Mission to England, or the First Foreign Mission of the Latter Day Saints.

              Kimball, Heber C., Orson Hyde, and Willard Richards. “Mission to England, or the
First Foreign Mission of the Latter-day Saints.” Times and Seasons (Nauvoo,
Illinois) 3, no. 20 (15 August 1842): 879–84.
From the Millenial Star.
MISSION TO ENGLAND,
Or the first Foreign Mission of the Latter Day Saints.
About the first of June, 1837, Elder Heber C. Kimball was called by the spirit of
revelation, and set apart by the first presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter
Day Saints, then at Kirtland, Ohio, (N. A.) to preside over a mission to England,
accompanied by Elder O. Hyde, who was set apart for the same work at the same time. In
a few days brother Joseph Fielding, a priest, was set apart; and on the eve of the 12th,
Elder Willard Richards, (having been absent several months, on a long journey, and
having returned the day previous,) was called and set apart for the same mission.
The following morning, Tuesday 13th these brethren gave the parting hand, bid
farewell to home, and without purse or scrip started for England. They were accompanied
12 miles, to Fairport, on Lake Erie, by Elders Brigham Young, John P. Green, and
Brother Levi Richards, and sisters Kimball, Green, Fielding, (brother R. B. Thompson
and wife accompanied the mission to Buffalo, and brother Fitch Brigham to Utica,) and
others, with whom they parted in the P. M. and went on board a steamer for Buffalo,
where they arrived next day.
At this place the brethren expected to receive some means from Canada to assist
them on their journey, but were disappointed. In the evening they took passage on a canal
boat, and arrived in Albany on the 19th (Elder Hyde having gone forward to N. Y. from
Rochester.)
Brother Fielding proceeded to New York, and on the 20th, Elder Kimball
accompanied Elder Richards to his father’s house in Richmond, Massachusetts, 30 miles
east, where they spent one day, and having received some assistance from his friends,
bade them farewell for the last time, (his father and mother having since died, also a sister
whom he left in Kirtland) and on the 21st returned to Albany, and arrived in New York
on the 22nd, where they found brothers O. Hyde and Fielding; also, elders John Goodson,
Issac Russel, and John Snyder, priest, (who had come from Canada to join the mission)
anxiously waiting their arrival, so that they might take passage on board the United
States, which was to sail next day, but they arrived too late.
In New York elder Richards received some further means quite providentially,
and on the 23d the brethren engaged passage to Liverpool on board the Garrick, which
was to sail on the 1st of July.
In the mean time the brethren received every possible assistance from Elder Elijah
Fordham, for at that time he was the only member of the church residing in the city, and
having no house of his own, he procured his father’s store house for the use of the
brethren, where they lodged on the floor, amid straw and blankets one week, eating their
cold morsel, and conversing with the people as they had opportunity; for no place could
be procured to preach in,—and there was no one to receive them into their houses.
Sunday the 25th, the brethren held a council at the lodgings, (Mr. Fordham’s
store) and organized ready for taking their departure.
29th, the brethren sealed, superscribed and forwarded 180 of elder O. Hyde’s
“Timely Warnings,” to the ministers of the different denominations in the city, and went
on board the Garrick, which hauled out into the river and cast anchor. July 1st, the ship
weighed anchor and was towed to the Hook by a steamer, where she spread sail, and in
four and a half hours was out of sight of land.
With the exception of a strong wind on the 12th, there was generally a gentle
breeze from the north west during the voyage. On the 16th, elder Hyde preached on the
aft quarter deck, and on the 18th Cape Clear was visible, (18 days out of sight of land)
and on the morning of the 20th the brethren landed in Liverpool, 20 days from New
York.
Here elders Kimball, Hyde, and Richards found themselves on a foreign shore,
surrounded by strangers, without the first farthing in their possession; but the brethren
unitedly took lodgings in a private house in Union street, till after the inspection of the
ship; and on Saturday the 22d, took coach for Preston. [879]