ATTENDING SCHOOL--MARRIAGE--IMPRESSED TO TAKE A MISSION TO FOX
ISLANDS--ADVISED TO GO--JOURNEY TO CANADA--CASES OF HEALING--JOURNEY
TO CONNECTICUT--MY BIRTHPLACE--MY MOTHER'S GRAVE--BAPTIZE SOME
RELATIVES--JOINED BY MY WIFE--JOURNEY ON FOOT TO MAINE--ARRIVAL AT FOX
ISLAND.
Having returned from my Southern mission in the autumn of 1836, in
company with Elders A. O. Smoot and Jesse Turpin, I spent the following
winter in Kirtland. During this time I received my endowments and
attended the school of Professor Haws, who taught Greek, Latin and
English grammar. I confined my studies mostly to Latin and English
grammar.
This winter and the following spring, in some respects, may be regarded
as one of the most interesting periods of the history of the Church,
when we consider the endowments and teachings given in the temple, and
the great apostasy which followed.
I was married to Miss Phoebe Whitmore Carter, on the 13th of April,
1837, and received my patriarchal blessing under the hands of Father
Joseph Smith, the Patriarch, two days after.
I felt impressed by the Spirit of God to take a mission to the Fox
Islands, situated east of the Maine shore, a country I knew nothing
about. I made my feelings known to the Apostles, and they advised me to
go.
Feeling that it was my duty to go upon this mission, I did not tarry at
home one year after having married a wife, as the law of Moses would
have allowed. On the contrary, I started just one month and one day
after that important event, leaving my wife with Sister Hale, with whom
she expected to stay for a season.
I left Kirtland in good spirits, in company with Elder Jonathan H.
Hale, and walked twelve miles to Fairport, where we were joined by
Elder Milton Holmes. There we went aboard the steamer _Sandusky_, and
made our way to Buffalo, and proceeded thence to Syracuse, by way of
the Erie Canal. We then walked to Richland, Oswego Co., N. Y., where I
met my two brothers, whom I had not seen for several years.
After spending one night there, we continued our journey to Sackett's
Harbor, and crossed Lake Ontario on the steamer _Oneida_, to Kingston,
Upper Canada, and from there also by steamer along the canal to Jones'
Falls, whence we walked to a place called Bastard, Leeds County.
Here we found a branch of the Church, presided over by John E. Page
and James Blakesly. We accompanied them to their place of meeting, and
attended a conference with them, at which three hundred members of the
Church were represented.
Thirty-two persons presented themselves for ordination, whom I was
requested to ordain, in company with Elder Wm. Draper. We ordained
seven Elders, nine Priests, eleven Teachers and five Deacons.
We spoke to the people several times during this conference, and at its
close we were called upon to administer to a woman who was possessed
of the devil. At times she was dumb, and greatly afflicted with the
evil spirits that dwelt in her. She believed in Jesus and in us as His
servants, and wished us to administer to her. Four of us laid our hands
upon her head and commanded the devil, in the name of Jesus Christ, to
depart out of her. It was immediately done, and the woman arose with
great joy, and gave thanks and praise unto God; for, according to her
faith, she was made whole from that hour.
A child, also, that was sick, was healed by the laying on of hands,
according to the word of God.
We walked thirty miles to visit another branch of the Saints at Leeds,
where we met with John Gordon and John Snider. Here we held a meeting
and bore our testimony to the people.
A Sister Carns here came to us and requested to have the ordinance for
the healing of the sick performed for two of her children who were
afflicted. One was a suckling child, which was lying at the point of
death. I took it in my arms and presented it before the Elders, who
laid their hands upon it, and it was made whole immediately, and I
handed it back to the mother entirely healed.
We afterwards laid hands upon the other, when it was also healed. It
was done by the power of God, in the name of Jesus Christ, and the
parents praised God for His goodness.
After leaving the Saints in this place, we returned to Kingston, and
crossed Lake Ontario in company with Isaac Russell, John Goodson and
John Snider.
Brother Russell seemed to be constantly troubled with evil spirits,
which followed him when he subsequently went upon a mission to England,
where Apostles Orson Hyde and Heber C. Kimball, when administering to
him, had a severe contest with them, as Brother Kimball has related in
his history.
Brothers Russell, Goodson and Snider continued with us to Schenectady,
where they left us to proceed to New York, to join Elders Kimball and
Hyde to go upon their mission to England.
After leaving these brethren we traveled by rail to Albany, and walked
from there to Canaan, Conn., where we found a branch of the Church,
including Jesse and Julian Moses and Francis K. Benedict.
We held a two-days' meeting with the Saints in Canaan, and I ordained
Julian Moses and Francis K. Benedict Elders.
After holding several meetings in the town of Colebrook, and visiting
my half sister, Eunice Woodruff, who was teaching school there, I
proceeded to Avon, the place of my birth. There I visited many of my
former neighbors and relatives, and the grave of my mother, Bulah
Woodruff, who died June 11th, 1808, when twenty-six years of age. The
following verse was upon her tombstone:
"A pleasing form, a generous heart,
A good companion, just without art;
Just in her dealings, faithful to her friend,
Beloved through life, lamented in the end."
At the close of the day I walked six miles to Farmington, where my
father, Aphek Woodruff, was living, and I had the happy privilege of
once more meeting with him and my step-mother, whom I had not seen for
seven years. They greeted me with great kindness, and it was a happy
meeting.
After visiting with my father a day or two, I returned to Avon, where
most of my relatives lived, and held meetings with them, and on the
12th of June, 1837, I baptized my uncle, Ozem Woodruff, his wife
Hannah, and his son John, and we rejoiced together, for this was in
fulfillment of a dream I had in 1818, when I was eleven years of age.
On the 15th of July I had an appointment to preach at the house of my
uncle, Adna Hart. While there I had the happy privilege of meeting with
my wife, Phoebe W. Woodruff, who had come from Kirtland to meet me and
accompany me to her father's home in Scarboro, Maine.
Those who had assembled to hear me preach were relatives, neighbors and
former friends. After meeting, we returned to Farmington to my father's
home, where I spent the night with my father, step-mother, sister and
wife. Elder Hale was also with us.
On the 19th of July, Elder Hale left us to go to his friends in
New Rowley, Mass., and on the same evening I held a meeting in the
Methodist meeting-house in the town of Farmington. I had a large
congregation of citizens, with whom I had been acquainted from
my youth. My parents, wife and sister attended the meeting. The
congregation seemed satisfied with the doctrines I taught, and they
requested me to hold another meeting; but I felt anxious to continue my
journey, and on the 20th of July I parted with my father, step-mother
and sister, and took stage for Hartford with my wife.
On my arrival at Hartford, not having money to pay the fare of both of
us, I paid my wife's fare to Rowley, Mass., where there was a branch
of the Church, presided over by Brother Nathaniel Holmes, father of
Jonathan and Milton Holmes, and I journeyed on foot.
The first day I walked fifty-two miles, the second forty-eight, and
the third day thirty-six miles, and arrived at Rowley at two o'clock,
making 136 miles in a little over two and a half days.
I spent eight days at New Rowley, holding meetings and visiting the
Saints, including the Holmes family, and left there on the 1st of
August.
On the 8th of August, in company with my wife and Elder Hale, I visited
my wife's father, Ezra Carter, and his family in Scarboro, Maine, it
being the first time I had ever seen any of her relatives. We were very
kindly received. My wife had been absent from her father's home about
one year.
I spent eight days with Father Carter and household, and one day I went
to sea with Fabian and Ezra Carter, my brothers-in-law, in a boat, to
fish with hooks. We caught 250 cod, haddock and hake, and we saw four
whales, two at a time, it being the first time in my life I had ever
seen the kind of a fish which is said to have swallowed Jonah.
On the 18th of August, 1837, I parted with my wife and her father's
household, leaving her with them, and, in company with Jonathan H.
Hale, started upon the mission that I had in view when I left Kirtland.
We walked ten miles to Portland, and took passage on the steamboat
_Bangor_, which carried us to Owl's Head, where we went on board of a
sloop which landed us on North Fox Island at 2 o'clock, a.m., on the
20th.