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Day in the Life

Aug 20, 1837

Journal Entry

August 20, 1837 ~ Sunday

20th Called at Nathaniel Dyers & retired to rest. Arose in the morning
made ourselves known as servents of GOD. we enquired concerning
meetings & learned there was to be preaching today as it was the
sabbath in the Baptist meeting house in the centre of the North Island
which was part of Vinalhaven. Mr Benjamin Kent accompanied us to

the place of meeting. When we arived the meeting had commenced, we
conversed with the Deacon of the church, & informed him we were ser-
vents of the Lord, had a message to the people & wished to be herd. He con
versed with the Baptist Priest by the name of Gideon J. Newton upon
the subject, he did not object. We were invited into the stand, & Mr Ne-
wton gave out an appointment for us to preach at 5 oclock PM. When
he closed his discourse he invited us home with him & gave us some
refreshment, we presented him the Book of Mormon, he was mild and
said he would read it. Mr Newton accompanied us to the meeting house
the congregation assembled at the appointed time, and amid peculiar
feeling I arose and addressed them from Gal. 1 ch 8:9. this was the first
time that I or any Elder of the Church, (to my knowledge) ever arose befo-
re the inhabitants of one of the Islands of the sea to preach unto them the
fulness of the everlasting gospel and the Book of Mormon. After I closed
I gave out an appointment for each of the four following evenings to
be held in the several districts of North Island. We spent the night with
Mr Benj[amin] Kent distance of the day 8 miles


{Elder Hale and myself had a good time in secret prayer. May God bless us on the islands and help us find the blood of} Ephram

{aeiouy} AEIOUY {aeiouy au oy ou} AU OY OU

Vinal haven is in Lat. 44 North. Long 69.10 East. Pop. 1800. Maine
Vinal haven includes both North & South fox Islands. The inhabitants
are generally wealthy, healthy, intelligent, industrious, generous, and
hospitable to strangers. The people get most of their wealth & living
by fishing. The Town of Vinalhaven fits out rising of 100 licensed sail
beside small craft. North fox Island is 9 miles long & 2 miles wide. Pop
800. they have a post office, one store, a Baptist church & meeting
house & four school houses & a grist mill. The land is rather rocky
& rough yet there is many good farms which produces good wheat,
barley, oats, potatoes, & grass which is the staple production. The
principal timber is fir, spruice, hemlock & birch. Sheep are the pri-
ncipal stock upon the Island. Rasp. & Goose buries grow in great
abundance.

South fox Island comes as near being without
any form or void as any land I ever saw. It would be difficult
for the best historian to give an exact description of it. It is about
10 miles long & 5 broad and it is one universal mass of rocks formed
into shelves, hills & dales cut up into necks & points to make room for
the cooves & harbours that run through and through the Island. Pop is
1000. They get their wealth entirely by fishing. Their principal stock is
sheep. Their is some small parts of the Island under cultivation, but it is
at the expense of great labour and toil. Many of the inhabitants of this
Island fish at Newfoundland & bring their fish home & dry them upon
their own flakes & prepare them for market. they supply the market
annually with great quantities of dried fish, Mackerel & boxed
herren. There is two stores, three tide saw mills, six school houses
& a small branch of the methodist church & a priest. The timber is
pine, fir, spruce, hemlock & birch. much of the timber & whoretlebury
bushes grows out of the cracks of the rocks. Rasp & goose buries
also grow in great quantities upon this Island

There is great quantities of fish inhabit the waters, cooves & harbours
around these Islands, such as Whale, Blackfish, Shark, ground Shark,
PILOT fish, Hors Mackerel, Sturgeon, Salmon, Holloboat [halibut], Cod, Pollock,
Tom Cod, Hake, Haddock, Mackerel, Shad, Bass, Ale wives, Herren [herring],
Pohagen, Dolphin, Whiting, Frost fish, Flounders, Smelt, Skate,
Shrimp, Skid, Cusk, Blebacks, Scollop Dogfish, Muttonfish Lumpfish,
Squid, Fivefingers, Monkfish, Nursfish, Sunfish, Swordfish, Thrasher,
Cat, Scuppog, Tootog, Eyefish, Cunner, Ling, Eels. Also Lobsters, Clams,
Scollop, Mussles, Rincles, {crabs snails} and Porposes, Seal, &c &c. & many
others not named. Thus stands a brief account of the town of VINAL HAVEN

People

Browse people Wilford Woodruff mentioned on this day in his journal.

16 mentions
99 mentions
Scriptural Figure
44 mentions
Hale, Jonathan Harriman
1 Feb 1800 - 4 Sep 1846
148 mentions
Missionary
7 mentions
51 mentions

Related Documents

Browse other documents with this same date. These could include pages from Wilford Woodruff's autobiographies, daybooks, letters, histories, and personal papers.

Autobiography 1865 Millennial Star

We wandered in the dark about an hour, rambling over rocks and bushes, found the house of Mr. Natha- niel Dyer, and were entertained. It being Sunday morning, Mr. Benjamin Kent piloted us to the Baptist meet- ing-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 minister that we were servants of God, and wished to deliver a message to that people. The minister sent word for us to come into the pulpit; accord- ingly, with valise in hand, we walked

Autobiography 1857 Draft 1

on the morning of the , it being very dark and we not all acquainted with the country we wandered about for about an hour stumbling over the rocks and ^bushes^ [c◊◊◊s] finally found the house ^of Mr Nathaniel Dyer^ where we were ^entertained^ taken in and furnished with a bed and went to rest after sleeping several hours we arose were furnished with a breakfast by Mr Nathaniel Dyer who occupied the house. It being Sunday morning and feeling anxious to commenced our work I inquired if their was any religion on the Island and what kind, any preachers or Meeting Houses and what kind I was informed their was a Baptist Meeting house, Baptist Minister, Church and meeting the ministers name was Gideon J. Newton as it was late we did not go till the after noon meeting. Mr Benjamin Kent piloted us to the place ^Baptist Meeting House^ when we arrived ^occupied by Elder Gideon J Newton pastor of the ownly religious denomination upon the Island. At the^ at the door the meeting had begun, I sent for the Deacon who came to the doors I told him I wished him to inform the minister that there was two servants ^we were servants^ of God at the door who ^and^ wished to deliver a message to that people. He sent word for us to come into the pulpit accordingly with valiece in hand we walked up into the pulpit and took a seat one on each side of him, when he closed his discourse he asked me what hour we would like to speak to the people I told him at 5 oclock he gave out our appointment and invited us to his house to take tea we accepted the invitation on arriving at his house I asked how many school houses there was on the Island he said four ^4^ ^four^ and gave me their names ranging from West to East I asked him

Autobiography 1882 Leaves from My Journal Notes 1

on North Fox Islands at 2 oclock on the of Auguts August This town is called Vinal Haven it includes both North & South Fox Islands in Lat 44 North Long 69, 10, population 1800

Autobiography 1882 Leaves from My Journal Notes 1

shore shore at 2 oclock on the morning of the 20 of August ^without a farthing in money^. We made our way over the rocks & beaches the best we could untillw untill we found a home we landed without a farthing in money we rap[p]ed at the door a woman put her head out of the window and asked who was there & what we wanted I told her we were two strangers and wanted a bed to lie down untill morning, she let us in ang gave us a bed and we slept untill quite late in the morning it being sunday when we arose and took breakfast it was nearly noon I asked her what she charged us for our entertainment She said we were welcome, I then asked her if there was any religion or Minister or Church on the Island she informed me there was a Baptist Minister by the name of Newton who had a congregation and

Daybook (18 August 1837 - 11 October 1837)

[page torn] 20th called at Nathaniel Dyers & retired to rest arose in the morning made inquiry concerning meeting learned there was Baptist preaching in a meeting house in the centre of the ^north^ Island part of Vinal Haven we walked to this Island is 9 miles long & 2 miles wide contaning about 800 inhabitants ^South island 1,000^ it takes North & South islands [to] comps the [cover]

Autobiography 1883 Tullidge's Quarterly Magazine

o'clock, A.M., on the . The town of Vinal Haven includes both North and South Fox Islands, in latitude 44° north, and longitude 69° 10' west. The population numbered, at the time of my visit, about 1,800. The in- habitants were intelligent and indus- trious, and hospitable to strangers. They got most of their wealth and living by fishing. The town fitted out over one hundred licensed sailing vessels, besides smaller craft. North Fox Island is nine miles long by two miles in width and had a popula- tion of 800. They had a post office, one store, a Baptist church and meeting house, four school houses and a tide grist mill. The land was rather poor, yet there were some good farms. The products were wheat, barley, oats, potatoes and grass. The principal timber was fir, spruce, hemlock and birch. Raspberries and gooseberries grew in great abun- dance, and some up-land cranberries were raised. The principal stock of the island were sheep. South Fox Island comes as near being without any definite form as any spot on

Autobiography 1882 Leaves from My Journal

at 2 o'clock, a. m., on the .

Events

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Aug 20, 1837