, Letter, , Lancashire, England, to JS, [, Hancock Co., IL], 9 July 1840. Featured version published in “Epistle,” Times and Seasons, 1 Apr. 1845, 859–863. For more complete source information, see the source note for Letter to Isaac Galland, 22 Mar. 1839.
Historical Introduction
On 9 July 1840, wrote a letter to JS from recounting the previous nine months of his travels and proselytizing efforts. Kimball was one of seven members of the then serving a mission in Great Britain, in accordance with a July 1838 revelation that directed the apostles to “go over the great waters, and there promulge my gospel.” The letter recounted Kimball’s journey to Great Britain, documenting how his travels intersected with those of other missionaries headed to and across the Atlantic Ocean. As they traveled to the eastern and proselytized along the way, the missionaries were delayed intermittently by illness, injury, and fatigue and were dependent upon the charity of members for food and lodging. The first group of three missionaries sailed from New York for on 19 December 1839. The remainder, including Kimball, did not sail from New York until 9 March 1840, nearly six months after Kimball left , Illinois, with in September 1839.
In his letter, , who had preached in in 1837 and 1838, described the state of the church there, noting the joy that the British Saints felt in being reunited with missionaries from the . He emphasized the growth of the church and expressed optimism about current opportunities to proselytize throughout the United Kingdom, including in Scotland and Ireland. Kimball also detailed the poverty he had encountered in England’s cities and reported on Great Britain’s economic depression and a burgeoning potato shortage in Ireland.
If JS responded personally to , that letter has not been located. On 15 December 1840, however, JS wrote a letter to the entire Quorum of the Twelve, in which he acknowledged “several communications” from the apostles he had not yet answered, citing the “multiplicity of business” that had occupied his attention in , Illinois. Kimball’s original 9 July letter is not extant. The version featured here was published in the 1 April 1845 issue of the Times and Seasons.
Pratt, Parley P. The Autobiography of Parley Parker Pratt, One of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Embracing His Life, Ministry and Travels, with Extracts, in Prose and Verse, from His Miscellaneous Writings. Edited by Parley P. Pratt Jr. New York: Russell Brothers, 1874.
count of a heavy snow storm on the lake. On the 27th we arrived at . On the 28th the brethren left me at Byron eight miles east of Batavia and pursued their course to the east, I stayed to visit my friends at Byron,
Next day I took cars for the city of , and found one of my sisters there. Taking a violent cold I was confined here about a week During this time I stayed one night with Brother , he lives two miles from the city. He was glad to see me, and inquired much about you and the rest of the brethren: he seemed to be firm in the faith of the gospel and has much love for his brethren. then took me in his wagon and carried me to Victor within twelve or fourteen miles of the place where you obtained the record of the Book of Mormon. I remained there until about the tenth of February, preached in Victor twice, three, one of them was my ’s brother and his wife. The snow continued about three feet deep while I was there, being very cold and blustering. There is much good feeling towards us as a poople [people] in that region.
I took coach at for , being short of money to pay my expenses I was confined to one meal a day. When I got to , the North river being froze up, I went part of the way on the ice on runners, and part of the way by land on wheels. When we went to Jersey city, (as we went up on that side,) the coachman not being willing to fulfil his engagement and take us over to . and I being destitute of money, I mentioned it to the passengers and a gentleman put his hand in his pocket and gave me a quarter dollar. Then, when we got to the Ferry, the ferryman wanted six-pence more each; not having any, it prompted me to pray to the Lord to blind his eyes so that he might overlook me, it was even so; so we see that God will hear prayer when we call upon him for small things. We went across the river and put up at the Hotel, where I pawned my trunk for my supper and breakfast.
Next morning I went in pursuit of the brethren, being Sabbath day morning. The first one I met with was , I then found Elders and , and the rest of the brethren; and if I ever felt to praise God it was then, to get in company with my brethren again. I went with the brethren to meeting and my wants were made known, and I received means to redeem my trunk. The rest of the brethren were in similar circumstances with myself, having come into the in like manner. When we arrived there we found the saints faithful, but not many adding. We concluded it best to lift up our voices and preach the gospel, and in about two or three weeks, there was upwards of forty added. These together with the other saints administered to our wants and provided for us provisions, bedding and money to go to .
I never saw greater kindness than was manifested towards us in , , and other places: and I feel to bless them in the name of the Lord, that his peace shall rest upon them. On the 9th day of March, six of us went aboard the ship Patrick Henry, viz: , , , , and ; many of the saints went along with us to the ship’s side, where we bade them farewell. We set sail the same day and on the 6th day of April, we landed at , in tolerable health,
During our passage over we had two very heavy gales; the ship’s mate said he had not seen such for fifteen years back: the ship’s crew was kind to us. We remained in until the 9th in company with who had been there a short time and raised a small church.
On the 9th we took cars for , where in a short time we found , , and well and in good spirits promulgating the gospel through the towns and cities. Their joy was great to see us, yea, beyond measure; they had often longed to see us and prayed that the Lord would send us unto them, the saints universally were rejoiced to see us and the news of our arrival spread far and near in a short time. Our enemies had reproached the saints and boasted, because (they said) we should never return; and in fact it was believed amongst the enemies that we should no more return. The saints had been troubled some on this account, and consequently their joy was greatly increased to see my face again, and still more to see some of my brethren with me,
Many blessings were poured upon us from all quarters, especially from those who were before we left ; we also found that those who had joined the since that time, joined in the theme of rejoicing, and hailed us with a hearty welcome. As soon as the general bustle was subsided the met in council and organized themselves, and into the .—Then on the 15th, the churches met in conference in the cock-pit at ; the total number of members represented was one thousand six hundred and seventy-one; the churches all in good standing, excepting two. From that conference the brethren separated to different [p. 861]
In the nineteenth century, the phrase “to take a car” meant to travel by railroad. (See, for example, “Journey to Our State Convention,” Universalist Union, 20 July 1844, 9:564; and Tourist; or, Pocket Manual for Travellers, 7, 97.)
Universalist Union. New York City, 1835–1847; Philadelphia, 1835–1837; Albany, 1835–1837; Troy, NY, 1835–1837; Hartford, CT, 1835–1837; Baltimore, 1837.
The Tourist or Pocket Manual for Travellers on the Hudson River, the Western Canal and Stage Road to Niagara Falls Down Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence to Montreal and Quebec. . . . 3rd ed. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1834.
Kimball stopped in Byron, New York, intending to visit his sister Eliza Kimball Hall and her husband, Harvey Hall. When he learned that they had recently relocated to Rochester, New York, he stayed the night with William Lewis, another friend of the Kimball family. He traveled to his sister’s home the next day. (Heber C. Kimball, Victor, NY, to Vilate Murray Kimball, Commerce, IL, 27 Dec. 1839, typescript, Heber C. Kimball Family Organization, Compilation of Heber C. Kimball Correspondence, 1983, CHL.)
Heber C. Kimball Family Organization. Compilation of Heber C. Kimball Correspondence, 1983. Unpublished typescript. CHL.
Thayer an early member of the church, resided in Brighton, New York, approximately five miles southeast of Rochester. (1840 U.S. Census, Brighton, Monroe Co., NY, 57.)
Census (U.S.) / U.S. Bureau of the Census. Population Schedules. Microfilm. FHL.
On 1 January 1840, Kimballbaptized William and Mary Murray. (H. Kimball to V. Kimball, 27 Dec. 1839; see also Brigham Young, New York City, NY, to Mary Ann Angell Young, Commerce, IL, 14 and 29 Feb. 1840; 5 and 7 Mar. 1840, George W. Thatcher Blair, Collection, CHL.)
Heber C. Kimball Family Organization. Compilation of Heber C. Kimball Correspondence, 1983. Unpublished typescript. CHL.
Blair, George W. Thatcher. Collection, 1837–1988. CHL.
The North River was an alternate name for the Hudson River. (See, for example, Morrison, Morrison’s North River Traveller’s Companion [1831].)
Morrison, Thomas. Morrison’s North River Traveller’s Companion: Containing a Map of the Hudson or North River, with a Description of the Adjoining Country. . . . Philadelphia: By the author, [1831]. Digital image available at the Norman B. Leventhal Map Center at the Boston Public Library, www.leventhalmap.org/id/18281.
Kimball owed an additional twenty-four cents at this point in his journey. (Heber C. Kimball, New York, to Vilate Murray Kimball, Commerce, IL, 19 Feb. 1840, typescript, Heber C. Kimball Family Organization, Compilation of Heber C. Kimball Correspondence, 1983, CHL.)
Heber C. Kimball Family Organization. Compilation of Heber C. Kimball Correspondence, 1983. Unpublished typescript. CHL.
On 29 August 1839, Pratt left Nauvoo in company with his wife, Mary Ann Frost Pratt; his three children; Orson Pratt; and Hiram Clark. Parley P. Pratt and his family arrived in New York around October 1839. ([Parley P. Pratt], “Sketches of Travels in America, and Voyage to England,” LDS Millennial Star, July 1840, 1:49–50.)
Young arrived in New York City on 31 January 1840, and Orson Pratt arrived in New York City around 1 January 1840. On 16 February, Kimball found the other missionaries at Parley P. Pratt’s residence located at “No. 58, Mott Street,” where they had boarded since their arrival in the city. (Historian’s Office, Brigham Young History Drafts, 26, 34; Orson Pratt to Sarah Marinda Bates Pratt, 6 Jan. 1840, in Times and Seasons, Feb. 1840, 1:61; B. Young to M. Young, 14 and 29 Feb. 1840; 5 and 7 Mar. 1840; H. Kimball to V. Kimball, 19 Feb. 1840.)
In a 5 March 1840 letter to his wife, Kimball wrote, “The people are inquiring the way to Heaven. thare is cols [calls] on alls hands [to] come and preach to us.” On 22 November 1839, Parley P. Pratt similarly commented that the Columbian Hall in New York City could hold around one thousand people and that the church meetings there were “well filled with attentive hearers.” (Heber C. Kimball, New York City, NY, to Vilate Murray Kimball, 5 Mar. 1840, photocopy, Heber C. Kimball, Correspondence, 1837–1864, CHL; Letter from Parley P. Pratt, 22 Nov. 1839.)
Kimball, Heber C. Correspondence, 1837–1864. Private possession. Copy at CHL.
The Patrick Henry was a packet ship built in New York City in 1839. In 1840 it sailed under the command of Joseph C. Delano. The missionaries “paid $18.00 each for a steerage passage furnished our own provisions and bedding— paid the cook $1.00 each for cooking.” (Historian’s Office, Brigham Young History Drafts, 35; Sonne, Ships, Saints, and Mariners, 165.)
Brigham Young’s history noted that “a large number of Saints came down to the wharf to bid us farewell, when we got into the small boat to go out to the ship, the brethren sang, ‘The gallant ship is under way’ we joined them as long as we could hear.” (Historian’s Office, Brigham Young History Drafts, 36.)
Parley P. Pratt described these storms in a letter to his wife, Mary Ann: “It soon came on a heavy gale of wind, mingled with storm, which drove us perhaps ten miles per hour with out having up any sail. this lasted two or 3 days, and the mate said he had not seen such a gale in 13 years. the sea Looked like mountains and vallies. sometimes the ship would be on the top of a wave as high as a three story building, and the next moment it would plunge into a yawning gulf, where the water would be perhaps thirty feet higher than the vessel on every side and Every few minits a mountain wave would dash over the deck and drench the sailors and Every thing in sea water.” (Parley P. Pratt, Liverpool, England, to Mary Ann Frost Pratt, New York City, NY, 6 Apr. 1840, Parley P. Pratt, Papers, CHL; see also George A. Smith, Burslem, England, to C. C. Waller, 6 June 1840, in C. C. Waller, Ohio City, OH, to John Smith, Commerce, IL, 28 July 1840, John Smith, Papers, CHL; and Historian’s Office, Brigham Young History Drafts, 36.)
John Taylor and Theodore Turley, “being short of means,” separated in Auburn, New York, from the larger group of traveling missionaries on 29 November 1839, the day after Kimball left to visit his friends in Byron. Taylor, Turley, and Woodruff departed from New York aboard the Oxford on 19 December 1839. The three missionaries arrived in Liverpool on 11 January 1840. After briefly traveling to Preston, England, to visit relatives, Taylor began to labor in Liverpool on 22 January 1840. The branch in Liverpool numbered “about thirty Saints” in April 1840. (Historian’s Office, Brigham Young History Drafts, 32; Turley, Reminiscences and Journal, [15]; Woodruff, Journal, 18–19 Dec. 1839 and 11 Jan. 1840; John Taylor, Liverpool, England, to Leonora Cannon Taylor, 30 Jan. 1840, John Taylor, Collection, CHL; Richards, Journal, 13 Jan. 1840.)
Parley P. Pratt stayed behind with Taylor in Liverpool. (Clayton, Diary, 9 Apr. 1840; Heber C. Kimball and Joseph Fielding, Clitheroe, England, 6 May 1840, Letter to the Editor, Times and Seasons, July 1840, 1:138.)
Clayton, William. Diary, Jan.–Nov. 1846. CHL.
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
Fielding wrote in his journal that the reunion “was indeed a time of Rejoicing, yet they look thin & weather beaten. Bro. Kimball is very thin, but they are in good Spirits, and the Spirits of the Saints are greatly revived by their coming.” (Fielding, Journal, 9 Apr. 1840, 7.)
Fielding, Joseph. Journals, 1837–1859. CHL. MS 1567.
Three days after arriving in Preston, the apostles held a meeting with five or six hundred in attendance, which Kimball described as “something like the day of Penticost, for there were some from various places, from a distance of 20 to 60 miles.” (Heber C. Kimball and Joseph Fielding, Clitheroe, England, 6 May 1840, Letter to the Editor, Times and Seasons, July 1840, 1:138.)
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
According to one report, between eight and nine hundred individuals had been baptized since Kimball and Hyde departed in April 1838. (“From England,” Times and Seasons, June 1840, 1:119.)
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
During this 14 April 1840 council, “Brigham Young was unanimously chosen as the standing president of the Twelve,” and John Taylor was appointed the quorum’s secretary. (Woodruff, Journal, 14 Apr. 1840.)
Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.
The Cockpit, originally constructed for cock fighting, was a temperance hall by the early 1830s. The missionaries had used the arena for public sermons since September 1837. They paid “seven shillings sterling per week for the use of it, and two shillings per week for the lighting, it being beautifully lit up with gas.” (Fishwick, History of the Parish of Preston, 407; Winskill, Temperance Movement and Its Workers, 88; Fielding, Journal, Sept. 1837, 30; Thompson, Journal of Heber C. Kimball, 25–26; see also Walmsley, Reminiscences of the Preston Cockpit and the Old Teetotallers, 1–3.)
Fishwick, Henry. The History of the Parish of Preston in Amounderness in the County of Lancaster. Rochdale, England: Aldine Press, 1900.
Winskill, P. T. The Temperance Movement and Its Workers: A Record of Social, Moral, Religious, and Political Progress. Vol. 1. London: Blackie and Son, 1892.
Fielding, Joseph. Journals, 1837–1859. CHL. MS 1567.
Thompson, Robert B. Journal of Heber C. Kimball an Elder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Nauvoo, IL: Robinson and Smith, 1840.
Walmsley, Thomas. Reminiscences of the Preston Cockpit and the Old Teetotallers. Preston, England: Guardian Printing Works, 1892.