saints as possible to the Land of Joseph before the Twelve departed.102
The season’s emigration opened in early February with final preparation for the sailing of the Sheffield. Before the emigrants assembled in Liverpool, the apostles had completed contracting for the ship and arranging many of the stores. It seems likely that the day-to-day arrangements were made by John Taylor, still [470] headquartered in Liverpool, with Young and sometimes others of the Twelve on hand to assist in organizing the company and completing arrangements as departure neared. It is also likely that Young’s stamp was on the financial arrangements. Alexander Neibaur, one of the prospective passengers of the Sheffield, found “the ship all in an uproar, luggage, men, women & children all huddled together,” when he, his family and luggage arrived 5 February from Preston. Elders Young, Taylor, and Richards “which 3 gentlemen had the superintendency of the storing for the Company,” arrived the next evening to assist.103 To accompany each shipload of English Saints, Young appointed an American elder—someone capable of being a leader as well as one who could transact the American end of the business without unnecessary costs. In this case he appointed Hiram Clark. The apostles normally blessed the company, set apart the leaders, helped orient them to ship life, and stayed on board with them until the moment to sail arrived.
On the evening of 6 February, Elder Young called the emigrants to order and informed them that all must be on board by 8:00 the next morning. Some had not completed financial arrangements for their passage and he insisted that be done immediately.104 In the morning the three apostles boarded the ship to visit with the emigrants and render last minute assistance until 10:00 a.m. when the captain ordered the vessel to sail. Young thought the company as well situated as they could ask for: “they had the hole ship to them selves.” Hundreds watched as a fine breeze carried the 235 New Orleans–bound Mormons down the river and out to sea. Young had concluded that if they sailed [471] early enough to avoid the New Orleans summer, as Joseph had suggested, that the less expensive Louisiana route was best.105
The Sheffield sailed on Sunday. By Thursday the three apostles met in council to set apart the presidency for the ship Echo. According to the minutes, the company’s organization included the president and six assistants along with one man to act as clerk and historian.106 Young remained in Liverpool nearly a week until the Echo sailed with 109 Saints on board. He then traveled for several weeks before returning to assist in March with the Alesto and its passengers.
When not directly involved with the ships and emigrating Saints, Young supported the movement with numerous letters to keep the other apostles informed and coordinate their efforts so that money, provisions, emigrants, and a ship came together for a successful company. Woodruff noted that he and Kimball received several letters in early February “which gave us information of the vast emegrat[i]on of the Saints.”107 By mid-month Young had concluded to write to all the Twelve and other presiding elders throughout England asking immediate information so he could arrange the last companies. His letter to George A. Smith illustrates the process of planning and preparation:
We wish you to Call the Churches to gether in your part and ascertaine emeditly how meny of the Bretherin can be reddy to sale by the 10 of march next, as we shall fit of another Company then . . . let us know by the 25 of this month, let us have the names of all, and the ages of all children under 14 years, children from one to 14 will goe 2 for one under one year they goe free.
Young asked Smith to appoint an agent to handle the money for passage and provisions; Young himself knew the market and would [472] purchase to save them money. As soon as he had contracted for another ship, Young promised to inform them of the sailing date. His advice was to avoid the more expensive New York route by sailing to New Orleans by March, adding that those who could not be ready in time “had better stay” until late August or September when they could again sail for New Orleans.108
George A. presented the matter to the Saints in his region and found “All willing but none able to gather at present.” They simply did not have the means. Levi Richards apparently found people with means enough but who could not be ready by March. He wanted to know if it was binding that they wait until fall. If they could not be ready in time, responded Young, “we say goe or at enny other time when they chose, our surkler [circular] is no law but advice in consequence of the expence.” Since the vessels that he had contracted for were already “fild to overflowing,” Young’s advice to all others was “go when you can.”109
Between ship departures Young continued his travels, visiting the elders and preaching. He spent several days in Hardin, Wales, where he and Heber had opened the work in late October. He also prepared a communication for the Star on family prayer. Too often he had observed fathers stepping aside for the elders. “Heads of families should always take the charge of family worship,” he wrote, urging twice daily family prayers under the direction of the fathers. Young also had the financial burden for the mission. Selling Books of Mormon and trading passage for loans raised some of the monies, but more was needed, especially for emigration, and he sought to raise additional means [473] as he traveled. He wrote to Willard Richards in March that he was not yet on the track of any money. If he had some, “I should feele more in a hurrey to return to L[iver]pool but can due no good at present.”110
On 1 April the Twelve assembled in Manchester to hold their final councils as a quorum in England. Orson Hyde, en route to Jerusalem on his special mission, had arrived in England several weeks before, but Brigham Young and Wilford Woodruff, at least, had not seen him until this day. Young noted in his diary that he “was much rejoiced to see my Bretherin specely O. Hyde.”111
With the addition of Orson Hyde, nine of the apostles met together in Manchester that April—the most since Kirtland days soon after the organization of the Quorum. John E. Page and William Smith had failed to respond to the call to preach abroad and the death of David Patten left one space still vacant. The nine that did respond to the mission call, the nine that assembled here for the first time under the direction of Brigham Young, were the same nine who would later receive significant instruction and additional temple rites under Joseph Smith and eventually, as his successors, lead the Mormon migration to the Great Basin.
After a day of informal visiting and sharing the news, the Twelve met in formal council 2 April. It was a meeting devoted to necessary business decisions before departing. The quorum voted to accept the labors of Young and the publication committee and, since the committee and not the quorum had managed the details of publication, leave them free to close out their financial arrangements and report the same to President Joseph Smith. [474] Parley Pratt would remain in England and the council appointed Amos Fielding agent to superintend fitting out the emigrants under his direction. Wrote Woodruff of the day in council, “we had a good time unity prevailed.”112
In councils on 3 and 5 April, the Twelve agreed that Parley Pratt manage the Star as a proprietor and that he be authorized to do additional publishing if needed. They set 17 April as the day to sail for home and, significantly, resolved “that the Twelve do business at the conference as a quorum and call upon the Church or Conference to sanction it.” Rather than an open conference with business from the floor, the Twelve would present items for the sustaining vote of the Saints. On 5 April, Woodruff wrote in his diary that “perfect union & harmony prevailed in all the deliberations of our Councils for the last four days.”113 Under Young in England, the Twelve stressed and to a considerable extent achieved that unity so often lacking in the earlier Quorum of the Twelve.
Sunday, 4 April, the Twelve met with the Saints. According to Young’s diary, all nine of the Twelve “bore testamoney to the Bible Book of Mormon J. Smith as a prophet.” Wrote Woodruff of the occasion, “It is seldom that any congregation is privilged with as much testimony.” If the Twelve found their united testimonies impressive, no doubt the Saints did, too.
On 6 April 1841 the “Council of the Twelve assembled . . . for the first time to transact business as a quorum, in the presence of the church in a foreign land.” President Young conducted and presided, organized the conference, opened with [475] prayer, then called for the representation from churches throughout the kingdom. The tally showed a total of 5,814 plus 50 not in any branch, up nearly 2,200 since the last conference and more than 4,300 since their first conference one year before.114 The conference also witnessed many ordinations, including the ordination of a second patriarch for England, and the farewells of several apostles. Brigham spoke about the organization and authority of priesthood quorums, drawing on his Kirtland experience, including the order of seating the quorums in the temple. In perhaps the most important matter of business the “Council”—not the Conference—“proceeded to organize all the churches into conferences throughout the Kingdom & appoint presiding Elders over them.”115 Parley Pratt, the apostle to remain in England, would preside over the whole.
A large, beautifully decorated cake from New York, a present from the wife of George J. Adams to the Twelve, graced the evening meeting. Appropriate hymns and “a powerful and general feeling of delight” animated the seven hundred in attendance. The Englishman Joseph Fielding thought the cake a fitting symbol “of the good things of that land from whence it came, and from whence they had received the fulness of the gospel.” Brigham Young and William Miller sang the hymn, “Adieu, my dear brethren,” then “President Young blessed the congregation, and dismissed them.”116
The following day the Twelve spent together in council, socializing with each other and the American elders, visiting the Saints and, importantly, unitedly blessing Orson Hyde for the mission to Palestine that the Presidency had set him apart to [476] perform.117 Each of the apostles then went his own way to make final preparations and say a last good-bye to the Saints of England.
Parting was not easy for the Saints or the apostles. For both the year had been one that changed lives, nurtured development, and forged lasting bonds of love and respect. Hundreds of the English Saints shared the conviction that William Miller expressed to Brigham Young and Heber Kimball: “I know that you are his [God’s] servants to minister salvation to the nations of the earth.”118
The apostles had found the English Saints so attached to them that at times it was only with great difficulty that they could avoid expending their health and all their energies in comforting and counseling them. George A. Smith, at twenty-three the youngest of the Twelve, wrote of this on 8 January 1841 to his brother Lyman:
I seldom go to Bed before 12 oclock . . . This comes from my having So many Who come to hear me talk and receive instruction from me. . . . you cannot think how foolish it makes me feel to Be Looked up to with So much Earnestness by Persons Who have been Professors of Religion and Preachers of the Different Sects. I thank the Lord for the Wisdom he has given me and the Success I have had in the teaching thes Men. . . . They all Look to me for instruction as children to A Father and this Makes me feel vary Small indeed and Causes me to cry unto my father Who is in heaven for Wisdom and Prudence.119
Wilford Woodruff expressed similar feelings at the close of the last conference he would hold with some of his friends in Herefordshire. Of those who came for counsel he wrote:
some are placed in all the perplexing circumstances that possible can be & are flocking around me by Scores at a time and asking council what to do, As soon as meeting closed multitudes crouded around me, many hands were presented on evry side to bid me farewell, many calling for me to bless [477] them before I leave them, others crying out to lay hands on me & heal me before you go. Br. Woodruff I am turned out of Doors for my religion what shall I do, I am ready to go to Zion my wife wont go with me shall I go & leave her. My Husband beats me & turns me out of Doors because I have been Baptized I have got money enough to carry me & the children to Zion will you let me go without him.
And the list goes on and on. Surely he needed all the wisdom of Solomon, thought Woodruff, to possibly deal with such a scene.
And when I left the chapel many were still waiting for a little council upon a variety of subjects which they did not get for the want of time many parted with me with tears in their eyes, many of the Brethren & sisters followed me to Turkey Hall whare I spent the night, & filled the house untill a late hour Begging Council & instruction at my hand.120
Although Brigham Young had not labored for several months in a single area as had Woodruff in Herefordshire or George A. Smith in the Potteries, he had spent months in and out of Manchester and Liverpool, he had met with Saints throughout the kingdom, and he had been looked to for counsel wherever he had traveled. No doubt he, too, had a burden of pastoral care and some emotional partings as departure neared. As one study of the mission of the Twelve concluded, each of the Twelve had such impact on the lives of people “that throngs gathered round them as they left, giving them tearful farewalls reserved for only the most admired and beloved of friends.”121
Before leaving Manchester on 15 April the Twelve performed their last official act as a quorum in England, finishing for publication in the Star “An Epistle of the Twelve” to the Saints throughout Great Britain. They expressed thanks for the diligence of the Saints in hearkening “to the council of those whom God has seen fit to send among them, and who hold the keys of this [478] ministry.” The result had been union and power. They warned them to remember “that which we have ever taught . . . both by precept and example . . . to beware of an aspiring spirit.”122 The epistle announced the appointments of Levi Richards and Lorenzo Snow as traveling counselors to assist Elder Pratt, stressed the order for ordinations, and then instructed the Saints in detail about the gathering and emigration—counsel in harmony with what Joseph Smith had written them.
Their mission concluded, the apostles left the epistle with Elder Pratt and took the train for Liverpool, arriving in time to join two hundred of the Saints in a splendid party. In a brief meeting the Twelve concluded to sail five days hence, 20 April. The owners of the ship had been so pleased to have the apostles’ business that they agreed to delay sailing until then, gave them a special rate, and reserved for them the use of “the Aft quarter deck. which was a great privilege to us.”123 Sunday the nineteenth the Twelve preached to the English people for the last time. Monday, the seven apostles and 120 Saints accompanying them loaded their baggage, and the Rochester, one of the fastest ships in the harbor, was ready. With a “multitude of Saints” to wave them off, the Rochester set sail.124
No doubt in the waves of British Religious history, especially in the agitated waters of that period, the apostles’ year of labor had caused only a little turbulence. They had not overturned the churches or shocked the nation. But they had built rapidly upon a small foundation, and they had established among the Saints institutions of organization and emigration that would [479] endure for a generation and more. Some of their converts would desert them. Many more would follow them to the New World. After them would come more missionaries and more converts and more emigrants.
If their impact on the English nation was transitory, the impact of the English mission on the Twelve was enduring. They had learned to rely on each other and on their God. They had increased in self-reliance and in confidence in one another. They had proven they could work together with harmony. Never again would Brigham Young see a Quorum of the Twelve Apostles disanimated and divided as he had seen in the past. Under difficult circumstances and with sacrifice, they had come as a religious duty and they had triumphed. The contrast with their arrival a year before—penniless and poorly dressed, most of them strangers in a foreign land—and their departure was inescapable. Likely each of the Twelve marveled, as did Wilford Woodruff, when comparing their arrival with departure, joined by
a ship load of Saints & all that we need of this worlds goods to make us comfortable, & having an influence sufficient to detain a ship a day or two on our account truly the Lord hath blessed us in a manner not looked for it hath truly been a miricle what God hath wrought by our hands in this land . . . & I am asstonished when I look at it for during our stay here we have esstablished churches in all the most noted cities & towns in this Kingdom have Baptized more than 5000 souls Printed 5000 Books of Mormon 3000 Hymn Books 2500 Volumes of the Millennial Star & about 50,000 tracts, & gatherd to the land of Joseph 1000 Souls & esstablished a great influence among those that trade in ships at sea & lacked for nothing to eat drink or ware truly the Lord hath been good.
As they departed one of Woodruff’s converts, a man who had already aided many of the poor to emigrate, gave him a purse of gold to [480] assist him in his journey home; he divided it with his brethren so none of the Twelve left England with empty pockets.125
At midnight on 24 April the contrary winds which had blown since soon after their departure increased to gale-strength and blew off the fore topsail. The next day the sea seemed “mountains high” and all aboard the pitching ship were sick. The winds continued and sickness increased until there was fear that some of the children would die. On the twenty-eighth the storm worsened. Berths crashed down and some of the baggage broke loose, threatening to crush the emigrants before it could be resecured. Perhaps it was at this point that the Twelve felt to ask the interposition of Providence to still the seas. The next day Woodruff noted simply: “the Sun Shines plesent & we have a fair wind for the first time since we left Liverpool.” Brigham Young made no entry in his diary until the following week, when he wrote:
when the winds ware contr[ar]y the 12 a gread to humble them selves before the Lord and ask him to calm the seas & give us a fair wind, we did so & the wind emeditly changed and from that time to this it has blone in our favor.
After the storm had passed, Young further noted that he could not endure many more sea voyages like this one and the last one and “ware it not for the power of God & his tendere mercy I should despare.”126
The Rochester arrived in New York 20 May. Sunday, 23 May, the Twelve held a council in the city and then separated to take various routes home. Elder Richards, his wife traveling with him, and Elder Woodruff, his wife already in the East with relatives, remained for a time on the coast. Apparently Orson Pratt [481] had business to attend to and traveled apart from his colleagues. George A. Smith, still single, proceeded home with less urgency than the others. In Philadelphia he met William Smith and traveled with him several days. He also met John E. Page and urged him to leave immediately and overtake Orson Hyde in Europe. Though he apparently had means enough, Page declined to go. Preaching comfortably in the East, the two apostles had no interest in the hardships of a foreign mission.127 Elders Young, Kimball, and Taylor, after laboring with the Saints in and around New York for a few days, left the area 4 June bound for Nauvoo.128
The three apostles arrived in Nauvoo 1 July 1841. No description of their feelings and joyful reunion with family and friends is available. Brigham later said for his history simply that they “were cordially welcomed by the Prophet Joseph, our families and the Saints.” Knowing the intensity of feelings, the length of separation, the adversities met, it is easy to imagine the tears of joy, long hours of conversation and renewal, expressions of thanksgiving—all of which soon gave way to labors on house and farm to improve the conditions of their families.
Brigham was back with Mary Ann, with little Emma, with the twins Brigham and Mary Ann, with his son Joseph A., and with his two older daughters Vilate and Elizabeth. Finally he could do more than pray for their welfare. To Joseph’s inquiry about how he would live, Brigham answered directly: “I will go to work and get a living.” But not yet. He had enough money left to buy one barrel of flour. He would work on the cabin, improve the garden, [482] and sit amidst his family eating bread until the barrel was empty. That would be soon enough to go out and find work.129 [483]
1. For a treatment of the impact of the mission on Young and the Twelve complementary to what is presented here, see Eugene England, Brother Brigham (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1980), pp. 34–61. [Editor’s note: see James B. Allen, Ronald K. Esplin, and David J. Whittaker, Men with a Mission: the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in the British Isles, 1837–1841 (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1992).]
2. See James B. Allen and Malcolm R. Thorp, “The Mission of the Twelve to England, 1840–41: Mormon Apostles and the Working Classes,” Brigham Young University Studies 15 (Summer 1975):499–526, for an insightful and reliable overview of the mission. Concerning the mission history under Fielding, Richards, and Clayton, see Joseph Fielding Diary, typescript, Church Archives, Historical Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah, hereafter cited as Church Archives.
3. Joseph Fielding Diary, 9 April 1840, Church Archives; Heber C. Kimball and Joseph Fielding to the Editors of the Times and Seasons, 6 May 1840, in Times and Seasons 1 (July 1840):138–39.
4. Fielding censured himself that the work had not progressed as well under his direction as it had earlier with Kimball and Hyde. He confided to his diary his great comfort when the Twelve expressed goodwill and confidence in him rather than disappointment. “Their Desire is to exalt me in the Eyes of the Church,” he wrote. Joseph Fielding Diary, 9, 12, 19 April 1840, Church Archives.
5. In July, the Twelve released Fielding from his office and called him on a special mission with Kimball, temporarily dissolving the local presidency.
6. Minutes, Wilford Woodruff Diary, 15 April 1840, Wilford Woodruff Papers, Church Archives.
7. Young later said that “Parley P. Pratt craved the privilege of editing it, and we granted him the privilege.” Discourse by Brigham Young, 31 August 1856, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. (London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854–1886; reprint ed., 1966), 4:35, hereafter also cited JD.
8. Minutes, 16 April 1840, Brigham Young Papers, Church Archives. According to Fielding, it was the decision of the Twelve that the Saints “go as other Emigrants, making no noise about it. . . . so the way is now opened. I felt thankful that I held back as I had done, and not given liberty till the Brethren have come. I felt thankful for Men of God to teach the Truth to us, that we may not walk in Darkness or in Doubt.” He also mentioned that the rich should not go without the poor. Joseph Fielding Diary, 18 April 1840, Church Archives.
9. Wilford Woodruff Diary, 17–18 April 1840, Wilford Woodruff Papers; “History of Brigham Young,” Deseret News, 27 January–24 March 1858, p. 409.
10. The report and minutes can be consulted in Times and Seasons 1 (June 1840):119–22 and also in Joseph Smith, Jr., History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, ed. B. H. Roberts, 7 vols. 2nd ed. rev. (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1951), 4:114–20. See also William Clayton Diary, 17 April 1840, in James B. Allen and Thomas G. Alexander, eds., Manchester Mormons: The Journal of William Clayton, 1840 to 1842 (Santa Barbara and Salt Lake City: Peregrine Smith, Inc., 1974), p. 141. For a discussion of millennialist feelings as they related to the mission of the Twelve see Allen and Thorp, “Mission of the Twelve to England,’’ pp. 517–19.
11. Report and minutes, Times and Seasons 1 (June 1840):119–22.
12. Wilford Woodruff Diary, entry following 16 April 1840, Wilford Woodruff Papers; see also entries for 21–23 April 1840. For a discussion of the Herefordshire success see Allen and Thorp, “Mission of the Twelve,” pp. 504–8.
13. The scope of Mormon successes in England related to the profound demographic and economic changes sweeping the country at this time. The message of Mormonism, combining primitive biblical religion with authority, proved especially appealing to some of those oppressed and uprooted by the sweeping changes. For an overview of the social and religious context as it related to Mormonism see Ronald W. Walker, “The Godbeite Protest in the Making of Modern Utah” (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Utah, 1977), pp. 3–18.
14. Brigham Young to George A. Smith, 4 May 1840, Brigham Young Papers.
15. Brigham Young to Joseph Smith, 7 May 1840, Joseph Smith Letterbook, Joseph Smith Papers, Church Archives.
16. See Brigham Young Diary, late April through May 1840, Brigham Young papers, for notation of his travels, preaching and baptizing.
17. Wilford Woodruff Diary, 17 May 1840, Wilford Woodruff Papers.
18. Wilford Woodruff Diary, 18 May 1840, Wilford Woodruff Papers.
19. Wilford Woodruff Diary, 18 May 1840, Wilford Woodruff Papers. For a brief account of Woodruff’s Herefordshire experience from the beginning see Woodruff to the Millennial Star, 9 July 1840, published in Millennial Star 1 (July 1840):71–72 and Millennial Star 1 (August 1840): 81–84. Another version covering the beginnings of the work but continuing the story further is Wilford Woodruff to the Times and Seasons, 7 October 1840, Times and Seasons 2 (15 February 1841):311–14.
20. Wilford Woodruff Diary, 3 June 1840, Wilford Woodruff Papers.
21. Wilford Woodruff Diary, 20 May 1840, Wilford Woodruff Papers; and Brigham Young Diary, 20 May 1840, Brigham Young Papers.
22. Wilford Woodruff Diary, 22 June 1840, Wilford Woodruff Papers. Compare this with the account in Wilford Woodruff to the Millennial Star, 9 July 1840, in Millennial Star 1 (August 1840):82–83. There Woodruff wrote of Young, that while “the saints were much edified, and their hearts made glad with the teaching and instruction by Elder Young, I also enjoyed much benefit myself by enjoying his society, sitting under his instruction, and sharing in his council.”
23. Brigham Young to Willard Richards, 17 June 1840, Brigham Young Papers.
24. Wilford Woodruff to Millennial Star, 5 August 1840, Millennial Star 1 (August 1840):94.
25. Parley P. Pratt to Joseph Smith, 22 November 1839, and Hyrum Smith to Parley P. Pratt, 22 December 1839, Joseph Smith Letterbook, Joseph Smith Papers. Under Joseph Smith’s direction, another edition of the Book of Mormon was shortly commenced—stereotyped in Cincinnati. See the report of the printing committee in Times and Seasons 1 (October 1840):186 and Joseph Smith to Oliver Granger, ca. July 1840, Joseph Smith Letterbook, Joseph Smith Papers.
26. Orson Hyde and John E. Page to President Smith, 1 May 1840, Joseph Smith Letterbook, and Joseph Smith to Dear Bretheren, 14 May 1840, Joseph Smith Papers, Church Archives. The Prophet’s only reservation concerned the hymn book. He hoped they could wait to use a forthcoming expanded edition as a standard.
27. Brigham Young to Joseph Smith, 7 May 1840, Joseph Smith Letterbook, Joseph Smith Papers. Notations made on the letter in Nauvoo preserve the gist of the answer and who it was sent by.
28. Young’s letter to Pratt has not been found, but it was mentioned in Brigham Young to George A. Smith, 4 May 1840, Brigham Young Papers, and its content described in a discourse by Young, 31 August 1856, Journal of Discourses 4:35. Apparently Pratt had not intended to publish more than one thousand, mostly for subscribers.
29. “History of Brigham Young,” p. 410. Apparently the Benbow wealth was inherited through Jane and her commitment to the gospel was as important as his in making the monies available to the Church. See minutes, 27 January 1849, Municipal High Council, Brigham Young Papers.
30. Certificate, 20 May 1854, Miscellaneous Papers, Brigham Young Papers.
31. From Manchester Young wrote: “the Star is out and about thirteene hundred cop[i]es are alreddy gon. if we had on[e] thousand only we should come short of our object,” Brigham Young to Wilford Woodruff and Willard Richards, 24 May 1840, Brigham Young Papers.
32. See financial papers relating to the publishing in Miscellaneous Papers, Brigham Young Papers. These accounts and notations evidence Young’s personal involvement with publishing, especially the Book of Mormon. He carried these papers to Nauvoo, presumably for review by President Smith, and then kept them among his own papers. Brigham Young to Richards and Woodruff, 24 May 1840 and Brigham Young to Willard Richards, 10 June and 17 June 1840, Brigham Young Papers, detail some of the printing arrangements and comment on other of Young’s activities. The latter two letters indicate that Young’s enthusiastic hopes expressed in the first letter for immediate publication of the hymn book and Book of Mormon soon ran into the hard realities of publishing and were adjusted and more cautiously stated thereafter. Evidence of Young’s continuing involvement in proselyting can be seen in his hiring Carpenter’s Hall, large enough to seat two thousand, and preaching in it with others. See Brigham Young Diary, 30 May through June 1840, Brigham Young Papers, and also “History of Brigham Young,” p. 410.
Woodruff received the letter from Young on publication progress the same day he learned of the birth of a son in Montrose, Iowa, and included the publication among the “much glorious news in thes letters that . . . drive sleep from our eyes & I felt more like going out into the street and shouting glory Hallelujah than anything else.” Wilford Woodruff Diary, 30 May 1840, Wilford Woodruff Papers.
33. The two letters are not known to exist. The cover note is dated 2 June 1840 and is part of the Blair Collection, Marriott Library, University of Utah. It closes with: “I just closen up my letter and say fare well Sister Moon or Brother Moon will deliver the little present to you. Brother Kimball sends you a little smeling bottle just to let you know that he thinks of my famely.”
34. Brigham Young Diary, 3–4 June 1840, and Brigham Young to Willard Richards, 10 June 1840, Brigham Young papers.
35. For Young’s earlier assistance see Vilate Kimball to Heber C. Kimball, 6 June 1840, Heber C. Kimball Papers; and Brigham Young to Mary Ann Young, 15 January 1841, Blair Collection, University of Utah.
36. Hyrum Smith to Parley Pratt, 22 December 1839, Joseph Smith Letterbook, Joseph Smith Papers.
37. From Emmeline B. Wells, “Biography of Mary Ann Angell Young,” Juvenile Instructor 26 (15 January 1891):56–57.
38. Leonora Taylor to John Taylor, 12 April 1840, in Millennial Star 1 (July 1840):63–65. Similarly, Phebe Woodruff to Wilford Woodruff, 4 May 1840, in Millennial Star 1 (August 1840):89–90; Phebe reported all the wives well but Sister Taylor. Phebe Woodruff’s expression to her husband was probably representative of the feelings of other wives: “I know that it is the will of God that you should labour in his vineyard; therefore, I feel reconciled to his will in these things. I have not been left to murmer or complain since you left me, but am looking forward to the day when you shall return home once more . . . having fulfilled your mission in the love and fear of God.”
39. Brigham Young Diary, 11 June 1840, Brigham Young Papers.
40. Joseph had observed to them that “we should hardly get over the nation [England] before the Judgments of God would overtake the people.” Brigham Young and Willard Richards to The First Presidency, 5 September 1840, Joseph Smith Papers.
41. Brigham Young to Mary Ann Young, 12 June 1840, Blair Collection, University of Utah. Compare this with “Still I have not ben concerned about them, for the Lord said by the mouth of Brother Joseph; that they should be provided for, and I believed it,” Brigham Young to Mary Ann Young, 16 October 1840, Blair Collection, Church Archives. [Editor’s note: see Ronald K. Esplin, “Inside Brigham Young: Abrahamic Tests as Preparation for Leadership,” BYU Studies 20 no. 3 (Spring 1980): 300–310.]
42. Brigham Young to Willard Richards, 17 June 1840, Brigham Young Papers. Richards went immediately to his wife. Joseph Fielding noted meeting Elder Richards, who “had come to see his Wife quite unexpectedly.” Diary of Joseph Fielding, 27 June 1840, Church Archives.
Alluding in a humorous way to a growing sense of his apostleship, Young had concluded an earlier letter with the warning “be carful not to lay this letter with the new testament writings if you doe some body will take it for a text after the Mallineum a[nd?] contend about it. . . . now my Dear Brother you must forgive all my noncense and over look erours.” Young had also by this time concluded that Parley Pratt should have his family with him if he were to stay when the others returned home. John Taylor had also talked about having his family sent to England, prompting the charge from Nauvoo busybodies that if he could pay their passage to England he could send more to Nauvoo to help them there. See Vilate Kimball to Heber C. Kimball, 6 June 1840, Heber C. Kimball Papers, Church Archives.
43. Brigham Young to Mary Ann Young, 12 June 1840, Blair Collection, University of Utah. Leonora to John Taylor, 12 April 1840, Millennial Star 1 (July 1840):64.
44. Heber C. Kimball to Vilate Kimball, 27 May 1840, Kimball Family Papers, Church Archives.
45. Brigham Young to Wilford Woodruff and Willard Richards, 24 May 1840, Brigham Young Papers.
46. Heber C. Kimball and Joseph Fielding to the Times and Seasons, 6 May 1840, in Times and Seasons 1 (July 1840): 138–39. Kimball reported at greater length in a 6 June 1840 letter to the Star, Millennial Star 1 (June 1840):37–40. For a report from George A. Smith see his 6 June 1840 letter reprinted in Times and Seasons 1 (15 November 1840): 223–24. Orson Pratt remained in Scotland and succeeded in opening that land, though not with spectacular success. See Orson Pratt to Parley P. Pratt, 16 April 1841, Millennial Star 2 (May 1841):10–12; see also letter of Wilford Woodruff, 8 July 1840, in Times and Seasons 1 (September 1840):168.
47. Joseph Fielding thought Young particularly effective in handling difficult problems among the members. In one case, Young responded with irony to a man’s defense that an evil spirit was to blame for his actions—agreeing that “the Blame must be laid on that Spirit, and if he could get at him he would cut him off from the Church, but he did not know how to get hold of him unless he took hold of the Person possessed by it.” Fielding saw it as a time of “great Instruction and Warning to the Church” as Young counseled the man and taught the Church the principles involved. Joseph Fielding Diary, 6 July 1840, Church Archives.
48. Wilford Woodruff Diary, 6 July 1840, Wilford Woodruff Papers; and Millennial Star 1 (July 1840):67–71.
49. Wilford Woodruff Diary, 7 June 1840, Wilford Woodruff Papers; and published minutes in Millennial Star 1 (July 1840):67–71. There is a brief manuscript minute of the Twelve’s meeting in Minutes, 7 July 1840, Brigham Young Papers.
50. Wilford Woodruff to Phebe Woodruff, 8 July 1840, in Times and Seasons 1 (September 1840):167–69.
51. Discourse by Brigham Young, 31 August 1856, Journal of Discourses 4:34. Taylor left 27 July for Ireland and then Scotland, returned briefly to Liverpool then went to the Isle of Man. See report of his labors in Millennial Star 2 (May 1841):12–16 and another report, 3 February 1841, in Times and Seasons 2 (1 May 1841):400–402.
52. Brigham Young to Mary Ann Young, 12 June 1840, Blair Collection, University of Utah.
53. “History of Brigham Young,” p. 410.
54. Brigham Young to Mary Ann Young, 12 June 1840, Blair Collection, University of Utah. Brigham Young to Joseph Smith, 7 May 1840, Joseph Smith Letterbook, Joseph Smith Papers. “I wish you would have the goodness to give me a pretey general knowledge of the Church for I feel for them and pray for them continually,” wrote Young.
55. Brigham Young and Willard Richards to the First Presidency, 5 September 1840, Joseph Smith Papers. This has been published by Ronald W. Walker in BYU Studies 18 (Spring 1978):466–75. In spite of this, they concede that “the people of this land [are] much more ready to receive the gospel, than those of America . . . for they have not that speculative inteligence, or prejudice, or prepossession, or false learning, call it what you please” of the Americans. In this sense ignorance is a blessing for there is less to unlearn and the missionaries do not have to labor “month after month to break down their own notions, for their priests have taught them lettle, & much of that is so foolish as to be detechted at a glance.” The people who received the message received it “very readily & the trouble of keeping up church discipline here has been small compared with our native country. But how those who receive the word so readily will stand in the day of trial remains yet to be proved, as there has been nothing in this land as yet which need try the faith of any one.”
56. George A. Smith to C. C. Walker, 6 June 1840, in Times and Seasons 2 (15 November 1840):223–24.
57. Brigham Young and Willard Richards to the First Presidency, 5 September 1840, Joseph Smith Papers.
58. This passage continued: “& we feel that it is our privilege to love those who are willing to lay down their lives for the[ir] Brethren. We need not say we send our love to you for that is always with you. Should you doubt it Time & works must declare it.”
59. Brigham Young and Willard Richards to the First Presidency, 5 September 1840, Joseph Smith Papers.
60. William Clayton Diary, 5 and 7 September 1840, in Allen and Alexander, Manchester Mormons, pp. 171–72.
61. Brigham Young Diary, 5–10 September 1840, Brigham Young Papers; and William Clayton Diary, 8 September 1840, in Allen and Alexander, Manchester Mormons, pp. 172–73. For a graphic account of the rigors and difficulties of an emigrant ocean crossing see pp. 172–82. The voyage could be pleasant but was often the ordeal described by Clayton with sickness, deaths among the children, inadequate water, heavy seas. Some of the company chose to winter in Ohio because of lack of means; those who went through to Nauvoo arrived 24 November 1840 after a journey of eleven weeks.
62. “Will the Twelve have to be together to do business as a quorum or shall they do business in the name of the Church. Why I ask this is for my own satisfaction, if the Lord has a word for us, for one I am willing to receive it.” Brigham Young to Joseph Smith, 7 May 1840, Joseph Smith Letterbook, Joseph Smith Papers.
63. Notes, 6 October 1840, Miscellaneous Papers, Brigham Young Papers.
64. Wilford Woodruff Diary, 6 October 1840, Wilford Woodruff Papers.
65. Minutes, 6 October 1840, Millennial Star 1 (October 1840):165–67.
66. Minutes, 6 October 1840, Millennial Star 1 (October 1840):168.
67. Minutes, 8 October 1840, Brigham Young Papers, and Wilford Woodruff Diary, 7–8 October 1840, Wilford Woodruff Papers. Circumstances never being favorable, the office never was moved. Elder Richards relinquished his new post to Parley Pratt when Pratt returned on the nineteenth.
68. For a survey of Young’s holograph or personal writings and a discussion of their importance, see Dean C. Jessee, “The Writings of Brigham Young,” Western Historical Quarterly 7 (July 1973):273–74. These 1840–1841 letters of Young to his wife were not available when Jessee wrote. The first one dated 16 October 1840 had several entries before it was mailed 31 October. The original is in the Blair Collection, Church Archives; it can also be consulted in Ronald K. Esplin, “Inside Brigham Young: Abrahamic Tests as Preparation for Leadership,” BYU Studies 20 (Spring 1980):302–6. The second letter is dated 12 November 1840 and includes an entry for 17 November; the third is dated 15 January 1841; both of these are in the Blair Collection, University of Utah. See also Young’s brief diary notations, 20 October 1840 through February 1841, for his preaching and travel during this period.
69. Young wrote to George A. Smith, 30 December 1840, Brigham Young Papers, that the Book of Mormon would be out of press in about two weeks and a letter the first week of January to Wilford Woodruff, Wilford Woodruff Diary, 8 January 1841, Wilford Woodruff Papers, saying that five hundred of the books were out of press and in binding. Still, not until 8 February, when Kimball and Woodruff deposited five copies in the copyright office do we have firm evidence that some copies of the book were finished. See Wilford Woodruff Diary, 8 February 1841. Young to wrote to George A. Smith, 11 February 1840, Brigham Young Papers, that the book was “out[,] Bound rea[d]y for sale price 5 shillings retale 4/6 [w]hole sale.” Only the first books were ready by that date, for Young wrote to Kimball and Smith, 5 March 1841, Brigham Young Papers, that “the Book of Mormon is going well [and all copies] will soon be Bound.” Handbinding a five thousand copy edition was no small task. Nor did Young’s responsibility end with publication. Some of the edition was finished with a special binding and gilded pages. When some of the special edition proved defective, Young followed through to see them corrected. See Young to Willard Richards, 1, 5, 8 March 1841, Brigham Young Papers.
70. Brigham Young to Mary Ann Young, 16 October 1840, Blair Collection, Church Archives.
71. Brigham Young to Mary Ann Young, 12 November 1841, Blair Collection, University of Utah.
72. Kimball to the Times and Seasons, 4 August 1841, in Times and Seasons 2 (16 August 1841):508. Kimball and Young impressed many people with their direct discourse and spiritual gifts. They continued to enjoy the gift of tongues that they had first experienced in Mendon, for example. On 29 May 1840 “Brother Kimball and Young came . . . and sung some and afterwards spake with each other in tongues,” wrote William Clayton. A few days later “Brother Young spake in tongues” on 12 June 1840. See Allen and Alexander, Manchester Mormons, pp. 157, 162. See also “Remarkable Prophecy Fulfilled,” relating to Kimball’s earlier mission in Millennial Star 2 (May 1841):8.
73. “History of Brigham Young,” p. 410.
74. Brigham Young to Mary Ann Young, 16 October 1840, Blair Collection, Church Archives, and 12 November 1840, Blair Collection, University of Utah.
75. Brigham Young to Mary Ann Young, 16 October 1840, Blair Collection, Church Archives.
76. Brigham Young to Joseph Smith, 7 May 1840, Joseph Smith Letterbook, Joseph Smith Papers; and Brigham Young to Mary Ann Young, 12 November 1840, Blair Collection, University of Utah.
77. Brigham Young to Mary Ann Young, 16 October 1840, Blair Collection, Church Archives.
78. Vilate Kimball to Heber C. Kimball, 6 June 1840, Heber C. Kimball Papers. Vilate also indicated that she and Mary Ann had drawn on the bishops for some assistance the winter before but now, with a little help from their husbands, they hoped to maintain their families without drawing on meagre church resouces. In Brigham Young to Mary Ann Young, 12 January 1840, Blair Collection, University of Utah, Young mentioned to Mary Ann his satisfaction that she was to have a house and could move out of the Iowa barracks. The news that her “house” was so inadequate must have disappointed him.
79. Brigham Young to Mary Ann Young, 16 October 1840, Blair Collection, Church Archives.
80. See Brigham Young Diary, December 1840 and January 1841, Brigham Young Papers; and “History of Brigham Young,” p. 410; and Brigham Young to Willard Richards and Levi Richards, 5 December 1840, Brigham Young Papers.
81. For these numbers and a brief overview of the work see Kimball to the Times and Seasons, 4 August 1841, in Times and Seasons 2 (16 August 1841):507–11. Kimball, Woodruff and Smith reported their August–September mission in a 12 October 1840 letter to the Times and Seasons printed in Times and Seasons 2 (15 December 1840):250– 52. See Times and Seasons 2 (15 September 1841):535–38.
82. “History of George Albert Smith by Himself,” ms, George A. Smith Papers, Church Archives.
83. Discourse by Brigham Young, 6 April 1857, Journal of Discourses 4:304–5.
84. Wilford Woodruff to the Editors, 7 October 1840, Times and Seasons 2 (15 February 1841):330.
85. Brigham Young Diary, 21 December 1840, Brigham Young Papers.
86. Brigham Young Diary, 25 December 1840, Brigham Young Papers. “History of George Albert Smith,” ms, George A. Smith Papers, for an account of the conference. For a description of the Potteries see Woodruff to the Editors, 7 October 1840, Times and Seasons 2 (15 February 1841):314.
87. Reprinted in Times and Seasons 2 (1–15 September 1841): 524–26 and 539–42.
88. Brigham Young to Mary Ann Young, 16 October 1840, Blair Collection, Church Archives; and Brigham Young to Mary Ann Young, 12 November 1840 and 15 January 1841, Blair Collection, University of Utah.
89. Brigham Young to Mary Ann Young, 15 January 1841, Blair Collection, University of Utah. [Editor’s note: see Ronald O. Barney, “Letters of a Missionary Apostle to His Wife: Brigham Young to Mary Ann Angell Young, 1839–1841,” BYU Studies 38, no. 2 (1999): 156–201.]
90. Wilford Woodruff Diary, 18 January 1841, Wilford Woodruff Papers; and Brigham Young to George A. Smith, 11 February 1841, Brigham Young Papers.
91. Millennial Star 1 (February 1841):264.
92. The shortest transit time for a letter between Nauvoo and England may have been the one month, nine days commented on by Parley Pratt in his 24 October 1841 letter to Joseph Smith, Joseph Smith Papers. Usually transit took from one to three weeks longer than that. Mail that did not go by steamer could take more than a month on the Atlantic portion alone; mail that did not go direct took two months and longer.
93. Joseph Smith to the Twelve, 15 December 1840, Joseph Smith Papers. Of the many copies of this communication, this is the only dated one. There is an undated manuscript copy in the Joseph Smith Letterbook, Joseph Smith Papers, and it is printed both in Times and Seasons 2 (1 January 1841):258–61 and Millennial Star 1 (March 1841):265– 69. Because most versions were undated, it was mistakenly inserted in the History of the Church with October documents and it has generally been mistakenly assumed that the Twelve received it in the fall of 1840. See History of the Church, 4:226–32.
94. Joseph Smith to the Twelve, 15 December 1840, Joseph Smith Papers.
95. Joseph Smith to the Twelve, 15 December 1840, Joseph Smith Papers.
96. Joseph Smith to the Twelve, 15 December 1840, Joseph Smith Papers.
97. Their appetite whetted by the season of doctrinal teaching that preceded their mission, the Twelve missed being at Joseph’s side to receive such teachings personally and in detail. For example, when they learned that Joseph had presented an essay on priesthood as part of general conference, Parley Pratt wrote to Sidney Rigdon: “Say to President Smith that I want to see his essay on priesthood very much.” Letter, 8 January 1841, Times and Seasons 2 (1 April 1841):364–65. The essay in question can be read in a manuscript in the hand of Robert B. Thompson, Joseph Smith Papers, or in History of the Church, 4:207–12.
98. “Extract from an Epistle to the Elders in England,” Times and Seasons 2 (1 January 1841):258–61; and “A Proclamation to the Saints Scattered Abroad,” Times and Seasons 2 (15 January 1848):273–77. See also Millennial Star 2 (March 1841):265–74.
99. “A Proclamation to the Saints Scattered Abroad,” pp. 276–77.
100. Note in Brigham Young to Mary Ann Young, 16 October 1840, Blair Collection, Church Archives. For a comprehensive treatment of Mormon British emigration that began with the Twelve in England, 1840–1841, see P. A. M. Taylor, Expectations Westward, The Mormons and the Emigration of their British Converts in the Nineteenth Century (Edinburgh and London: Oliver & Boyd, 1965).
101. See Parley Pratt to Joseph Smith, 25 October 1841, Joseph Smith Papers, where he sends his love to all the Saints in the “Land of Zion or the Land of Joseph as it is called by thousands in this country.”
102. For a chronology of these months see Brigham Young Diary, Brigham Young Papers; and “History of Brigham Young,” p. 1. The latter source gives names of ships and number sailing.
103. Alexander Neibaur Diary, 5–6 February 1841, Church Archives. The three apostles were most likely responsible for provisioning the emigrants, not for stowing their goods. They began the system of having a church agent work with local agents appointed from each branch involved. Among Young’s financial papers for the Book of Mormon there survives an invoice from “J. Thompson. Ships and Emigrants Supplied with Stores on the Lowest Terms.” The invoice is for supplies contracted for by the Church’s Liverpool agent Amos Fielding. See Miscellaneous Papers, Brigham Young Papers.
104. If emigrants left without fulfilling their financial agreements, the apostles would have no means to contract for the next ship. Neibaur noted that several had to borrow and one was forced to pawn his clothes. Alexander Neibaur Diary, 6–7 February 1841, Church Archives.
105. Brigham Young to George A. Smith, 11 February 1841, Brigham Young Papers.
106. Minutes, 11 February 1841, Brigham Young Papers.
107. Wilford Woodruff Diary, 8 February 1841, Wilford Woodruff Papers; see also “History of Brigham Young,” p. 1.
108. Brigham Young to George A. Smith, 13 February 1841, Brigham Young Papers.
109. “History of George Albert Smith,” ms, George A. Smith Papers; and Brigham Young to Levi Richards, 13 March 1841, Brigham Young Papers.
110. Article on Family Prayer in Millennial Star 1 (March 1841):286–87. Brigham Young to Willard Richards, 8 March 1841, Brigham Young Papers.
111. Brigham Young Diary, 1 April 1841, Brigham Young Papers. When Young was informed in early March of the arrival of Hyde and George J. Adams his next thought was “but whare is Elder Page.” He was not certain Hyde would remain in England long and wrote Richards to let him know where Hyde would be and how long: “let me know for I due not want to mis of him. . . . if nessary I will come emeditly.” It was not necessary. Brigham Young to Willard Richards, 5 March 1841, Brigham Young Papers.
112. Wilford Woodruff Diary, 2 April 1841, Wilford Woodruff Papers; and Minutes, 2 April 1841, Brigham Young Papers. Woodruff’s diary also contains a copy of the minutes for this series of councils. As he had in October, Young prepared himself a brief agenda of “busness for the councel of the Twelve . . . a peace prapared for the Star for to govern the getherin of the Saints from Urop—an agent at L.pool for to conduct the saints—another Patrick [patriarch] ordained. . . . the Elders are not Fathers but midwifes high Preast[s] to be ordained. . . .” See Brigham Young Diary, entry just before 31 March 1841, Brigham Young Papers. All of these items were taken care of between 2 April and 15 April 1841.
113. As noted, in England Young stressed and the Twelve to a considerable extent achieved a degree of harmony that had been lacking in the Quorum before. The “perfect union & harmony” noted here was the ideal of course and not always achieved. These were strong-willed and independent men and occasional clashes or tension were to be expected. For example, see the hint of this in Brigham Young to Willard Richards and Wilford Woodruff, 24 May 1840, Brigham Young Papers or Young’s brief reference to Richards, 1 March 1841, Brigham Young Papers, that “br Pratt and famely are well he has got over all his feelings about Books.”
Such things were quickly resolved, however, and all of the Twelve who comment on this period stress the unusual degree of harmony that prevailed. Wrote John Taylor: “I am happy to state, however, that we have been united in our councils to the present time; that there has been no discordant feeling, nor jarring string.’’ John Taylor, 3 February 1841, in Times and Seasons 2 (1 May 1841):401. For George A. Smith’s feelings about his fellow apostles, see his letter of 11 April 1841 in Millennial Star 1 (April 1841):306. For Heber Kimball’s personal commitment to and desire for unity among the Twelve see Heber C. Kimball Diary, 1 January 1841, Heber C. Kimball Papers.
114. These totals are from the representations in the minutes published in the Star, figures that Young and others include in their published histories. In addition, approximately eight hundred had emigrated and were not counted here for a total membership present and emigrated of 6,614 plus 50 not in branches, or 6,664. Subtracting from that the first representation of 1,541 leaves an increase in one year of 5,123 while the apostles often talked of “between 6 and 7,000.’’ Part of this discrepancy may be accounted for by tallying those substantial numbers baptized by Taylor and Woodruff before April 1840; no doubt there were also many dozens if not hundreds cut off during the year, although no totals are available. It would seem that the total number of converts was approaching 6,000 rather than 7,000. [Editor’s note: see James B. Allen, Ronald K. Esplin, and David J. Whittaker, Men with a Mission: the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in the British Isles, 1837–1841 (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1992).]
115. Printed minutes in Millennial Star 1 (April 1841): 301–5. The first quotation is from there with the added phrase “in the presence of the church,” not in Woodruff’s diary account from which the second quotation comes.
116. Minutes, 6 April 1841, Millennial Star 1 (April 1841):304–5.
117. Wilford Woodruff Diary, 7 April 1841, Wilford Woodruff Papers.
118. William Miller to Young and Kimball, 15 August 1841, in Times and Seasons 3 (15 November 1841):598.
119. As quoted in Allen and Thorp, “Mission of the Twelve,” p. 524.
120. Wilford Woodruff Diary, 15 March 1841, Church Archives.
121. Allen and Thorp, “Mission of the Twelve,” p. 523.
122. Millennial Star 1 (April 1841): 309–12. No doubt thinking of their own experiences in Kirtland and Missouri, they defined such a spirit as one “which introduces rebellion, confusion, misrule, and disunion, and would, if suffered to exist among us, destroy” the union and spirit and power which are associated with the priesthood and can only exist with the humble and meek.
123. Wilford Woodruff Diary, 15–16 April 1841, Wilford Woodruff Papers; and Willard Richards Diary, 20 April 1841. Young’s later reminiscent account of this has the ship waiting even longer for them and adds that the “agents of the vessel said such a thing had never been done before, but they were urgent and anxious to oblige us” because of past business and future prospects. See discourse by Brigham Young, 17 July 1870, Journal of Discourses 13:212.
124. Wilford Woodruff Diary, 19–21 April 1841, Wilford Woodruff Papers; and “History of Brigham Young,” p. 1.
125. Wilford Woodruff Diary, 19 April 1841, Wilford Woodruff Papers. In a discourse of 12 December 1869, Journal of Discourses 13:160, Woodruff said they baptized “something like seven thousand people.” For Young’s reminiscent overviews of this mission see discourse of 17 July 1870, JD 13:211–12 and 31 August 1856, JD 4:35–36.
126. Wilford Woodruff Diary, 24–29 April 1841, Wilford Woodruff Papers; and Brigham Young Diary, entries before and after 5 May 1841, Brigham Young Papers.
127. Wilford Woodruff Diary, 23 May to 4 June 1841, Wilford Woodruff Papers; “History of George Albert Smith,” ms, George A. Smith Papers; and History of the Church, 4:372.
128. “History of Brigham Young,” p. 2. Less than a week after parting, Young wrote a short letter to Richards telling him the least expensive way to travel on the canal and otherwise providing travel advice and information. He closed with the phrase he and Richards had used in their 5 September 1840 letter to Joseph and which had indeed become something of a motto for them in England: “I am as ever your Br. in the N[ew] Covenets and I say goe ahead.” Brigham Young to Willard Richards, 9 June 1841, Brigham Young Papers, emphasis added.
129. Discourse by Brigham Young, 24 July 1854, Journal of Discourses 2:19.
