23rd [FIGURE] Mrs Woodruff and myself visited Br
and Sister Stodard and Br and Sister Foster and
obtained our miniatures by the ingennuety of
Br Foster at the apparatus of his Darroutype [daguerreotype] we
both obtained a good likeness, and in the even[in]g
Elders called upon me and gave me a blessing the
following is from the hand of Elder B Young
I hereby certify that Elder Wilford Woodruff
has recieved a mission by order of the quorum
of the Twelve to England, to preside over the
churches in that land, and I feel to bless him
in the name of the Lord with all belonging to or
dwelling beneath his roof at this time consisting
of his wife and children and sister Mary Arey
who is assisting them to get on their Journey.
{in speaking [turn]} B Young

23^rd [FIGURE] I met with the quorum of the Twelve in
council, a little time or some of them. I visited
Emma Smith the widow of the prophet she
let me have a peace of oak for a staff [FIGURE] out of
the [FIGURE] coffin of the Prophet Joseph who was
inhumanly martered in Carthage Ill in company
with his brother Hiram. Emma also let me have
a Pair of gloves composed of white cotton and Mrs
Woodruff a pair cotton hankerchief both of which
the Prophet wore while living. We called upon
Sister Mary Smith widow of Hiram Smith the
Patriarch. She gave us some hair from the head
of Joseph Smith, Hiram Smith, Samuel Smith, & Don
Carloss Smith, all brothers, of the same Parents
I also obtained some hair of the quorum of the
Twelve Apostles in the Church of Jesus Christ of
the Latter day Saints my object was in putting
a portion of each in the top of my staff as a relick
of those noble men, master spirits of the nineteenth
centaury, to hand down to my posterity, to
deposit in the most Holy and sacred place in
the Holy temple of GOD, on the consecrated Hill
of Zion

I next visited, Mother Lucy Smith, the mother
of those noble men even the Lords anointed,
whose names were Joseph, Hiram, Samuel and
Don Carloss, and the wife of Joseph sen the
first Patriarch of the last dispensation, all those
men fell directly or indirectly as marters for the
cause of truth and of God. Joseph and Hiram
being shot in cold Blood. The Old Mother and
Prophetess felt most heart broaken at the
loss of her children and the wicked and
cruel treatment she had recieved from the
hands of the gentile world. She begged a blessing
at my hands. I lade my hands upon her head and
proclaimed the following by the Spirit of God

The following blessing was proclaimed upon the head
of Mother Lucy Smith (the Mother of the prophet
seer and revelator Joseph and his brethren) on the
23rd day of August 1844 under the hands of Elder
Wilford Woodruff of the quorum of the Twelve

Beloved Mother in Israel according to your request
I lay my hands upon your head, in the name of Jesus
Christ of Nazareth and by virtue of the Holy Priesthood
and the [FIGURE] [keys] of the kingdom of God to bestow a blessing
upon you for thou art worthy of all blessings.
As I lade my hands upon thy husband Joseph Smith ^sen
the Patriarch of the Church by his request to bless
him as he lay upon his bed like Jacob of old ready
to gather up his feet and sleep with his fathers, and I
about to take my departure over the sea to visit
foreign nations, which was the last time we ever
met on earth. In like manner do I essteem
it a blessing and a privilege to lay my hands upon
your head, in your decline of life to leave with
you my parting blessing as I am again called
to bid farewell to my native country and visit
foreign climes to bear record of the word of
God we may never meet again on earth. But I
thank my God that I have this privilege of blessing
thee for my heart is full of blessings for thee, for
thou has art the greatest Mother in Israel, the
sons thou hast bourn and cherished, are the most
noble spirits that ever graced humanity or taber-
nacled in flesh. their work shall be had in honorable
rememberance through all generations of men.
Though counted among transgressors, they like the
Messiah have shed their blood for the sins of the
people, and freely offered their lives and sealed
their testimony ^with their Blood^. Tho[u] hast lived and stood to see
the fall of thy sons by the rage of gentile hands,
and like an impenaitrible rock in the mids of the
mighty deep thou hast remained unmoved

untill God has given ^thee^ the desires of they heart
in seeing the keys of the Kingdom of God held
in the hands of thy Posterity so planted in
the earth that they shall never be taken from
it untill he reigns whose right it is to reign.
Let thy heart be comforted in the midst of thy
sorrow, for thou shalt be had in honorable remem
berance forever in the congregations of the righteous
thou shalt be remembered in thy wants during
the remainder of thy day, and when thou art
called to depart thou canst lie down in peace
having seen the salvation of God, in laying an
everlasting foundation for the deliverance ^of Israel^ through
the instrumentality of thy sons. I seal upon
your head all the blessings of the fulness of the
gospel and of the Church of the first born, and
all those blessings that have been sealed upon
you heretofore. If we meet no more on earth
we will meet in the morn of the first resurrection
whare you shall recieve thrones, powers, a dominion
and kingdom in connexion with thy husband in
his high exhaltation in the linage of his fathers. I
seal all these blessings upon your head in the name
of Jesus Christ and by virtue of the Holy Priesthood
Amen