menu icon in the top, right corner of the screen.
icon above to close this box.
icon at the bottom of the screen below the browser—if you don't see it, swipe up to unhide it.
Third Personal Journal
19 October 1840 - 1 August 1844
Source Note
Brigham Young. Journal, 19 October 1840–1 August 1844. Handwriting of Brigham Young and unidentified others. Brigham Young Office Files. CR 1234 1. Church History Library. Salt Lake City, Utah.
This commercially produced, pocket-size black leather book measures 4⅝ × 2¾ × ½ inches (12× 7 × 1 cm). The book contains a leather sleeve for holding a writing instrument, likely the metallic pencil that was supplied with the memorandum book. The sleeve emerges from the back cover and rests atop the book’s spine. The text block consists of sixty-six unlined, cream-colored leaves (132 pages). The bound volume contains white pastedowns and two matching flyleaves, which Young inscribed, on each side of the text block. On the front pastedown is printed in black ink on green paper “Harwoods’ Improved Patent Memorandum Book.” Handwriting in pencil on the first flyleaf is rendered mostly illegible, likely owing to rubbing against the cover. At some point in the nineteenth century, an archival paper label was pasted onto the spine of the volume. It reads, “Prest. B. Youngs’ 1840-4.” Young inscribed the volume using primarily graphite. Some of the graphite has faded and become illegible.
―――――――― ◊ ――――――――
Editorial Note
The following notations are found on the verso of the front flyleaf of Brigham Young, Holograph Journal, 19 October 1840–1 August 1844. Following these notations and the printed text and advertisements, Young began writing his late-October 1840 journal entries while in England.
―――――――― ◊ ――――――――
[1] John Cowell Hanover
St Duglas (John Taylor
adress in the Ile of man
-------------------------
Samuel Cryer Crook st
opsit the trinity Church
sweet greene Bolton
James Albetson
------------------------
[2] James Howard
with
Messrs. Gleichman & Busse
Grassbrook Fabrick
Hamburg
Germany[3]
[4] Harwood’s
Improved Patent
Memorandum Book,
with Metallic Pencil.
No. 3
London:
J. & F. Harwood, 26, Fenchurch Street[5]
―――――――― ◊ ――――――――
Editorial Note
The following notations are found in the final pages of Brigham Young, Holograph Journal, 19 October 1840–1 August 1844. On the page in which Young concluded his 1 August 1844 journal entry, he began to write miscellaneous entries, notations, and addresses. These various writings continue for eight pages. There are then three blank pages that follow in the physical artifact. At some point Young turned the book over and began writing on the back pastedown and flyleaf. His miscellaneous notations and other writings there proceed from the back of the journal and continue toward the front for ten pages before reaching the aforementioned blank pages.
―――――――― ◊ ――――――――
Geo Myers St Louis
G[maybe “S”?]. C. Oliver
2 dores below witter
St on the Left hand. on
5th st Pheledelpha
------------------------
Henry S Magraw
4th Street
Pittsburgh
-----------------------
James Stevens
21 South Water St
Philada |
-----------------------
Penna Canal[6]
-------------------------
Wm H Goge [Gage?]
St Johnsbury East Vt.
------------------------
H[amilton]. W[ilcox]. Merrill[7]
U.S. Rifles
Fort Washita. Red river[8]
10 of August 1843 at 1/
-------------------------------------------------------------
Pol Poulterer
12 st Pheledelpha[10]
-------------------------
Whartan Elizabeth
betwene 5 & 6 St. Phe
above Parish St-[11]
------------------------
Norwalk at the foot Liberty St
6 o.c. a.m. Ablert [Albert] Merrel
Elder Wandell Merrel
hatter[12]
Soloman [Solomon] Angell
Hanover Township
Licking Co. Ohio[13]
---------------------
John Reas 3 Jay St[14]
F[T?] F[T?]reeland
north missipa
Oct 7 1843[15]
------------------
[16] the names of thouse Present at the orgination of the Church of Jesus Christ of L day Saints in 1830 - on the 6 day of Apriel
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Joseph Smith Se
Or[r]in Rockwell
Joseph Smith Jun
Hyram [Hyrum] Smith
Samuel H Smith
Oliver Cowd[e]ry[17]
10 Stop B[18]
read Ez[e]kiel 16 C[hapter] - 6 V[erse][19]
or white paper [one illegible word]
the upper Lipp
G. S. Clark[20]
171 pickets E. Little
[21] Catherine
Speres
[22] a pepor wash
100 white Lead <vitrel>[23]
one eightyth part
of shugar Lead[24]
Same of greshen [grecian?]
safom or
Question to ask Br J. Smith.[25] Concerning Children that die in their enfince [infancy]
Was David a man after gods own hart[26]
did you see one of the 3 Nephits in 1840
who Baptised John the Baptis. or Christ
the order of ordaining a Patriarch for the church
a woman shall compas a man[27]
Children Cast out (of the Kingdom)[28]
what is the sealing of the servents of god all so sealing them up unto eternal life[29]
times of refreshings from the presents [presence] of the Lord[30]
did Enock & Elija die[31] or will they
has a woman a right to nomanate a Presedent in the Church
Hull
[32] the name of Enfedels [Infidels]
Orfen [orphan] of New York
-------------------
Wm Cobet M.P.
L to < - > members of
Parlement
[33] A Clark at Nauv[oo]
house
English mision -
Bougher Capt
of Steamer
Ad[e]laide[34]
---------
Meeting room in
Back King Street
Bolton
------------------
Lorenzo Snow[35] No 24
Park Street Birming
ham
------------------
Mackelsfield
Standly Street
--------------------
Orson H[yde]
40 North
Richmond Street
[Edi]nb[urgh] Scotland
Samuel Johnson
upper Pitt Street
near the old Church
Burslem
Stafford sheir
------------------
Gorge Roden
Dudley Street
We<d>n<e>sbury
-----------------
Henry C. Corner [Conner]
No 24 St Gorge Stre Row
St Lukes
----------------------
William Mitchell
42 Garden Street
---------------------
Mr Robert Cleft
Boyce Lodge Dymock
Gloster sheir -
for F Kington
---------------------
John Cheese
Brick Mason
Standly Hill near
Ledbury Hereford
Sheir
Boshery Parish
--------------------
Daniel Browett Leigh near
Tukesbury Gloster sheir
to lo left at Thomas
Margrets
Theadoah C[ur]tis
Hills Burrow county
of Down Iroland
------------------------
Lucian R. Foster[36]
13 Oliver street
New york[37]
------------------------
Reuben Hadlock [Hedlock][38]
in care of John Mc
Caul<e>y [McAuley] no 3 East tarb<u>t
Glasgow[39]
John D. Week[40]
John Price Plum
mer & glashier
Overton Flint
Shier
----------------
Edward Oakey [Ockey][41]
Castle Froom
near Ledburry
Hereford Shier
-----------------
Mr Robert Bicherd Bickerdyke
Bickerdyke
Painter betwen plum
and western Row
Cencinata United St.[42]
Peter Maughen [Maughan]
Alston Cumberland[43]
E. C. A
C. E. Adams
103 spring st[44]
N. York
186 Wocester
St
----------------
Steam Boat
Gorga [Georgia][45] -
He[n]ry Gooding
Greeneville Bond
County Ill -
Merchant
-----------------
Wm Hill mobel
Presedent of the
female instutan
-----------------
Wm Croft Clark
in St Lewis in a
Counting house
John Bats in Soap
manafactory -
Same
articuls wanted from home -
Bucks dickenery[46]
Butterworth Concorda[nce][47]
hym Book[48]
Mason aporn [apron]
over coat
Cobbs dictenary[49]
----------------------------
Mr T. B. Parker
Palmira [Palmyra] Mo
he wants an Elder
---------------------------
to mount Stirling
Br Browning 1 mile
this side Palaske
then to Agustia[50]
A. Ennis
Holladaysburg [Hollidaysburg]
Pa[51]
---------------------
[52] expence from Boston 1843
to New york $16.50-
to Pheledelpha 975[53]
-----------------------------
Joshua Perkins -
52 Fifth Street -
Cincinnati
Oct. 7th 1843[54]
-----------------------
Ch Cochram of Pitts
Cam[pb]ellite Preacher[55]
----------------------
John Edwards Johnson
R. C. Gordon
Warsaw Ill
----------------------
New York
67 Northmore St
Rodgers
----------------
Jones [Jonas] Levingston
Peterborro N[ew]. Hamsheir [Hampshire][56]
----------------------
Varanes Libby
Lowel Mass[57]
----------------------
Lovina Chandler[58]
Times & sesons one
year (Crd) $2 00[59]
Notes
[1] TEXT: Writing in graphite commences.
[2] TEXT: Unidentified handwriting begins.
[3] TEXT: Unidentified handwriting ends.
[4] TEXT: Mechanical print text begins.
[5] The printed text here is followed by three leaves of printed text. These leaves included a “list of stamps” and descriptive advertisements for Harwood-brand memorandum books. In Brigham Young’s journal the printed copy reads: “HARWOOD’S Improved Patent Memorandum Books, with Metallic Pencil. These highly distinguished Books may be had in almost every form for the Pocket, and adapted for a variety of purposes independently of their use for Order and Betting Books, for which they are so well known; they will be found very desirable, ruled with money columns for Pocket Ledgers, Cash Memorandums, Collecting Books, &c., as they preserve a permanency as durable as ink: also, especially useful ruled to pattern (with printed headings if required) for surveying and taking levels, &c. for railroads, as they may be used even in wet weather and retain the same legibility: they possess important advantages for reporting or taking notes of any kind, as they admit of the greatest freedom and rapidity in writing, and preserve the most faithful accuracy and perspicuity, without any impediment whatever to their use. In order to protect the public from numerous imitations of these Books, none are genuine unless bearing their Signature. Jno & Fred. Harwood. [signature]” There are then three pages of descriptions of a variety of pens sold by the Harwood company.
[6] The Pennsylvania Canal served as an important travel route between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. Brigham Young appears to have traveled on this canal in June 1841 on his return home from England and again in October 1843 as he was returning to Nauvoo from conferences in New York and Boston. (See Brigham Young, Journal, 4 June 1841, 4 and 8 October 1843, and accompanying notes, pp. XXX and XXXnXXX herein.)
[7] Merrill (1814–1892) was a West Point graduate who fought as a second lieutenant with the 2nd Dragoons in Florida’s Seminole War before marching west in 1841 to present-day Oklahoma, where he served among the Chickasaw and Choctaw Indians for a time. Having spent most of his career on the frontier, along with serving in the Mexican War, Merrill retired from military service in 1857. (“Major H. W. Merrill,” 45.)
[8] Located some eighteen miles north of the Red River, in what is today Bryan County, Oklahoma, Fort Washita was a federal fort established in 1842 to protect Chickasaw Indians (who had been removed to the area from their ancestral homeland in Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee) from attack by Plains Indians. Federal troops abandoned the fort in 1861, shortly after the outbreak of the Civil War. (May, “Fort Washita.”)
[9] In Philadelphia, Brigham Young visited the Pennsylvania State House, or Independence Hall, while on his mission in 1843. (See Brigham Young, Journal, 5 August 1843 entry and accompanying note, p. XXX herein; and Woodruff, Journal, 10 August 1843, CHL.)
[10] Possibly either Stephen or Samuel Poulterer, who were baptized in June and November 1840, respectively, and who both lived on Philadelphia’s Twelfth Street. Stephen was “cut off” from the church, evidently in January 1843, while Samuel was disfellowshipped in April 1842. Alternatively, Brigham Young may have been referring to church member Sarah Poulterer, who also lived on Twelfth Street. (Ward, “Philadelphia Pennsylvania Branch Membership, 1840–1854,” 85–86.)
[11] Probably Elizabeth Wharton, who lived at “Thirteenth above Coates, Elizabeth near Parrish.” (Ward, “Philadelphia Pennsylvania Branch Membership,” 91.)
[12] Albert Merrill (1815–1873) had learned the hatting trade in New Jersey before moving with his wife to Norwalk, Connecticut (where he had lived for several years as a child), in 1840. They were baptized in December 1841 by Charles Wesley Wandell, and in April 1842 Merrill was ordained the presiding priest over the newly formed Norwalk Branch. He was ordained an elder in May 1843, and in September 1843 he was ordained to preside over the branch (probably in his new capacity as an elder). He and his family moved to Nauvoo in May 1844. Brigham Young passed by, and perhaps through, Norwalk on his way from New York to Boston, 4–5 September 1843, and again when returning to New York from Boston, 29–30 September 1843. (Merrill, Autobiography, CHL; “Conference Minutes,” Times and Seasons, 1 August 1843, 4:287; and Brigham Young, Journal, 4–5 September 1843, p. XXX herein; see Jenson, Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia, 3:551–552.)
[13] Solomon Angell was a carpenter and joiner who was baptized into the Latter-day Saint faith in 1834. He had moved to Hanover, Licking County, Ohio, by 1840. (Angell, Biography.)
[14] Possibly John Davis Rees or John Evans Rees, both of whom lived in Wales in the 1840s.
[15] Brigham Young was en route to Pittsburgh from Philadelphia on this date; he arrived in Pittsburgh on 8 October 1843. (See Brigham Young, Journal, 8 October 1843, p. XXX herein.)
[16] TEXT: The following lines were inscribed upside down on the page.
[17] Brigham Young was not present at the organization of the church on 6 April 1830; the list of original church members he presents here, therefore, was obtained secondhand. Other lists provided by Joseph Knight Jr. (who claims to have received his information from Oliver Cowdery, who was present) and David Whitmer (also present at the organizational meeting) differ in some respects with Young’s list. Young, for example, is the only one who lists Joseph Smith Sr. and Orrin Rockwell. Analysis of Young’s, Knight’s, and Whitmer’s lists suggests that the most likely six original members were Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer, Hyrum Smith, Peter Whitmer Jr., and Samuel Smith. (Richard Lloyd Anderson, “Who Were the Six Who Organized the Church?,” 44–45.)
[18] TEXT: The graphite here is faded; this text possibly reads “Blood.”
[19] Ezekiel 16:6 reads: “And when I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live; yea, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live.”
[20] George Sheffer Clark. The ancestors of George Clark were descendants of the people who settled Pennsylvania under the leadership of William Penn. According to his biography, “George Sheffer Clark was born at Jefferson County, Ohio, November 7th, 1816. His boyhood was spent on a farm. When he was five years of age his father moved north and settled near the Great Lakes. After remaining there for a short time the family moved to Indiana and settled just north of Indianapolis where a farm containing 80 acres was purchased. George Clark did not have a chance to secure a good college education, but he made the most of his opportunities. For the short period of three or four years he had the privilege of attending school during the winter months when there was but little work to be done on the farm. To get to school he was abliged to walk a distance of three miles, but he did so cheerfully. In the year 1842 a Mormon Elder came to Indianapolis and began preaching the gospel. At this time Mormonism was a strange creed and the people of the world had many curious Ideas concerning this doctrine and the people who believed it. Mr. Clark heard the Elder preach and was convinced at once. After hearing the gospel he went to visit his brother who lived about 30 miles north of Chicago. This brother was a Methodist minister, and the visit was made for the expressed purpose of converting him to Mormonism. While on this journey Mr. Clark learned that his brother was dead. He went on, nevertheless, and visited the widow and her family. While he was there his parants moved to Nauvoo to cast their lot with the Latter-day Saints. After visiting for some time, Mr. Clark went to Nauvoo for the purpose of being baptized. In the spring of 1843 he was baptized in the Mississippi River, by Bishop Hale. He was confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by Orson Pratt and others. In the spring of 1843 he was ordained an Elder by the president of the Elders’ Quorum. Shortly after becoming an Elder he returned to Indiana for the purpose of selling his property. . . . 1845 the Temple was finished. Mr. Clark received his endowments and was ordained a Seventy by George A. Smith and others. He was made a member of the 13th quorum.” He volunteered to be a member of the Mormon Battalion and later became a bishop in Utah County. (Clark, CHL.)
[21] TEXT: Written sideways on the page.
[22] TEXT: Written upside down on the page.
[23] Probably zinc sulphate.
[24] Probably lead acetate.
[25] It is unclear from whom or where these questions came. They were written in the back of Young’s third journal and may have been questions that he developed over time or were asked of him during his missionary travels in England or elsewhere.
[26] See 1 Samuel 13:14; 16:7.
[27] See Jeremiah 31:22.
[28] See Matthew 8:12.
[29] See Revelation 7:3; Doctrine and Covenants 68:12; 77:9–11; 131:5.
[30] See Acts 3:19.
[31] See Genesis 5:24; 2 Kings 2:11.
[32] TEXT: Brigham Young turned the book around and with this text began writing on the back pastedown and proceeded writing toward the front of the book.
[33] TEXT: The following text is written upside down on the bottom half of the page.
[34] Brigham Young boarded the Adelaide at Cincinnati, Ohio, on 22 July 1843, intending to travel to Pittsburgh. (Brigham Young, Journal, 22 July 1843, p. XXX herein.)
[35] Lorenzo Snow was baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at the age of twenty-two. Four years later, in 1840, Snow served a proselytizing mission to England. He remained there for three years, serving for at least some of that time as the president of the London conference. (Snow, Biography and Family Record of Lorenzo Snow, 7, 52–65; and Woodruff, Journal, 14 February 1841, CHL.)
[36] Brigham Young visited James Arlington Bennet in company with Foster on 29–31 August 1843. (Brigham Young, Journal, 29 August 1843, p. XXX herein.)
[37] Mary Ann Young had written letters to Brigham Young in care of Lucian Foster at this address in southern Manhattan. (Mary Ann Young, Nauvoo, IL, Letter to Brigham Young, c/
[38] Reuben Hedlock had served a proselytizing mission in England in 1840 and 1841 with Brigham Young and other members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. In May 1843 the Twelve voted to send him to “preside over the church in England, Scotland, Ireland, and all places connected with the English mission” and directed him to “send the worthy poor Saints to this country.” Hedlock, along with other missionaries, departed Nauvoo and arrived in Liverpool on 30 September 1843. (George A. Smith, Journal, 9 March 1840, CHL; Woodruff, Journal, 20 April and 19 May 1841, CHL; “Extracts from the Record of the Twelve, for the Use and Benefit of Elder Reuben Hedlock, and through Him to the Parties Concerned,” ca.28 June 1843, 1–3, Willard Richards, Journals and Papers, CHL; and Reuben Hedlock to the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, 4 October 1843, Joseph Smith Collection, CHL.)
[39] Reuben Hedlock had preached in the Glasgow, Scotland, area between June 1840 and April 1841 while Brigham Young presided over the British mission. John McAuley, an early convert in that area, succeeded Hedlock as president of the Glasgow Conference in April 1841. At an 1842 general conference of the church in Europe, John McAuley represented the 564 members of the Glasgow branches. (Jenson, Historical Record, 5:350–51; and “General Conference,” Times and Seasons, 16 January 1843, 4:78.)
[40] TEXT: Written sideways at the bottom of the page.
[41] For more information on Edward Ockey, see Brigham Young, Journal, 19 December 1840 and 22 May 1841, pp. XXXnxx and XXXnxx herein.
[42] In addition to being a painter, Robert Bickerdyke was also a talented instrumental musician. In 1847 he married Mary Ann Ball, who had studied nursing in Cincinnati, and they lived together in Galesburg, Illinois, until his death in 1859. Robert and Mary Ann had two sons, James and Hiram. Mary Ann bravely served the Union as a nurse and healthcare provider in the American Civil War. (“Sudden Death,” Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, 12 April 1859; Bickerdyke, Papers, LoC; and Mary Ann Bickerdyke, Ohio History Central, https://
[43] Peter Maughan, a farmer, miner, and stonemason, had been baptized in Alston, Cumberland, England, in 1838 by Isaac Russell. Maughan and his children immigrated to the United States in 1841 on board the Rochester, the same vessel that carried Brigham Young and other apostles home from their British mission. (U.S. Bureau of the Census, Utah Territory, Cache County, 1860 Census, 555, FHL; “Home News,” Deseret News, 3 May 1871, 156; U.S. Customs List #178, The Rochester, FHL #002,289; and Brigham Young, Journal, 20–21 April 1841, p. XXX herein.)
[44] At least as late as 1841, this was the address for David Rogers, a portrait artist and Latter-day Saint in New York City. (Longworth, Longworth’s American Almanac, New-York Register, 603.)
[45] A boat named “Georgia” had been built in 1837, and another in 1842. (Wooldridge Steamboat List, 84, https://
[46] Buck, Theological Dictionary. Several English and American editions had been published by the 1840s.
[47] Butterworth, New Concordance to the Holy Scriptures. Several English and American editions had been published by the 1840s.
[48] Several different collections of Latter-day Saint hymns—some in multiple editions—were available during the time Brigham Young may have made this entry. (Flake and Draper, Mormon Bibliography, 1830–1930.)
[49] Probably one of several editions of either Cobb, New Dictionary of the English Language, or Cobb, Cobb’s abridgment of J[ohn] Walker’s Critical Pronouncing Dictionary, and Expositor of the English language, first published about 1827.
[50] Probably referring to Mt. Sterling, Pulaski, and Augusta, Iowa Territory, although locations in Illinois and Kentucky, and perhaps elsewhere, are also possible.
[51] Brigham Young traveled through Hollidaysburg about 5 or 6 June 1841 on his way home from England, and again probably sometime between 4 and 8 October 1843 on his way home from his mission to New York and Boston. Hollidaysburg was located at the western terminus of the Juniata Division of the Pennsylvania Canal, where travelers going west between Philadelphia to Pittsburgh left the canal for the Allegheny & Portage Railroad. (Brigham Young, Journal, 4 and 8 October 1843, p. XXX herein.)
[52] TEXT: This text is written upside down on the page.
[53] The figures listed here represent the cost or fare for transportation via railroad between Boston and New York City and New York City to Philadelphia. Brigham Young left Boston for New York on 29 September 1843, and he had arrived there by the time Wilford Woodruff arrived in New York on 30 September. The next day, 1 October, he left New York and arrived in Philadelphia. (Brigham Young, Journal, 29 September and 1 October 1843, pp. XXX and XXX herein; and Woodruff, Journal, 30 September 1843, CHL.)
[54] Brigham Young was traveling between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh on this date. (Brigham Young, Journal, 4 and 8 October 1843, p. XXX herein.)
[55] Possibly John Cochrane, a Campbellite preacher who was active in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Middlebury, Ohio, in 1843. (Hayden, Early History of the Disciples in the Western Reserve, 359.)
[56] Jonas Livingston, a prominent citizen of Peterborough, New Hampshire, was involved in cotton manufacturing. He had visited Nauvoo in June 1843. Brigham Young stayed with Livingston (or possibly his brother Frederick) in Peterborough in July 1844, and it may have been there that he first received reliable news of Joseph Smith’s death. (Brigham Young, Journal, 16 July 1844, p. XXX herein.)
[57] Wilford Woodruff baptized “Varanus Libby . . . of Lowell Mass” on 16 October 1844. Brigham Young was in Lowell between about 20 June and 17 July 1844. (Woodruff, Journal, 16 October 1844, CHL; and Brigham Young, Journal, 18 June–17 July 1844, pp. XXX-XXX herein.)
[58] Lovina Chandler was born on 19 December 1822 in Stoddard, Cheshire County, New Hampshire, some fifteen miles northwest of Peterborough, New Hampshire. Brigham Young may have encountered her when he visited Peterborough between 11 and 16 July 1844. (Biography of Lovina Chandler Taylor, The First Fifty Years of Relief Society, https://
[59] Early issues of the Times and Seasons (November 1839–October 1840) were published once a month, with subscriptions advertised at one dollar per year. Beginning with the 1 November 1840 issue, and continuing until the last issue (15 February 1846), the paper was published twice a month, at a cost of two dollars per year “payable in all cases in advance.” (Times and Seasons, November 1839, 1:16; 1 November 1840, 2:208; 15 February 1846, 6:1135.)
