Autobiography 1858 Deseret News
——We took the steamer Bangor 85
miles to Owl's Head, where we arrived at sun-
set, without means to prosecute our journey
further. We retired to a high hill, and bowed
before the Lord, and prayed that he would
open our way; the Spirit of the Lord rested
upon us, and testified unto us that our prayers
would be answered. As we arose from our
knees, a sloop came into the harbor; we went
to the captain, and enquired where he was
going; he replied, through the channel of
Vinal Haven; he took us on board and landed
us on North Fox Islands, at 2 a.m. on the
20th. We wandered in the dark about an
hour, rambling over rocks and bushes, found the
house of Mr. Nathaniel Dyer, and were enter-
tained. It being Sunday morning, Mr. Benj.
Kent piloted us to the Baptist meeting-house,
occupied by Elder Gideon J. Newton, pastor
of the only religious denomination upon the
island. At the door, I sent for the deacon,
and told him I wished him to inform the min-
ister that we were servants of God, and wish-
ed to deliver a message to that people. The
minister sent word for us to come into the pul-
pit; accordingly, with valize in hand, we walk-
ed up into the pulpit, and took a seat on each
side of him. When he closed his discourse,
he asked me what hour we would like to
speak; I told him at five; he gave out our ap-
pointment, and invited us to his house. I
asked him how many school houses were on
the island; he said four, and gave me their
names. I asked him if they were free for any
one to preach in; he answered in the affirma-
tive. I took out my Bible, Book of Mormon,
and Doctrine and Covenants, and laid them all
upon his stand; he promised to read them.
The hour of meeting arrived, and I preached
to a full house upon the first principles of the
gospel, and bore testimony that the Lord had
raised up a prophet, and had commenced to
establish his church and kingdom again upon
the earth, in fulfillment of his word, as spoken
through the ancient prophets and apostles.
This was the first discourse ever delivered by
any Latter-day Saint upon this chain of is-
lands; Elder Hale bore testimony. I gave out
appointments for preaching in the four school
houses. The people came out en masse to in-
vestigate the principles which we taught. In
fourteen days we preached nineteen discourses.
Capt. Justice Ames and wife were baptized
by Elder Hale. Elder Newton, the Baptist
minister, with his family, attended twelve of
our meetings, read the books, and was con-
vinced by the Spirit of the Lord that our doc-
trine was true, and he had a hard struggle in
[Column 3]
his mind to know which to do, receive it or re-
ject it; he finally resolved to reject it, and
commenced preaching against us. He sent for
Mr. Douglass, Methodist minister, on the
South Island, to come and help him; he had
been long at variance with Mr. Douglass, but
they became very friendly and united in a war
against us. We continued preaching daily
until we baptized most of the members of Mr.
Newton's church, and those who owned the
meeting house.
I followed Mr. Douglas to his own island,
and commenced preaching to his church, and
baptized a good share of his members, among
whom were several sea captains. Ministers
from the main land were sent for, who came
over and tried to put a stop to the work by
preaching and lying about us; but the work
continued to roll on. They wished me to work
a miracle to convince them that my doctrine
was true. I told them they had rejected the
truth, and they would see signs, but not unto
salvation.
Vinal Haven, which includes both north and
south Fox Island, is in lat. 44°, long. 69° 10'.
The inhabitants are generally healthy and in-
dustrious, and hospitable to strangers. The peo-
ple obtain most of their wealth by fishing, and
fit out annually over one hundred licensed ves-
sels, beside many smaller crafts. The north
island is nine miles long and two wide; popu-
lation 800, and contains a post office, a store, a
grist mill, four school houses, and a Baptist
church. The land is rocky and rough, yet
there are farms which produce good wheat,
barley, oats, potatoes and grass; the principal
timber is fir, spruce, hemlock and birch. The
rasp and gooseberry grow in great abundance.
Sheep are the principal stock.
South Fox island is about ten miles long and
five wide, and is a mass of rocks, principally
granite, formed into shelves, hills, hollows,
and cut up into nooks, points and ravines by
coves and harbors; population, 1000. There
are some small patches under cultivation, at
the expense of great labor and toil. Many
resident fishermen fish at Newfoundland, and
bring them home, and dry them upon flakes;
they annually supply the market with a great
amount of cod fish, mackerel and boxed her-
ring. The latter island contains two stores,
three tide saw mills, six school houses, a small
branch of the Methodist church and a priest.
The timber is pine, fir, spruce, hemlock and
birch, also gooseberries, raspberries, whortle-
berries and upland cranberries; bushes and
timber grow out of the crevices of the rocks.
There is a great amount and variety of fish
in the waters around these islands, viz.: whale,
black fish, shark, ground shark, pilot fish,
horse mackerel, sturgeon, salmon, halibut,
cod, pollock, tom cod, hake, haddock, macker-
el, shad, bass, alewives, herring, pohagen,
dolphin, whiting, frost fish, flounders, smelt,
skate, shrimp, shad, cusk, bluebacks, scollop,
dogfish, muttonfish, lumpfish, squid, five fin-
gers, monkfish, nursefish, sunfish, swordfish,
thrasher, cat, scuppog, twotog, eyefish, cunner,
ling eels, lobsters, clams, mussels, winkles,
porpoises, seals, &c. &c.
