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Letter from Wilford Woodruff and Jonathan H. Hale, 18 September 1837

Source Note

and , Letter, Vinalhaven, Fox Islands, Hancock Co., ME, to JS and “the Church of Latter Day Saints,” , Geauga Co., OH, 18 Sept. 1837. Featured version published in “To Joseph Smith Jr. and the Church of Latter Day Saints,” Elders’ Journal of the Church of Latter Day Saints, Oct. 1837, 1–3. For more complete source information, see the source note for Elders’ Journal, Oct. 1837.

Historical Introduction

On 31 May 1837, , , and , all members of the of the , departed , Ohio, to preach in “the eastern country.” Over the next three and a half months, the men proselytized in communities in , , , , New Hampshire, and . Then in late August, Woodruff and Hale made their way to the , an archipelago off the coast of southern Maine, where they preached, , and eventually established a small of the . On 18 September 1837, the pair sent a letter to JS and the church reporting on their travels and missionary efforts. The letter was published in the October 1837 issue of the Elders’ Journal.
, , and set off for their eastern mission amid social and economic turmoil in and two weeks before and others departed on a mission to . In a reminiscent account published two decades later, Woodruff recalled that he had “felt impressed to go out upon a mission; the Spirit was upon me, and lead me to go to ; it was a country I had never visited. I named my feelings upon the subject to Kimball, and others; they encouraged me to go.” Woodruff’s desire to preach in the Fox Islands may have been related to an blessing given to him by in January 1837, in which Woodruff was told that he would preach “to the inhabitants upon the Islands of the Sea.” Woodruff recounted that he handpicked Hale to accompany him. Unlike Woodruff, Hale—who was baptized in 1834 and had presided over a branch of the church in Dover, New Hampshire—had firsthand knowledge of the Fox Islands.
The missionaries’ indirect course to was likely influenced by their desire to preach to and visit with family members scattered throughout the region. As they trekked across in early June, for example, stopped in his former home of Richland, where he reunited with his two older brothers, Azmon and Thompson. While preaching near his childhood home in Farmington, Connecticut, Woodruff visited his younger sister, Eunice, and his father, Aphek; he also baptized members of his extended family. In July, and Woodruff preached near Hale’s childhood home of Bradford, Massachusetts, where Hale visited with members of his extended family; was also from the area and visited family there. Phebe Carter Woodruff, who had married Wilford in April 1837, joined the missionaries in Bradford as well, and in early August she accompanied her husband to her hometown of Scarborough, Maine, where Woodruff preached and spent two weeks becoming acquainted with his new bride’s family.
The letter to JS and the church briefly summarized the missionaries’ three-month journey to , but most of the communication was devoted to and ’s activities on the . Rising from southern Maine’s Penobscot Bay, the Fox Island archipelago—comprising two larger islands and dozens of smaller islets—is situated twelve miles off the coast of Rockland. North Fox Island, known today as North Haven, exhibits a relatively flat topography that during the mid-1830s was sparsely wooded and largely dominated by open pastures and farmland. Characterized by its granite-covered hills, rocky shoreline, and woods of pine, fir, and spruce, South Fox Island (or Vinalhaven today) was not as suitable for agriculture; early nineteenth-century residents of this island instead made a living through logging, shipbuilding, and fishing. During Woodruff and Hale’s time there, the islands were collectively known as Vinalhaven Township.
On 18 August, and departed Scarborough, Maine, “for the purpose of visiting the Islands of the Sea.” After obtaining passage on a small sloop that launched from Owls Head, near Rockland, on 19 August, they arrived on the north island at two o’clock the next morning. Later that day, the two men attended a Sunday service at the island’s lone Baptist church, where they became acquainted with the minister, Gideon Newton. Newton initially welcomed the two preachers into his home and allowed them to use the meetinghouse to preach their message. Woodruff and Hale preached in various locations during their first two weeks on the north island, including in the Baptist meetinghouse, local schoolhouses, and private residences, and they apparently gained influence among the local inhabitants. As the island’s residents began to embrace their message, however, Newton’s attitude toward Woodruff and Hale soured. According to the missionaries’ journals, the minister’s congregation shrunk substantially by late August, and he organized a campaign to stem the Mormon preachers’ influence in the islands. In early September, Newton enlisted the help of the south island’s Methodist minister, a Mr. Douglass, to, as Woodruff put it, “come over and help him put down ‘Mormonism.’” Newton later traveled to the mainland to recruit two more ministers to aid in that endeavor. In a letter printed in a local Baptist publication, Newton recounted that the ministers then held a series of revival meetings on the north island, during which some of the residents “who stood aloof from hearing the Mormons” eventually “obtained a hope” and were baptized into the Baptist congregation.
Despite this opposition, and continued to preach and baptize on both the north and the south island. The men addressed a large congregation on the north island in early September, after which Justus Eames and his wife, Betsy, became the first residents of Vinalhaven to be baptized into the church. On 4 September, the two missionaries boarded a sailboat, crossed the narrow channel separating the two largest islands, and preached to an attentive crowd in one of the local schoolhouses. Woodruff and Hale preached to audiences on the south island for five days before returning to the north island. According to their journals, the pair had preached twenty-five sermons on the by 10 September. In response to the impassioned speech that the Methodist preacher Douglass gave on the north island on 11 September, Woodruff prepared and delivered a two-and-a-half-hour sermon at the Baptist church, attended by a large congregation of people from both islands. In just over one week, 10–17 September, Woodruff and Hale led six more of the islands’ residents “into the waters of Baptism.”

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Woodruff, Journal, 30–31 May 1837.

    Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

  2. [2]

    Holmes traveled with Woodruff and Hale as far as Connecticut before joining another companion to preach in a different region. He later rejoined Woodruff and Hale near his hometown of Rowley, Massachusetts. (Alexander, Things in Heaven and Earth, 57–58, 66; Woodruff, Journal, 23 July 1837.)

    Alexander, Thomas G. Things in Heaven and Earth: The Life and Times of Wilford Woodruff, a Mormon Prophet. Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1991.

    Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

  3. [3]

    Letter from Abel Lamb and Others, ca. 28 May 1837; Recommendation for Heber C. Kimball, between 2 and 13 June 1837.

  4. [4]

    “History of Wilford Woodruff,” Deseret News, 14 July 1858, 86.

    Deseret News. Salt Lake City. 1850–.

  5. [5]

    Woodruff, Journal, 3 Jan. 1837.

    Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

  6. [6]

    Wilford Woodruff, “Discourse,” 19 Oct. 1896, Deseret Weekly, 7 Nov. 1896, 643.

    Deseret News. Salt Lake City. 1850–.

  7. [7]

    An entry in Hale’s journal briefly refers to a trip he made to the Fox Islands in September 1834 to purchase a “vessel load of sheep.” (Hale, Reminiscences and Journal, 3.)

    Hale, Jonathan H. Reminiscences and Journals, 1837–1840. CHL.

  8. [8]

    Woodruff had been largely estranged from his brother Azmon since he left New York to participate in the Camp of Israel expedition in 1834. Azmon had been baptized but left the church shortly after Wilford departed for Missouri. The brothers exchanged letters in the years to follow, but Wilford’s enthusiasm for and devotion to his new faith appears to have only widened the gulf between them. When he arrived in Richland around 4 June 1837, he noted in his journal that he “found sumthing of a colness manifest toward me and my brethren because of our religion from my Brothers household especially from Elizabeth my Brothers wife.” Though Wilford was invited to eat with Azmon and his family, he was not invited to stay with them, so he boarded with a former neighbor. (Alexander, Things in Heaven and Earth, 32–33, 56–57; Woodruff, Journal, 31 Dec. 1833 and 4 June 1837.)

    Alexander, Thomas G. Things in Heaven and Earth: The Life and Times of Wilford Woodruff, a Mormon Prophet. Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1991.

    Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

  9. [9]

    Woodruff, Journal, 28 June–12 July 1837.

    Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

  10. [10]

    In the nine days he preached near Bradford (today part of Groveland and Haverhill) in July, Hale met with his sisters, his mother, his cousins, and the family of his wife, Olive Boynton Hale. Hale’s journal entries do not indicate whether any of them joined the church during the 1837 mission. (Hale, Reminiscences and Journal, 23–25.)

    Hale, Jonathan H. Reminiscences and Journals, 1837–1840. CHL.

  11. [11]

    Hale, Reminiscences and Journal, 25–27. On 13 April 1837 in Kirtland, Frederick G. Williams married Woodruff and Phebe Carter, a twenty-eight-year-old convert. (Woodruff, Journal, 13 Apr. 1837; Crocheron, Representative Women of Deseret, 35–36.)

    Hale, Jonathan H. Reminiscences and Journals, 1837–1840. CHL.

    Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

    Crocheron, Augusta Joyce. Representative Women of Deseret, a Book of Biographical Sketches, to Accompany the Picture Bearing the Same Title. Salt Lake City: J. C. Graham, 1884.

  12. [12]

    Brief Historical Sketch of the Town of Vinalhaven, 12–13, 28; Coolidge and Mansfield, History and Description of New England, 236, 334.

    A Brief Historical Sketch of the Town of Vinalhaven, from Its Earliest Known Settlement: Prepared by Order of the Town on the Occasion of Its One Hundredth Anniversary. Rockland, ME: By the authors, 1889.

    Coolidge, A. J., and J. B. Mansfield. A History and Description of New England, General and Local. Vol. 1, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. Boston: Austin J. Coolidge, 1859.

  13. [13]

    Woodruff, Journal, 18 Aug. 1837.

    Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

  14. [14]

    Hale, Reminiscences and Journal, 28–29; Woodruff, Journal, 18 Aug. 1837. Hale observed that “the people on the North Island are mostly Baptist Calvinist order the south island are mostly Methodist.” (Hale, Reminiscences and Journal, 29.)

    Hale, Jonathan H. Reminiscences and Journals, 1837–1840. CHL.

    Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

  15. [15]

    Hale, Reminiscences and Journal, 28–29; Woodruff, Journal, 20 Aug. 1837; “History of Wilford Woodruff,” Deseret News, 21 July 1858, 89.

    Hale, Jonathan H. Reminiscences and Journals, 1837–1840. CHL.

    Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

    Deseret News. Salt Lake City. 1850–.

  16. [16]

    Woodruff, Journal, 20 Aug.–3 Sept. 1837; Hale, Reminiscences and Journal, 28–35. In a letter printed in Zion’s Advocate, Newton stated, “The novelty of their [Woodruff and Hale’s] sentiments led many to hear them.” (Gideon Newton, “Revivals,” Zion’s Advocate, 25 Oct. 1837, 170.)

    Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

    Hale, Jonathan H. Reminiscences and Journals, 1837–1840. CHL.

    Zion’s Advocate. Portland, ME. 1828–1920.

  17. [17]

    Woodruff, Journal, 27 Aug. 1837. In an 1880s account of the mission, Woodruff observed that Newton attended a dozen of their meetings before he “made up his mind, contrary to the dictation of the Spirit of God to him, to reject the testimony, and come out against me.” (Woodruff, Leaves from My Journal, 33.)

    Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

    Woodruff, Wilford. Leaves from My Journal, Third Book of the Faith-Promoting Series. Salt Lake City: Juvenile Instructor Office, 1882.

  18. [18]

    Woodruff, Leaves from My Journal, 34.

    Woodruff, Wilford. Leaves from My Journal, Third Book of the Faith-Promoting Series. Salt Lake City: Juvenile Instructor Office, 1882.

  19. [19]

    Woodruff, Journal, 19 Sept. 1837. One of the ministers was Reverend Amariah Kalloch, the first pastor of First Baptist Church in Rockland, Maine. (Eaton, History of Thomaston, Rockland, and South Thomaston, Maine, 374–375.)

    Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

    Eaton, Cyrus. History of Thomaston, Rockland, and South Thomaston, Maine, from Their First Exploration, A. D. 1605; with Family Genealogies. Vol. 1. Hallowell: Masters Smith, 1865.

  20. [20]

    Gideon Newton, “Revivals,” Zion’s Advocate, 25 Oct. 1837, 170. In a 20 November 1837 letter to Don Carlos Smith, Woodruff countered Newton’s account of the revival meetings, asserting that the Baptist minister gained only two converts: “his own son and daughter.” (Wilford Woodruff, Vinalhaven, ME, to Don Carlos Smith, Kirtland, OH, 20 Nov. 1837, in Elders’ Journal, Nov. 1837, 17–19.)

    Zion’s Advocate. Portland, ME. 1828–1920.

    Elders’ Journal of the Church of Latter Day Saints. Kirtland, OH, Oct.–Nov. 1837; Far West, MO, July–Aug. 1838.

  21. [21]

    Woodruff, Journal, 3–4 Sept. 1837; Hale, Reminiscences and Journal, 34–35.

    Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

    Hale, Jonathan H. Reminiscences and Journals, 1837–1840. CHL.

  22. [22]

    Woodruff, Journal, 4–10 Sept. 1837; Hale, Reminiscences and Journal, 35.

    Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

    Hale, Jonathan H. Reminiscences and Journals, 1837–1840. CHL.

  23. [23]

    The six other converts were Ebenezer Eames, Melannar Eames, Cyrus Sterrett, Phebe Sterrett, Abigail Farnham, and Eliza Luce. On 1 October, Woodruff and Hale organized the first branch of the church in Vinalhaven, comprising twelve members. (Woodruff, Journal, 10, 12, and 17 Sept. 1837; 1 Oct. 1837; Hale, Reminiscences and Journal, 35, 37, 40–42.)

    Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

    Hale, Jonathan H. Reminiscences and Journals, 1837–1840. CHL.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation.
*Letter from Wilford Woodruff and Jonathan H. Hale, 18 September 1837
*Elders’ Journal, October 1837

Page [1]

North Lat, 44. Long. 69, 10. Vinalhaven, Fox Islands, Monday, Sept. 18th, 1837.
To Joseph Smith Jr. and the in greeting:
Dear Saints of God, whom we love of a truth for the truth’ sake that dwelleth in you, and we pray God that it may abide with you forever: As we are called to stand upon the Islands of the sea, in defence of the truth and for the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. We are under the necessity of making use of our pen, to give you an account of our labors in the ministry since we left , as we cannot at present speak to you face to face. We left May 31st, and took Steamboat at in company with , to go forth to labor in the vineyard as the Lord should direct.— After calling on the Saints in N. Y. we arrived at Sackett’s Harbour and took Steamboat on the 6th of June for and on the 8th arived at Brother Artemus Judd’s. And on the 10th, had the happy privilege of setting in conference with , , and a number other elders, and a large congregation of Saints. And we were blessed with a very interesting time. After spending several days with them we took the parting hand with these beloved friends and proceeded on our journey for the East in company with elder John Goodson, and others bound for . We took the parting hand with them at Schenectady, and arrived at the Caanan church in , visited the church a few days. Here elder took his departure for and we went to Colebrook, visited different parts of the town and held eight meetings, from thence to Canton and held a meeting in the village hall in Collinsville.— As we commenced speaking several began to beat their drums at the doors which made much confusion. This is the only disturbance we have had since we left . We next visited Avon, where we held four meetings and many came out to hear and manifested a spirit of inquiry. And had the privilege of leading three of his kinfolk into the waters of . And had not the Spirit called us away to perform a greater work, we should have had no difficulty in establishing a of the church in that place. A family where we tarried but one night, and taught them the things of the kingdom, believed our testimony, and after our departure, two of the household followed us 15 miles to receive baptism at our hands, but we were gone, and they truly believed it to be a day of warning and not of many words. We also visited Farmington and held one meeting in the Methodist meeting house, and preached to an attentive congregation who wished to hear more concerning the great work of God. We left Farmington on the 20 of July, for and after visiting the Bradford church, and after preaching several times with them, we proceeded on our journey to , Maine, where we spent several days with the church and friends. But duty urging us forward to lift the warning voice to those that had not heard the sound of the gospel, we then went to the city of Portland. We there took the Steamer Bangor on the 19 of August, to speed us on our way to the Islands of the sea, they landed us at Owls head at the setting of the sun: But how to get conveyance to the Islands we knew not, we retired to a grove and offered up our thanks unto God for his mercies and asked him to open our way before us; we returned to the Inn and soon found some men that were going near the Islands that night, they said they would land us if we chose to take passage with them. We accordingly went on board, they hoisted sail and landed us on North Fox Island, Vinalhaven, at 2 o’clock Sunday morning, August 20th. It was with peculiar feelings and sensations that we began to walk forth upon one of the Islands of the sea which was wrapped in the sable shades of night, whose waters had never covered a soul for the remission of their sins after the order of the gospel, and which soil had never before been pressed by the foot steps of an elder of Israel. We were strangers, pilgrims, and almost pennyless. But we had [p. [1]]
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Editorial Title
Letter from Wilford Woodruff and Jonathan H. Hale, 18 September 1837
ID #
362
Total Pages
3
Print Volume Location
JSP, D5:446–457
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Footnotes

  1. [1]

    See Testimony, ca. 2 Nov. 1831; and Revelation, 3 Nov. 1831 [D&C 133:8].

  2. [2]

    Aboard the steamboat Sandusky, the group crossed Lake Erie and arrived in Buffalo, New York, at six in the morning on 1 June 1837. (Woodruff, Journal, 31 May and 1 June 1837.)

    Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

  3. [3]

    The missionaries traveled on a canal boat from Buffalo to Syracuse, New York, between 1 and 3 June 1837; Hale spent two days in Syracuse, while Woodruff apparently walked forty miles north to visit family in Richland, New York. Woodruff and Hale likely met somewhere near Ellisburg, Jefferson County, New York, on 5 June. (Woodruff, Journal, 1–5 June 1837; Hale, Reminiscences and Journal, 9.)

    Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

    Hale, Jonathan H. Reminiscences and Journals, 1837–1840. CHL.

  4. [4]

    Judd lived in Bastard Township, today part of Rideau Lakes, Ontario, Canada, located approximately thirty miles northeast of Kingston, Ontario, Canada. (Woodruff, Journal, 8 June 1837; Hale, Reminiscences and Journal, 9.)

    Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

    Hale, Jonathan H. Reminiscences and Journals, 1837–1840. CHL.

  5. [5]

    John Goodson, Isaac Russell, and John Snider—all recent converts—were headed for New York City to rendezvous with Heber C. Kimball in preparation for the impending mission to England. Woodruff, Hale, Holmes, Goodson, and Snider trekked thirty miles from Bastard Township to Leeds Township on 12 June; on 13 June, they walked twenty-six miles to Kingston. (Woodruff, Journal, 12–13 June 1837; Hale, Reminiscences and Journal, 11–12; Recommendation for Heber C. Kimball, between 2 and 13 June 1837.)

    Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

    Hale, Jonathan H. Reminiscences and Journals, 1837–1840. CHL.

  6. [6]

    From Kingston, the six men (Woodruff, Hale, Holmes, Goodson, and Snider, now joined by Isaac Russell) took a steamboat across Lake Ontario to Oswego, New York, and then a canal boat to Syracuse on 14 June 1837; they then took another canal boat to Utica on 15 June and arrived in Schenectady at eight o’clock in the evening on 16 June. (Hale, Reminiscences and Journal, 12–13; Woodruff, Journal, 6–16 June 1837.) From Schenectady, Woodruff, Hale, and Holmes traveled for approximately seventy miles on foot to Canaan. (Hale, Reminiscences and Journal, 13.)

    Hale, Jonathan H. Reminiscences and Journals, 1837–1840. CHL.

    Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

  7. [7]

    This likely refers to a 10 July conflict, instigated by a Presbyterian priest whom Hale had met earlier that day, that occurred near Collinsville, Connecticut. While Woodruff preached in the village hall, the priest (named by Woodruff as “Vanarsdalen”) and presumably others began beating drums outside. The priest later entered the hall, loudly disputed the missionaries’ teachings, and questioned their authority to preach, asserting that “no man had a right to preach the gospel unless he had a collegiate education.” Woodruff reportedly responded, “I would admit that point when he would tell me at what college Jesus Christ and his apostles obtained their education.” (“History of Wilford Woodruff,” Deseret News, 21 July 1858, 89; Hale, Reminiscences and Journal, 20–21; Woodruff, Journal, 11 July 1837.)

    Deseret News. Salt Lake City. 1850–.

    Hale, Jonathan H. Reminiscences and Journals, 1837–1840. CHL.

    Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

  8. [8]

    Woodruff and Hale traveled to Avon, Connecticut, on 5 July 1837. During their stay in the area, which lasted until 18 July, Woodruff visited his father, stepmother, uncles, and other family friends. There he baptized his uncle Ozem, his aunt Hannah, and his cousin John Woodruff. (Woodruff, Journal, 5–18 July 1837; Hale, Reminiscences and Journal, 19–21.)

    Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

    Hale, Jonathan H. Reminiscences and Journals, 1837–1840. CHL.

  9. [9]

    See Revelation, 30 Aug. 1831 [D&C 63:58].

  10. [10]

    Phebe Woodruff joined Wilford in Farmington on 16 July. (Woodruff, Journal, 16 July 1837.)

    Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

  11. [11]

    Hale’s journal indicates that he left for Worcester, Massachusetts, on 19 July. He left Worcester on 21 July and took a stage to Lowell; the next day, he moved on to New Rowley. Wilford and Phebe rode a stagecoach to nearby Hartford, Connecticut, on 20 July. Wilford apparently sent Phebe on to Maine on 21 July, while he walked nearly one hundred miles to Lowell, Massachusetts; he met Hale in New Rowley (near Haverhill, Massachusetts) on 23 July. (Woodruff, Journal, 19–23 July 1835; Hale, Reminiscences and Journal, 23.)

    Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

    Hale, Jonathan H. Reminiscences and Journals, 1837–1840. CHL.

  12. [12]

    Woodruff and Hale remained in the Haverhill area until 1 August; on that day, they departed for Dover, New Hampshire, and arrived in Saco on 5 August. In Saco, they stayed with Edward Milliken and visited with the family of Milton Holmes. Phebe Woodruff met Wilford in Saco, and the couple proceeded to Scarborough with Hale on 8 August. Woodruff and Hale spent the next week conducting church business in the area; Woodruff also devoted some time to getting to know his in-laws, whom he had not met previously. (Hale, Reminiscences and Journal, 20–27; Woodruff, Journal, 1–18 Aug. 1835.)

    Hale, Jonathan H. Reminiscences and Journals, 1837–1840. CHL.

    Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

  13. [13]

    Hale walked to Portland to visit with his uncle Samuel Hale on 16 August; on 18 August, he briefly returned to Scarborough and then went with Woodruff to Portland. (Hale, Reminiscences and Journal, 27; Woodruff, Journal, 18 Aug. 1837.)

    Hale, Jonathan H. Reminiscences and Journals, 1837–1840. CHL.

    Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

  14. [14]

    Owls Head (then part of the town of Thomaston) is a peninsula on Penobscot Bay with a harbor, roughly five miles southeast of Rockland.

  15. [15]

    Hale’s journal indicates that they “set sail in a small boat in company with 5 other men that ware going East.” (Hale, Reminiscences and Journal, 28.)

    Hale, Jonathan H. Reminiscences and Journals, 1837–1840. CHL.

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