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Cambridgeport, Mass.,
Elder Badlam,
Dear Brother:
We have received two long interesting letters from you, one
from Panama and one after you had been in San Francisco about six days;
also one from Chagress, making three in all. I have written several to
you, which I have sent by private conveyance, in shaips that go around
Cape Horn, and sister Badlam has sent several by steamer; but I have not
seen any she has sent to you, and do not know what she has written, as I
have generally been gone when she has written, and, not knowing how much
church news she has sent you, I feel it to be my duty to fill a sheet to
you and send it by mail, and perhaps I ought to have done it before this.
You have been very diligent in writing to me and your family, and your
letters have been highly interesting. I feel thankful that you have got
along so well and been prospered on your journey and arrived in safety at
San Francisco. I have felt to pray for you continually, from day to
day. Since you left here I have been gone from home most of the time,
and have only remained at home about long enough to answer my correspond-
ing letters, write my journal, and close up such work as seemed necessary
to be done, and then I am off again. I have visited Boston, or even
Cambridgeport, but little since you left, only going and returning from
my journeys. I was much interested in the account you gave me of Pana-
ma and journey from Chagres, also your success on the ship with the pas-
sengers, and the account you gave after you landed.
The New York Herald publishes every week a number of letters from
the gold diggings of San Francisco, but they are very conflicting in thei^r^
statements. I expect dry goods must be very cheap by this time in San
Francisco. In order to do by you as you have done by me, I will go back
to the time you left and give you a ^little^ history of events as they have passed
along with me since we parted. Soon after you left I wrote some lengthy
letters to the Presidency in the Valley, spoke of your course, and the
object of your going to San Francisco, that you went with my counsel to.
We were notified by the keepers of the Boydston Hall that we could have
that room no longer without doubling our rent; so we gave it up and have
held no meeting in Boston since. I opened my own hired house for meet-
ings on Sunday and one evening in the week, which I have kept up to this
day, except part of the time on Sunday at brother Bird's. I had full
houses and I baptized a dozen or so. One was Mr. Snow and wife, a Uni-
versalist, and a keeper of one of the engines; another was Andrew Delin,
from Sweden, a smart man and one that I think will be useful in a future
day, in carrying the Gospel to his own nation. Another was father Ezra
Carter, Mrs. Woodruff's father. He was 78 years old, is smart, walked
to the top of Bunker Hill monument with me. He is strong in the faith.
I was truly glad to baptize him, as he has been believing for seven years
Mrs. Woodruff feels that it amply pays her for coming to this country.
Elder Whipple, one of the pioneers forom the Salt Lake Valley, spent sev-
eral days with me, and brought several of his relatives out to meeting.
Father Carter spent about one month with me. Calvin I. Foss, son of
sister Sarah B. Foss, also called upon me, and wished me to assist him
in getting into a good company to go to the gold diggings; so after
looking around, I got him into the Massachusetts Bay Store, Mining and
Trading Company. He left for San Francisco on the ship Acrates, on the
5th of April. I sent letters and papers to you by him. He wrote from
Rio Janeiro, was getting along well. I expect he will call upon you.
Nathaniel Holmes, of Bradford, died on the 20th of February, a Srtrangite.
I left home early in the spring for the west, visited New Haven, New York,
Philadelphia, and many other places. I assisted brother W. I. Appleby
to start off for the Bluffs from Philadelphia, with a company of 80 Saint^s^
50 from the Philadelphia Branch. He arrived at St. Louis all safe with
all his family; baptized four of his family, three sons [of William I. Appleby] and one daughter,
the day before he started. But when he arrived in St. Louis, the cholear^a^
was raging in all its horrors, from New Orleans to Galena, and up the
Missour^i^ River, and all over that state, slaying its thousands. Every
steamer on all those rivers was pickled with the cholora, and officers,
crews, and passengers were dying by scores. He went on board of the
steamer Monroe, bound for St. Joseph's, with a company of soldiers or godl^d^
diggers, bound for California, and the cholera was on board when he went
on to it. About a hundred Saints went on with brother Appleby. By the
time they had arrived at Jefferson City, all the gold diggers, 35, were
dead but two; also the captain, mates, two clerks, one engineer, pilot,
barkeeper, twelve boat hands, and fifteen of the Saints, including child-
ren. The names of the Saints, as far as I can recollect, are as follows:
From Philadelphia, Adams (tobacconist), his wife and two daughters, bro.
Hand, Bro. Lamb, sister Hampton and part of family, sister Brown. From
St. Louis, old mother Bokley, Sabra Granger and Lavina Hodges. When the
boat landed, all the crew that was left, with the passengers, fled int^o^
the city. It was reported in several letters that Elder Appleby was
dead, but it was false. He slipped on board of another boat, and arriv-
ed at the Bluffs with his family and the rest of the company, all well,
and is now on his way to the valley, with a company. I sent all of my
letters and papers on by him.
The cholera has been very fatal at St. Louis. They have had from
one to two hundred deaths in that city daily by cholera, in a population
of 50,000. There has been some 5000 deaths by cholera in that city in
five weeks. It has swept all through Missouri; very fatal at Indepen-
dence. It is said that 35,000 gold seekers, bound for San Francisco,
have gone on to the plains to take the overland route via South Pass of
the Rocky Mountains. They made their rendezvous at Independence, St.
Joseph, Ford Kearney and Kanesville. The greatest number was at Inde-
pendence. The papers say that the cholera was so bad in that town that
the gold diggers all left in a fright, and did not stop to bury their
dead, but piled them up in their winding sheets by the way side in heaps
of five and six together, and the road was strewn with the dead, until it
was awful and horrible in the extreme to behold; so say those who wit-
nessed it. These companies had over 60,000 head of cattle and horses,
and if the history of those companies does not tell a tale for the re-
corder before they reach the gold diggings, then I am mistaken. Thous-
ands of their cattle died before they got to the Black Hills, and many
men, and some thousands, are returning back. Cholera has been fatal at
Alton, Quincy, Carthage, and many parts of Ill. About 5,000 deaths at
Cincinnati by it; about 50 deaths daily in Philadelphia and New York. It
has ranged in Boston from 10 to 78 deaths daily, 78 being the highest
number. It is still all around us, but on the decrease. It has been
very fatal on the southern plantations; one man, out of forty blacks,
lost thirty-nine. Many noted men have fallen this summer by the cholera,
among whom are President Polk, General Gains, Worth, Col. Harding, Mrs.
Madison. President Taylor has been attacked, but got better. The chol^-^
era is also raging at the present time, through England, Paris, and most
of Europe. Many deaths are on most of the emigrant ships now landing at
New York. There has been but few deaths among the Saints, considering
the many who have been among it. Capt. Jones and Spencer left Liverpool
in February with a fleet of six ships, with about 1500 Saints. All land^-^
ed safe at New Orleans, and went from there to Council Bluffs in the
midst of the worst time of the cholera. There was about fifty deaths
out of the whole number, mostly on the Missouri River. Jones and Spen-
cer are on their way to the valley. I do not know what success the
Saints will have this season in crossing the mountains, as I should not
think there would be grass enough through the Black Hills for the animals
of the gold diggers alone to stand three tier deep upon. George A.
Smith and E. T. Benson have gone with companies to the valley. Elder
Hyde is left at the Bluffs, still printing the papers and counselling the
people. The Sa[i]nts at Pottawatomie Co. have escaped the cholera this
season, while it has been all around them. Sanducky City, Ohio, had a
population of 4,000, was entirely depopulated with the cholera, until
there was not 400 left; every doctor, lawyer and priest in the place,
with most of the population, died. There was none to attend to the sick
or bury the dead, and the last account, many remained in their houses un-
buried. There have been many calamities taking place in the States
since you left. A mob of some 20,000 gathered at the Astor Place The-
atre, broke in the doors and windows, was fired upon by the military, 25
killed, 50 wounded. Large mobs in Philadelphia once a month, more or
less killed. More than one half of the business part of the City of St.
Louis, Mo, is laid in ashes. It burned 600 ^six^ hundred stores and dwellings,
all the insurance offices, five banking houses, telegraph office, 25
steam boats, and a loss of six million ($6,000,000) dollars. They have
had another fire since; several steam boats and dwellings burned; a mob
raised; some lives lost; the cholera followed the fire, and laid its
thousands in the grave. The Levee at New Orleans has been under water
broke away this spring, and New Orleans has been under water more than a
month, and the loss of property been immense. Watertown, New York, is
burned up. Also $60,000 worth of Milwa^u^kie is also burned, and large
fires in almost every town; many fires in Cambridgeport since you left.
I have just returned from a mission of two months in New Brunswick, Mir-
amichi, Prince Edward's Island, Nova Scotia, &c., and I have seen two
hundred miles square of those provinces either burned over this spring or
burning while I was there. Such fires were never known in that country.
No rain in that country from April to August, and the fires got into the
forest, and burned hundreds of miles over, sweeping fences, dwellings,
barns, mill^s^, lumber yards, towns, cities, &c., all before it, in some in-
stances driving the entire population on to the beach or into the sea. It
seems as though nearly the whole country was ruined, and the fires not
bringing trouble enough, the people have risen in mobs, burned the Par-
liament houses, and government property, stoned and egged the Governor,
and the people seem bent on burning up everything that is left, and kill-
ing each other. The day before I got to St. John's a company of Orange
men were marching in procession, were stoned by the Catholics, a fight
ensued; about twenty were killed and twice that number wounded. They
fought with stones, clubs, rifles, muskets, &c. I was on the ground on
the occasion, and the doors and windows were riddled with bullets and
slugs. The people were much excited the day I was there. I found the
whole country through which I travelled in a horrid state; the people in
a state of starvation. No business going on; all trying to go to the
states for better. The people were leaving with their packs on their
backs. I had a hard journey through that country; was sick part of the
time. I spent one week very pleasantly with Capt. Joseph Russell, of
Miramichi. He owns the whole Island he is on; has expended some $30,00^0^
in buildings; says he will sell the whole at auction on the 5th of Sep-
tember if he does not get ^£^50 for it. He has three new ships not sold,
about 700 tons each, which he will sell in Liverpool market; will go
from Council Bluffs to the valley one year from next spring. He sent up
to brother Hyde of late ^£^330 to help meet those merchant debts. His son,
who held the office of a Priest in the Church, died of late with the con-
sumption, strong in the faith. He has now but two sons living. I
baptized one of them; the other will be baptized by his father, who is
an Elder and presiding over a small branch of the Church, and has a chap-
el in his own house. Brother Russell went with me to Prince Edward's
Island. We called upon William and John Maxfield; both have large
farms, but cannot sell them for anything. John Maxfield's mills have
shared the fate of others in that country, been burned to the ground by
the sweeping fires; they saved their dwellings. Property in the prov-
inces will hardly bring cash at any price at the present time, and pros-
pect of it being worse. I ordained William Maxfield an Elder, and ap-
pointed him to preside over the branch there, of 32 members. There are
but four members left in Charlottetown. I sent word to brother and sis-
ter Foss not to depend upon the fifty dollars left ba^y^ Giddle, until you
returned, for I did not think your family ought to be troubled with it
while you were gone. I did not find but few Saints in that country.
Brother Russell made particular enquiry about your welfare. Sister Bad-
lam may have named to you, in her last letter, that sister Bride died of
late at St. Louis, of cholera. Sister Sayers was with sister ^Sabra^ Granger
when she died. Sister Sayers is well and gone to the valley.
I had an interview, while at New York, with Elder Thomas Brown, from
Liverpool. He paid the fare of 42 families to the Bluffs, and one lady
of Wales paid the fare of 70 families, who went with Capt. Jones. Bro.
Brown sent up 10,000 dollars worth of goods to the Bluffs. When he left
they were baptizing about 1,000 per month in that land. There has been
some terrible ship wrecks on the Atlantic this season. Two ships de-
stroyed by icebergs; 60 froze to death in one night on the ice. Anoth-
er vessel about 200 lives lost. The last trip of the Europa had a col-
lission with a Boston ship loaded with emigrants; the ship sank in four
minutes, 134 lost, 50 killed in the concussion. Many steamboat disas-
ters, and many lives lost on the lakes and rivers, and many railroad dis-
asters. You recollect Sidney Roberts writing a letter to you. He
palmed himself off on the churches as being sent to collect money for the
poor. He collected several hundred dollars, got $70 out of the small
branch in Fair Haven, Ct. Quite a number have been baptized through the
various branches in this country this season. Little and Hardy are
still carrying on their merchandize, but all branches of business are
dull. Brother Barnes lost his youngest child of late. Brother Cannon
has had a good run of business this season; has moved to Cambridgeport
near me. Brother Bird has been dangerously sick for few days, is now
getting about again.
The wars of Europe are still raging with great fury. The French
troops have finally entered Rome. The Hungarian armies are defeating
the united armies of Russia and Austria. Fifty-two thousand Jews are
now fighting with the Hungarians, against the Russians. The Jews have
now Rabbis in America collecting money to lay the foundation of their
temple in Jerusalem. The signs of the times are big with events at the
present day. As concerning your family since you have been gone, I will
say I think they have got along very well, as far as I know; they have
mostly had good health. Alexander was attacked very suddenly with vom-
iting and other sickness. I administered to him by anointing of oil,
laying on of hands and prayer. He was well next day. I dont know of
any other sickness in the family. I have been gone from home so much,
I have not been able to call upon them as much as I would like to. When-
ever I have had an opportunity I have enquired into their circumstances.
I do not think they have had an opportunity of selling but very little
varnish since you went away. I told sister Badlam to let me know her
wants, and I would divide with her. My means has been very limited this
season. I have had as much as I could do to meet my rent, get bread for
my family, and pay my travelling bills. She has never called upon me
for means, only in two or three instances, and then for a little change.
I have always given double the amount called for, and the whole of it put
together would hardly have bought a breakfast at San Francisco. A few
days since she called for twenty five cents, and Mrs. Woodruff gave her
fifty cents, and I gave her $5.00. I wish it had been a hundred, for
I have no doubt that they needed it, but he that has not got cannot give.
Mary had a [blank] little party last evening, and Rhoda and Phebe Foss,
Mrs. Woodruff's nieces, who are at our house, attended, as Mary was going
away on a visit for a while down to Cohasset. Mr. Mc.Clare has conveyed
an idea to me that he intended to assist your family while you were gone,
but do not expect that he has done much yet, except perhaps attending to
some bill or two which was due. Mr. McClane and family have resided in
your house through the summer, which makes company for the family while
they are alone. When I ask sister Badlam how she gets along, she says,
"I have not lacked anything yet, but do not know how long [blank] I
think if your circumstances would admit of your making some re[blank]
[blank] this fall for their benefit through the winter, it would be
well. If their varnish [blank] up and they could find sale
for it, they would get along well, but they do [blank] find market
for it. [blank] I should like to spend a few days with you at San
Francisco or wherever you are, and take a view of the gold country with
you. I hope and believe you will prosper and return again in safety to
your family. You say that brother Amasa Lyman has arrived in San Fran-
cisco. If you see him after you receive this, give my love to him, and
take a good share yourself.
Remember me to S. Brannan, Calvin I^J^. Foss, or any of my acquaintan-
ces around. (Sister Foss wishes to be remembered to you, and wishes you
to say to her son Calvin J. Foss, if you see him, that she is well and all
the family, that Rhoda and Phebe have got through their dress making
trade in Boston, are now working for wages, and talk of setting up the
business at brother Woodruff's house, to raise some money to pay their
fare to California. Father Carter and family are well). Mrs. Woodruff
wishes to be remembered to you. She says she remembers the promise she
made you when you left, and often remembers you, and believes you will
prosper, and return in safety to your family. She says she often sees
sister Badlam, says she keeps up good courage, and gets along well. I
have lately seen the Epistle of the Presidency, which gives an account of
all affairs in the valley, the expected location of some of the Twelve,
&c. I see, from late accounts, that there is much trouble with the In-
dians in Texas, Florida, Arkansaw, and the western tribes. The gold
companies in the western plains have had several fights with the Pawnees
and Sioux, and some killed on both sides.
But I must draw to a close. I have touched upon a number of items
in this sheet that may not be any news to you, and I have scribbled it
in such a way, I do not know as you will be able to read it at all. I
should be pleased to hear from you as often as you feel at liberty, and
able to write. Many are anxious to hear your letters. I will endeavor
to remember you when I go before the Lord. I also wish an interest in
your prayers. I have never seen a time in my day when there has been
such a flood of prophecy and revelation fulfilling as at the present time.
I hope and trust we may live in such a manner as to be prepared for the
events which are rolling like a flood upon the earth, and are startling
to the nations in very deed. I pray that this sheet may reach you in
safety. And that the God of [illegible] Israel will prosper you in your
laudable undertaking, keep you from all harm and danger, return you in
safety to the bosom of your family, is the prayer of your brother and
friend in the kingdom of God,
Wilford Woodruff.
Aug. 23, 1849
Wilford Woodruff
to Alexander Badlam.