Letter to Noah H. Osborn, 18 November 1890
Noah H. Osborne,
My Dear Friend:
I have just received your very interesting letter
of Nov. 13th; and I was much interested in the account you gave of our relation-
ship. I was also much interested in the letter of your friend, Israel Coe. I
was astonished at his writing, a man of his great age. In answering your ques-
tions concerning Sidney Rigdon I will say, he was cut off from the church, and
was not a member of the church when he died; he did not deny the faith but took
the ground that he had the right to lead the church, and refused to acknowledge
the Twelve Apostles and the constituted authorities of the church after the
death of Joseph and therefore he was cut off the church. Now concerning your
question about the abolition of polygamy, I will send you a copy of my manifesto
which will explain all that I said upon the subject. Concerning what you say
about "Leaves from my Journal" I will say, I wrote that little work for the ben-
efit of our Sabbath School children, giving them a little history of my experi-
ence during my travels, and I stated nothing in it but what was true. We have
in Salt Lake City a grandsonof Grandfather Lot Thompson, he is here writing up
the city; he is the son of Cyrus Thompson. He and his wife attended with my
family my last birth-day party, the first day of last March.
I am certainly pleased to hear from you, not only as a relative
but from a man of great age, and one who has faith in God, and in His Son
Jesus Christ as the Savior of the world: also in the Gospel which He preached,
as the plan of salvation for a fallen world. I remain
Your affectionate kinsman and friend,
Wilford Woodruff
P. S.
I herewith return Israel Coe's letter thinking you may desire to pre-
serve it.
W. W.
