Originals at LDS Church Historical Department in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Original ledger remains with the donor. The Manuscripts Division was only allowed to digitize and maintain a digital copy of the original.
William Clayton (1814-1879) was born 17 July 1814 at Penwortham, Lancashire, England. When LDS missionaries first arrived in England in 1837, Clayton was among the first baptized. In March 1838, when Heber C. Kimball and Orson Hyde returned to America, Clayton became second counselor to Joseph Fielding in the British Mission, a position he held until 1940. Clayton left England for the United States in September, 1840. After a tiring trip of 5,000 miles, 11 weeks, and 10 days, Clayton and company arrived at Commerce, Illinois. On 10 February 1842, Clayton became an assistant clerk for Joseph Smith.
The William Clayton diaries and ledger (1840-1842, 1852-1853 and 1865-1877) contain copies of two volumes of Clayton's diaries and a
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Collection Name, Collection Number, Box Number, Folder Number. Special Collections, J. Willard Marriott Library, The University of Utah.
Permission to digitize the ledger was provided by Robert E. Whitchurch in 2014.
Processed by Della L. Dye in 1974.
Addendum processed by Betsey Welland in 2014.
This xerox journal transcript (107 pp., bound) covers Clayton's missionary work, meetings counseling, etc. in Manchester. On 17 April he records that Brigham Young, Parley P. Pratt, Orson Pratt, Heber C. Kimball, George A. Smith, Willard Richards, Wilford Woodruff, Reuben Hadlock, H. Clark and Joseph Fielding arrived from Preston to hold conference.
4 Sept 1840, a company of 26 people met at Clayton's home preparing to leave by rail for Liverpool where they would set sail for Zion.
Clayton writes in detail about the 207 men, women and children on the ship in North America--the sickness, the deaths, the discomforts, and the problems of the passengers and crew.
13 October they landed in New York and changed from the boat North America to a steamer and sailed up the Hudson River to the Albany Basin. Clayton describes the country as viewed from the steamer and the canal boats as they traveled up the river.
The journal also highlights his final arrival in Commerce, Illinois. He discusses attending conference from 6-9 April 1841 and records the business conducted and the names of those appointed to various councils. 6 April 1841 he writes that the First Presidency layed the corner stone to the temple. He tells of two revelations concerning the building of the temple and Nauvoo House, and the gathering of people at Zarahemla.
(Xerox copy of the original. n.p.) At a special conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints held in the tabernacle in Great Salt Lake City, 28 August 1852, Clayton was called to serve a mission to England--"to preach the gospel and sustain the revelation on celecstial marriage given by our beloved Prophet, 12 July 1843.' The diary covers Clayton's journey to England in January 1853 and ends in March 1853.
(Digital copy only.) The