Letter from Wilford Woodruff and Others, 9 March 1838
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Source Note
, , and , Letter, Vinalhaven, Fox Islands, Hancock Co., ME, to , JS, , , and “Saints in Zion,” [, Caldwell Co., MO], 9 Mar. 1838. Featured version published in Elders’ Journal, July 1838, pp. 35–36. For more complete source information, see the source note for Elders’ Journal, Oct. 1837.
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Historical Introduction
On 9 March 1838, while proselytizing in , wrote a letter to , JS and his counselors in the , and the Saints in generally. As a member of the First of the , Woodruff was expected to travel, proselytize, organize of the church, and encourage church members to gather to in Missouri. At the time of the letter, Woodruff had been proselytizing in the northeastern for almost a year—most recently in the , about halfway along Maine’s coast in the middle of Penobscot Bay. In May 1837, within a few weeks after marrying Phebe Carter, he had departed on a mission “into the eastern country” with . Woodruff had a compelling desire to gather the house of Israel from “the islands of the sea,” as Isaiah had prophesied and as JS’s revelations had commanded. Later in life, Woodruff recounted that after feeling “impressed by the Spirit of God to take a mission to the Fox Islands,” he expressed his desire to and and they advised him to go. Woodruff preached in many places along the way to Maine, including Farmington, Connecticut, where he shared with his parents and family members the Mormon message of a restored gospel. While in Farmington, he was met by his wife, who traveled with him to Scarborough, Maine, to share the gospel with her parents and other family members. Then Woodruff left Phebe with her family and pressed on with Hale to the Fox Islands.and were very successful proselytizing in the during August and September 1837, and in early October they organized a branch of the church there. The men then returned to Scarborough, where Hale determined to return home to while Wilford and Phebe Woodruff traveled to the Fox Islands so Wilford could continue his labors there. In January 1838, he received a new mission companion: , an from . In February, Woodruff returned to the mainland to preach in Bangor, Maine, and other towns along the way, accompanied by another Mormon elder named , while Ball continued preaching on the islands.The church elders and new converts kept in contact with the gathered Saints through the church newspapers. The Elders’ Journal, the church’s new periodical, had been designed for this purpose. collected several subscriptions for the Elders’ Journal in the and mailed them to , who was in and completed the editorial work for the paper.also corresponded occasionally with church members in and heard news as he traveled. While staying with a Latter-day Saint on the way to Bangor, Woodruff “heard that Kirtland was in difficulty,” a continuation of the dissent that Woodruff had witnessed before leaving on his mission. He learned of further trouble when he and returned from the mainland to the on 8 March and Phebe gave Wilford letters that had arrived during his absence. One of these letters, from an “Elder Robbins” in Kirtland, informed Woodruff that dissenters in Kirtland had caused great turmoil in the church, that the office had been “burned to the ground with all its contents,” that JS and had fled Kirtland for , and that “the faithful are to follow them for Kirtland will be scorged.”The following day, discussed this troubling news with and . The three missionaries decided to write a letter to Bishop , the First Presidency, and the Saints in . Woodruff probably wrote the letter while at the home of Latter-day Saint Malatiah Luce on , where Woodruff was living at the time.began his letter with a general address to “friends in the ” and then reported on proselytizing in the . In the middle of the letter, Woodruff explicitly addressed the members of the First Presidency and asked them to recommence the Elders’ Journal in . Woodruff expressed the missionaries’ dire need for church literature to help combat false information about the church that was being circulated in the region. Woodruff concluded by expressing loyalty to JS and the church and by admonishing the Saints in Missouri not to make the mistakes being made by church members in . The letter was apparently composed by Woodruff, who wrote in the first-person singular voice, but and signed the letter with him, indicating their agreement with the letter’s content. The original letter is apparently not extant, but the letter states that it was written on one page.noted in his journal that on the following Wednesday he walked to the post office, presumably to mail this and other letters he had recently written. Woodruff’s letter made its way safely across half the continent, likely arriving in sometime in early or mid-April. Whenever Woodruff’s letter was received, it was probably read by or to JS. Sometime on or after 30 April 1838, wrote a reply to Woodruff on JS’s behalf, remarking that Woodruff’s letter arrived “some days, since.” Woodruff’s request for a church newspaper was fulfilled when JS and Marsh began publishing the Elders’ Journal in Far West in summer 1838. As the editor of the Elders’ Journal, JS may have reviewed Woodruff’s letter again when it was prepared for publication in the July issue.
Footnotes
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1
See Woodruff, Journal, 3 Jan. 1837; and Instruction on Priesthood, between ca. 1 Mar. and ca. 4 May 1835 [D&C 107:25].
Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.
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2
Woodruff, Journal, 30–31 May 1837.
Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.
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3
See Isaiah 11:11; and Revelation, 3 Nov. 1831 [D&C 133:8]. Woodruff frequently expressed his interest in proselytizing upon the “Islands of the sea.” (See Letter from Wilford Woodruff and Jonathan H. Hale, 18 Sept. 1837; and Woodruff, Journal, 20 Aug. 1837; 3–5 Sept. 1837; 1 Oct. 1837; 15–16 Nov. 1837; 31 Dec. 1837; 26 Apr. 1838.)
Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.
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4
Woodruff, “Autobiography of Wilford Woodruff,” 11; “History of Wilford Woodruff,” 23–24, Historian’s Office, Histories of the Twelve, 1856–1858, 1861, CHL.
Woodruff, Wilford. “Autobiography of Wilford Woodruff.” Tullidge’s Quarterly Magazine 3, no. 1 (Oct. 1883): 1–25.
Historian’s Office. Histories of the Twelve, 1856–1858, 1861. CHL. CR 100 93.
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5
Woodruff, Journal, 31 May 1837–13 Jan. 1838; Letter from Wilford Woodruff and Jonathan H. Hale, 18 Sept. 1837; see also Thompson, “Wilford Woodruff’s Missions to the Fox Islands,” 97–117.
Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.
Thompson, Jason E. “‘The Lord Told Me to Go and I Went’: Wilford Woodruff’s Missions to the Fox Islands, 1837–38,” in Banner of the Gospel: Wilford Woodruff, edited by Alexander L. Baugh and Susan Easton Black, 97–148. Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 2010.
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6
Woodruff was preaching on South Fox Island when Ball arrived on North Fox Island. By the time Woodruff returned to North Fox Island to meet his new mission companion, Ball had already baptized six people. (Woodruff, Journal, 13 Jan. 1838.)
Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.
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7
Woodruff, Journal, 13 Feb.–8 Mar. 1838.
Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.
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8
“Prospectus,” LDS Messenger and Advocate, Sept. 1837, 3:571–572; see also Elders’ Journal, Oct. and Nov. 1837. When Woodruff received the first issue of the Elders’ Journal, he wrote in his journal that it “warmed my Soul.” When he and Ball received the second issue, Woodruff noted, “It did our souls good.” (Woodruff, Journal, 13 Dec. 1837 and 17 Jan. 1838.)
Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate. Kirtland, OH. Oct. 1834–Sept. 1837.
Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.
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9
See Woodruff, Journal, 20 Nov. and 31 Dec. 1837.
Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.
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10
See, for example, Letter from Wilford Woodruff and Jonathan H. Hale, 18 Sept. 1837; and Woodruff, Journal, 14 Feb. 1838.
Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.
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11
Woodruff, Journal, 19 Feb. and 28 May 1837; 14 Feb. 1838.
Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.
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12
Woodruff, Journal, 8 Mar. 1838. “Elder Robbins” is likely Lewis Robbins, a fellow member of the First Quorum of the Seventy. Lewis Robbins was the only known Robbins in Kirtland during this time, as identified by Milton V. Backman in his extensive survey of local records. Robbins lived with Don Carlos Smith, to whom Woodruff had been writing and sending subscriptions for the Elders’ Journal. (Minutes and Blessings, 28 Feb.–1 Mar. 1835; Robbins, Autobiographical Sketch, 3–4; Backman, Profile, 59.)
Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.
Robbins, Lewis. Autobiographical Sketch, ca. 1845. Typescript. CHL.
Backman, Milton V., Jr., comp. A Profile of Latter-day Saints of Kirtland, Ohio, and Members of Zion’s Camp, 1830–1839: Vital Statistics and Sources. 2nd ed. Provo, UT: Department of Church History and Doctrine and Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1983.
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13
Woodruff, Journal, 8–15 Mar. 1838. Woodruff had stayed with Luce before. Luce owned several pieces of property on North Fox Island. He may have been living along the stream between Fresh Pond and North Harbor. (Woodruff, Journal, 26 and 29 Aug. 1837; Hancock Co., ME, Deeds, 1791–1861, vol. 67, p. 101, 12 Apr. 1838, microfilm 10,980; Waldo Co., ME, Record of Deeds, 1828–1896, vol. 47, p. 445, 7 Sept. 1838, microfilm 12,373, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL; see also Wells, Provisional Report upon the Water-Power of Maine, 227; Woodruff, Journal, 13 Aug. 1838; and Chace et al., Map of Waldo County, Maine [Portland, ME: J. Chace Jr., 1859].)
Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.
U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.
Wells, Walter. Provisional Report upon the Water-Power of Maine. Augusta, ME: Stevens and Sayward, 1868.
Chace, J., D. Kelsey, D. H. Davidson, and W. H. Rease. Map of Waldo County, Maine. Portland, ME: J. Chace Jr., 1859. Copy at the Library of Congress.
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14
Woodruff, Journal, 10–14 Mar. 1838. Notes in Woodruff’s journal indicate that the post office, located in John Kent’s store, was in the hamlet of North Haven on the south side of North Fox Island. However, the post office was possibly on the southeast side of the island, where an 1859 map of Waldo County shows two Kent domiciles at Kent’s Cove. In September 1837, Woodruff “walked to the Post Office. Took a sail boat to cross to South fox Island.” In February 1838, he “walked to Mr Kents crossed the thoroughfare,” the channel between North Fox Island and South Fox Island. On 5 April, Woodruff walked “to Mr John Kents store & Post Office” to receive mail. (Woodruff, Journal, 4 Sept. 1837; 13 Feb. and 5 Apr. 1838; Chace et al., Map of Waldo County, Maine [Portland, ME: J. Chace Jr., 1859].)
Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.
Chace, J., D. Kelsey, D. H. Davidson, and W. H. Rease. Map of Waldo County, Maine. Portland, ME: J. Chace Jr., 1859. Copy at the Library of Congress.
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15
In the summer, a letter from Marsh reached Woodruff in less than four weeks, suggesting that the 9 March letter from Woodruff traveled at about the same speed. Marsh’s 14 July letter was postmarked 15 July 1838 in Far West and was directed to Woodruff in Vinalhaven, Maine. Woodruff, who had been absent from the Fox Islands for several weeks, returned to Vinalhaven on 7 August and noted that he received Marsh’s 14 July letter from a local member on 9 August. (Thomas B. Marsh, Far West, MO, to Wilford Woodruff, Vinalhaven, ME, 14 July 1838, Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, CHL; Woodruff, Journal, 7 and 9 Aug. 1838.)
Woodruff, Wilford. Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.
Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.
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16
Letter to Wilford Woodruff, ca. 18 June 1838. Marsh’s letter bears an 18 June 1838 postmark.
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