. At Alfred Cordon’s, Club buildings, Navigation road, Burslem, Staffordshire, England.
My Dear Phebe
While seated in a foreign land I once more take up my pen to fill a sheet for your perusal
May grace, mercy, faith, peace, health, strength, & patience & resignation, rest upon you from GOD our Father & our LORD
JESUS CHRIST. I have chosen a large sheet because I have much I wish to say unto you. I sent you a letter
when I first arived in Liverpool but had not time to write but few words but merly designed you to know of my arival
But knowing that you feel interested in my mission. I will coppy from my journal in this letter an account of my
voyage & travels since I left New York to the present time, & then make such other remarks as I may have room. Dec 18th, 1839
in New York. I laboured hard all day to prepare for sailing. Three of us went on board (with our Baggage) of the Oxford a regular
packet ship of the New York & Liverpool line. viz Elders Taylor, Turley & myself, we slept on board. 19th The Oxford left the dock &
moved out into the stream. 20th At 12 oclock she spread her canvass & set sail, was assisted a few miles by a steam Boat.
She had on board 15 cabin & 64 steerage passengers & Capt John Rathbone, 1st Mate Yates, 2nd mate Jones, one carpenter & 26 sailors, making
109 souls in all. Cabin fare $1.40 dollars steerage $15. Fair wind & sail well. 21st stift breeze & fair wind most all
on board sea sick. 22nd Most are still sick Taylor, Turley, & myself some sick, a high wind through the day & a high gale at
night, Boat rocked & pitched Badly. 23rd Sea vary rough & winds high, some still sick 24th Sea mountains high & as
rough as the Hills & valies of Kirtland. when we were in the trough of the sea, the waters would appear to be an hundred feet
above us in the air, the waters broke over the ship, & I got vary wet, & as their was no fire to go to except to cook by, I sat on
deck in the wind untill late in the evening to get dry, & though it was winter it was not vary cold. 25th A calm in the mo
rning, the ship rocked bad upon the dead swells, wind soon rose & we sailed well 26th A rough sea & strong Breeze. 27th fair
winds, but some short squals. got over sea sickness, have a sharp appetite 28th Rough sea saw a large school of Black
fish & porposes. 29th pleasant morning & high breeze though the day. 30th A rough sea severe gale at night. it was with diffi-
culty we could keep our births, while at the same time, Boxes, Barrels, & trunks were tumbling about the cabins. This
with the noise of the Officers, & sailors reefing & taking in sail, together with the sound of the roaring winds & rushing waves
made much confusion. 31st Sea rough, sails under class reef, cloudy weather. This is the Last Day of 1839. Their is
not much to interest the mind while taking a voyage at sea. (excepting the roo^ll^ing [P]illows which are magestic) for one
is frecquently for many days without the sight of land or ever seeing a sail at sea, & must be crouded thick
together in a cabin or stay upon dek in the spray, wind, or storm &c. JAN. 1st 1840. So time rolls along
rough sea, blustering, cloudy, & high winds 2nd The sun rose clear, it being the first time we have seen it for 5 days
we have a calm, a sail is in sight, the first one we have seen since we left New York it is stern of us. 3rd Fair & good breeze
sail 12 miles an hour. We spoke a British Brigg from Halifax 20 days at sea bound for Liverpool in Long. 34.40. We past her
with great speed. 4th Fair weather & wind, stiff Breeze & fast sailing. They had a time of butchering hogs & sheep on board.
5th rough sea, high winds, & rain. We saw a large school of porposes. A calm & pleasant evening which we spent on deck
viewing the stars & Ocean. 6th A calm we have 12 sails spread. 7th A dead calm to day in Lon. 17.40 The passengers shot a number
of fowls which fell dead into the water. We spoke a Scottish Bark from Leith Scotland bound for Granada a west Indies Island 7 days at
sea. We saw a large school of Black fish some of them were 20 feet in length. 8th a good wind. a lighted bar Barrel was sat afloat
from the ship at night which appeared Brilliant at sea. Jan 9th cloudy & cold. smooth sea & fair breeze. We are about enter-
ing the St George’s channel. !!! Ho !!! Ho the cry of land land is herd from mast head. We went on to the forecastle & after straining our
eyes for a few moments we got sight of it. It was the Irish Coast lying 3 points to our lee bow. this is the first land we have seen for 20
days. At 8 oclock PM the revolving lamp at the lighthouse a cape clear came in full view. 10th The mountains of the Irish
coast, & also 6 or 7 sail is in ful view weather cloudy, & rather cold. We walked the deck untill 9 oclock viewing the light
houses &c. 11th We had a heavy gale commenced at one oclok in the morning. We were in danger having the Irish coast on one side
^the^ coast &^of^ wales on the other. their was a great bustle & noise on board from the captain, Mates, sailors, winds & waves &c. We
reached the pilote ground at daylight & raised colours for a pilot... a pilot Boat soon appea[r]ed & came along side & sent a pilot
on board of us, who arived in the midst of the gale. The pilot informed the captain that the steam ship Liverpool had not
yet arived & she left New York 5 days befor[e] we did. & that the packet ship Independance had not reached Liverpool & she left
New York 10 days before us. This intelligence created a great shout of rejoicings on board the ship, for it was the first time
that they had known a steam ship, beaten by a packet ship. but the intelligence was no sooner commun[ic]ated
before the steam ship Liverpool [here] in sight behind us & was gaining upon us. The pilot ordered the sails to be
unreefed notwithstanding it was blowing or gale & we were soon out of sight of the Liverpool again. We had not
sailed but a short time with this speed before the town of Liverpool in England was in sight & an English steam
Boat soon came & took us in tow & soon brought us along side of the quay in Liverpool upon which stood
thousands of human beings looking to see us land. the steam ship Liverpool came up just as we landed
& fired two salutes of cannon at us as she past by. & Also the packet ship Independance came in in a few
minutes after. It was truly a singular circumstance that the Oxford, steam ship Liverpool, & Independance should
all reach the quay at Liverpool within 20 minutes of each other, when one left N.Y. 5 days & the other 10 before the Oxford
but so it was… Thus you see after 22 days sail we arived safe in Liverpool in good health & spirits & for the first time
I began to tread the soil in Old England. We took a walk into the streets of Liverpool. & visited some of the
most Noted places of the Town, such as New Market, Custom House, Lord Nelsons Monument, &c. all of which
were splendid. The Market contained a vast variety of evry kind of meats, fish, fowls, & vegitables that I ever saw
The Custom House was built of hewn stone in the form of an H and covered four acres of grouned. Lord Nelson’s
Monument is all of Brass about 14 feet high & 3 rods around it their is 4 large personages as large as life with a chain
around their necks ^hands^ with one end of it in the mouth of a Lion, these are 4 Kings that Lord Nelson subdued in his day.
Lord Nelson stands above those 4 Kings holding 4 crowns [FIGURES] in his hand, & death stands by his side partly covered
with a shroud with one hand upon his Body. these are some of the prominent features of Lord Nelsons monument though
there are others of miner consequence. He was killed in batle while commanding his fleet, his monument is much
Noted in England. Their is not as much taste in general in pollishing, painting, & garnishing the out side of the buil-
-ldings in the cities & towns in England as in America, but they build more for duribility, their buildings are
far more expensive than in America, for they are composed of vast masses of huge stone or brick, though some of their
buildings are far more spe^l^ended than those of America. Their is one thing vary disagreeable throughout England, the whole
hemisphere or air is filled with smoke, smut, & gases, that rise from the dens population & burning of coal &c., the air
is vary heavy & bad for the lungs, but the weather is not cold as in America, it is quite mild weather notwithstanding
England is in 51 to 55 degrees North Lat I have not seen a flake of snow since I left New York is^t^ is 3,500 miles from New York to
Liverpool. Jan 12 Sunday I attended meeting at St Pauls Church, St Thomases Church which is the church of England I thought it vary
singular to hear the Rector's, & Curit’s preach against a form of Godliness without the power theirof & professing religion without
having the fruits of it. while perhaps their is no people more formal than themselves. In the evening I attended meeting at
Pitt street methodist chapel, the speaker appeared quite co[z]y & simple in his manners. All of the above named churches were
quite splendid with the pulpit or stand in or near the centre of the house which is the english custom. Another thing
has attracted my attention while visiting public places in England ie a great plainness of dress with both rich & poor
male & female, their cloth may be equ⬦ally as good if not better than that worn in America but they do not appear
as tasty & flashy. I think the Americans pattern more after the French than English in their dress. The Encllish deposit
their dead in vaults in the church yard & them lay the grave stons flat upon the ground over their dead which forms a
pavement to walk upon so you walk over the ded as you go in & out of church. Jan 13th Monday our trunks had to be
taken from the ship & go to the custom Hou⬦se & by examined by the Officer. & after much jaming, crouding and
rocking about, we were permitted to depart with our trunks & baggage after paying 16 ^pence^ sterling on evry pound of Books &
papers that were American that we had with us. We then took the rail road at Liverpool for preston. & for the first mile the cars
run under ground on a track that was cut out of a solid Rock, while buildings & inhabitants were over our heads. The cars
run rapid in England. we arived in Preston, Lancashire, England. at 8 oclok P.M on this 13th day of Jan 1840 in the midst of the Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints & I soon had Elder W. Richards by the hand & it was truly a happy meeting. I felt to rejoice to once
more behold this Brother face to face & all the Saints who flocked around us with great rejoicings, after spending most of the night in con
versation I retired to rest. 14th Preston contains a population of 60,000 the streets are crouded with the poor going to & from the
the factories wearing wooden or clog shoes which makes a great ratling over the pavement. The poor here in England I should
think were under as great Bondage as the children of Egypt Israel in Egypt. We held a council at Elder Richards house in
Preston on Jan 17th & the following was one of the Resolutions post. Resolved that Elder's John Tailor & Joseph Fielding go to Liverpool &
Elders Hiram Clark & Wm Clayton labour in Manchester & Elder Willi^a^rd Richards tarry in Preston & its neighbourhood & Willford
Woodruff & Theadore Turley go to the Potteries & warn the People in that place & then inquire the mind of the Lord & if it is his will go
to Birmingham. The potteries contain a population of 65,000 persons & Birmingham 300,000 & the place is larger than New york
& is in the centre of England 18th I took the parting hand with the Saints in Preston & in company with Elders Turley and
Clark took the rail car & rode to Manchester 36 miles whare we were soon greeted by Elder William Clayton & many Saints.
Manchester is a vary beatiful Town containing a Pop of 280,000 souls & is as large as New york on the ground. It already has a
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in it, with 164 members & the work still rolling on. It is the Metropolis of the cotton
manifactoring district in England. I had not been in the place but a few minutes before I was called upon with my Brother
to visit a sister possessed with the devil & a burning fever. When we arived at the house she was in great rage & required 3 or 4 men
to keep her from taring herself to peaces. We lade hands upon her & commanded the devil to come out of her in the name of
Jesus Christ & also rebuked the fever & after a mighty struggle the devil came out of her, & the fever left her, & she was come [calm]
& composed. The devel entered into her child next morning & made it stiff as a stake. we lade hands upon the child & rebu[k]ed
the devil in the name of Jesus Christ & he instantly came out & the child fell asleep, & the woman attended meeting during the day
I do not speak of these things boasting, but thank my Heavenly Father that he is rebuking the devourer for our sakes. 19th
Sunday I preached to day in Manchester to a crouded congregation, it is the first time that I have preached the gospel in England
the people gave good attention, many that were sick came forward to be healed, we lade hands upon 20 most of which were
healed. The ordinance of Baptism was also administered. Jan 21st I left Manchester & in company with Elder Turley took coach
& road (on the outside as the custom is) through Stockport, Mackelsfield, Congleton, Tunstell, & to Burslem at the Potteries & spent the night with Elder Alfred Corden
This is our place of labour for a few days or weeks. I am now in the midst if the Potteries which are so noted in England whare most
of the English china, crockery & stone were ware is made Pop. 65,000. Their ^x^ is an Elder lives in this town by the name of Alfred Cordon
he went 40 miles to recieve the work & be baptzed & was ordained an Elder. he works in the potter^i^es in Burslem 6 days in a
week for his daily bread & preaches evry evening in a week & 3 times on Sunday & he has alredy a little flock of Saints of
66 in number around him. When We arived in England we found the churches under excellent order & dissipline; the Saints
have the utmost confidence in their Elders, knowing they are the servants of God. consequently they give strict heed to their
teachings. We soon expect most of the Twee^l^ve in this country. We shall then hold a general conference, & my prayer to God is
that all of the Quorum of the Twelve that come^c^ome from America will have means to come soon & labour while the day last
for I believe that what we do in Old England must be done quickly. Elders Mullenner & Wright are in Scotland have began
to preach & to Baptize. Elder Wright has had the small pox since he went to Scotland, & the doctors told him to take medicine
& keep warm or die, but he took no medicine continued to go about his business was but little sick & soon got well. persecution
does not rage much yet in England, sometimes the Elders get the candlesticks & candles flung at their heads while preaching &
occasionally stoned in the streets but in general good attention is paid. Jan 24 I preached in the town of Stoke Elder Turley followed
me two were Baptzed. 25th Sunday I preached in Burslem & Elder Turley in Hanley. We Baptzed 3 persons. We have crouded & att[en]ti[ve]
congregations. We have now sent out appointments in a number of new places in the adjoining towns. We have found
it to be the will of God to open a door immediately in Birmingham which is about 50 miles from these potteries, one of us will
go there day after tomorrow probably Elder Turley, we are determined to immediately erect the standard in evry town from the
potteries to Birmingham which is a number of large towns & vary populous & whare they have not as yet herd the
word at all, But it will give at least one million of souls the privili^e^ge of hearing the word. I think some of making
Birmingham my stand for labour for a seasons as it is mear the centre of England & contains a large number of inha
bitants & will open a vast field of labour beteen the potteries & Birmingham. & we have already given out appointments part
of the way. My Dear Wife As I have taken up most of this sheet in giving you an account of our journey & of the country
&c. I will now give some general remarks concerning the signs of the times & the vineyard of the Lord in this Eastern
country. Signs, wonders, & fearful sights are appearing, & the words of the Ancient & modern Prophets are fulfillings in this land
Eearthquakes are following each other in quick succession, fires are vary frecquent. A great light lately appeared in London
so that the fireman with their Engines rushed to one part of the city supposed it to be on fire but found it to be in
the heavens. At Kanturk Dec 26, 1839 300 acres of Col Lonford’s bog land rose up from its mighty bed & travled with the rapidity
of a steam Engine for the distance of a steam 4 miles through the country carrying destruction in its progress rising in
angry surges like the ungovernable sea heaving from 10 to 30 feet of Earth upon the land in many places as it past over
& in addition to these & many other signs awful awful is the state of things thoroughout England, hundreds of thousands
of people have met together in different places against the government or determined to have a reform in the
government they are called chartist or radicals. the Queen & parliment depend upon the Ma^i^litia to
to protect them, & they have to be vary busy to break up the plots which are lade to break out in a civel
war. Thousands are in a state of almost utter starvation, whole families are going th[r]ough the streets begging
Bread from dore to dore. hundreds of people in one town will be turned out of the factories & out of
Employ & bread in one day, & I see them standing in large groups at the corners of the streets consulting
what to do, & in fact the whole face of the Earth is ripened in iniquity & sin as well as trouble & distress
& it appears as though the earth was ownly spared for a little season that the worning voice may go
through. The English Publications of late have given an account of the excitement of the Radical question &c.
for my part I have nothing to do with any of these matters of the government any further than to exhort
the Saints to be as quiet as possible & be subject to the Laws of the Land & the powers that be. but it
requires the greatest of prudence & wisdom to hold public meetings & do the work of God in this country at the present
time & under the present state of things. But I believe the harvest of Old England is fully ripe & must spedily be
be reapted if the wheat is sowed. & God is a[s]sisting his servents in this country, & the work is begining to roll forth
more & more whare it is faithfully proclaimed & signs do truly follow believers for which we feel thankful. I
believe that churches will spedily be esstablished in London, Liverpool, Birmingham & that all of the capitol
places of England will hear the sound of the gospel of Jesus Christ. There appears to be many looking for truth
to come forth from some quarter & they appear willing to hear, receive & imbrace it when it comes unto
them & while we are preaching & baptizing such as shall be saved in England our Brethren have also began to
preach & baptize in Scotland & thus the work rolls on. pray for us that our work may be finished spedily
that truth may prevail upon the face of the earth. We hold a meeting every evening in a week & several times on the
Sabbath & baptize almost daily. Jan 27th I preached last night in Burslem to a crowded congregation & a man
came forward with two constables as I was informed to keep the peace while he read a pamphlet containing Mormon-
ism unveiled W Parish’s letters P. P. Pratts letters, signed Luke Johnson, & John F Boyanton [Boynton]. &c &c I was informed
the man was a Methodist preacher & brought the constables with him because he feared the people. We helped him
to read it what we could by giving him lights, & water to quench his thirst. I think on the whole it did no injury
I answered him when he got through, & the people herd my answer with attention. All stories & reports that were
afloat in America are now going the rounds in England, but they will ownly stir the people up to come
out & hear &c. but I will leave this part of the subject. I have many things I wish to say to you, but
you see that I have touched upon a variety of things appertaining to my journey, the country & the vine
yard of the Lord &c in this land. B[u]t I will now say that I feel exceding anxious to hear from you
by some means or other, yes my desire to recceve a letter from you is vary great. for I have never recceved
but one letter from you since I left Montrose the 8th day of last August, I have written 7 or
8 letters to you since I left you how many of them you have obtained I know not. I feel vary
anxious to hear from you & Sarah Emma & also about the Church around you, perhaps you may
have written some letters that may be on the way that I may yet get I hope this is the case. I want
you to write as soon as you get this, wont you & give me an account of all matters & things
with you & Sarah, how your health is, & how you get along for help; food & rament, is their war between
Missouri & Ioway, tell all the news of a National character, I herd New Orleans was destroyed by
the Mississppi River is it so, how is the Saints getting along in Montrose, Lovely Street, & Commerce
tell me all about it. are they publishing the times & Seasons. give my respects to all the friend[s]
in Lovely Street, Mo[n]trose, & Commerce as far as you have an opportunity. Elder T[aylor] [page torn]
sent a letter home [to] [page torn] his family a few days since in Commerce. I expect Elder Taylor h[as] [page torn]
written to his family by this time. Remember me to all of our friends unto who you [page torn]
write. I shall not have time to send many as lengthy letters as this to America, but I shall endea
vour to give you an account of all important matters with me. & I hope you will write to
[m]e a[s] often as you can conveneintly please drect your next letter to Mr Willford Woodruff
in care of Alfred Cordon ^Club Buildings^ Navigation road at Mr Godwin’s works, Burslem, Staffordshire England. It is a long direc^t^ion
I know but it is my place of address at present, please pay the postage to New York or it will not come
but if paid there it will come safe. I will also pay the postage on the letters that I write to you as far as N.Y.
also. I will direct this letter to Commerce Illinois & diret the post Master to inform you of it
I do this lest their should be some difficulty about the post Office at Montrose. I do not value the writing
of a lengthy letter letter like this if you ownly obtain it. & I do pray my heavenly Father that you may
obtain this letter. & that it may n[o]t [page torn] be written in vain. Phebe I hope I shall continue to share in
your prayers, remember me consta[n]tly [page torn] at the Throne of grace that I may have Wisdom, grace, & fa[ith] [page torn]
according to my day: & I do pray the Lord to Bless you, with health & strength & suppoort you in
the midst of all troubles, trials, temptations, afflictions & distress untill the end come when we may
enter unto that rest together which remains for the people of God. Jan 29th I held a meeting last evening in New Castle & preached to an attentive congregation one offered himself for Baptzm. I have this morning visited
the large silk factory in New Castle & seen them make silks from the ball or raw article to the weavers loom
whare ribbons, sattins, & silks, are finished. I have since walked to Burslem 3 miles though Parks, lanes, fields, & while the sun
shines beatiful & pleasant, the parks, walks, & fields, are as green as they would be in the month of May in America. I sit
down this morning to finish this Letter as I cannot write as lengthy letter as this at once for I am broke
of by many calls, so I have had several spells about it. & now Phebe wont you sit down & do so by me give
me a kind of a journal or history of all things with you & Sarah. E. since I left you ie if you are able, git
a large sheet & fill it full. I want to know about the sickness & who is dead. & what Joseph & Sidney done at Washington
& what the prospect is concerning the Church & its progress in America. What news have you from our friends
in Maine remember me to all of Father Carters family when you write. I do not know that you will be able to
read all of this letter but make it out as well as you can. please keep this letter & not lose it as I shall wish
to see it when I come home. I do not yet know how long my mission will be in England but I calculate to
labour faithfully while I do labour that I may the sooner get through & again meet with my family
But my Dear Friend & Companion let us try to be resigned to the will of God in all things relative to our seperation
for a season, for it is to do the work of God, to fill a responsible station in preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ
& warn the people of this generation, & prune the vineyard once more, that the children of God may be pre-
[page torn] [-pai]red for the coming of the Son of Man. & if we are faithful in this great work, & do the will of Jesus Christ & are
wise stewards over the things commtted to our charge, the war will soon be ended & the victory won, then how
sweet will be our rest, how great our glory, how rich our reward & how Eternal our happiness. & May the Lord
Jesus Christ intercede for us, & all Saints that we may overcome through the Blood of the Lamb that when he
comes we may be like him & reign with him upon the Earth which may our Heavenly Father grant for Christs sake Amen
I remain forever your Companion & Friend
Willford Woodruff
Phebe W. Woodruff
Mr's Phebe W. Woodruff
Commerce, Hancock County
Illinois. North America
One sheet ownly, Single letter
Will the post Master Please inform Mr's Woodruff of this letter
^27^
[stamp in black ink]
BURSLE[M]
[stamp in red ink]
NEW - Y[OR]K
SHIP
MAR
18
[stamp in black ink]
NEWCASTLE-UNDER-LY[ME]
J⬦⬦⬦
1840
[upside-down text] Willford Woodruff Jan 29 1840
Burslem Staffordshire England [end of upside-down text]