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Editorial Note

In April 1832, after his baptism by Eleazer Miller, a thirty-six-year-old native of Albany, New York, and member of the young Church of Christ then on his second proselytizing mission in the region, Brigham Young began recording his first handful of diary entries. Those entries attest that Young himself became a missionary for the new faith, traveling throughout the eastern United States and into Upper Canada. From the first entry recording his own baptism to the writings that followed, his personal diary documents his energetic efforts to preach to and convert people to the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. At first Young penned short and irregular entries but became more consistent and wrote with more detail, recording his travels, where he preached, how he was received, and how many (and sometimes whom) he baptized.

The first entry in this, Young’s first journal, records his April 1832 baptism. The last date in the 1832 portion is October, but the events described in that entry—including Young’s first-ever journey to Kirtland, Ohio, to meet Joseph Smith—stretched into November.[1]

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9 April 1832 • Monday

Apriel 9^th 1832 I was Baptized[2] under the hand of Elezer [Eleazar] Miller and ordained, preacht as opertunity prezented Baptized Rachel Flumerfielt

Page of earliest journal entries written by Brigham Young. Courtesy of Church History Library, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah.

6 May 1832 • Monday

[3] may the 6 I Baptized Sharlott Bond in Mendon.[4]

June 1832

June Went to Hector,[5] preacht at hener<retta>[6]

6 July 1832 • Friday

July <6>, Baptized John. D. Morgan

October–November 1832

oct went to Reding[7] from their to Hornby,[8] held 3 metings <Baptized 3> then returnd to Catlin held 2 metings from their to Reding held 1 meting from [there] to Hektor held 1 meting from their hom, from their to Arvon[9] held metin and in the b ajacents towns Baptized 4 in Arvon. Brother Hebor Kimbel[10] and Brother Joseph Young[11] and my self went to Ohio Baptized Sister Whitney’. Father[12] and then returned hom then to Woresaw[13] held severiel meting[s][14]

2 January–1 March 1833

2 day of Janury Brother Joseph [Young] and I started for Canadia was gan [gone] till the firs of March tr[a]veled 5 or 6.00 miles held a bout 40 metings Baptized 14 in Canadia 9 of them myself[15]

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Editorial Note

Brigham Young’s 30 April 1833 diary entry states that he started for another mission to Canada on that date, though he in fact spent the next three weeks preaching in various New York communities en route to Canada. He did not cross the St. Lawrence River into Canada until 21 May. As the diary confirms, on 1 July he left Canada with the James Lake family (and others) for Kirtland, Ohio. The Lakes were moving—gathering to Ohio in accordance to revelation[16]—while Young was making a brief trip, his second, to see Joseph Smith and other church members in Kirtland. While Young preached the importance of gathering, he apparently did not feel it applied to him until he heard Smith speak on the topic during this July 1833 visit. Smith’s counsel made it clear to Young that gathering and building up the kingdom of God were of the utmost importance. Young later explained that he “had gathered to Kirtland because [he] was so directed by the Prophet of God.”[17]

Young left Kirtland for Mendon, New York, on 15 July, preaching along the way. Four days after arriving at Heber C. Kimball’s home in Mendon on 21 July, Young, his brother Joseph, and Kimball set out again. During their travels Young stopped at Aurelius, Cayuga County, New York, to pick up his daughters Elizabeth and Vilate, who had been staying with their maternal Grandmother, Abigail Works, and by 14 August they had returned to Mendon. For the next five weeks Young, often accompanied by his brother Joseph, preached in the general vicinity of Mendon but left his girls in the care of Vilate Kimball. Only once in those weeks, 27 August, does his diary report that he “Spent the day at Mendon.” Finally, on 17 September, Young wrote that he and his brother returned home via the Erie Canal and he found his “little girls ware well.” According to Young’s later history, “In the month of September, in conformity to the counsel of the Prophet, I made preparations to gather up to Kirtland, and engaged a passage for myself and two children with brother Kimball, and sent my effects by canal and lake to Fairport.”[18] By fall 1833 Young and his daughters had gathered with the church in Ohio. For Young and his family it was the kingdom of God or nothing from thenceforth.

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Based on map research and cartography for the Joseph Smith Papers; used by permission. RESEARCH: Larry C. Potter, Richard L. Jensen, Brent M. Rogers, and Gerrit J. Dirkmaat. CARTOGRAPHY: Isaac Montague and Brent Beck, BYU Geography. © By Intellectual Reserve, Inc.

30 April–1 May 1833 • Tuesday–Wednesday

[19] 1833 Apriel 30[20]

Started for Canaday went to Palmiria[21] took a bote went to Lyonds[22] spent the 1 day of may with the Brotherin

Apriel <the> 30 1833 an count of monney recivd[23]

by J. Foster whife - - - - - - - - - - - - 4/- $0.50

by J. Hartman and L - - - - - - - - - - - 4/6 0.56

by Brother Milet - - - - - - - - - - - - - 1/4 0.16

by - J. Van Lover - - - - - - - - - - - - 8/- 1.00

2 May 1833 • Thursday

tue[24] thirsday 2 Preached at Brother Drowns [Charles M. Drown] and the Lord pord out ◊[25] his spiret apon the Peaple and I had good liberty in speaki<n>g

3 May 1833 • Friday

friday the 3 Baptized 6 held a prair meting in the Evening and then Pr[e]ached to them

4–5 May 1833 • Saturday–Sunday

4 went to Sodas[26] and the next morning Baptized 2 a sunday the same day returned to Lyonds held meting at Brother Drowns had a good time

6–7 May 1833 • Monday–Tuesday

6 left Lyonds for Aurilius[27] - held a meting on the 7 day evening mothe[r] was sick[28]

8 May 1833 • Wednesday

8 preached at 4 P.M. about 1 mild west of Troopsvill[29] I spoke from Jen [Genesis] 48-& 49 Dut [Deuteronomy] 33 Iz [Isaiah] 11[30] Eze [Ezekiel] 37[31]

9 May 1833 • Thursday

9 day of May had held a meting at the brick [s]Chool house west of Clarks vill[32]

Page from Brigham Young's first personal journal showing some of his idiosyncratic spelling. Courtesy of the Church History Library, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah.

10 May 1833 • Friday

10 left Aurrilius went to camlius [Camillus] took dinner at E. B. D. Watters put up in the town of Granby[33] at Jinkin,^s

11 May 1833 • Saturday

11 went to Brother[34] Lakes put up for the day preached in the evening at the new [s]chool house

12 May 1833 • Sunday

12 Sunday preached 9.o.c. A.M. at the new [s]chool house and at 3 p.m. north chool house put up at Brothers W^m Drapers the presence of the Lord was with me

13 May 1833 • Monday

13 monday wee left Brother Drapers took dinner at the widow Williams then took our Jerney stade at Mexecoe[35] at Morton Tavern

14 May 1833 • Tuesday

14 went to watterton[36] cald at c coson Mo Morton [Julius Moreton][37] stade at D◊◊◊[38] Greenes they ware all well at Both placees

15 May 1833 • Wednesday

15 went from [w]attertown to Indin River falls[39] to Ira Patton

16 May 1833 • Thursday

16 found Brother David Patant [David W. Patten] in good sperits preached at the [s]chool house in the vilige at 6 ocl[o]ck P.M.

17 May 1833 • Friday

17 taried at Ira Patten and Preached at half past five P.M. and Brother David Patton spoke after me

18–19 May 1833 • Saturday–Sunday

18 sat preached at Bats inn at 4 P.M. and a sunday <19> preached at Shantyvill at 10 A.M and in the after part of the day preached at the Parker [s]Choole house

20 May 1833 • Monday

20 monday morning Baptized 7 seven and then <brorthering> left the place <in good sperits> for the north and stoped in the town of govunar <Gouvernuer>[40] and found Joseph T. Works[41] in tolarable helth

21 May 1833 • Tuesday

21 left the plase for Ogdensburg[42] cold [called] at Depayster <Dep Peyster>[43] [De Peyster, New York] left J J. T. Works at coson Fllows [Albert Gallatin Fellows] went to Ogdensburg crost the river to Prscot[44] that nite

22 May 1833 • Wednesday

22 took the steam boat great Britton landed at Kingston[45] and from their to Brother James Lakes found them all well and in good Sperits

26 May 1833 • Sunday

Sunday May 26 1833 preached at Brother Myries barn at 10 oClok, and at 4 P.M. at Brother J. Lakes held a prare [prayer] meting

27 May 1833 • Monday

27 monday went to Loburro[46] had a prair meting in the evning, found the Brotherin in good helth and in good sperits their has been 17 Seventeen Baptized sence Brother J Joseph [Young] and I left heir[47]

29 May 1833 • Wednesday

29 wensday held a meting at Brother Daniel Wood,^s at 3 oClock P.M.

30 May 1833 • Thursday

30 thursday went to Brother N. ◊ Lake p held a meting at one o clock had good liberty in preaching

31 May 1833 • Friday

31 p preached at 1 o.c. P.M. at Brother W^m Draper,s

1–2 June 1833 • Saturday–Sunday

[48] June 1^th 1833. preached at 10 A.M at Peater Bices - took dinner at Brother Picksley^s then attended Reform methodis[49] quarteley meting in the afternoon 2 <day> Sunday held meting at Broth Daniel Wood at 10 A.M. at 4 P.M at Stiles barn and Baptized three

5 June 1833 • Wednesday

5 5 held meting D. W^m Drapers

6 June 1833 • Thursday

6 Preached at W. ( at 10 A M at 4 P.M. at Peter Brisses [Bryce’s?]

7 June 1833 • Friday

7 Preached at East Lobourgh at the stone school house then returned to D. W. [Daniel Wood’s] found Brother James and Denies [Dennis] Lake and their famuley[50]

8 June 1833 • Saturday

8 Saterday met in confrence with seven Elders and the Brothen two teachers ordained

9 June 1833 • Sunday

9 Sunday preached at D. W. at 10 A.M at 4 P.M. at frend stiles Barn

10 June 1833 • Monday

10 ordained 1 Preast then returnd to Brother ◊ Lake (2 town

14 June 1833 • Friday

14 atended a <prair> meting at the3 Sameul Snder [Snyder]

15 June 1833 • Saturday

15 Prached at the school house west of the Switsur [Switzer] chapiel [51] in the open are [air] at 10 A.M. Brother J. Lot spoke then went to Bowers chapel to attend an apoinment at 3 P.M. the key was refused and it rained so wee had no meting

16 June 1833 • Sunday

16 <sunday> I preached at the read [red] [s]Choole house 3 miles west of Bro[t]her Milets [Artemus Millet]

17 June 1833 • Monday

17 Preached at the Loge Choole house west of Brother Milets 17 June 1833 went <from> Brother Millets to Brother Hartmans

18 June 1833 • Tuesday

18 went to Brother Gorge Hartmans

19 June 1833 • Wednesday

19 Preached at Brother Lewis Hartmans at 3 oclock P.M. had good liberty

20 June 1833 • Thursday

20 Baptized 1 then went Brother D. Wood [Daniel Wood]

21 June 1833 • Friday

21 Baptized Brother Henery Wood,^s whife [Elizabeth DeMille Wood]

22 June 1833 • Saturday

22 Preached at Brother D. Wood at 10 A.M. had a good time then went to the water and Baptized 10 and their had a meting the childrin was was brought foried [forward]

23 June 1833 • Sunday

23 Sunday went to Adzets 4 miles west of watterloo Preched at 10 A.M. then returned to watterloo Preached at Smith,^s Inn at 3 P.M. Brother J. Lot was with me this day then went to Brother J. Lakes that nite

25–28 June 1833 • Tuesday–Friday

June <the> 25 1833 25 went to my apointment by Bours [Bowers] Chappel but it rain<ed> in so that wee had no meting taried at J. Lakes that week

29 June 1833 • Saturday

29 <Satder> Brother D. Lake and myself went to Lobourough

30 June 1833 • Sunday

a sunday 30 I. Preached at D. Wood,s at 10 am then <had the cakrement [sacrament] ordained one> returned to J. Lakes that nite

1–5 July 1833 • Monday–Friday

July <the> 1-1833 Brother J.Lakeandhisfamelyandmyselfstartedfortheohio-N.FellersandD.LukesandA.LakeacompenedustoKingstonweethentookthesteamboatgrateBritonandafridiaFridaymorningthe6] <><>[52] wee landed at the head of the Lak[e][53]

6–11 July 1833 • Saturday–Thursday

July <the> 6 1833 wee then took wagons and went to Bufalow[54] and wee had a good and safe Jurney and then wee put the goods and apart of the famely on board of the steam boat and J. Lake and w his whife and the rest of the famely and my self went by land and a thursday [11 July 1833] about 10 oclock wee arived at Curtland [Kirtland] and found the famely and goods safe arived and found all the Brotherin well and in good sperits[55] and found Brother Basley [Edmund Bosley] and Brother A Avrey [Arvin Allen Avery] and Brother Knobles [Joseph Bates Nobles] their—

13 July 1833 • Saturday

a Satday Brother Bosley and I. went to Charadon [Chardon]

14 July 1833 • Sunday

I. Preached in the town of Charadon at 10 A.M to a crouded Congration and the[n] returned to Curtlan

15–18 July 1833 • Monday–Thursday

on Manday 15 - 1833 left Curtlan for mendon Brother Booth [Lorenzo Dow Booth] and Mr Murrey[56] brought, Brother Bosley and B. Knobles, D. and J. Wood and my slef [self] to Fair Port [Fairport, Lake County, Ohio] and Mr Murrey and Brother Booth returned back to Curtlan and wee tarred the next day at 3. P.M. and then took the Steam Boat O Ohio and landed in Bufulow a wensday at 12 oClock and tarred a[t] the stage house till 10 P.M. and then took the Stag[e] for Avan [Avon, NY] and arived at Brother Eber Wilcox a thursday a bout 12 oclock and attended meting at Brother Bosleys and found the Brotherin all well an in good sperits

20 July 1833 • Saturday

a satterday went to Brother Bonds in Mendon and found them all well

21 July 1833 • Sunday

21 Preached at Brother Ira Bonds to a large - congre[g]ation and Baptized one and then returned to Brother H. Kimbel

25 July 1833 • Thursday

thursday 25 Brother H. K and J. Young and my self started for Lyondstown wee arived their safe and found the Brotherin all well and in good sperits

26 July 1833 • Friday

26 wee went to Aurilius [Aurelius, Cayuga County, New York] after my Children and found them and mother Work,^s[57] famely well

27 July 1833 • Saturday

saterday 27 returned to Lyonds

28 July 1833 • Sunday

28 Sunday at 10 A.m.- I. Preached to a large congregation had a good tim[e] and liberty in speaking

9–10 August 1833 • Friday–Saturday

August the 8 9 - Brother H. Kimbel and myself started for Lyonds and arived ther the next morning and found them all well

11–13 August 1833 • Sunday–Tuesday

◊◊ <11> sunday - I. Preached at the Read [Red] [s]Chool house twice and then held a meting at Brother Thomas Colborns[58], monday the 12 p Baptized 4 held meting at nite and next day <13> started for hom

14 August 1833 • Wednesday

the 14 - stopid at Brother H. Kimbal staied at Brother I. Bishops [Isaac Bishop]

15 August 1833 • Thursday

15 went to Aravon [Avon] and Jeneso [Geneseo, Livingston County, New York] found them all well

16 August 1833 • Friday

16 Brother Joseph [Young] and mi self started for Lyonds staed at mendon that night

17 August 1833 • Saturday

17 - went to Lyonds found found them all well

19 August 1833 • Monday

19 Brother Joseph [Young] and my self held 2 meting,^s and the power of God was manafes [manifest]

20 August 1833 • Tuesday

Monday the 20[59] - in the evening held meting at the Jeffers [s]Chool house and had a good time

21 August 1833 • Wednesday

21 started for mendon staed at Brother Morton that knight

23 August 1833 • Friday

23 went to Springwater Valley[60] found Fererymorze [Feramorz Little][61] well and in a good place

24 August 1833 • Saturday

26 [24][62] Commenced the too [two] day meting I priched [preached] at the Brick [s]Choole house in the evening

25 August 1833 • Sunday

25 sunday wee had a precies [precious] time and the Power of god was manafest

26 August 1833 • Monday

28 26 went to mendon took dinner at the spring,^s in Arvan

27 August 1833 • Tuesday

27 Spent the day at mendon

28 August 1833 • Wednesday

28 we[n]t to Canandagua[63] Preached in the [s]chool house in No nine[64] in the evening

29 August 1833 • Thursday

29 went to James Murreys Preached at night

30 August 1833 • Friday

30 returned to Brother Mores Preached in the [s]chool house to a large congregation in eveni[n]g

1 September 1833 • Sunday

Sept <the> 1 1833 Preached in the town of Lyonds at 10 A.M. to a large congr[eg]ation and again at 4 P.M. and the sp presents of the Lord was with us

2 September 1833 • Monday

2 Preached at the Jefferes [s]choolhouse in the evening to a large congration[65] Staed with Brother Drown

3 September 1833 • Tuesday

3 tusday Preached at the Tailor [s]chool house in the evening to a large congration Staed with Brother Dickson on over nite

Undated photo of Joseph Young (brother of Brigham Young), much later in life. Courtesy of Church History Library, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah.

4 September 1833 • Wednesday

Sept 4^th 1833 an Elder of the church of <Christ> - Bee it knone to all persons that I. Brigham Young have Mareid Jonathan Hampton[66] and Julia Foster[67] acording to the lawes of the State of New York[68] in the Presents of Abigal Foster Orson Foster[69] and Trew Glitton - held a meting in the evening[70]

5 September 1833 • Thursday

5 Brorther Joseph Young came to Lyonds which rejoised my hart wee held a meting in the evening at the Stone [s]Choole house[71] and Staed at Brother Van Dikes

6 September 1833 • Friday

6 fredia wee went to Brothers T Powers in Sodas held a meting in the evening

7 September 1833 • Saturday

7 went to Brother Dealin,^s.

8 September 1833 • Sunday

Sept 8^th 1833 Brother Joseph [Young] and I held a meting at the F[i]lkins [s]Choolhouse at and 10 a m and then at 4 P.M– d at the G S. Granger [s]Chool house to [a] large and Attive [attentive] congregatian Staied whith Brother Granger [Oliver Granger][72]

9 September 1833 • Monday

9 Preached at the [s]Choole house in Brant^s Setlemen[t] Staed whith Brant over nite

10 September 1833 • Tuesday

10 held meting at Con- Norton [s]choolhouse[73]

11 September 1833 • Wednesday

11 held meting at Brother [Oliver] Granger [s]chool house

12 September 1833 • Thursday

12 held meting at the New [s]Chool house nere Joh[n]son Black Smith Shop -

13 September 1833 • Friday

13 went to Lyonds found them all well held meting at nite

14 September 1833 • Saturday

14 Satterday went to Butlar[74] found M^r Votes Peaple well wee ware recived as frends by the fameley Brother J. Hampton went with us from Lyonds, wee Pre[a]ched to quite a congration and they ware verry attentive - I beleve that the word took affect

15 September 1833 • Sunday

15 Sunday wee Pre[a]ched at 10 A.M. and then at 5 P.M. and the word of truth sunk in to their harts

16 September 1833 • Monday

16 wee then returned to Lyonds then took the Canal[75] for home[76]

17 September 1833 • Tuesday

17 about 11.[77] o.c. A M Brother Joseph [Young] and I arived at Brother ◊[78] Morton,^s [Julius Moreton] found them all well and my little girls ware well

22 September 1833 • Sunday

s[eptember]. 22 I Baptized Eliza Jane Pharcher in Arvon [Avon, New York][79]

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Editorial Note

Between the 22 September entry in Young’s 1833 missionary diary and the brief notice he penned for 12 November that same year, he sewed into his small diary book two inserts of paper gatherings with journal entries dating from 1835 to 1836.

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12 November 1833 • Wednesday

November 12 - 1833 wensday morning saw a remar remarkable seene the starse falling in evera derecttion by thousands,[80] this morning betwene day and sunrise went to the river and Baptized Brother J. M. Hill [James Hill]

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Editorial Note

After he completed his 1833 missionary travels, Young did not resume his journal until 3 May 1835, more than eighteen months after writing the last entry. He began writing again only when he left home once more to proselytize—and by that time his circumstances were entirely different from those in New York in fall 1833. Young and his family had moved to Kirtland, Ohio, never to live in New York again. The eager acolyte helped to build the kingdom in Kirtland, including putting his carpentry skills to work on the temple then being built in that city. On 18 February 1834 he married Mary Ann Angell and established with her a new family unit. But he soon left his family bound for Missouri with the Camp of Israel, the military expedition later known as Zion’s Camp.

Young returned to Kirtland in August 1834. During the more than three months absent from his daughters and new wife, he and his companions traveled more than sixteen hundred miles on foot. He and some 230 other men, women, and children traveled from Ohio to western Missouri to help church members who had been moved from their lands and property in Jackson County the previous fall. During the arduous march, Young administered to the sick amid the cholera outbreak in the camp. One man to whom he administered was Joseph Bates Noble, who later stated that he experienced “manifestations of the blessings of God” and a miraculous healing from Brigham Young and his brother Joseph.[81] Because Young’s travels in 1834 were with the Camp of Israel, he did not perform his usual summer preaching mission and recorded no journal entries in 1834. Important to him personally, and to his future possibilities, Young spent most of those three months in the company of and observing Joseph Smith, his prophet, leader—and now friend.

It was in part because of his participation in the Camp of Israel that Young’s life would change again that winter. The next several months found him working in Kirtland, helping to build the community and care for his own home and family. Young’s history notes that he spent much time “quarrying rock, working on the Temple and finishing off the printing-office and school-room.”[82] Meanwhile, he took advantage of every opportunity to associate with Joseph. One of those occasions was 8 February 1835, a Sunday, in Joseph Smith’s home, where Brigham and his brother Joseph sang the songs of Zion as they had done while on the Camp of Israel expedition. On this occasion Joseph asked the two camp veterans to gather the camp brethren who lived within a reasonable distance for a meeting the following week, for the Lord had a blessing for them.

When veterans of the Camp of Israel gathered in Kirtland on 14 February 1835, Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball were among those called to the newly formed Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.[83] At that meeting Joseph Smith and others laid their hands on Brigham Young’s head and pronounced a blessing on him. They blessed him with physical and spiritual strength to go “from land to land and from sea to sea” to “gather the Elect preparatory to the great day of the coming of the Lord.”[84] Furthermore, Young and the apostles were instructed, ordained, and charged to fulfill their new responsibilities to be special witnesses of Christ in all the world and to constitute a traveling high council to regulate the affairs of the church outside the stakes of Zion.[85] The Twelve met together on 28 April 1835 for prayer, consultation, and a grand council before the mission they were about to undertake.[86] On Sunday, 3 May, the apostles spoke at a farewell conference, and early the next morning they left on their assigned mission to oversee and regulate the eastern branches of the church.[87] This occasion prompted Brigham Young to resume making entries in his missionary journal.

The mission involved meeting together as a quorum in a series of formally appointed and advertised conferences in many of the church’s branches in New York, New England, and Upper Canada. Most conferences began on Friday with a gathering of members for instruction and church business, followed by public preaching on the weekend and often a final conference with branch members on Monday. Quorum members then split up into companionships and by various routes preached along the way to their next appointment. Brigham Young’s journal records many of his activities during the nearly five months of this quorum mission.

At this point, Brigham Young turned his journal around and began writing entries from the back to the front of the book. Following the 12 November 1833 entry, Young switched to the verso of the journal and began writing his entries, beginning on 3 May 1835, from the back toward the middle, ending with a 3 September 1835 entry. Starting from back of the book, the first leaf is blank; the second contains this inscription on the top two thirds of the page: “Art thou a brother or brethren, I salute you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, in token of the everlasting covenent; in which covenent I receive you to fellowshi<p> in a determination that is fixed, immoveable and unchangeable to be your frind and brother through the grace of God, in the bonds of love, to walk in all the commandment<s> of God blameless, in thanksgiving forever and ever.” This inscription closely resembles a January 1833 revelation.[88] Given its placement in the journal a page before Young’s 3 May 1835 entry that begins his first mission as a member of the Twelve Apostles, it is possible that Young found deep meaning in this passage about fellowship and brotherhood as he set off with his quorum, a new brotherhood that would become “immoveable and unchangeable” in its mission to take the gospel to the world.

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3–6 May 1835 • Sunday–Wednesday

May 3^th - 1835 this day held a meting with my Brotherin the 12 in the evening we met at the house of President s Joseph Smith <Jr> at two oclock in the morning of the 4 wee the 12 started on our mishon to the east acompened by two other Brotheerin, brot on our way to Fair Port, by - El[d]or Rodger Oorton, and W^m Bosley, at 6.o.c;[89] in the morning went <went> abor[d] of the Steam Boat Sandu[s]key Saftley arrived at Duncark harber [Dunkirk Harbor][90] <140 miles from home> at ◊ 4 P.M - whare I found Julious Morton and his famely they ware well, I putoup with him that mi[91] - in the evning of 5 in - P. Pratt and my self Preached in the acadamie to a large and a verry atten<tiv> Congration - in the evening of the 6 we L. Jonson [Lyman Johnson] and my self held a meting in the Villege of Laonia[92]

7 May 1835 • Thursday

7 [at]tended a meting 2 miles west of Laonia - P. Pratt preachd

8–10 May 1835 • Friday–Sunday

8 went to Westfield[93] in companey with P. Pratt and L[yman] Johnson and Brother Fisher whare I found the remainder of my Brotherin the twelve wee held our Confrence on the 9[94] and on the 10 Brothers T Marsh [Thomas B. Marsh][95] and D. Patten [David W. Patten][96] preached to a large Congreation[97]

11 May 1835 • Monday

11 Confrence in the fore noon in at 3 O.C P.M. I Preached[98] - and the next morning took our leve of one another, their ware in the corse of the meting twelve Baptized -

12–14 May 1835 • Tuesday–Thursday

12; reterned to Laonia attended a meting in the evening the next morning started on our Jerney, traveld 10 miles putup with Brother Tinney in Hanover[99] Brother W^m Smith[100] that evening Preach<ed> on the evening of the 14 I Preached in Nashville[101] to an atentive congr[ega]tion

15 May 1835 • Friday

15 Brother W^m Smith and my self viseted Elder Nickerson[102] and som other Brotherin, in the evening I Preached in the Mc Bride choolhouse 197 miles

16 May 1835 • Saturday

16 returnned to Brother, Tinney held a meting in the evening

17–18 May 1835 • Sunday–Monday

17 I pr[e]ached in the chool house 2 miles East of Foriestvill[103] I was folard by Brother - W^m Smith in the after n noon I prachd at 5 P.M. at block chool house - and the next day wee held our a meting with the Brotherin and setled som dificulty in the Church <ordained Wm McBride an elder>[104] in the evning held ◊◊ a meting at Elder Nicker<sons>[105]

19–24 May 1835 • Tuesday–Sunday

19 wee started on our jurney stade with Brother [Vinson] Knight[106] started the nex morning and arived at Doct Cowdrey [Warren A. Cowdery][107] the 21 whare wee found our Brotherin the 12 our confrence convened the 22[108] wee had a good time David [W. Patten] Presied preachin on satterday and sunday their ware 2 Baptized;[109]

25 May 1835 • Monday

25 started with Brother J.P. Greene and A. Orton [Amos R. Orton] for the purpis of visiting the remnen<t> of Joseph[110] and here wee are at Big Valley [in Cattaraugus County] at Lenard tavaren <J P. Greene prached that evening>[111]

27 May 1835 • Wednesday

27 J P. Greene A. Orton and mi self started for the Cold Spring 12 miles down the river wee their saw meney of the seed of Joseph among them ware two Chefts [Chiefs] one a prsbeterin [Presbyterian] the other a Pagon [pagan][112]

28–29 May 1835 • Thursday–Friday

28 wee went and praid with the Prsbterin Cheft I then felt my mind at liberty wee returned to the big Valley [Great Valley, Cattaraugus County, NY] that night 29 wee went to the Little Valley [Cattaraugus County][113] I Preached in a tavern

Entries written by Brigham Young of his preaching to Native peoples on the first quorum mission of the Twelve Apostles in May 1835. Courtesy of the Church History Library, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah.

30 May 1835 • Saturday

30 I then returned to big Valley and Brothers J P. Greene and A Orton went down to the Prispterin [Presbyterian] metin house among the natives on the sabbeth day

31 May 1835 • Sunday

the 31 J P- Greene ◊ preached and gave them the book of Mormon, I preached at the great Valley at Lenyards tavern

1 June 1835 • Monday

monday the first day of June Elder Green and my self started ◊ on our J journey for the east

2 June 1835 • Tuesday

June 2 <th> wee ar now at Brother Eaton [Frazier Eaton][114] in Rushford Brother Greene ◊ will tarrey her[e] I Preached at 5 OClock P.M at the house of M^r – Chapman’s

3 June 1835 • Wednesday

3 <the> Brother Eaton’ son[115] car[ri]ed me to Brother Markes [William Marks] in Portige[116] I Preached in the evening

4 June 1835 • Thursday

4 they Brother Marks’s son then carried me in a one horse waggon to geneseo [Geneseo, Livingston County, New York] I then got a chance to ride to Lymia [Lima, Livingston County, New York] their I found Brother Bishop’ famely they ware well, I stade their that nite.

5–7 June 1835 • Friday–Sunday

5 went to mendon[117] found Brother Morton,^s famely and father Tomlinson’ [James Tomlinson][118] and they ware all well and in good sperits I then went to the canal Cannal that nite and arived at Lyons town the ◊ 6 whare I found som of mi Brotherin and som of them had started for the Confrence in Jefferson County.[119] their I lerned that Brother ◊ O. Hyde and mi self was sent for[120] I their foun[d] Brother Smalley [Cyrus Smalling] and he acompneyed me to Kirtland[121] wee had a meting a satterday Luke Johnson Preached I spoke after him on the 7 o sunday O O. Pratt Preached in fore noon to a large congr[eg]ation folard [followed] in the after part of the day by J. Boington [John Boynton][122] I found the Brotherin all well and in good sperits -

8 June 1835 • Monday

8 day of June monday I left Lyonstown for the Ohio and arived at Kirtland a thursday evening[123]

11 June 1835 • Thursday

<.11> 11 <I> found my famely and frends all well and in good sperits and the Lord was with them I have traveled a bout 8.00 milles sence I left ◊◊ Kirtland and preched about 12 times

24–25 June 1835 • Wednesday–Thursday

I left J. Kirtland wensday the 24 <of June> O. Hyde <W^m Smith> J. [Joseph] and P. [Phineas] Young B. Rigs [Burr Riggs] D. Wood W^m Draper, arived at Fare Port [Fairport] about sunrise wee got a boat qurter Past nine went abord Sundaskey [Sandusky] we arived at Bufalo at 1 one the next marning 25 wee went to Lewiston[124] to gether. their Bretherin J. and P. Young and B. Rigs left ous for Youngs town we went abord the grate Britton about 8 oclock in the evening arived at Oswego the next morning at 10 A.M. - while abord the Sanduskey I had anventasion [an invitation] to Preach I excepted [accepted] O. Hyde and I miself Preached

26–29 June 1835 • Friday–Monday

26 <of June 1835> we ◊ here left the Greate Britton and calculated to have taken the United Stat[e]s for Kingston [Kingston, Ontario, Upper Canada] O. Hyde and myself[125] tuk our voleces [valises] and went to town we stoped to a bordinghouse - O. Hyde went to Bed I w wen to. R. Oliphant [Richard Oliphant] Office and their I found him well. I went and tuck dinner with him I then went to whare O Hyde was and lade down and Slep. and the Boat United States came <in> and went out Before we waked Brother W^m Smith D. Wood and W^m Draper went and left ous. I felt verry bad for a spel but submitited to the Lord and I ◊◊ hope it was for som wise purpis for we found frend Oliphant frendly and willing to here [hear] we tar[ri]ed with him ◊◊ evning and the next day till 5 P.M. we then took the Boat Wm Bight <Avery> for Kingston we had a saft voige and arived at west Loborough [Loughborough, Canada] Sabath the 28 and found the Brother<in> in meting 29 the next day we held our Confrence[126]

30 June 1835 • Tuesday

2 30 I Preached and was follard [followed] by O Hyde I Baptized 3

1 July 1835 • Wednesday

July the 1 the Brotherin thin parted W^m E McLallen and I went to Camdon [Camden, Addington, Ontario, Upper Canada] to W^m Daniels and their Prached

2 July 1835 • Thursday

2 2 then went to Earnist town[127] to W^m Mires[128] -

3–12 July 1835 • Friday–Sunday of the following week

3 we ◊ went to the third g conesion and their tared till the 5 sa first day of the weak <5> then their wee Preac<hed> to an autentive congregation <Simon Snider house> except Daniel Perry made som destirbence and tride to brakeup the meting but was s stoped by the o[w]ner of the house[129] at intermsion we cald upon the ch[a]rity of the people to help ous on our Jurney Jorney old M^r Snider gave a york shillen[130] and a black man gave ten or eleven Cents,[131] when I was apreachin the sperit Came upon me to shake my garments in their prsence and declare myself cl[e]ar from their blood, we then left the naborhood[132] - I have traveled a bout five hundred miles sence I left Kirtland and preached 3 times;- we then went to William Mires and stad that day whic<h> was monday; we then started for Kingtn [Kingston] a tusday morning and found a boat that was a going to prescot [Prescott, Ontario, Canada] and we went a board we went from prsscot to Oddinsburge[133] from their to Potsdam [St. Lawrence County, New York] - & wensday <thursday> morning we went out to Stockhome[134] we found Brother Fuller and the and the Frends ware all wall wensday s we went to Brother Smith and staed all night the next morning Brother [Thomas B.] Marsh came to ous - thursday <fridia> morning Brother A. Fuller braught ous on our Juarney 13 miles, and then we came afoot freda <Satterday> morning we stped to a tavern in Swain by the name of M. Hawley and asked him to give ous brackfast as we ware trvelin Preachers and went without monney but he would not ◊ and sed that he was abondentli able - but sed that we ware impoisturs we l left him and went on our way we washed our feet a in testamon<y> a ganest him[135] we travled till we came to this place which is Po Port Kent[136] and we are now wating for a boat to carey ous a cross the lake

13 July 1835 • Monday

July <the> 13, 1835 took a boat and crosed to Burlington[137]

14 July 1835 • Tuesday

tusday went throw [through] Montpellier Monpillier[138]

15–16 July 1835 • Wednesday–Thursday

wensdy went [to] North Dan Ville[139] found frends and Brothering tared ther thusday held a confre[n]<ce>

17–18 July 1835 • Friday–Saturday

17 fridia went to St. John Bery [St. Johnsbury, Caledonia County, Vermont] we had a good Confrence[140] and a large Congr[eg]ation on Satterday to here preaching

19 July 1835 • Sunday

19 Sunday the barn and yard was crow[d]ed it was thaught their ware betwene 2 2 and 3 thausand People[141] their was 144 cariges that was Counted by the Brotherin - here we found Fathers and Mothers Brothers and sisters[142] here we had our wants admistered to <more> then eney other Church

20–24 July 1835 • Monday–Friday

20 monday I was taken on my Jurney twenty miles by Brother Miles [Daniel Sanborn Miles] - 21 Thursday tusday I came on my Jurney with <elder> haraman [Henry Harriman][143] and Elder O. Hyde we came to the towon of New Bradford 23 and I preached in the place. Elder Haraman Prached at <in the> house of Collia who was an Osgood ite.[144] after he got throw [through] a woman got up and aksed [asked] him and sed that we ware prud decevers and ahaering [a whoring] of after the wiming [women] and monney[145] a n numer of them spoke and after they had got throw [through] I arose and spoke I testifide aganst the spirit they had we then went <to> my apointment which was at 5 P.M and I Prea[c]hed to the congrtion [congregation]- the 24 we then came on our Jurney.

25 July 1835 • Saturday

Saterday the 25 we arived at E. [Eliphalet] Boying[ton’s] the Fa[t]her of Brother J. [John] Boying[ton], here we found Brother Thomas Marsh who came in the Stage <to> Concord [Middlesex County, Massachusetts] and a foot from their

26 July 1835 • Sunday

26 we T. Marsh O. Hy[d]e and my self held metings at Brother Holms[146] T. Marsh O. Hyde Preached at 10 A M. O H. Hyde at 2 P.M. and my self at 5 P.M

27–28 July 1835 • Monday–Tuesday

on monday Elder Marsh and my self was braut on our Jurney by Elder H. Haraman. we arived at Boston about 5 P.M and found Sister Fanney Brewer and hir famely and the Brothers and Sisters well and in tolarable good S[p]erits[147] - I have now travel a bout hight [Eight] hundred and ninty five miles sence I left Kirtland the 24 of June - I now make this reckerd ◊◊ <at> Sister Fanney Brewer in Boston 28 day of July 1835[148]

29 July–1 August 1835 • Wednesday–Saturday

29 wensday Brother [Melvin] Wilber[149] and my self came to Providence [Rhode Island] on the rail rode w we ware two ours and twelve minets coming forty miles, I went that same day and found Valentine young which ware living in North Providence[150] - I found the few Brothers and sisters well[151] and in tolarble good spirits I have held three metings in the place se[n]ce I came here and I have an apointment for this evening and two for to morow

2 August 1835 • Sunday

sabeth day I Preched at Brother Millers a bout 1 mile of out of Providence and Baptized one then went to Pawtucket[152] and and B Preached at 5 P.M.

3 August 1835 • Monday

a monday I spent the time with my frends and convirsed in the evening whith som in the c and found them som beleving

4–6 August 1835 • Tuesday–Thursday

a tusday Brother Egar and my self went to Boston spent the time till thursday Preached once and then went to Bradford[153]

7–12 August 1835 • Friday–Wednesday

August 7- <the> 1835[154]

fridia our confrence was opned Elder W^m Smith prezided whe had a good confrece[155] Preachen Satterday and sunday I Preached once in the place, we found Fathers and mothers sisters and Brothers who opened their houses <to ous> - and adminersted to our releif[156]} ◊ sence the 24 of day of July I have traveled abou[t] 160 miles - making in all about 1055 miles sence I left Kirtland

O. Hyde and myself then left Bradford[157] and went to Lowel[158] and a tusday [11 August] Brother Hyde Preached in the Jefferson Haul and I Preached the next night to a large congration and they ware ware inquirin

14–16 August 1835 • Friday–Sunday

August the 14 1835[159] thursday the next <14> morning we came to Boston and the day we spent the time in Boston till the 16 and Elder,^s Marsh - Pratt and my self Preached in the Julian hall[160]

17–23 August 1835 • Monday–Sunday

monday <the> 17 we started for Saco Confrenc which [was] set [for] the 21 of August we arived at Saco[161] on wensday I Preached thursday evening then I our confrence on fridia Elder Boying<ton> [John F. Boynton] Prezi[d]ed on satterday in the fore noon Elder [Thomas B.] Marsh Preached I Preached in the afternon Elders Kimbel and Hyde Preached in fore noon on the sabath P. Pratt in the after no[o]n[162]

24–31 August 1835 • Monday–Monday

monday the 24 we held a meting with the Brothering and gave them such in structtion as was nessary for them to have on tusday the 25 we started [for] formington[163] we arived in farmington wensday 26 our confrence set on fridia the 28 Elder Lyman Johnson Presied we had a good Confrence on satterday Elder Luke Johnson Preached in the forenoon I Preached in the afternon J. Boyington L[yman] Johnson on the sabath we held our Confrence at M^r Pinkham tavern and our publick metings in the meting house at Farming<ton> Center[164] we then returned to Saco whare the Brothering helpd ous to som monney to get home[165]

2 September 1835 • Wednesday

wensday we returned to dover[166]

3 September 1835 • Thursday

◊ thursday Sept 3 I make this record I have traveled three hundred miles sence last record[167] Sept <the> 3 1835 I have traveled this seson 21.55 from may 4 to this day

―――――――― ◊ ――――――――

Editorial Note

To complete his record of this 1835 mission with his brethren of the newly organized Quorum of the Twelve, Young here sewed into his journal the first of two inserts, an insert that contains entries from 3 September until his return home on 26 September. The continuation of entries is found in the verso of the physical volume. The “other book” he refers to as he begins writing on this insert is the above diary record. These inserts now sit between the final entry of Young’s 1833 missionary diary (17 September) and the brief notice he penned for 12 November 1833. Both the last entry in the physical volume before the insert and the first entry after the insert duplicate dates in the insert. Each entry is a summary of Young’s travels on this mission.

―――――――― ◊ ――――――――

3 September 1835 • Thursday

Sept 3 the 1835 I now continue my reccord from my other book

4–8 September 1835 • Friday–Tuesday

sept 4 Elder Hale broaght ous Elders T. Marsh P. Pratt and my self to Bradford [Massachusetts] whare we found the frends all well Father Boyington was preparing to move to Kirtland we startted from Brother Holms on satterday the 5 a quartter past twelve in the morning <for Boston> we taried in Boston til monday, and I went thento Hopkinton [168] went to Ne<er>miah Howes where I was recived with much rejoiceing I found Granmother alive and comforttible well for heir[169] [her] she exsprest grate joy for the privilege of seeing one of mother[s] children once more I arived their about half past eight in the morning I tar[ri]ed their that day and night the next day I went to unkel Parkers [Jereboam Parker] and found them all well that was alive they had bered [buried] two girls I spent the day, their aunt Patty Mors [Martha “Patty” Howe] came their in the afternoon and staid all night

9–13 September 1835 • Wednesday–Sunday

Wensday the 9 I auntsy[170] Mors and Parker [Ann “Nancy” Parker] went down to see gran mother I went d[o]wn and that night and the next morning I started fore Providence [Rhode Island] on the rail rode called at Boston arived in Providence at 4 P.M and found the Brothering well and in <good> sperits and to my grate Joy I found Brother [John P.] Greene their, this record made this 11 day of sept at Brother [Lewis] Egars Brother greene and my self tared in Providence and a bout their till monday the 14 I Preached at North Providence on saterday the 12 I [stayed] the night before at Brother Egars in the Citty of Providen<ce> here the Brotherin helped me so that I got me an over coat which I neded

14–26 September 1835 • Monday–Saturday of the following week

Sep <the>14 this day B[rother] J P. Greene and my self was agoing to start on the 4 oclock Boat for New York and Brother John Boyington Came to ous here and bore ous [our] compney home, we took the steam Boat for New York and the next morning [15 Sep] about I 9 oclock A.M. we arived their we taried till the next morn for a steam Boat for albony we arived at albony we arived at Albany [New York] about 8 P.M. we thir took supper and went acrost on the rail rode to Schenectady and thire we took a boat for Bululow [Buffalo] we had good lock [luck] and arived and their the 22 [September 1835] in the afternoon about 4 P.M. theire tenn met together[171] and went from there home to gether we started the 24 day of Sep we went as far as dunkirk and going in to the harber the s[t]eam boat United Stats that we was on struck a rock and started the Boat aleeking and we got in to Erie harber [Pennsylvania] and they ran the Boat on to the Sanbar and theire we lay till the next morning [25 September] we had to tarry till evening the steam Boat Gov^r Marcey C Came from Bulfulow and we went aboard, and a Satterday morning [26 September] we arived at Fair Port arived home in the for noon found our fameules well and all the Brothering. I Brother P H Young came to ous in Bufulow Brother,s J P. G [John P. Greene] ◊=[172] P H Y left ous in bufulow for Kirtland

[end of first insert][173]

26 September 1835 • Saturday

K Kirtland Sept the 26 1835 I have traveled sece [since] my last record and now their is to be added 1.1.14 making in all 32.69[174]

Notes

[1] According to Brigham Young’s manuscript history, Young’s party “tarried about one week in Kirtland” and “returned home in October.” However, according to Brigham H. Roberts’s History of the Church, Young’s party met Joseph Smith in Kirtland on 8 November. The addenda to the Manuscript History of the Church states, “About the 8^th of November” Joseph Smith received a visit from Joseph Young, Brigham Young, and Heber C. Kimball. (Watson, Manuscript History of Brigham Young, 5–6; History of the Church, ed. Roberts, 1:295; and Addenda, Note A, 8 November 1832, p. 2, for Joseph Smith, History, 1838–1856, vol. A-1, CHL, available at The Joseph Smith Papers, https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/history-1838-1856-volume-a-1-23-december-1805-30-august-1834/561.)

[2] Later sources provide conflicting dates for Brigham Young’s baptism. Young’s manuscript history, for instance, marks 14 April as the baptism date while a transcription of an 1862 Brigham Young speech indicates that 15 April was the date. Although more than one date has been given for the baptism, this journal entry of 9 April 1832 is the source closest to the event and handwritten by Young. Furthermore, Young was ordained an elder by Eleazar Miller on 9 April 1832, meaning he could not have been baptized later than that date. These two contemporaneous sources confirm that 9 April 1832 is the correct date for Young’s baptism. (Watson, Manuscript History of Brigham Young, 2; Brigham Young, 16 February 1862, in Journal of Discourses, 9:219; Brigham Young, Elder’s License, box 170, folder 22, Brigham Young Office Files, CHL. For more analysis on the dating of Young’s baptism, see H. Michael Marquardt, “Setting the Record Straight: Brigham Young’s Baptism Date,” Journal of Mormon History 38, no. 4 (Fall 2012): 195–99.)

[3] Brigham Young wrote this entry without a year on the second page of his first personal journal. It was written after an entry for 2 January–1 March 1833, leading most to believe this to be referencing an event that occurred on 6 May 1833. That is a reasonable supposition. However, Young’s 1833 journal entries that appear in chronological order beginning on the next page in the journal place him in Lyons, New York, some thirty-five miles east from Mendon. On the sixth through the seventh of May 1833, Young’s journal states that he traveled farther east, slightly southeast, to Aurelius, New York, on those days. Given modes of travel and the time it took to move from town to town in the early 1830s, it appears nearly impossible for Young to have traveled from Lyons (where he was on 5 May 1833) westward thirty-five miles to Mendon, New York, to baptize Charlotte Bond and then return to Lyons the same day before departing to and arriving at Aurelius the next day (7 May 1833). Because of the trajectory of Young’s travels (heading in a generally eastward direction) and no mention of Bond’s baptism in the chronological flow of the dated 1833 entries, combined with the lack of a year for the baptism, it has been supposed that Young wrote of this baptism as a retrospective account on page 2 attached to some of his other early missionary successes following his baptism in 1832.

[4] Mendon, Monroe County, New York, located south of Rochester, had a population around 3,000 in 1830. (Darby and Dwight, New Gazetteer, 296.)

[5] Hector, Tompkins County, New York, located 15 miles west of Ithaca near Seneca Lake, had a population of approximately 5,200 in 1830. (Darby and Dwight, New Gazetteer, 207.) According to Brigham Young’s manuscript history, his younger brother Lorenzo Dow Young “raised up and organized a branch” of the church in Hector in 1836. (Watson, Manuscript History of Brigham Young, xxxiii).

[6] Henrietta, Monroe County, New York, had a population larger than 2,300 in 1830. (Darby and Dwight, New Gazetteer, 208.)

[7] Reading, Steuben County, New York, had a population of approximately 1,500 in 1830. (Darby and Dwight, New Gazetteer, 466.)

[8] Hornby, Steuben County, New York, had a population of approximately 1,000 in 1840. (Haskel and Smith, Statistical Gazetteer, 284.)

[9] Avon, Livingston County, New York, located a half-mile east of the Genesee River, had a total population of approximately 2,300. The township had Episcopal, Baptist, and Methodist churches. (Darby and Dwight, New Gazetteer, 38.)

[10] Heber C. Kimball was Brigham Young’s close friend and had lived in Mendon, New York, since at least the fall of 1822 with his wife Vilate Murray Kimball. By 1832 the Kimballs had two living children: William Henry, born 10 April 1825, and Helen Mar, born 20 August 1828. Kimball adhered to the Baptist religion before he joined the Church of Christ in April 1832. That same year Joseph Young ordained Kimball an elder in the young church. Kimball and Young remained dear friends, serving many proselytizing missions together; Kimball eventually became the first counselor in Brigham Young’s First Presidency on 27 December 1847. (Kimball, “History,” CHL.)

[11] Joseph Young was Brigham Young’s older brother by nearly four years. Like his brother, he had joined a Methodist church before his baptism into the Church of Christ on 6 April 1832. Joseph Young was ordained an elder that same month and served many missions for his newfound faith. He was appointed a president of the First Quorum of the Seventy around the same time that his younger brother became a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. (Jenson, Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia, 1:187.)

[12] Brigham Young “baptized one man while in Kirtland, by the name of Gibson Smith,” who was the father of Elizabeth Ann Smith Whitney. Elizabeth was married to Newel K. Whitney, a storeowner, friend of Joseph Smith, and bishop in the Church of Christ in Kirtland. (Watson, Manuscript History of Brigham Young, 5.)

[13] Warsaw, Genesee County, New York, a township with four churches, stores, mills, and factories, had a population of approximately 2,500 in 1830. (Darby and Dwight, New Gazetteer, 584.)

[14] According to Brigham Young’s manuscript history, he departed New York in September and stayed in Kirtland one week holding meetings “nearly every night.” (Watson, Manuscript History of Brigham Young, 5.)

[15] This brief summary differs from Young’s published history in both the date of departure (December in the history) and the number of baptisms (“about 45 souls”). Young’s history states that he, his brother Joseph, and Heber C. Kimball organized branches in West Loughborough and other communities in the vicinity before leaving Upper Canada in February 1833 to return home. (Watson, Manuscript History of Brigham Young, 3–5.)

[16] Revelation, 2 January 1831 [D&C 38:31–33], in JSP, D1:229–33.

[17] Brigham Young, Journal, 8 May 1833, p. XXX herein; Watson, Manuscript History of Brigham Young, 6–7; Esplin, Emergence of Brigham Young and the Twelve to Mormon Leadership, 38; Brigham Young, 3 February 1867, in Journal of Discourses, 11:294–95; and Brigham Young, 16 June 1867, in Journal of Discourses, 12:59.

[18] Watson, Manuscript History of Brigham Young, 7.

[19] TEXT: This date is centered at the top of the page.

[20] Young’s manuscript history reports 1 April as the departure date. (Watson, Manuscript History of Brigham Young, 6.)

[21] Palmyra, Wayne County, New York, township had a population of 3,400 in 1830. The first edition of the Book of Mormon was printed at E. B. Grandin’s printing office in the village of Palmyra in 1830. (Darby and Dwight, New Gazetteer, 392.)

[22] Lyons, Wayne County, New York, a township with five churches, twenty stores, mills, tanneries, and factories, had a population of 3,600 in 1830. (Darby and Dwight, New Gazetteer, 271–72.) Brigham Young was in company with his brother Joseph and “baptized thirteen and organized a Branch of the Church” while in Lyons. (Watson, Manuscript History of Brigham Young, 6.)

[23] This 30 April 1833 accounting notation jotted in the back of Young’s first holograph journal appears to preserve a record of funds donated to Brigham Young on the day of his departure. He likely wrote this in the back of the journal on the same day he penned the entry of his departure in the front of the journal.

[24] TEXT: “thir” is written over three letters, likely “tue,” indicating Brigham Young began to write the word “Tuesday.”

[25] TEXT: There is an illegible character that Young wrote and wipe-erased here.

[26] Sodus, Wayne County, New York, is situated on Sodus Bay, a point of land projecting into Lake Ontario. In 1830 the village had three churches, six stores, and a population of about 3,500. (Darby and Dwight, New Gazetteer, 516.)

[27] Aurelius, Cayuga County, New York, was a township located between Cayuga and Owasco Lakes. In 1830 Aurelius had a population of approximately 2,760 and several mills, factories, and schools. (Darby and Dwight, New Gazetteer, 37.)

[28] This likely refers to Brigham Young’s stepmother, Hannah Dennis Brown Young, whom his father, John Young, had married in 1817. Young’s birth mother, Abigail Howe Young, had died in 1815 at fifty years old.

[29] Throopsville, Cayuga County, New York.

[30] A notebook for sermons that Brigham Young later used while in England also referenced Isaiah 11, specifically verse 14: “But they shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines toward the west; they shall spoil them of the east together: they shall lay their hand upon Edom and Moab; and the children of Ammon shall obey them.” (Mission to England, Notebook 1840, Brigham Young Office Files, box 170, folder 19, CHL; and Isaiah 11:14.)

[31] These biblical chapters offer insights on the gathering of Israel and the blessings promised to the children of Israel in the last days. Young may have been using these chapters as scriptural examples to teach New Yorkers of the importance of gathering with the church in the western locales of Kirtland, Ohio, and Jackson County, Missouri. Joseph Smith revelations had directed church members to gather to form a Zion community. (For Smith’s revelations, see Revelation, September 1830–A [D&C 29:8], in JSP, D1:177–82; Revelation, 30 December 1830 [D&C 37:3], in JSP, D1:226; Revelation, 2 January 1831 [D&C 38:31–33], in JSP, D1:229–33; Revelation, 6 June 1831 [D&C 52:2–3, 42], in JSP, D1:327–32; Revelation, 20 July 1831 [D&C 57:1–2], in JSP, D2:5–12; Revelation, 22–23 September 1832 [D&C 84:2–4], in JSP, D2:289–303.)

[32] Clarkesville was a village with approximately 50 dwellings located in Aurelius township, Cayuga County, New York. (Disturnell, Gazetteer of the State of New-York.)

[33] Granby, Oswego County, New York, had a population of approximately 1,400 in 1830. (Darby and Dwight, New Gazetteer, 187.)

[34] There is an insertion here, added later, in graphite that says “James.” James Lake lived in Ernestown, Upper Canada, at this time, so the reference here is likely to a different but unidentified “Brother Lakes.” The graphite is written in a different hand from Young’s; the scribe is not known. (See Brigham Young, Journal, 22 May and 7 June 1833, pp. XXX and XXXnXX herein; Jeffery, History of the James Lake, Jr. Family, 21; and “Died,” Deseret Evening News, 27 October 1874, [2].)

[35] Mexico, Oswego County, New York, had a population near 2,700 in 1830. (Darby and Dwight, New Gazetteer, 298.)

[36] Watterton, Jefferson County, New York, had many factories, mills, and shops for its population of approximately 4,760 in 1830. (Darby and Dwight, New Gazetteer, 591–92.)

[37] According to Young’s manuscript history, his cousin Julius did not belong to an organized religion. Nevertheless, Julius allowed Brigham to preach in and have a meal at his home. (Watson, Manuscript History of Brigham Young, 11–12.)

[38] TEXT: Possibly “Doct,” short for “Doctor,” or possibly “Davd,” as in “David.”

[39] Indian River Falls is located near Theresa, Jefferson County, New York.

[40] TEXT: This insertion was made at a later time in graphite by an unknown writer.

[41] Joseph Tuncliff Works was the older brother of Miriam Works Young, the first wife of Brigham Young.

[42] Ogdensburg, St. Lawrence County, New York, an incorporated village situated on the St. Lawrence River, had a population of about 2,500 in 1840. (Haskel and Smith, Statistical Gazetteer, 489.)

[43] TEXT: This insertion was made at a later time in graphite by an unknown writer.

[44] Prescott, Ontario, Canada, was a port of entry situated on the St. Lawrence River. (Crossby, Lovell’s Gazetteer of British North America, 259.)

[45] Kingston, Ontario, Canada, was a large and populous town and once served as the capital of Upper Canada. (Crossby, Lovell’s Gazetteer of British North America, 158–59.)

[46] Loughborough, Addington County, Ontario, Canada.

[47] This refers to activity in Canada since Joseph and Brigham Young had last been there; they had gone on a trip to Canada, leaving their homes in New York on 2 January 1833 and returning home on 1 March 1833. See Brigham Young, Journal, 2 January–1 March 1833, p. XXX herein.

[48] TEXT: This date is set off and centered at the top of the page in the physical journal. It is possible that Brigham Young chose to highlight this day because of its significance to him. He turned thirty-two years old on this date.

[49] Many members of Brigham Young’s family adhered to Reformed Methodism for a time while living in western New York in the 1820s. Reformed Methodism emerged in the mid-1810s during the Second Great Awakening when dissenters from the Methodist Episcopal Church rejected the growing stratification of rank and power among the polity because they believed it moved the religion too far away from its primitive state and principles of humility. According to Brigham Young’s manuscript history, in April 1823 Young gave his “name to the Methodist Reformed Church, and thus was numbered with that body.” (Watson, Manuscript History of Brigham Young, xiv, 1–6; and Porter, “Brigham Young Family: Transition between Reformed Methodism and Mormonism,” 249–65.)

[50] In 1832 Brigham Young, his brothers Joseph and Phineas, and Eleazar Miller taught the restored gospel of Jesus Christ to James Lake, his wife Philomelia Smith Lake, and his son Dennis and baptized them into the Church of Christ. As evidenced by this journal entry, Lake remained in Canada after his conversion and hosted Brigham Young on this mission. Approximately one month later, Young accompanied the Lakes and “some 20 or 30 others” to Kirtland in summer 1833. (Lake, Autobiography, 2, CHL; and George A. Smith, Autobiography, ca. 1860–1882, 10–11, George A. Smith, Papers, CHL.)

[51] Built in 1824 by the Reverend John Ryerson, Switzer’s Chapel served the Methodist Episcopal Church in Ernestown, Upper Canada. Ryerson built the chapel on Christopher Switzer’s farm. Christopher was one of Peter Switzer and Anna Maria Guier’s ten children. (Withrow, Methodist Magazine and Review 55:301.)

[52] TEXT: This insertion of the sixth is in error; Friday was 5 July 1833.

[53] The landing spot on Lake Ontario referred to here was likely north of present-day Niagara Falls and Buffalo, New York.

[54] Buffalo, Erie County, New York, was the port of entry off Lake Erie and situated at the head of the Niagara River. It was a terminus of the Erie Canal. This burgeoning city had a population greater than 8,600 in 1830 and approximately 18,200 by 1840. (Darby and Dwight, New Gazetteer, 76; and Haskel and Smith, Statistical Gazetteer, 88–89.)

[55] Young had visited Kirtland, Ohio, once before this, in the fall of 1832, but a great deal had transpired in Kirtland since that time. Perhaps most significantly were Joseph Smith’s revelations commanding the construction of the Kirtland Temple and the early efforts of church members to construct that edifice. While Young was in Kirtland, he participated in a council of elders, held on 13 July 1833, to determine whether James Lake should continue to move west or remain in Kirtland. It was during this visit to Kirtland that Young heard Joseph Smith’s instruction and understood the importance of gathering with church members there. Out of concern for Lake and the difficulties with which he moved (he had lost part of his left leg in an accident), Young aided Lake and his family in settling in Kirtland. Later in the year, Young too moved to Kirtland; he and James Lake helped in the construction of the Kirtland Temple. (Revelation, 1 June 1833, in JSP, D3:104–8 [D&C 95]; Historian’s Office, Brigham Young History Drafts, 6, CHL; Lake, Autobiography, 1, CHL; and Minutes, 13 July 1833, in JSP, D3:175.)

[56] Likely Roswell Murray, who married Brigham Young’s older sister Fanny in 1832. The Murrays moved to Kirtland in 1833 just before Brigham Young’s summer visit. From a previous marriage, Roswell Murray was also the father of Vilate Murray Kimball, making him Heber C. Kimball’s father-in-law. (Watson, Manuscript History of Brigham Young, viii.)

[57] Abigail Marks Works, mother of Brigham Young’s first wife, Miriam Works Young.

[58] Thomas Colborn, born in 1801 in Genoa, Cayuga County, New York, married Sarah Brower in 1825. Colborn later served in the Camp of Israel expedition. (Backman Jr., Profile of Latter-day Saints of Kirtland, 17.)

[59] TEXT: It appears that Young inadvertently wrote the day of the week incorrectly here. The twentieth was a Tuesday.

[60] Springwater, Livingston County, New York, is located southeast of Geneseo near the county boundaries of Ontario and Steuben. The population of Springwater was approximately 2,250 in 1830. (Darby and Dwight, New Gazetteer, 525.)

[61] Feramorz Little was born on 14 June 1820 in Aurelius, New York. He was a cousin of Brigham Young’s by Brigham’s sister Susan. (Jenson, Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia, 2:485–87.)

[62] TEXT: It appears that Brigham Young mistakenly wrote “26” here when the date was 24 August 1833, perhaps indicating that he was writing on 26 August or later and penning entries for the earlier dates of 24 and 25 August.

[63] Canandaigua, Ontario County, New York, had a population that grew from 1,830 in the year 1830 to approximately 2,300 in 1840. (Darby and Dwight, New Gazetteer, 84; and Haskel and Smith, Statistical Gazetteer, 101.)

[64] Brigham Young worked for wages on farms in “Number Nine,” a pastoral district located a few miles west of Canandaigua, in 1830 and 1831. The designation “Number Nine” for the community apparently referred to the ninth township in the Phelps and Gorham Purchase in Ontario County. (Palmer and Butler, Brigham Young, 26, 96n44.)

[65] Robert Jeffers gave land for the building of a schoolhouse in the Rose neighborhood near Lyons, Wayne County, New York. A religious group known as the Neversweats met in the Jeffers schoolhouse. The Neversweats apparently did not like the forms and ceremonies of other churches and decided to withdraw from organized religion and form their own society during the 1820s when religious fervor overtook the area that became known as the burned-over district. (Roe, Rose Neighborhood Sketches, 180.)

[66] Jonathan Hampton was born on 10 April 1811 in East Gwillimbury, Ontario, Canada. He was baptized by Brigham Young in April 1833 along with thirteen others in Lyonstown, New York. (Watson, Manuscript History of Brigham Young, 6; and Black, Membership of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 20:402–3.)

[67] Julia Foster was born on 18 November 1811 in Vienna, Kennebec County, Maine, and was baptized on 15 April 1833 in New York. (Black, Membership of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 16:901–2; and Nauvoo Temple Endowment Register, 259.)

[68] Marriage law in the state of New York derived from the common law of England and previously accepted colonial laws. The colonial laws of New York stated, “No Marriage is Lawfully Consummated without a Minister whose office it is to join the parties in Matrimony,” and after sufficient public notice was made of a couple’s intent to marry, the law allowed that “it shall be Lawfull for any Minister or for any Justice of Peace to joyne the Parties in Marriage.” In the revised statutes of 1829, New York law stated that marriages could be solemnized only by “ministers of the gospel and priests of every denomination” as well as by mayors, recorders, aldermen, and judges in the presence of at least two witnesses. As a minister of the gospel, Young legally joined Jonathan Hampton and Julia Foster in the bonds of marriage. (Zebina, Colonial Laws of New York from the Year 1664 to the Revolution, 1:45–46; and Revised Statutes of the State of New York, 2:139–40.)

[69] Abigail Foster was Julia Foster’s mother, and Orson Foster was Julia’s brother.

[70] TEXT: On a loose slip of paper inserted into the journal here is this note: “Jonathan Hampton Aged 22 years Julia Foster Aged 21 years.” There is no further information or explanation with the note, but it appears connected with the marriage Brigham Young performed on 4 September 1833.

[71] According to an 1895 history of Lyons, New York, there were several schoolhouses in the town, but the history does not mention whether any were made of stone. Two of the town’s schoolhouses were located on religious properties: “Another school house was built of logs on the northeast corner of the Presbyterian church lot, and a third school was kept in the old Glover house in 1808–9. . . . Still another was situated on Church street, and was purchased by the Catholics for a house of worship.” (Cowles, History of the Town and Village of Lyons, Wayne County, New York.)

[72] Before this date, but at an unknown time, Oliver Granger had been baptized into the church and ordained an elder by Brigham and Joseph Young. According to the manuscript history of Joseph Smith, Granger “received the Gospel on reading the Book of Mormon, which he providentially obtained, and was baptized at Sodus, Wayne Co:, and ordained an Elder by Brigham & Joseph Young, they being the first Elders he saw, and immediately devoted his time to preaching and warning the people.” (Joseph Smith, History, 1838–1856, vol. C-1, Addenda, 25 August 1841, p. 11, CHL.)

[73] Seba Norton, a minister and elder in the Baptist faith, “built a school house near his dwelling” in Sodus. (Cowles, Landmarks of Wayne County, New York, 204, 209, 216, 392.)

[74] Butler, Wayne County, New York, had a population of approximately 1,700 in 1830. (Darby and Dwight, New Gazetteer, 145.)

[75] The Erie Canal. For more on the history and significance of the Erie Canal, see Bernstein, Erie Canal and the Making of a Great Nation.

[76] Mendon, New York.

[77] TEXT: there is an “=” over the period here.

[78] TEXT: Possibly a “J” that had been wipe-erased.

[79] Brigham Young wrote this entry on the second page of his first personal journal. It was written after an entry for 2 January–1 March 1833 and the reference to the baptism of Charlotte Bond (which has a questionable date). The month and year for this baptismal event are not given. The only indicator of a month is a lowercase “s” ahead of the number “22.” It is also possible that the last name is misspelled since no evidence of an Eliza Jane Pharcher has been located.

[80] This remarkable scene coincided with the Leonid meteor shower, which occurs annually but with a greater intensity every thirty-third year. It was likely that the November 1833 Leonid shower was one of the more intense meteor showers. Edward Partridge viewed the same event in Clay County, Missouri, and wrote in a letter to Joseph Smith that “the heavens were literally filled with meteors or shooting stars. . . . I viewed them for more than an hour before daylight and probably saw thousands.” Joseph Smith commented at length on the meteor shower. He wrote, “the morning at 4 O^h clock I was awoke by Brother Davis knocking at <my> door saying Brother Joseph come git <up> and see the signs in the heavens and I arrose and beheld to my great Joy the stars fall from heaven yea they fell like hail stones a litteral fullfillment of the word of God as recorded in the holy scriptures and a sure sign that the coming of Christ is clost at hand.” Though Brigham Young’s journal dates this event to 12 November, the Leonid shower took place on the morning of 13 November. Newspapers across the United States reported the event, with one describing it as a “remarkable exhibition of Fire Balls.” (Letter from Edward Partridge, between 14 and 19 November 1833, in JSP, D3:347; Joseph Smith, Journal, 13 November 1833, in JSP, J1:16–18; and Denison Olmstead, “The Meteors,” Maryland Gazette, 21 November 1833.)

[81] Noble, Reminiscences, CHL, 8–9.

[82] Watson, Manuscript History of Brigham Young, 10.

[83] Minutes, Discourse, and Blessings, 14–15 February 1835, in JSP, D4:219–29; and Joseph Young, History of the Organization of the Seventies, 1–2.

[84] Minutes, Discourse, and Blessings, 14–15 February 1835, in JSP, D4:229.

[85] For an account of their call, ordination, charge, and instruction, see Esplin and Nielsen, “Record of the Twelve, 1835.” For the original record book, see Record of the Twelve, The Joseph Smith Papers, https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/record-of-the-twelve-14-february-28-august-1835/7.

[86] Esplin and Nielsen, “Record of the Twelve, 1835,” 26–28.

[87] Orson Pratt’s journal records the details of the 3 May meeting: “In the forenoon attended the meeting in the stone meetinghouse. Six of the Twelve Apostles spoke to the congregation and then dismissed them for one hour.” In the afternoon the apostles came together again and “partook of the sacrament, in remembrance of the Lord Jesus.” Pratt and the other apostles confirmed a few members, after which the remainder of the Twelve spoke to the congregation. Elder Sidney Rigdon then made a “few observations and then called upon those of the congregation who were satisfied with the choice which the Lord had made of the Twelve to manifest it by rising from their seats, which the congregation universally did.” (Watson, Orson Pratt Journals, 60.)

[88] A revelation given through Joseph Smith on 3 January 1833 provided “instructions how to regulate the Elders school,” including how members of the School of the Prophets were to act and be saluted. The writing by Brigham Young here mirrors a portion of Smith’s 3 January 1833 revelation. See Revelation, 3 January 1833, in JSP, D2:347–48 [D&C 88:133].

[89] According to William McLellin, “Elders R. Orton & W. Bosley brought us on a couple of wagons twelve miles to Fair Port. The steamboat Sandusky was in port bound east – And we obtained a passage and immediately set sail at 6 oclock in the morn.” Roger Orton had been baptized into the Latter-day Saint faith and was ordained an elder in 1834. He had participated with Brigham Young in the Camp of Israel expedition to Missouri that year. After the expedition he moved to Kirtland, where he served on the high council and in the First Quorum of Seventy. William Bosley, son of Edmund Bosley, had been blessed for his labor on the House of the Lord and ordained an elder in Kirtland in March 1835. (McLellin, Journal, 4 May 1835, 171, 422; “Orton, Roger,” Biography, The Joseph Smith Papers, https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/person/roger-orton; and Joseph Smith, History, 1838–1856, vol. B-1, 579–80, CHL.)

[90] Dunkirk, Chautauque (now Chautauqua) County, New York, located in the western part of the state between Buffalo and Erie on the southeastern shore of Lake Erie. (Darby and Dwight, New Gazetteer, 145.)

[91] TEXT: Possibly an unformed attempt to write “nite.”

[92] Laonia, Chautauque County, New York, a village of Pomfret township with mills, taverns, a woolen factory, and some forty dwellings. (Gordon, Gazetteer of the State of New York.)

[93] Westfield, Chautauque County, New York, had Presbyterian, Episcopal, and Methodist churches and a population near 2,500 in 1830. (Darby and Dwight, New Gazetteer, 596.)

[94] According to William McLellin’s journal, the conference was held at “bro. Job Lewis – All the twelve being present we proceded to business.” At this Westfield conference, the Twelve inquired into “the standing of all the Elders withing the bounds” of the conference and investigated “the manner of their teaching, diligence and faithfulness”; all were found to be in good standing. (McLellin, Journal, 9 May 1835, 175; and Esplin and Nielsen, “Record of the Twelve, 1835,” 30.)

[95] Marsh was sustained as the president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on 2 May 1835. Before then he served on the high council in Clay County, Missouri. (Cook, “Thomas B. Marsh Returns to the Church”; see Thomas Baldwin Marsh, Biography, The Joseph Smith Papers, https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/person/thomas-baldwin-marsh.)

[96] Patten was baptized on 15 June 1832 in Fairplay, Indiana. He served several proselytizing missions from 1832 through 1835 before he was ordained as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on 15 February 1835. On this occasion Patten spoke for “about one hour after reading the 11th Ch. Of the Hebrews.” (Minutes, Discourse, and Blessings, 14–15 February 1835, in JSP, D4:230–31; and McLellin, Journal, 10 May 1835, 175.)

[97] The minutes of the conference state “about Five Hundred people attended preaching[.]” (Esplin and Nielsen, “Record of the Twelve, 1835,” 31.)

[98] According to William McLellin, “Elder B. Young after reading a portion of the Saviour’s teaching in the book of Mormon he spoke about 1½ hours contrasting the religions of the day with the truth.” (McLellin, Journal, 11 May 1835, 176, emphasis in original.)

[99] Hanover, Chautauque County, New York, in the western part of the state and on the southeastern shore of Lake Erie, had a population of approximately 2,600 in 1830, which grew to nearly 4,000 in 1840. (Darby and Dwight, New Gazetteer, 199–200; and Haskel and Smith, Statistical Gazetteer, 262.)

[100] William Smith, brother of Joseph Smith, was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. (See Historical Introduction, Minutes, Discourse, and Blessings, 14–15 February 1835, in JSP, D4:220–21.)

[101] Nashville, Chautauque County, New York.

[102] Most likely Freeman Nickerson, who lived with his wife Huldah Nickerson in Perrysburg, Cattaraugus County, New York. The Nickersons joined the Latter-day Saint faith in the spring of 1833. Joseph Smith visited the Nickersons in their home in the fall of 1833, where he dictated a revelation on 12 October 1833. (See Historical Introduction, Revelation, 12 October 1833, in JSP, D3:320–24.)

[103] Forrestville, Chautauque County, New York.

[104] William McBride was born on 22 March 1807 at Sugar Creek, Green County, Ohio, and had been baptized into the church on 28 October 1834, just about six months before he was ordained an elder by Brigham Young. (Black, Membership of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 29:952–55.)

[105] William McLellin and Orson Hyde traveled to the Nickerson home and “found Elders B. Young W. Smith who had been laboring in this church and region round about - They had a meeting this evening and Elder Young preached about an hour to them on the principles of our faith.”(McLellin,Journal,18May1835,178.)

[106] Vinson Knight had lived in Perrysburg, Cattaraugus County, New York, since at least 1830. Knight owned a farm there where he was baptized into the church in spring 1834. Knight moved to Kirtland at least by the end of 1835. (Joseph Smith, Journal, 4 December 1835, in JSP, J1:115.)

[107] Warren Cowdery, Oliver Cowdery’s brother, lived in Freedom, Cattaraugus County, New York. He had been appointed the presiding elder of the church in Freedom six months earlier. (Revelation, 25 November 1834, in JSP, D4:180–82.) According to William McLellin, “We passed on to Elder Cowdery’s and there we met with our brethren the twelve and found them all well and proceeded to business and opened our Conference.” (McLellin, Journal, 22 May 1835, 178, emphasis in original.)

[108] The dates and places for conferences were part of the plan Joseph Smith proposed to the Quorum of the Twelve on 12 March 1835. They were to hold conferences “in the visicinty of the several branches of the church for the purpose of regulateing all things necessary for their welfare.” Among the branches represented at the Freedom conference were Freedom, Portage, Grove, Burns, Holland, and Niagara. (Esplin and Nielsen, “Record of the Twelve, 1835,” 12 March and 22 May 1835, 24, 33.)

[109] The conference lasted two days. On Friday, 22 May, the Twelve gave “some general and particular instructions relative to the ‘Word of Wisdom’, the gift of tongues and interpretation, prophecyings, and of a propper use of all the spiritual gifts &c.” On Saturday the conference took under consideration the “meanes necessary for the redemption of Zion.” The minutes of the conference cease following these two days, but members of the Twelve preached to a large congregation on Sunday, 24 May. Orson Hyde gave a discourse on the evidence of the Book of Mormon, while Parley P. Pratt preached about immortality. The sacrament was administered, and a public collection was taken up for the benefit of the Twelve. Two women were baptized into the church by Orson Hyde that Sunday. (Esplin and Nielsen, “Record of the Twelve, 1835,” 22–23 May 1835, 34; and McLellin, Journal, 24 May 1835, 179.)

[110] The Twelve met in council on the morning of Monday, 25 May, and resolved to send Brigham Young, John P. Greene, and Amos R. Orton on a mission to preach to New York Native Americans, as the apostles had planned before their departure from Kirtland. According to William McLellin, the council “laid hands on and set apart” these men to “go to and introduce the Gospel” specifically to the Seneca nation. Early Latter-day Saints referred to American Indigenous peoples as the remnant of the seed of Joseph. Scripture passages, both in the Bible and Book of Mormon, use variations of the phrase “remnant of Joseph” or “the seed of Joseph,” whom early Mormons associated with Native peoples. This identification dated back to the first preaching mission of the church, in which several men traveled to the western boundary of the United States to preach to American Indians in 1830–1831. (Minutes, 12 March 1835, in JSP, D4:287; Minutes and Discourse, 2 May 1835, in JSP, D4:305; Esplin and Nielsen, “Record of the Twelve, 1835,” 25 May 1835, 35; and McLellin, Journal, 25 May 1835, 179. See Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 352, 464, 475, 566–567 [Alma 46:23–27; 3 Nephi 5:21–23; Ether 13:6–10; Alma 46:23; 3 Nephi 20:16–28]; Ezekiel 37:16–19; and Covenant of Oliver Cowdery and Others, 17 October 1830, in JSP, D1:203.)

[111] John P. Greene penned a letter to his wife, Rhoda Greene, with a sketch of his travels and his sense of the mission to the Senecas. He wrote, “We are to leave for to pay oure red breatheren a visit & to make known unto them the things that make for there piece [peace] oe Lord prepare us & them for the greater work . . . [and] to carey the message of life & immortality to the strangers of the house of Joseph.” (John P. Greene to Rhoda Greene, 24 May 1835, CHL.)

[112] The Presbyterians had long proselytized to and sought to convert American Indian peoples in New York and New England. For example, as early as 1801, Reverend Caleb Alexander had visited Native Americans in western New York. From that time on, at least seven Presbyterian churches in the New York Synod ministered to Iroquois, Senecas, and others on the Alleghany, Tonawanda, and Cattaraugus reservations. (Doyle, Presbyterian Home Missions, 68, 70–71; and Presbyterian Heritage Center, Biographical Index of Missionaries; see also Englund-Krieger, Presbyterian Mission Enterprise, 22–25.)

[113] This is Little Valley on the Alleghany River, which had a population of 336 in 1830. Little Valley is differentiated from the neighboring town of Great Valley just to the east by the comparative geographic dimensions of the two towns, through both of which flow tributaries of the Alleghany River. (Darby and Dwight, New Gazetteer, 483; and Ellis, History of Cattaraugus County, 461–68.)

[114] Frazier Eaton had lived in Rushford, Alleghany County, New York, by November 1833 and had been baptized into the church by May 1835. (Eaton, Allegany County (New York), Deed Records, 1:38–39, 8 November 1833, microfilm 483178, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL; Esplin and Nielsen, “Record of the Twelve, 1835,” 22 May 1835; and George A. Smith, in Journal of Discourses, 15 November 1864, 11:9.)

[115] TEXT: “son” is written over two or three illegible characters.

[116] Portage, Alleghany County, New York, near the southern border of Livingston County, had a population of approximately 1,800 in 1830 and grew to about 4,700 in 1840. (Darby and Dwight, New Gazetteer, 426; and Haskel and Smith, Statistical Gazetteer, 543.)

[117] With his arrival in Mendon, New York, Brigham Young returned to his former hometown and the surrounding area for the first time since he moved to Kirtland, Ohio, in 1833.

[118] Watson, Manuscript History of Brigham Young, 24–25; and Black, Membership of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 43:733–35.

[119] Brigham Young had missed the beginning of the 5 June 1835 conference held in Lyonstown. The Lyonstown conference conducted “no business of importance . . . there being but few disciples in these regions.” Young notes here that some of the Twelve had headed northeast toward Pillar Point, Jefferson County, New York, where the next conference would be held on 19 June. (Esplin and Nielsen, “Record of the Twelve, 1835,” 5 and 19 June 1835, 36 38; and McLellin, Journal, 5 June 1835, 182.)

[120] Brigham Young and Orson Hyde arrived “just in time” to be instructed to return to Kirtland to give testimony at a trial wherein Joseph Smith had been charged with assault and battery upon his brother-in-law Calvin Stoddard. (For more on this charge and trial, see Letter to the Editor, 22 June 1835, in JSP, D4:349, and p. XXXnxx herein.)

[121] Cyrus Smalling had participated in the church’s Camp of Israel expedition to western Missouri in 1834. After traveling to Kirtland, he was ordained a member of the Seventy and given a blessing by Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, and Sidney Rigdon on 30 June 1835. (Account with the Church of Christ, Kirtland Oh, ca. 11–29 August 1834, Joseph Smith Collection, CHL; and Ordination and Blessing of Cyrus Smalling, 30 June 1835, in JSP, D4: 349–53.)

[122] Orson Pratt’s journal offers scant additional information about this meeting. Pratt wrote, “Sunday we preached at the schoolhouse. We left Lyons for Sackett’s Harbor. Went on board (a) steamboat at Oswego and landed at S. H. about 12 o’clock at night (Tuesday).” (Orson Pratt, Journal, 7 June 1835, in Watson, Orson Pratt Journals, 65.)

[123] According to Brigham Young’s manuscript history, he left Lyonstown, New York, with Orson Hyde and William Smith to return to Kirtland to serve “as witnesses for President Joseph Smith in a case before the county court.” On 16 June 1835, Joseph Smith appeared in court in Chardon, Ohio, “to answer to a charge of Assault and Battery” that he had allegedly committed against Calvin W. Stoddard, husband of Smith’s oldest sister, Sophronia, following an altercation on 21 April 1835. Joseph Smith was acquitted of the charge, “there being no evidence to prove” the charges. Shortly after the trial, Young, Hyde, and William Smith left Kirtland to resume their apostolic mission. (Watson, Manuscript History of Brigham Young, 12; Editorial, Painesville (OH) Telegraph, 24 April 1835, emphasis in original; Geauga Co., OH, Court of Common Pleas, Court Records, vol. Q, pp. 497–98, 16 June 1835, microfilm 20,278, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL; and Letter to the Editor, 22 June 1835, in JSP, D4:349.)

[124] Lewiston, Niagara County, New York, just west of the government reservation for the Tuscarora Nation of Native Americans. Lewiston had been destroyed during the War of 1812 but had been rebuilt to a population of approximately 1,500 people in 1830. (Darby and Dwight, New Gazetteer, 255.)

[125] TEXT: There is a dot over the “y” perhaps indicating that Brigham Young began to write “miself” before correcting to “myself.”

[126] Young missed the 19–22 June conference at Pillar Point, New York, owing to his travels to Kirtland, Ohio, but arrived in West Loughborough, Upper Canada, in time for this 29 June conference. Six of the Twelve were not present; Parley P. Pratt presided at the conference. The twenty-five members in West Loughborough that attended were “uninformed in the principles of the new convenant,” so the members of the Twelve provided instruction “in the knowledge of God.” According to Orson Hyde and William McLellin, the branch “received us cordially, but also received our teachings with joy of heart.” The Twelve’s official minutes note that a “number were added to this branch during our stay and we left them all rejoiceing in the light of truth.” (Esplin and Nielsen, “Record of the Twelve, 1835,” 29 June 1835, 40; and Orson Hyde and William McLellin, “Dear Brother,” Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate, October 1835, 2:205.)

[127] Ernestown Station, a village in Lennox County, Ontario, on a railroad line, fifteen miles from Kingston. (Crossby, Lovell’s Gazetteer of British North America, 112.)

[128] William Myers was born on 9 February 1809 in Durham, England. Myers was not baptized until 30 December 1836 and eventually became a member of the Seventy. (Black, Membership of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 32:194–95; and Nauvoo Temple Endowment Register, FHL, 230.)

[129] William McLellin recorded his experiences at this meeting in his journal. “Sunday we met quite a large congregation and I addressed them 1½ hours from John 3 Chap,” McLellin wrote. “But while I was speaking I was interrupted by a reformed Methodist preacher but he was silenced by the man of house. His name was Daniel Perry[.]” (McLellin, Journal, 5 July 1835, 188.)

[130] A York shilling was a unit of monetary value worth about 12½ cents, used in colonial New York and Upper Canada.

[131] Though a couple of people contributed, according to McLellin’s journal, Young and McLellin were disappointed at the lack of charity from the rest of the congregation: “We offered to receive a donation to assist us to get to our next con[gregation] and we received almost 2 shillings in one of the wealthiest neighbourhoods in Canada.” (McLellin, Journal, 5 July 1835, 189.)

[132] Young’s statement resembles the biblical injunction that “whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear you, when ye depart thence, shake off the dust under your feet for a testimony against them.” William McLellin added this explanation: “We left them but we said in our hearts, the curses of God abide upon You – because you have rejected our testimony – You have rejected the truth – and have not administered to our necessities – And we cannot leave our blessing with You.” Other Latter-day Saint preachers had also concluded unsuccessful meetings this way. After preaching to and being rebuffed by the Shakers in 1831, Parley P. Pratt “commenced shakeing his coattail; he said he shook the dust from his garments as a testimony against [the Shakers], that we had rejected the word of the Lord Jesus.” (Matthew 10:14; Mark 6:11; Luke 9:5; Acts 18:6; 2 Nephi 9:44; McLellin, Journal, 5 July 1835, 189; and Ashbel Kitchell, “Mormon Interview,” in Flake, “Shaker View of a Mormon Mission,” 98.)

[133] Likely Ogdensburg, St. Lawrence County, New York.

[134] Stockholm, St. Lawrence County, New York, had a population of nearly 2,000 in 1830 and 2,995 in 1840. (Darby and Dwight, New Gazetteer, 529; and Haskel and Smith, Statistical Gazetteer, 637.)

[135] This appears to be an alternative colloquialism of the biblical injunction to “shake off the dust under your feet” against those who rejected the elders’ preaching. William McLellin elaborated on this encounter, noting that he and Young told Hawley that “we were preachers of the Gospel and we wanted some bread and milk for breakfast and we asked for it without money – but he abused us and after we had born testimony to him we came to a little brook and clensed our fest as a testimony against him.” (McLellin, Journal, 12 July 1835, 189–90.)

[136] Port Kent, Essex County, New York, was a small village situated on the west side of Lake Champlain, which sits on the border of northern New York and Vermont. Port Kent had a population of approximately 250 in 1840. (Darby and Dwight, New Gazetteer, 427; and Haskel and Smith, Statistical Gazetteer, 544.)

[137] Burlington, Chittenden County, Vermont, sits on the east side of Lake Champlain and was a commercial and manufacturing center in the state. It also had six churches for Congregationalists, Episcopalians, Unitarians, Methodists, and Roman Catholics in the 1830s. Burlington’s population grew from 3,525 in 1830 to 4,271 in 1840. (Darby and Dwight, New Gazetteer, 77; and Haskel and Smith, Statistical Gazetteer, 90–91.)

[138] Montpelier, Washington County, Vermont, was and remains the state’s capital city. It had a population near 1,800 in 1830 with one Universalist, two Congregationalist, and two Methodist churches. (Darby and Dwight, New Gazetteer, 323; and Haskel and Smith, Statistical Gazetteer, 426–27.)

[139] North Danville, Caledonia County, Vermont, had a population of approximately 2,600 in 1830 and was home to a Congregational church and a Baptist church. (Darby and Dwight, New Gazetteer, 131; and Haskel and Smith, Statistical Gazetteer, 165.)

[140] This conference, known as the “Vermont Conference,” was held in St. Johnsbury, Vermont, from 17 through 19 July 1835. Gardner Snow, the presiding elder in St. Johnsbury, represented the branch to be “41 liveing in great unity and harmony.” Many other branches from Vermont were represented and heard from the Twelve during the conference. On 17 July the six oldest members of the Twelve, including Brigham Young, provided instructions “on the principles of faith and of action.” These elder apostles also instructed the conference “relative to the nature and propriety of the gathering and the necessity of their attending to it for their temporal salvation.” The next day the remaining six apostles “enforced the necessity of sending up wise men and purchasing lands according to the commandments.” (Esplin and Nielsen, “Record of the Twelve, 1835,” 17–19 July 1835, 41–42.)

[141] The official Record of the Twelve notes that “a vast concourse of people” of more than one thousand attended, while McLellin’s journal has the number at “about 1500 persons.” (Esplin and Nielsen, “Record of the Twelve, 1835,” 19 July 1835, 42; and McLellin, Journal, 19 July 1835, 190.)

[142] Nine people joined the church after they had “manifested their faith by repenting of their sins and being baptised for the remission thereof.” (Esplin and Nielsen, “Record of the Twelve, 1835,” 19 July 1835, 42; Orson Pratt, Journal, 17 July 1835, in Watson, Orson Pratt Journals, 67; and McLellin, Journal, 19 July 1835, 190.)

[143] Henry Harriman was born on 9 June 1804 in Rowley (now Georgetown), Essex County, Massachusetts, and was later married to Clarissa Boynton on 26 April 1827 in Bradford, Essex County, Massachusetts. He was baptized by Orson Hyde in 1832 and served on the Camp of Israel expedition in 1834. Harriman had been designated as a member of the Seventy in March 1835. (Jenson, Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia, 193–94; and Minutes and Discourses, 7–8 March 1835, in JSP, D4:287.)

[144] Religious followers of Jacob Osgood in New Hampshire. Osgood, formerly a Congregationalist, claimed to be a prophet who could heal by the laying on of hands. He taught his followers to withdraw from the influences of government and society; Osgoodites were typically unkempt in appearance. (Osgood, Life and Christian Experience of Jacob Osgood; and Scott, “Osgoodites of New Hampshire,” 20–40.)

[145] The perception that Latter-day Saints were deceivers generally or seducers of women appears to have been common by 1835. For example, Eber D. Howe’s exposé Mormonism Unvailed, published in 1834, cast church members as both. In summer 1835 church leader Oliver Cowdery penned a “Statement on Marriage,” in which he explained that church members had been accused of “the crime of fornication, and polygamy,” though the specific source of the allegations is unknown. (Howe, Mormonism Unvailed, 126, 170; Statement on Marriage, ca. August 1835, in JSP, D4:475–78.)

[146] Possibly Jonathan Harriman Holmes, who was born on 11 March 1806 in Georgetown, Massachusetts. Holmes was baptized into the Latter-day Saint faith in 1832 and moved from eastern Massachusetts to Kirtland, Ohio, in the mid-1830s; he later served as a member of the Mormon Battalion. (“Obituary,” Deseret News, 1 September 1880; and Esshom, Pioneers and Prominent Men of Utah, 940.)

[147] Of the people and city of Boston, Orson Hyde and William McLellin wrote, “Here we found a few disciples whose hearts were noble indeed, and who were not ashamed to own the truth in the midst of opulence and splendor of that city—the queen of the east.” (Hyde and McLellin, “Dear Brother,” Messenger and Advocate, October 1835, 2:206.)

[148] Fanny Brewer, who had been baptized into the church in July 1832 by Samuel H. Smith, operated a boardinghouse on the corner of Belknap and Myrtle Streets, just two blocks north of Boston Common. Brewer’s boardinghouse served as the site for many Latter-day Saint meetings in Boston. Joseph Smith also visited Brewer and preached at her boardinghouse in the fall of 1832. (Boston City Directory, 1830, 85; United States Census of Boston, 1830, 6; Samuel Smith, Diary, June 24–August 14, 26 November 1832, CHL; Newel K. Whitney, Statement, ca. 1842, Historian’s Office, Joseph Smith History Documents, CHL; and Parsons, Mormon Fanaticism Exposed, 53.)

[149] Melvin Wilber had written in April 1835 notifying church leaders in Kirtland of the progress of his proselytizing work in the Providence, Rhode Island, area. He wrote, “I baptized 2 persons, and there are more who expect to go forward soon: things appear more encouraging than heretofore.” Wilber followed that report with a request to have “some of the first elders” come to the city to instruct the people “more perfectly in the things of God.” (“A Summary,” Messenger and Advocate, April 1835, 1:103.)

[150] Brigham Young wrote a letter to Mary Ann Angell Young on 1 August 1835 from Valentine Young’s home in North Providence, Rhode Island. His letter is mentioned by Mary Ann in the reply that she wrote on 31 August 1835. She wrote gratefully that Brigham “had the priviledge of warning the people in that Vicinity I hope there will be many that will come in to the kingdom of our Lord & his Christ in that place.” (Mary Ann Angell Young, Kirtland, OH, to Brigham Young, North Providence, RI (c/o Valentine Young), 31 August 1835 (mailed from Kirtland Mills, 2 September), Thatcher Collection, CHL.)

[151] In the summer of 1832, Orson Hyde and Samuel H. Smith had proselytizing success with the assistance of Vienna Jaques in the neighborhoods of Providence and North Providence, Rhode Island. (Orson Hyde, Journal, July–August 1832, CHL; “History of Orson Hyde,” Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star 26, 3 December 1864, 26:775–76; Samuel Smith, Diary, 10 July–17 August 1832, CHL; and Rogers, “Fascinating Life of Vienna Jaques,” 153–54.)

[152] Pawtucket, North Providence, Rhode Island, was on the border of Rhode Island and Massachusetts and had a population of approximately 4,000 in 1830 and 6,000 in 1840. A thriving commercial and manufacturing community, Pawtucket had at this time three banks, twelve cotton factories, and more than 1,000 looms. It also had Baptist, Episcopal, Methodist, and Roman Catholic churches. (Darby and Dwight, New Gazetteer, 397; and Haskel and Smith, Statistical Gazetteer, 515.)

[153] In their 12 March 1835 meeting, the Twelve had set forth Bradford, Massachusetts, as the location for the “Massachusetts Conference” to be held on 7 August. (Esplin and Nielsen, “Record of the Twelve, 1835,” 12 March and 7 August 1835, 24, 43.)

[154] TEXT: This date is centered at the top of the page in the physical journal.

[155] The apostles decided at this conference to shorten their mission. According to the quorum’s official minutes, “It was decided, that, in consequence of the small number of disciples at Dover N.H. and no business to attend to of much importance, our conference in that place should be recalled, and also that the conferences at Saco & Farmington should be altered so as to close our last conference at Farmington jast one month earlier than the former appoint and we sent letters by mail to inform them of the alteration in time for the news to be circulated. This alteration, the counsel was dictated to do by the Spirit of God.” The shortened itinerary established at the Bradford conference meant only two weeks, instead of four, between this and the next conference to be held at Saco, Maine. It also meant only three weeks, instead of eight, before they returned to Kirtland, Ohio. (Esplin and Nielsen, “Record of the Twelve, 1835,” 7 August 1835, 44.)

[156] A letter from Orson Hyde elaborated on the Twelve’s time in Bradford. Hyde noted that some fifteen hundred people attended a meeting, several were baptized, and a “great and effectual door is open for proclaiming the gospel in the East.” Perhaps explaining the discrepancy between the comment of the people being hard and Hyde’s claim of the open door, Hyde explained, “Where intelligence dwells, there truth is received, but where ignorance reigns, truth is an unwelcome guest.” (“From the Letters of the Elders Abroad,” Messenger and Advocate, August 1835, 1:167.)

[157] According to the official minutes of the Bradford conference, disciplinary matters highlighted the conference. An “elder Chase” had his license and membership revoked for gambling. An “Elder Holmes” also had his license taken from him “in consequence of a disagreement between him and his wife which was of long standing, it was therefore considered that if a man cannot preserve peace in his own family, he is not qualified to rule the Church of God.” Gladden Bishop had his license taken from him, and James Paten was excommunicated for improper conduct. At a conference in early 1835, Paten’s character and conduct were deemed “unworthy of a place in the church.” Paten had refused to give up his license at that time, which likely necessitated further action by the Twelve at this August conference. Beyond that the minutes note that the people at the conference were “generally hard and unbelieving.” The Twelve concluded the meeting by altering their conference schedule, removing the planned stop in Dover, New Hampshire, “in consequence of the small number of disciples” in that place. (Orson Hyde to John Whitmer, 12 January 1835, in Messenger and Advocate, January 1836, 2:256; and Esplin and Nielsen, “Record of the Twelve, 1835,” 7 August 1835, 43–44.)

[158] Lowell, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, was located on the south shore of the Merrimac River and was a significant population and manufacturing center in the state. The population mushroomed from 6,400 in 1830 to nearly 21,000 in 1840. Lowell had 15 congregations of a variety of faiths, 191 retail stores, 5 lumberyards, 8 woolen factories, 26 cotton factories, several mills, and printing offices. (Darby and Dwight, New Gazetteer, 142, and Haskel and Smith, Statistical Gazetteer, 180.)

[159] TEXT: This text is centered at the top of the page in the physical journal.

[160] Julien Hall stood at 14 Milk Street near the intersection of Congress Street in Boston. This building contained two great halls fifty-five by forty-four feet square, serving as the venue for a variety of public events and lectures from 1825 to 1843. For example, the Seneca leader Red Jacket delivered a speech there in 1829, while others such as William Lloyd Garrison gave antislavery speeches there in the 1830s. (Bowen, Bowen’s Picture of Boston, 89–90; and Van Deburg, “William Lloyd Garrison and the ‘Pro-Slavery Priesthood,’” 224–37.)

[161] Saco, York County, Maine, had Episcopal, Calvinist, Unitarian, Baptist, and Methodist congregations for its population of appr–ximately 3,200 in 1830, which soared to 4,400 in 1840. (Darby and Dwight, New Gazetteer, 485–86; and Haskel and Smith, Statistical Gazetteer, 583.) Saco had been designated as a conference location when the Twelve planned their mission in March 1835. (Esplin and Nielsen, “Record of the Twelve, 1835,” 12 March 1835, 24.)

[162] The official Record of the Twelve states, “The council then proceeded to deliver many general and particular instructions to the conference upon the following subjects (Viz) The redemption, the Building of the house of the Lord in Kirtland, and the printing of the word of God to the nations, and also, various other topics connected with the welfare of the saints.” (Esplin and Nielsen, “Record of the Twelve, 1835,” 21–23 August 1835, 45.)

[163] Farmington, Franklin County, Maine, situated at the junction of the Sandy and Little Norridgewock Rivers, was the home to stores, mills, tanneries, and nineteen schools, all serving a population of roughly 2,600. (Haskel and Smith, Statistical Gazetteer, 207.)

[164] The official minutes of the conference only cover the Friday session. The population of the Latter-day Saints in the towns represented at the conference numbered around 100. The minutes note only that members of the Twelve gave “the conference such instructions as the nature of our mission and ministry required.” (Esplin and Nielsen, “Record of the Twelve, 1835,” 28 August 1835, 47.)

[165] The official Record of the Twelve also notes the generosity of the members who attended the Saco conference. In special notice in the minutes, Orson Hyde wrote that church members gave the apostles some eighty dollars to assist them in their return to Ohio. The quorum members present at this conference agreed to make their way individually to Buffalo, where they would meet at sunrise on 24 September to return to Kirtland together to respond to a letter of chastisement sent to them from church leaders on 4 August 1835. (Esplin and Nielsen, “Record of the Twelve, 1835,” 21–23 August 1835, 45; McLellin, Journal, 31 August 1835, 196; Orson Pratt, Journal, 8 September 1835, CHL; and Letter to Quorum of the Twelve, 4 August 1835, in JSP, D4:371–78.)

[166] Dover, Stafford County, New Hampshire, was the oldest town in the state, having been settled in 1623. By 1830 it had a population of nearly 5,500 and nearly 6,500 by 1840. (Darby and Dwight, New Gazetteer, 142; and Haskel and Smith, Statistical Gazetteer, 180.)

[167] The distance from Saco, Maine, to Dover, New Hampshire, was approximately forty miles. However, if Brigham was not calculating miles traveled since the August 21–24 conference at Saco, he would have traveled from Saco to Farmington and back to Saco before reaching Dover, which would have been over two hundred miles, and it is likely that he made some side trips or traveled on routes that made it more than two hundred miles in his calculations.

[168] Hopkington, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, is located along the Concord River and, in 1830, contained several stores, factories, mills, and schools for its population of approximately 1,800. (Darby and Dwight, New Gazetteer, 213; and Haskel and Smith, Statistical Gazetteer, 283.)

[169] Nehemiah Howe was Brigham Young’s uncle, the son of Phineas Howe and Susannah Goddard and brother of Abigail “Nabby” Howe Young. Susannah Goddard was Brigham Young’s maternal grandmother. (Watson, Manuscript History of Brigham Young, iv.) Susannah died on 5 January 1837.

[170] TEXT: It is possible that “auntsy” was a colloquial way of saying “aunt” in either its singular or plural form.

[171] The Twelve had agreed in council that each man make his own way to Buffalo by 24 September. They would then travel together and arrive at Kirtland as a quorum, just as they had done when they began their mission in May. As Young notes, only ten were at the rendezvous rather than twelve. William McLellin and Orson Hyde traveled home earlier, summoned to answer charges that they been disrespectful to Sidney Rigdon of the presidency of the church. For the absence of McLellin and Hyde, see Joseph Smith, Journal, 26 September 1835, in JSP, J1:66n39; and Minutes, 26 September 1835, in JSP, D4:442.

[172] TEXT: An illegible character that had been wipe-erased was written over the top of an equals sign.

[173] The first insert of paper gathering that Brigham Young sewed into his journal ends here. His next entry is written on pages originally included in the physical journal.

[174] On 3 September 1835, Young recorded that he had traveled 2,155 miles in total. Since that recording and this one on 26 September, he added 1,114 miles for a grand total of 3,269 miles traveled on this mission with the Twelve. (See Young, Journal, 3 September 1835, p. XXX herein.)