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Day in the Life

Jun 30, 1856

Journal Entry

June 30, 1856 ~ Monday

Monday 30th Wrote 8 letters to correspondants as named under the 29th which
is a mistake in date I watered my wheat through the day & night
President Young was at home all day writing to correspondents. H. C. Kimball
was at home dealing out flour to the poor. J M Grant was at home

People

Browse people Wilford Woodruff mentioned on this day in his journal. Click on the person's name to view a short bio and other pages they are mentioned on or click on "View in Family Search" to view their FamilySearch profile.

Young, Brigham
1 Jun 1801 - 29 Aug 1877
3428 mentions
Apostle, Family
Kimball, Heber Chase
14 Jun 1801 - 22 Jun 1868
1456 mentions
Apostle
Grant, Jedediah Morgan
25 Feb 1816 - 1 Dec 1856
282 mentions
Apostle, Zion's Camp

Related Documents

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Letter to John Milton Bernhisel, 30 June 1856

Great Salt Lake City, . Bro. Bernhisel, Dear sir, We are writing to Elders Geoe A. Smith and John Taylor upon the subject of the Church History. We now ask a favor at your hand, viz. that you will meet in joint council with brothers Taylor and Smith, and assist them in making out a precise account of what took place in jail and in going to Carthage &c. We feel that it is due Joseph Smith and the Church and Kingdom of God, and to all future generations that we embody every act and word in the History of the last days of the Prophet, and we have no way to obtain them only by application to Elder John Taylor, and yourself, in connection with one or two other individuals who were with Joseph and Hyrum during their last days. We feel great difficulty in making out the history of Joseph during the last three or four days of his life; many statements are entirely opposed to each other; for instance, Sister Taylor says that Sister Hyrum Smith and herself got a man who was living at Wm Marks's to draw up a petition to the Governor to restore those men in prison to their wives and children; this was signed by Sister Hyrum Smith, Sister Taylor &c &c, but when presented to Emma she utterly refused to sign it. On the other hand Wm Clayton says he was sent for by Emma when he was listening to Govr Ford's speech, and wrote out the petition himself at her request, and that she was the first to sign it. The petition was presented to the Governor as soon as he had done speaking; he read it, looked down to the floor in silence, and did not look at any one of the petitioners, but finally said, "I will do what I can," and walked off. Do you know anything of this matter? This period of Joseph's History is the most difficult to make out as Dr. Richards wrote but little, and that in detached sentences, expecting to make it out

Letter to George Albert Smith, 30 June 1856

Great Salt Lake City, Prst. Geog. A. Smith, Dear Sir, I am writing to Prst. John Taylor and J. M. Bernhisel requesting them to sit down in council with you to make out an account of the death of Joseph & Hyrum Smith and the circumstances relating thereto. From the labor you have already had upon that part of the History you are acquainted with the difficulties connected with it. We are still laboring upon that part of the History, and we almost daily get new statements from men who were directly or indirectly connected with the scenes of the last four days of the lives of the Prophet and Patriarch, and many of these accounts are in direct opposition to each other. We have the statement of John S. Fullmer, Dan Jones, S. Markham, W. W. Phelps, R. Cahoon, A. C. Hodge, H. Stout, O. P. Rockwell, Wm Clayton, D. B. Huntington and others in connexion with Dr. Richards' Journal lying before us, and find they conflict a good deal. We have forwarded to Elder Taylor the copy of Dr. Richards' Journal in detached sentences, of the account of the interview which Joseph had with Governor Ford in Carthage Jail, which I wan him in connexion with yourself to fill up. I hope Pres Smith you will lose no time in attending to this matter, as the History must in a measure remain open until we can get your answer, we with you to question brothers Taylor and Bernhisel upon every past point that you deem necessary for the his tory, and forward to us immediately. It will still be a great deal of labor to prepare this part of the History for the press, and I deem it very essential to get every word and action of them or on as far as we can embody them in the history during the last days of their lives. I am now spending most of my time in the office. My health is not very good since my sickness. I still feel the effects of it in my system.

Letter to John Taylor, 30 June 1856

Great Salt Lake City, Elder John Taylor, Dear Brother, We are very busy writing the history of the latter days of Joseph, and we have a great many conflicting statements on the subject, which renders it necessary for me to call in the aid of an eye and ear witness to enable me to do justice to it. You are the only person on earth who can render me this assistance; I shall therefore feel obliged if you will take the earliest opportunity to sit down with your Hon. colleague the Chief Historian, and write out an account of all the circumstances relating to this subject which came under your immediate observation or experience from the 20th June 1844 to the date of your return from Carthage to Nauvoo. Also please to give me the requisite information if you are able on the following points: Who were the Apostates staying at Hamilton's Hotel at the time in question? At what period did Robinson stop the mail? Joseph, Willard, and yourself tasted of the wine which was fetched by the guard just previous to the martyrdom; did Hyrum taste of it? Were you the mouth at prayer both evenings in jail? if not, who officiated the first night, if any? You sung "A poor wayfaring man of grief" at a quarter past 3 PM of the 27th; was it Joseph or Hyrum who requested you to repeat it? I have always understood that you had no sooner finished singing it the second time than the firing commenced; if so there must have been a considerable interval between the two exercises. What were the facts? Who washed the bodies in Carthage? Who nailed the boards together in which to take the bodies to Navuoo?

Letter to the Editor of the Luminary, 30 June 1856

Editor of the Luminary Sir, As this is a day of miracles I write to inform you that the U. S. mail, via South Pass has arrived within the time; it having come to hand on Saturday last, the 28th inst. We hope that a light has arisen in the Post office department sufficient to cause the anxious wives of Missionaries not to despair of receiving letters from their absent, loving husbands, and give them an opportunity of writing by return mail. The weather for the past month has been generally warm, but some days we have had a boisterious wind, but very little rain. The ground in many places is parched up. The wheat heading out a few inches from the ground which will not pay the expense of cutting. Some fields are ripening which gives a pleasing hope that there will be a portion harvested this season; we hope sufficient for all who profess to be Saints. The potatoes in many places are savaged by the tobacco worm, which strips the hills of all the leaves: but even these are turned to some advant- age, for the people gather them in buckets &c. and feed them to the chickens and pigs. The drouth has done some good, for the people have been urged on by the prospect of scanty crops to labor incessantly so that a canal has been made to take the water from the Big Cottonwood Creek, which now is made

Letter to the Editor of the Mormon, 30 June 1856

Great Salt Lake City, . Editor of the Mormon, Sir, The mail from the east due here towards the last of May arrived here on the 4th inst, and contained 44 letters for this Territory; whereas our friend Leonard I. Smith was at Independence (on his way home from the Cape of Good Hope) when the mail started, and was told by the clerk there that he had put up from five to ten thousand letters for Salt Lake within a day or two!! The June mail arrived here on the 28th inst, but has brought no tidings of the missing letter sacks. I suppose the Contractor is shewing his gratitude in this way for the appropriation by Congress of $36,000 extra pay for keeping us without a mail the whole of last winter from the 1st Dec to the 10th of May!! We are still a little plagued with grasshoppers, the wheat crops in Box Elder County being eaten off; we are also troubled with drouth and scarcity of water; yet we shall make out to harvest a crop, though not an average one by any means. The canal from Big Cottonwood is so far finished as to bring the water to irrigate the 10 and five acre lots in the Big Field. You will ^have^ received a programme of our intended celebration of the 4th July from the Post Office. Prest. Young and Kimball have been spending a few days on the Island in Salt Lake; they as well as Prest. Grant are in good health The Deseret Agricultural and Manufacturing Society are holding weekly meetings, and making great efforts to carry out their objects; there is to be an Exhibition this fall.

Jun 30, 1856